Thursday, May 31, 2007

$1.36m payout for WYOU's Gabrielle Prutisto and Stephen Yevchak, entertainment weekly reports

The Scranton entertainment weekly Electric City reports that former WYOU reporter Gabrielle Prutisto and former WYOU cameraman Stephen Yevchak will share a $1.36 million "arbitration ruling" in the wake of a traffic accident they were in while on station duty. Prutisto -- now working for fellow former WYOUer Frank Andrews Shimkus, a state rep in Harrisburg -- gets $650,000, while Yevchak gets $710,000, if Electric City is to believed. What was being arbitrated? Who did the arbitrating? Is this worker's comp? A lawsuit settlement? Union stuff? Any insight would be appreciated.

26 comments:

Anonymous said...

Glad to see you're weeks behind with your postings. This article also appeared in the Scranton Times....

Anonymous said...

They sued the truck driver and his company.

Anonymous said...

I guess this makes Frank ("Andrews") Shimkus a wealthy man.

Anonymous said...

Comp settlements don't go that high.

Heavy lifting that job. Sitting in an air conditioned studio reading from a teleprompter. Ouch.

However, since the accident did happen on company time, course and scope is there, I wonder how much they both got in their comp settlements? Where's Howie Beale when you need him?

Anonymous said...

Forget about the $1.36m. Put two and two together here. Duh?

Anonymous said...

Shimkus will now become a wealthy man and the two will have a nice nest egg to build their new life together.

Gabrielle always wanted to have a lot of children.

I wonder how many media types will be invited to the wedding.

It's nice to know that the Scranton Times is asleep at the switch when it comes to these two. Hey guys, guess what, they are on the PUBLIC PAYROLL. We, the taxpayers have a right to know about these shenanigans!

They've denied their relationship for years, but she 'mysteriously' disappears for the year during his campaign, then she 'reappears' and he gets her a state job? As his press release writer? It's bad enough he wrote all of her stuff when she was just 'another pretty face' at WYOU, but now at the state level too?

Puh-leeze!

Can anyone say ethics violation?

It was written on another blog site that no longer exists that Shimkus was a 'greaseball whose journalistic privileges should be revoked.'

Maybe it’s time somebody revoke his political privileges too.

Anonymous said...

What should the Times report? That they're dating? WTF?

Anonymous said...

Start with $650,000, subtract Gabrielle's medical expenses and lost income, and what's left leaves Shimkus far from wealthy.

I agree the hiring is pretty sleazy, but no more than a couple dozen other nepotism/cronyism hires in NEPA that I could think of. I don't know what's the point of singling out Frank and Gabrielle as a news story....aside from making Shimkus' ex feel good.

Anonymous said...

The larger question is this- He's the best she can do??????????

Anonymous said...

Hey Mr. Mitchell, I think you are missing the point.

Mr. Shimkus is a ‘reverend.’ Get it? A man of God. This is a man who stands at the altar on Sunday and preaches the Bible, yet ran around on his wife and hid behind his ‘addiction recovery’ as an excuse.

By being a ‘preacher,’ he held himself to a higher standard, yet failed miserably.

Divorces happen. That’s okay. The problem is that Mr. Shimkus got tangled up with a co-worker and stepped on anyone who brought it to the attention of management.

The special treatment, the ridiculous sick time that she took, writing her stories, the days she took off when he was off, etc., etc. I personally loved it when she would berate him on the phone if he made her do something she was incapable of doing.

He denied his relationship with her for years (lying is breaking one of the 10 Commandments). He lied to his family and his co-workers. When he announced he was running for elected office, we were only too happy to dump him and the sorry ass ratings that came with him.

In a way, Frank can no longer ruin the lives of those he worked with at WYOU, however, now he gets to ruin the lives of the taxpayers of the Commonwealth.

Mr. Mitchell, you are right that he’s no different than any other slimy politician.

The people of Lackawanna County deserve better.

Anonymous said...

Lying is breaking a commandment? Which one?

Anonymous said...

This Shimkus bird must be hung like a horse

Anonymous said...

Someone wrote that the Times-Tribune also published a story about the "settlement" or whatever. Could someone please post the link? Searching with Prutisto's name, I couldn't find it.

Does anyone else know definitively the details of this matter? Usually, the settlement of a lawsuit is not a matter of public record unless one party makes it a condition of the settlement. That is exceedingly rare. (In Pennsylvania, as in many other states, the settlement is -required- to be made public if a death took place or if a minor is among the plaintiffs. Neither circumstance exists in this case.)

Anonymous said...

The people of Lackawanna County deserve better.

They were the clowns that voted him in.

Lying is breaking a commandment? Which one?

That would be #8, "Thou shalt not bear false witness."

Anonymous said...

Look at her hairy hand in that shot. Now she can afford laser hair removal.

Tom Carten said...

You're kidding, right?

Anonymous said...

Maybe Gabrielle and Steve should buy WYOU. They could pay what it's now worth and still have a lot of cash left over.

Anonymous said...

The photo appears as though she is kneeling down next to a man in a chair. Is that her typical position?

Anonymous said...

8:22PM--

Leave it to a journalist not to know that lying is a sin.

Anonymous said...

Isn't "Gabrielle Prutisto" Italian for "Fanne Fox"?

Anonymous said...

7:47 AM-

Leave it to a bad journalist to think that lying about who he's dating is a story.

Anonymous said...

I guess I'm interested because...

A) He's a public official who got his girlfriend on the public payroll.

B) He campaigned as a "family values" candidate.

B) He's an ordained minister who betrayed his marriage vows.

Sorta like A) Wolfiewicz (among others), B) Sherwood (among others), and C) Swaggert (among others).

I don't care who he's dating, I care who he's SCREWING, and it seems like its the voters (who trusted him).

Anonymous said...

are you kidding? Gabs only made about 25,000 dollars a year. And I doubt her medical expenses cost hundreds of thousands of dollars! Do the math -- she made more money from the payout than she ever would have being a reporter!

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Brown said...

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