Friday, February 08, 2008

Lou Barletta para el Congreso

Barletta makes it official

Barletta challenges Kanjorski

Someone did a search of my Lou Barletta greatest hits that can be found here. Sitemeter is a great thing and if you read through them you will see that I'm not a fan. I used to like Lou Barletta until 2006 when Rick Santorum needed an issue in his doomed reelection campaign and got Mayor Lou to propose a ridiculous law that tried to make landlords and others into immigration agents.

It didn't take a constitutional law scholar to figure out that a small town in Pennsylvania can't usurp the powers of the Congress of the United States defined in Article I of the Constitution and a federal judge agreed. The case has been appealed but if Hazleton loses the city is on the hook for a big legal bill. Lou said the city may have to float a 20 year bond to pay off the legal fees, maybe he should run for county commissioner. I think it was one of the most reckless things that I've ever heard of a local official doing.

But it had a benefit for Barletta because he is now a regular guest on Lou Dobbs and Fox News blaming all of our problems on immigrants. Now his celebrity has propelled him into another run for Congress against Paul Kanjorski who wiped the floor with him in 2002 and will do so again. One issue candidates usually don't make it to far because it's a complex world with many things to consider.

So what is Barletta running for? Does he want to be a member of Congress or prime time host of a talking head show?

Some reactions.

Ed Mitchell sent me this email:

A campaign will provide an excellent opportunity for the people of Northeastern Pennsylvania to debate issues and to determine the future direction of our area and the country. I look forward to a full and vigorous debate on the issues that matter most to the people of the 11th Congressional District, such as strengthening our economy, reforming health care, ending the war in Iraq, and preserving Social Security and Medicare. But right now I am focused on doing the job I was elected to do in Congress. My top priority for the immediate future is to continue to craft legislation to help stabilize the economy and soften the impact of the collapse of the housing market.

Standard Speaker:

TJ. Rooney, chairman of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party, called Barletta “a political opportunist,” adding “his recent publicity stunt highlighting his indecision has been beyond silly.”

“While Congressman Kanjorski has been fighting on behalf of his constituents to bring more than $150 million in additional Medicare payments to area hospitals, Mr. Barletta has been touring the country speaking to Republican fat-cat donors,” Rooney said. “While Congressman Kanjorski has been leading the effort to shore up our economy, Mr. Barletta has been appearing on Republican television and radio shows. While Congressman Kanjorski has been fighting to bring our troops home from Iraq, Mr. Barletta has been staging photo-ops and rallies.”

And just in time Paul Kanjorski reminds us of why we put him in Congress:

KANJORSKI LEADS SUCCESSFUL EFFORT TO EXPAND STIMULUS PACKAGE TO INCLUDE SENIORS

WASHINGTON - Today, Congressman Paul E. Kanjorski (PA-11) helped lead the effort to include cash benefits for senior citizens and disabled veterans in the economic stimulus package in the U.S. House of Representatives. The Congressman was also instrumental in ensuring that the legislation denied tax rebates to illegal immigrants.

Here is Barletta's website.

Thanks to Danny for this shot of the Barletta HQ:


21 comments:

Anonymous said...

I AM PLEASED AS A PIG IN SLOP THAT THE GREAT LOU BARLETTA HAS DECIDED TO TAKE UP THE CHARGE AND CLEAN UP WASHINGTON!! IT'S TIME FOR ALL OF THE NAMBY PAMBY COMMIE LIBERALS TO TAKE A FAST RIDE BACK TO TIJUANA AND LEAVE THE GOVERNING OF OUR GREAT REPUBLIC TO REAL AMERICANS!! OF COURSE THE SUBVERSIVE WHO OPERATES THIS SITE WILL TRY TO MANIPULATE EVERYTHING SAID BY THE SAINTED MAYOR OF HAZELTON OVER THE COMING WEEKS--BUT THAT WON'T WORK. EVERY NOW AND THEN THE COUNTRY CALLS ON GREAT MEN--WASHINGTON, LINCOLN, HOOVER--AND NOW GOOD OL' LOU TO CLEAN UP THE MESS MADE BY LIBERALS. KOMJORSKI MAY JUST AS WELL START PACKING HIS BAGS--I HOPE THAT HE DOESN'T FORGET HIS PASSPORT--I'M SURE HE'LL HAVE FUN SOUTH OF THE BORDER WITH ALL THE $$$ HE RAKED FROM US!! GOD BLESS LOU BARLETTA--YOU ARE A PATRIOT WHO IS DOING A FINE JOB. TO HELL WITH KOMJORSKI AND ALL THE LIBERALS WHO READ THIS SITE. I HATE YOU ALL!!!!

Anonymous said...

Right on there mean old man.....except don't you mean clean up the mess made by liberals that were actually cleaning up the mess of 6 years of Republican rule?

Anonymous said...

Uhhh...last time I checked the Democrats controlled Congress...just a little tidbit.

Anonymous said...

o please the dems have had control for about one year. the a--hole republicans who went along with liberal bush have ruined the congress and the country

Anonymous said...

Well..welll.well...let's see Watson... the latest Gallup poll has Bush at a 30% approval rating but Congress at 22%..they way I see it they may not like Bush but they hate Congress worse...and I think Mr. Kanjorski is part of Congress...the only people happy with what Congress is doing is their own families. And that approval rating is lower than when the Republicans had control at the end of 2006... Democrats Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi promised a new and ethical way of doing business in Washington..So did Paul...he not only brought the "Pork" home he made sure it went into his own refrigerator which get back to why his family is happy with his performance.

Anonymous said...

anon you are an idiot the congress always gets low approval rating. when the polls are broken down most people don't like congress but they like their congressman. and let us slam on kanjo for bringing our tax dollars back to our area. i guess barletta won't do that? i guess the trucking company that is bringing in the dredge (you know the dredge that the epa won't allow dumped into the ocean) has no contact with lou? check it out 6 or 1/2 dozen.

Anonymous said...

Paul Kanjorski and his brother own K & K real estate--2006 election cycle- his campaign committee paid himself $12,000 rent..oops that happened in the 2004 cycle...oops that happened in the 2002 cycle...oh I forgot his PAC, ya know it Citizens for Action, where his wife is Treasurer and gives the ability of the PACS of Washington to not only donate to his campaign but donate to his PAC as well..uuhh does the Treasurer get paid...paid his real estate co $4,500 rent in 2006 cycle..won't mention how much his nephew got paid by his campaign and his PAC ($30,000.00 consulting fee)....$9.4 million to Cornerstone...still looking for that pump....and I am the idiot...2002 Paul secured federal grants to allow City Vest to purchase two properties he and his family owned...he calls Barletta a multi-millionare on WVIA but he lists himself at $1.8 million to $6.75 million in 2005 http://www.opensecrets.org/pfds/CIDsummary.asp?CID=N00001509&year=2005..served in Congress for 24 years...hmmm how does one amass that kinda fortune on $100 some thousand per year....

Anonymous said...

http://www.diatribune.com/node/972

1.2 million foreclosures, how did this happen-
Several experts testified before Congress in 2000 to warn of lending abuses, persuasion of families to take out loans beyond their means, steering minority homeowners into subprime loans unnecessarily, and more. Yet Congress didn't act.

What was Paul Kanjorski's response?
Kanjorski proposes gutting state predatory lending safeguards Do you remember the Ney- Kanjroski Bill--http://www.progressivestates.org/content/98/stateside-dispatch-the-fight-for-fair-coverage

Latest estimate to bail out of subprime mess is between $150 billion and $400 billion...Way to go Paul....I heard he is going to use the $231 million he just announced for U-Haul trucks to help the people move....

Anonymous said...

BTW Why did the Democratic Machine and Paul try to scare seniors about Barletta's position on privatization on Social Security..Go to this Library of Congress website...it is a preservation of Barletta's 2002 campaign website http://wasearch.loc.gov/e22k/20021106111801/http://www.barlettaforcongress.com/tv.htm..exactly what does that commercial say there...hmmm "I signed a pledge in a roomful of senior citizens that said I would not privatize Social Security."..ohhh I know why what is the very first commercial listed "Paul Kanjorski: Stop Scaring Seniors. Tell The Truth."

Credibility, Honesty, Integrity...no attack and smear..Ed Mitchell's MO...

Anonymous said...

http://wasearch.loc.gov/e22k/20021106111801/http://www.barlettaforcongress.com/tv.htm it didn't paste right

On one of these blogs it was mentioned that Barletta should have done a little op research on himself...maybe he didn't but maybe I did.....stay tuned for more.

Anonymous said...

there are folks out there holding back quite a bit about the mayor. when it comes out his run will be over

Anonymous said...

Attack and smear...I probably have heard all of the sick rumors that were part of camps who have never been able to beat the Mayor straight up. Some of them are so outlandish that they could win awards for best fiction. It is typical for weak impotent wannabees that they have to resort to innuendos and downright lies rathter than standing on the record. When you apply for a job you don't tell the boss what was wrong with the last employee...you tell him what is right about you..Desparate people employ desparate measures. The real polls, not the ones you are reading in the newspapers, hired by professionals show Kanjo way behind and he knows it. He's looking at the same polls Barletta is.

I already heard the stories that upper Luzerne County Dems have "information that will ruin Barletta" but they are waiting until November to bring it out..Like they should be pointing a finger....

BTW there are over 100 trucking firms bringing in the dredge with contracts approved by City Council, not the Mayor. Hazleton is a third class city and that is the way the code is written.

This election will be about who is the true leader. Americans are calling for change but not just for change sake. They are calling for a change in leadership. Hillary doesn't represent it, Kanjorski doesn't represent it, Carney doesn't represent it, and Murtha..well talk about Gotti in fine wool suits...

If you really believe what you hear I challenge you...Call the Mayor and arrange a meeting..Hit him with what you believe significant issues...see how he handles it.... If 25 lawyers didn't scare him I doubt anything you put on his plate will make a difference...He grew up hard regardless of what you think. Don't believe the stories that his family had money so he got it handed to him..His father was a man who believed in bringing up men not whimps. Hard work, education, street smarts, dedication, vision, passion were values he taught.

If you are willing to believe rumors then you must be gullable. The only person that knows you is you. You are the only one with your DNA. When someone is telling you about someone else 98% of the time they are telling you about themselves cause that is the only person they know....What I have posted is not what I heard...it is hard facts available from government filings...

Anonymous said...

much of what you said may be true, but lou barletta grew up hard?
bullshit!!!!

to those of us who weren\'t sure where our next meal was coming from, or if we would have heat to get through a winter, or clothes to go to school, or a home from month to month I say fuck you!!!!!!!

please enlighten us to the millionaire life of woe.....this shit i am dying to hear.... i am sure that the working poor and middle class will be moved to tears to vote for a spoiled rich boy parading as having had a hard life...

street smarts???? until recently, under barletta, there was little to no crime in hazelton so i am imploring you to tell me how he grew up in the rough and tumble streets of family owned angela park....

values??? try and make that argument for lou, go ahead...please...

ed mitchell do you check this blog? if you do capitalize on this asswhipe\'s statements that lou barletta grew up a poor child struggling to get by.......tell those senior citizens deciding between food and medicine that lou is one of them? that in his elder years he won\'t have his family fortune to fall back on, that he will be like one of them squeeking out living on a few hundred dollars a month. there is your ammo mr. mitchel, screw privatization, the heck with the dredge, tell the story of how lou\'s boys are trying to make him out to be a the product of poverty, struggling up from a poor childhood

Anonymous said...

anon 3:49 you left out the question of how brave is someone when they are playing with other peoples money. lou faced 25 lawyers, big dead, he had nothing to loose. the gulible citizens of hazelton are going to be paying off the debt of his unconstituional act for years to come. right now they only owe 2 million, but to feed that massive eqo lou will take it as far as he can... if each one costs 2 million in no time they will owe more than the city's budget for a year.

brave my ass.....

o and what polls have been done? have they been published? who is running polls for a general election before the petitions for the primaries are due?

Anonymous said...

I feel sorry for someone like you. So much hatred..life must be miserable...You don't even know me and so far I have been an idiot and I need to go fuck myself then do an asswipe...well if it makes you feel like a man then go ahead...God gave me big shoulders so people like you leave other people alone.

I can see your problem already. You have trouble reading and understanding what you are reading. I didn't say he grew up poor EVER. I made the point his family had money. Just because a family has money does not mean they don't teach their children that they have to work for it just like their parents did. You learn by working from the ground up. AND THAT IS WHAT I SAID...

I have a friend who owns a $100 million dollar company. His son got a job working in the warehouse then building trucks in the assembly shop. That is the point I am trying to make about hard. Hard isn't only worrying about the next meal or clothes on your back. If you have instinct you will survive. And evidently you did, you can afford a computer.

If I am to believe your post I came from the same plight as you. My mother put three of us through college on $12,000.00 per year. I wore patches on my pants. I wore hand me down clothes. I worked 7 days a week 12 hours a day during summer school breaks. But I don't harbor jealousy over someone who has money. Lou Barletta has money but I think Kanjorski has more. Kanjo may have money but I bet Oprah has more..Oprah has money but I bet Bill Gates has more. There is always someone in life who has more...but that is not the measure that I use to guage my life.

Your statement about no crime..Wrong again. Try going back to why Michael Marsicano was elected Mayor. Look at this link http://usinfo.state.gov/journals/itgic/0799/ijge/gj-05.htm Crime has been a problem for a long time..it just escalated to new heights when the gangs came, mostly people who are in this country illegally becuase they don't want to rot in the jails in their own countries.

No one owes a dime at this point for the court case. This case is still to be heard by higher courts. Actually Kris Kobach authored the laws in the other four cities, modeled after the Hazleton law, and won..so is it the law or is it Munley?? 4 to 1 says its Munley....You rob a bank in Hazleton...there is no Hazleton Ordinance(its a federal law) that says its a crime..but the Hazleton police arrest you. Employers are required by federal law to obtain two forms of identification before they can hire you. As part of licensing you are required to follow the law....that goes with state licensing, federal licensing, and local licensing...

Ask Ed Mitchell what polls have been done...word from Harrisburg is "they" weren't happy how they turned out...any smart politician runs polls before getting into an election..elections are no longer about candidates and voters, they are about money for pollsters, media consultants, campaign managers, etc...that's why it takes two million to run for a job that pays $180,000.00 per year...

We were taught in school there are three branches of government, executive, legislative, and judicial...what a bunch of hockey puck...there is a fourth...the voters...and this election the voters will speak loud and clear...you can't pocket government money and get away with it...you make a big stink about Barletta's money..what about your tax money that is sitting in politicians accounts right now....He didn't change Washington...Washington changed him...And its a shame...he could have had a good legacy...he didn't learn from Dan Flood.

Anonymous said...

I don't care how "hard" lou's father made life, he worked with a net, i would bet my net worth, which through hard work is considerable that lou barletta would be a complete failure.

it is easy to go through life with a saftey net, most voters in lou's district don't have that. lou has never had to worry about failing. and his act is different from the other ones, consideably different. it will fail at the upper court level and hazelton will be screwed. if lou is so confident he is correct why doesn't he put his own money in it? answser because that would take integrity which he has none

i am not jelous of lou or you, i don't give a dam about either of you, i was going to vote for him until you tried to portray him as a man of the people, he is an elitist snob and from what i have recently been told he was a democrat, just as kanjo wa a republican giving way to the fact that in nepa it doesn't matter what your ideology is, they go party for connvincence.

Anonymous said...

Did you know PK started Congress in 1984 making $72,200. In 1990 that was raised to $96,600. In 1991 it went to over $125,000.00; almost a #30,000. jump in one year. He now makes $169, 300 after a $4,100.00 raise this year. Let’s see what did the average senior citizen get in their Social Security check this year? $288.00.

He has triple bypass surgery done, not here, but in Boston, Mass. He gets to recouperate in the Naval Hospital in Bethesda. The average person is given 3-4 days in a hospital then told to go home and recover. But not Paul. How can he say he wants to change healthcare when the common person waits hours in an emergency room while he receives elitist care?

Now who really is the elite snob.

Anonymous said...

Typo should be $30,000.00...BTW here is the link to view the salary information. www.senate.gov/reference/resources/pdf/97-1011.pdf -

Anonymous said...

no dobut about kanjo being an elitist snob.. but don't blame him for getting out of here for his surgery. hospital's here suck!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

I disagree that hospitals here suck but that's the way you feel and you are entitled to those feelings. I thought I would pass along this information to highlight the misinformation being fed to the public.

PK- He voted against Medciare Part D Prescription Drug Coverage for Seniors...He states this on his website..."Under the plan that Congressman Kanjorski supports, a senior citizen with prescription drug costs of $3,500 per year will save $2,420 annually. http://www.kanjorski.org/issues/iss3.asp

" Yet here is his viote: http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2003/roll669.xml

---- NAYS 215 ---Kanjorski

He voted against prescription drug coverage for seniors yet he keeps his own taxpayer funded plan.and better yet he tells us he suppoprted it..hmmmmm integrety, honesty...not the example my parents gave me..nice

Anonymous said...

The e-mail fom Mitchell that is supposed to relay a quote from Kanjorski sounds so wonderful; however, anyone that attended the town hall meeting in Glen Lyon knows it is a fake. Kanjo could not put together a sentence, so I am certain he cound not manage an entire quote. I hope his "people" keep dumping him out in public, so that more people could see him ramble and turn to a staff member to finish his sentences. Better yet, he could continue to insult the people and the town that he comes from, and other members of his own party. I can't wait to see him debate Lou..bring on the popcorn