Barletta downplays campaign debt; aide notes earlier start

Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta said Wednesday that he won’t seek to pay back about $250,000 in campaign debt before again faces voters in the 11th District next year and that he welcomes having a primary opponent.

During a conference call with reporters after he formally announced his decision to run for Congress a third time, Barletta said that money raised now would go toward his 2010 race, not toward paying down old debt.

“We are going to be raising money for the campaign in 2010, not to retire debt,” Barletta said. “From today on we are going to be looking forward.”

That comment came after revelations that his political action committee had indeed sought out supporters’ help in paying down old debt, but Barletta seemed to imply that was no longer the plan now that he’s in the race.

Barletta’s senior adviser, Vince Galko, promised an aggressive fundraising campaign with an earlier start than last year.

“Lou is starting his fundraisers four months earlier this year,” Galko told pa2010.com in an interview. “Four month’s worth of money in 2002 or 2008 could have made a difference.”

And Barletta welcomed having to compete for the party’s nomination against Chris Paige, a candidate who has been in the race for some time now.

“I am going to run my campaign no differently if Chris Paige is in the race or not,” Barletta said. “In my experience as mayor and with the last two campaigns I’ve run, people know what I am about. I welcome any challenger into this race, but it’s not going to change the way I campaign.”