Dems say Barletta’s old news… and raised taxes

After Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta once again announced a run for Congress Wednesday, Democrats at the state and national levels got down to the task of discrediting both his political viability and his policies.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee quickly issued a statement reminding voters that Hazleton had only days earlier passed Barletta’s budget proposal, which hiked property and income taxes.

“Just days after passing a budget that raises taxes and fees on Hazleton residents,” DCCC spokesman Shirpal Sha said, “Lou Barletta is now planning to ditch the fiscal mess he created as Mayor of Hazleton to take his paltry twice-rejected record to voters across Pennsylvania’s 11th Congressional district.

“The phrase ‘failed leadership’ doesn’t do Barletta’s paltry record justice,” Shah added. “Under his tenure, Barletta squandered the city’s funds, depleted Hazleton’s resources, and now is looking to pass the buck to residents in the form of higher taxes.”

The state Democratic Party had its own harsh words, calling Barletta “more of the same.”

“With national and state Republicans offering no solutions to the problems they created, Lou Barletta is thinking that a third run for Congress will be the charm,” the state party chairman T.J. Rooney said in a statement. “The voters of the 11th District have scrutinized Barletta’s positions and his failed record closely on two separate occasions and rejected him twice. I’m confident they will again.”

The simultaneous assaults from Washington and Harrisburg underscored that after Barletta nearly unseated Kanjorski last year, he remains a political threat to the party’s hopes of holding the seat.