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Michael Barley's Blog

Michael Barley's Blog

The PA GOP Pulse

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Congressman Kanjorski’s stimulus problem

Last year, Pennsylvania Democrats voted in lockstep with Nancy Pelosi and their leadership in favor of the nearly $1-trillion stimulus bill. Soon after passing the wasteful spending package, an oversight commission was assembled in Pennsylvania to help monitor how the money was being spent. Both the Republican and Democratic congressional delegations appointed representatives to the panel.

Congressman Paul Kanjorski (D-11) was appointed as the Democratic representative to the Pennsylvania Stimulus Oversight Commission, but records we obtained from www.recovery.pa.gov show that the Congressman, or a representative from his office, has only attended 3 of the 10 meetings aimed at tracking how our tax dollars are being spent. Our Republican representative, Congressman Jim Gerlach’s (R-6) former chief of staff Guy Ciarrocchi, has attended every meeting.

At the same time we discovered Congressman Kanjorski was shirking his duties, we learned that he sent a taxpayer-funded mail piece to his constituents touting the failed stimulus bill and then announced his plans to run for reelection.

So not only is Congressman Kanjorski touting his vote to waste nearly a trillion dollars and using taxpayer funds to put out a campaign mailer, he has shown little interest in attending meeting designed to track how our taxpayer dollars are being spent.

First of all, knowing Congressman Kanjorski’s track record of being a wasteful spender, why did Pennsylvania’s Democratic congressional delegation appoint him to this panel? Clearly their appointment of Congressman Kanjorski, a man who has referred to our tax dollars as free money, shows that congressional Democrats were not taking this panel seriously.

Honestly, asking Paul Kanjorski to make sure our tax dollars are being spent wisely is like asking John Dillinger to keep an eye on the bank safe. Paul Kanjorski has never cared about taxpayers’ money and his failure to even show up to these meetings prove that some things never change.

Proving that Kanjorski is more interested in D.C. than his district is the recent news that he could only manage to secure donations from four donors inside his district. To explain away the lack of support for his campaign at home, Kanjorski’s spokesman blamed the district’s poor economic standing. Hello? Does anyone think that the district might be worse off because of Kanjorski’s awful leadership and a stimulus that did nothing to help the people?

Congressman Paul Kanjorski is a prime example of everything that is wrong with Washington, the Democratic Party and why so many Pennsylvanians are fed up with self-serving politicians who continue to waste our tax dollars.

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February 25, 2010 at 2:09 pm

--Michael Barley

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  1. Ed Mitchell

    Feb 25th, 2010

    More negative smear rhetoric from the state GOP party. And, as usual, it’s inaccurate. To suggest that the Congressman doesn’t care about monitoring stimulus spending is baloney. The congressman or a staff representative has participated in every meeting of the commission. The sessions often conflicted with events on the Congressman’s schedule, like voting on the floor of the House for his constituents or his subcommittee meetings. When you’re out of power, like the Republicans, you don’t worry about earning your pay. As our opponent, Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta, who is always out campaigning during the workday, knows. The Republicans are always wrong.

    Ed Mitchell
    Campaign spokesman for Paul Kanjorski

  2. The Scranton Guardian

    Feb 25th, 2010

    Ed Mitchell also used to list former Luzerne County Judge Michael T. Conahan as a client on his website, which even included a big picture.

    Mitchell even listed him as a client after a year after he was indicted in the ‘Kids for Cash” scandal which is considered to be the worst judicial scandal in American history.

  3. Adam

    Feb 26th, 2010

    Typical GOP tactic: to make an arguement, don’t prove your point, just say it over and over and over. This entire article is based on a false assumption that the stimulus hasn’t helped anyone. Tell that to the road crews working on the projects it funded, or the owners of the small businesses that those road crews can now patronize.

    Or better yet, tell that to the taxpayers! One Third of the stimulus were tax cuts for middle class Americans. My paycheck went up $20 after it was passed. Also, without the stimulus’ aid to states, PA would have been forced to raise income taxes or cut education funding, which would have forced School Districts to charge higher property taxes.

    Mr. Barley and the Republicans’ non-stop slamming of the tax cuts along with the spending in the stimulus bill is just another example of the GOP being against a GOP idea if it comes out of Barack Obama’s mouth. (See: insurance exchange, entitlements commission)

  4. Selected House Democrats Who May Be Swamped By The Coming Tidal Wave « Lawrence Person's BattleSwarm Blog

    Oct 7th, 2010

    [...] TARP. Voted in favor of the Stimulus, but evidently decided oversight was so unimportant that he that he only attended three of the ten Pennsylvania Stimulus Oversight Board meetings. Has a reputation as a big spender: “Asking Paul Kanjorski to make sure our tax dollars are [...]

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