Dent, Callahan agree on cap-and-trade

There was an almost freak occurrence in the 15th Congressional District this week: bitter rivals Charlie Dent and John Callahan found something on which they agree.

The common ground emerged after Dent, the incumbent Republican, challenged Callahan, the Bethlehem mayor and White House recruit, to take a stance on the cap-and-trade energy legislation that has passed the House but stalled in the Senate. Dent voted against the bill last year, and in response to the challenge, Callahan campaign manager Justin Schall said his candidate would have voted against the measure had he been in Washington.

“The bill had a lot of benefits… [such as] investing in renewable energy,” Schall told pa2010.com. “But in this economy, cap-and-trade would just be too much.

“We can’t risk any job loss,” he added.

The comments from the Callahan camp came just hours after Dent’s campaign said its opponent “deserves the ‘lump of coal’ award for refusing to discuss America’s energy policy.” Both candidates have pushed their opponents to take stands on live legislation in recent months. Callahan has been particular persistent in pushing Dent to say how he’ll vote when financial reform legislation comes back before the House (Dent voted against it the first time, but hasn’t said how he’ll vote the second time around).

Whether Callahan’s newly-stated position will neutralize the issue in the Lehigh Valley race remains to be seen. Dent’s campaign did not immediately return messages seeking comment Monday.

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