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Lou Barletta to hold town hall meetings in each county of district

By LOU BARLETTA FOR CONGRESS

Hazleton, PA – Congressional candidate Lou Barletta today sent a letter to Congressman Paul Kanjorski informing the 26-year incumbent that he will hold a town hall meeting in each of the five counties of the 11th Congressional District and inviting the congressman to join him.

“I understand that the leadership of the U.S. House of Representatives is contemplating adjourning three weeks early so members can return to their districts and campaign for a full five and a half weeks before Election Day. Therefore, I am sure you can find five hours for the constituents to hear our very clear policy differences,” Lou Barletta wrote. “Once I set these meetings, I will inform your campaign staff. You are then free to join me at any or all of these town hall meetings. Whether or not you attend is your decision. If you have other dates that work better for you, I look forward to your suggestions.”

Tuesday marked the last day of summer – traditionally the time when congressmen and congresswomen hold town hall meetings.

But Kanjorski refused to hold in-person town hall meetings with his constituents. First, Kanjorski said he would not hold face-to-face town hall meetings because he is afraid of “nuts” with cameras who ask “stupid questions.” (WILK News Radio, July 1, 2010).

Less than a week later, on the “Corbett” radio show on WILK, Kanjorski said about town hall meetings, “I have a problem with them. We have had town hall meetings in the past. They don’t… they actually put you through an awful lot of effort and time to put them together and only about, oh, anywhere from 25 or 50 people will show up at a town meeting and you have to blow a half a day or a full day.” (July 7, 2010)

Instead, Kanjorski has been holding telemarketing phone calls paid for by taxpayers. Those calls cost constituents an estimated $25,000 – a figure Kanjorski’s office did not dispute in published reports. Unlike Kanjorski’s “meetings,” Lou Barletta’s town hall meetings will not be paid for by the taxpayers or Wall Street special interest groups.

“The people of the 11th District deserve to hear from their congressman in person and ask him questions, like why he voted for the government takeover of health care and for the devastating energy tax known as cap and trade. The job is called ‘representative,’ so it’s only right that a 26-year incumbent not hide from his constituents and meet them face to face. Since Mr. Kanjorski won’t meet with the people, I will,” Lou Barletta said. “My campaign team is arranging dates, times, and locations, and when those are set, I encourage everyone – including Mr. Kanjorski – to come out so we can talk about the issues, including how we grow our economy and create jobs and cut wasteful spending.”

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September 21, 2010 at 10:24 am

--pa2010.com Staff

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  1. patpacer

    Sep 26th, 2010

    The tax reassessments done in the Corrupt Luzerne County to residents which built this area with their blood & sweat, coupled with the busted judges (cash for kids), and other corrupt elected officials has really put a damper on this area. What I believe the moms and pops around here really need is a pick me up, and know having Arizona’s Sheriff Arpaio speak here is just what the lifelong citizen tax payers here need. This man is so cool, maybe Mr. Barletta’s campaign team could obtain donations to get Sheriff Joe to speak here. Now that is a press release I would love to read. And our little area even made The National Journal today.

    “Meanwhile, new polls show Democratic incumbents to be in grave danger of losing their seats this fall.

    Two new polls, conducted for the Wilkes-Barre Times-Leader, suggest Reps. Paul Kanjorski (D-11) and Chris Carney (D-10) are on the verge of defeat.

    In PA-11, Kanjorski trails Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta (R) 43% to 32%, according a Critical Insights poll conducted Sept. 22-23 of 221 likely voters. The margin of error was +/- 6.6%. And in PA-10, former U.S. Attorney Tom Marino (R) leads Carney 40% to 36%. There, 197 likely voters were polled for a margin of error of +/- 7%. Both Republicans hold leads inside the margin of error, but no Democrat sitting in the 30s at this point is anywhere close to a sure bet this fall.

    Kanjorski’s district is historically Democratic, but Barletta has run solid campaigns against Kanjorski in ’02 and ’08, coming within a few points of victory in ’08 despite Obama’s resounding 58% win here. Kanjorski has attempted to make this race about Barletta’s stewardship of Hazleton, which has some of the highest unemployment rates in the state, but voters are apparently making this a referendum on the incumbent.

    But while Kanjorski has long been at the top of GOP target lists, Carney has been further down on the priority scale. Marino is not a strong candidate, and has come under repeated fire this cycle for his relationship to businessman Louis DeNaples. Marino has taken heat for serving as a reference for DeNaples, a convicted felon, when the businessman was applying for a license to open a casino. The Republican at first hinted that he received permission from his superiors to give the recommendation, but later appeared to step back from those comments after officials suggested no such documentation of permission existed.

    But voters apparently aren’t concerned about the DeNaples-Marino connection. In the poll, 48% say Marino’s relationship to DeNaples is not a concern to them, while 26% say it is. The rest were undecided.

    Carney’s district is heavily Republican, and gave John McCain a 53% to 45% victory in ’08.

    And in Arizona, Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick (D-01) released a month-old poll on Saturday showing a 43% to 39% advantage over dentist Paul Gosar (R). Other GOP polling has shown Gosar in the lead, and Republicans believe Kirkpatrick is a goner. This Lake Research Partners poll — conducted August 26-30 among 500 likely voters — was obviously meant to push back against this argument. But any incumbent sitting at 43% just weeks from the general, running against a relatively unknown challenger, is in grave danger of losing their seats.

    Republicans believe Arizona and Pennsylvania are 2 states where they’ll see a plethora of pickups in November. In Arizona, Republicans believe the immigration issue — and particularly the Obama administration’s push to sue the state for its new immigration law — is galvanizing support against vulnerable Reps. Harry Mitchell (D-05) and Gabrielle Giffords (D-08), along with Kirkpatrick. And in Pennsylvania, where Republicans look very likely to pick up the governorship and Senate seat, 7 House seats are potentially in play.

    If these polls are indicative of other swing districts in these states, then Democrats are indeed in grave danger of losing their House majority this fall.”
    http://hotlineoncall.nationaljournal.com/archives/2010/09/grayson_calls_o.php

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