Mayor Lou Barletta Lies About Supporting Police Officers
Yesterday, Mayor Lou Barletta released a statement detailing a meeting he had with the Pennsylvania State Troopers Association. Apparently, Mayor Barletta is attempting to convince the State Police, and the general public, that he is both a friend to police and serious about fighting crime. It’s a shame that Lou Barletta’s record indicates otherwise.
When he first took office as mayor of Hazleton, one of the very first things Mr. Barletta did was to cut the police force in half. It surprised no one then, except for Lou Barletta, when Hazleton’s crime rate began to increase. Not man enough to take ownership for the problem he helped create, Mr. Barletta decided instead to create a scapegoat. He blamed the increased crime on illegal immigrants, calling it a “crime wave” that was “destroying Hazleton’s quality of life, draining the city budget, and jeopardizing the safety of city police officers.”
Again, all of this was a lie. According to data produced by Hazleton’s own police department, illegal immigrants accounted for less than one percent of all crimes committed in Hazleton during Mr. Barletta’s term as mayor. Additionally, when Mr. Barletta is referring to the drain on Hazleton’s budget, he is probably referring to the several thousands of dollars of city money he spent trying to defend his Illegal Immigration Relief Act in Federal court after it was challenged. Mr. Barletta failed in that effort, miserably, and his beloved law was deemed unconstitutional.
Finally, as for the safety of Hazleton’s police force, if Mayor Barletta was actually serious about helping them do their jobs, he wouldn’t have cut their numbers in half. The fact of the matter is, however, that Mayor Lou Barletta could care less about police officers or their safety. His record proves it. Time and again, Lou Barletta has shown that he can not be trusted, that he is a habitual liar, and that he is a failed and ineffectual leader. Lou Barletta does not deserve to be elected to the United States Congress.
-Dan Cheek
www.StopLouBarletta.com
StopLouBarletta@gmail.com
June 5th, 2008 at 9:25 am
Ha! The only liar here is old Danny Boy. Lying about being a republican.
Remember the offer is open, get in on the ground floor and we may give you your own spot…..later
http://nepalibwatch.com/phpbb/index.php
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July 7th, 2009 at 9:19 am
[...] worse. Barletta, as mayor, has been a disaster. One of Barletta’s first acts as mayor was to cut the Hazleton Police force in half. Barletta then blamed the resulting rise in crime on an “illegal immigrant crime wave”, [...]