If You Support Lou Barletta…
Lou Barletta is running for Congress again. And, after the departure of Chris Paige from the race, Barletta is the lone Republican candidate and will be representing the party in the November general election. As a Republican, I think this is horrible. Lou Barletta is, quite possibly, the worst political candidate currently on any ticket in any race in any part of the country. Allow me to explain why I feel this way.
If you support Lou Barletta for Congress…
- You support massive tax increases. Yup. Because if Lou Barletta is about anything, he’s about raising taxes. And not just by a little or from time to time. Barletta likes raising taxes so much (it’s like a hobby of his), that he’s actually gone to court to seek permission to raise taxes above the legal limit. If you live in Hazleton, you know all about this. Because of Barletta, the city of Hazleton enjoys one of the most oppressive tax rates in the state.
- You support bailouts. Lou Barletta loves these things. After raiding the Hazleton Pension Fund, illegally, Barletta was ordered to pay it back. Problem was…he couldn’t. Because he’d already spent that money. So, Barletta did what any good fiscal conservative Republican would do. He went screaming and crying to the State legislature and demanded that they give the city a bailout. Instead, they simply changed the law to make what Barletta originally did legal, so the sad little mayor wouldn’t have to pay any of that money back.
- You support convicted drug dealers. Or, more accurately, convicted drug dealers support you. Lou Barletta gets a lot of money from the DeAngelo brothers, a pair of convicted heroine dealers who now operate one of the biggest businesses in Hazleton. When I first heard this, I laughed because I always said, “You’d have to be on drugs to support Lou Barletta.” I’ll probably get sued if I continue with where I was going with that, so I’ll stop here.
- You support cutting police forces. As mayor of Hazleton, one of Lou Barletta’s first acts was to slash the Hazleton Police force in half. He did this to save money. However, it didn’t really save any money. Crime rates increased and Barletta tried to blame that on some imaginary “illegal immigration crime wave.”
- You support stupidity. Lou Barletta, as mayor of Hazleton, has managed to screw that city into the dirt. Hazleton is now teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. Lou Barletta’s answer to this is to sell the Hazleton Water Authority to the highest bidder. When this fails to fix things, maybe he’ll try to sell some bridges or something.
- You support a loser. This is Lou Barletta’s third try at running for Congress. In two previous, consecutive elections, running against the same opponent (Rep. Paul Kanjorski), Barletta has come up short. His campaigns (all of them) have struggled to raise cash and he’s flopped around the campaign trail, embarrassing himself, his supporters, and the Republican Party. If you like losing, frequently and on a regular basis, please put a LOU sign in your front yard to show your support for losers and losing.
Over the past two years, I’ve laid out my case as to why I think Lou Barletta should not be elected to Congress. So far, the majority of the voters out there agree with me. If you look at the state of affairs in the city of Hazleton and can honestly say, “Boy! I wish the whole damn Congressional district was run like that!”, then you should probably send Lou Barletta all of your money (he needs it) and vote for him in November. But if you have any common sense, you’ll realize that Mayor Lou Barletta should not be elected to the US Congress.
-Dan Cheek
www.StopLouBarletta.com
StopLouBarletta@gmail.com
