StopLouBarletta.com

Mayor Lou Barletta, the popular mayor of Hazleton, PA, has built up quite a fan base over the past few years. Due in large part to his “Illegal Immigration Relief Act”, which was one of the harshest and most extreme pieces of immigration legislation ever proposed in this country, Barletta became, for a time, the poster boy for tough immigration enforcement. However, once his beloved little ordinance was ruled unconstitutional by a Federal Judge, and once people got a better look at who Barletta really was, his star lost a lot of its brilliance. However, Barletta’s popularity with one group of people has been steadily on the rise.

Simply put, hate groups and extremists love Mayor Barletta. David Duke, an admitted racist, white supremacist, and former leader of the KKK, endorsed Lou Barletta for Congress in 2008. The Eagle Forum, an extremist right-wing group who is in favor of legislation making it legal for a man to rape his wife and to remove all forms of sexual education from public schools, came out in strong support for Lou Barletta when he ran for Congress. Maybe it’s just me, but if people like those folks are pushing hard for Barletta to become a United States Congressman (presumably because they believe Barletta will advance their beliefs into the halls of government), why in name of all that is decent would any sane person vote for Barletta?

Time and again, Barletta has said that he is not a racist and is only opposed to illegal immigration, not legal immigration. However, just recently, Mayor Barletta served as a guest speaker at an event hosted by Pat Buchanan. The event was put on by a group who is opposed to all forms of immigration and who believe that the influx of non-whites into this country is ruining our nation. One of the other guest speakers, Peter Brimelow, is an admitted white supremacist, author of several racist books, and spoke at the event of the Republican Party needing to get back to its roots, “white Americans.” These are the types of people that Mayor Barletta is associating himself with, all the while claiming that he isn’t a racist.

The Republican Party catches a lot of heat in the media, and in the minds of many Americans, as being a club for old, rich, white guys. It would seem that Mayor Lou Barletta, if he has his way, would like to make that perception a reality. This is just one more reason, and a very important reason, as to why Lou Barletta should not represent the Republican Party or the American people in the United States Congreess. Lou Barletta should not be elected to any higher office and it’s disgusting that a man like this is even allowed to serve as a mayor in this country.

-Dan Cheek
www.StopLouBarletta.com
StopLouBarletta@gmail.com

So, what’s Mayor Lou Barletta up to these days? Apparently, he’s making new friends. Barletta recently attended and spoke at an anti-immigrant gathering hosted by Pat Buchanan. In addition to Barletta, Peter Brimelow was also a featured guest speaker. For those that don’t know, Brimelow is a self-professed “white nationalist” who also serves as the editor of Vdare.com, a radically right-wing, racist website. At the event, Brimelow gave his usual stump speech about the GOP needing to appeal to it’s real base, white Americans.

So after spending an entire election cycle swearing up and down that he is NOT a racist and NOT opposed to legal immigration, Barletta then goes as serves as a guest speaker at an event that promotes racist views and opposes all forms of immigration. To be fair, Barletta did say that he doesn’t share the beliefs of all of the speakers at the convention, but was there to speak about a topic he feels strongly about. The old saying of, “Don’t judge a man by his words, judge him by his actions,” comes to mind, here. It seems to me that if you are not a racist, you don’t agree to speak at a convention hosted and attended by a bunch of racists. Call me crazy.

The fact that Lou Barletta is still holding public office is why this website remains up and running. It’s clear to me that Barletta has not abandoned his aspirations of obtaining higher political office and, now desperate, is apparently willing to ally himself with racists and right-wing lunatics. As I’ve stated many times on this website, Lou Barletta is NOT someone who deserves to represent constituents at any level. Especially now that he’s associating with admitted racists.

-Dan Cheek
StopLouBarletta.com
StopLouBarletta@gmail.com

PS
Special thanks to Gort for passing along the info about Barletta and his new pals. For more info on this event, and the morons who hosted it, check out the post on his blog.