StopLouBarletta.com

While Mayor Lou Barletta’s Congressional Campaign continues to do a whole lot of nothing, Chris Paige is continuing to try and take the fight to Barletta.  From today until Sunday, Chris Paige and volunteers from his campaign will be staffing booths at the Columbia and Steamtown Malls.  They’ll be there, collecting signatures to get Paige on the ballot, answering voter questions, and (hopefully) talking poorly about Mayor Barletta.

As a Republican, I can’t think of a worse candidate to represent the Party than Lou Barletta.  He has proven, in multiple campaigns, unable to raise campaign money or to run a competitive operation.  As a mayor, he has ruined the city of Hazleton, bringing it to the point of financial collapse.  The thought of this man representing anyone in any higher office is a frightening thought, indeed.  This is why I feel that having Chris Paige as a challenger to Lou Barletta in the Republican Primary is such a good thing.

The Republican voters deserve to have a choice.  Barletta has walked into the Republican nomination twice before, and watching his campaign was like watching a toddler beat his toys on the floor.  His fund raising operation was a joke.  He failed to articulate any clear positions on important issues.  His campaign manager, Vince Galko, has screwed up every election he’s ever been a part of.  And now on his third attempt at running for Congress, Lou Barletta shows no signs of learning from his past mistakes.

So at some point this week, stop by either the Columbia or Steamtown Malls and learn more about Chris Paige and his campaign.  If you’re so inclined, sign his petition to get him on the ballot.  Both the Republican Party and the voters of the 11th Congressional District deserve to have competitive political candidates.  Lou Barletta is not one of those candidates.  He never was and it appears he never will be.  It’s time to move on.  Lou Barletta does not deserve to be elected to the United States Congress.

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

Chris Paige, who is the Republican challenger to Mayor Barletta in the 11th Congressional District Primary, has announced on his blog that he is taking the fight right to Barletta’s power base of Hazleton, PA.  Paige is holding a Townhall style meeting at the Hazleton Elks Lodge this Thursday at 6pm.  At the event, Paige plans on discussing Mayor Barletta’s plan to sell-off the Hazleton Water Authority.  Paige says he will also take questions from the audience.  If Paige’s plan was to fire a shot across Barletta’s bow, this should accomplish that nicely.

Adding to the drama, Paige acknowledges that he has heard that Lou Barletta is less than pleased with this event, due to both the location and the topic.  As a response, Paige, in a follow up blog post, invites the mayor to join him at the event.  If Barletta took Chris Paige up on the offer, what results could be an impromptu debate.  Or an amateur cage fight.  More than likely, though, Barletta will keep his distance.  I doubt that he would risk having to defend his positions in front of a live audience of voters, even if it is on his home turf.  And even if Barletta was willing to risk it, his political advisers would probably talk him out of it.

Personally, I think this is a good idea on the part of Chris Paige.  Whomever wins the Republican nomination will be (potentially) taking on one of the most senior incumbent Democrats, in Rep. Paul Kanjorski.  This will be a daunting task, as Kanjorski is well armed with cash and isn’t afraid to spend early and often, as he proved in his last election when he began running television ads in the Summer, months before the election.  Republican voters need to send someone who isn’t afraid to engage in open political warfare with an opponent, and with this Townhall Meeting in Hazleton and the challenge to Lou Barletta, Chris Paige is starting to prove that he is willing to do that.

Lou Barletta has ran against Paul Kanjorski twice before and has come up short both times.  Additionally, Barletta has built up huge amounts of campaign debt, has run the city of Hazlton into the dirt and to the brink of bankruptcy.  Lou Barletta has proven, repeatedly, that he is not up to the task of carrying the Republican banner to the halls of the US Congress.  It is time to move on and find someone else who is up to the challenge.  Chris Paige may very well be that candidate.

See also: Chris Paige on “Lou Barletta’s Hazleton” and Who is Chris Paige?

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

With Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta still up in the air about whether he will run for Congress or not, Chris Paige has written an op-ed over at Pa2010.com explaining just how scary America would be if Mayor Barletta were given the opportunity to make the rules.  In an article titled “Lou Barletta’s Hazleton”, Paige makes the argument that Barletta’s vision of government is too scary to be allowed to come to fruition.  Barletta’s vision of America, Paige argues, is horribly un-American.

To quote from the article (full version can be found HERE)….

“Imagine living in a country where you can’t rent an apartment without presenting your identity papers to a government official.

Imagine living in a country where you could lose your business—your life’s work, your family’s sole means of support, and your life savings—just because one of your employees was unable to produce his or her identity papers on demand.

Imagine living in a country where citizens are encouraged to report their friends and neighbors to the government whenever they suspect they might have violated the government’s constantly-changing rules on identity papers.

Sounds like North Korea or some other police state, no? In fact, I’m describing Hazleton—or at least, Hazleton as it would have been if the federal courts had not struck down its anti-immigration laws pushed by my potential primary opponent, Mayor Lou Barletta.”

I don’t know if Lou Barletta will run for Congress again or not.  It’s possible that Barletta doesn’t even know if he’ll run again.  However, if Mayor Barletta does decide to make a third go of it, I think it’s important to keep Mr. Paige’s argument in mind.  It’s bad enough that Lou Barletta is in a position to run an entire city into the ground, as he has with Hazleton.  Lou Barletta should not be elected to the United States Congress.

See also: Lou Barletta’s Vision of America and Steve Corbett on Lou Barletta

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

It seems that as everyone is focused on Lou Barletta, and wondering if the Hazleton mayor will make his third attempt at running for Congress, the addition of Chris Paige to the mix has gone largely unnoticed. Paige has declared his candidacy in the race to win a seat in the US House of Representatives, representing PA’s 11th Congressional District. To date, Chris Paige is the only Republican officially in the race, though Mayor Barletta keeps hinting that he may yet jump into the mix, as well.

Personally, I’m thrilled to see a Republican enter the race who isn’t Lou Barletta.  As I’ve said many, many times on this website, I don’t think Barletta is fit to represent either the Republican Party or the constituents of the 11th Congressional District.  I find the fact that Chris Paige has entered the race and, to date, Lou Barletta has not encouraging.  Hopefully, it’s a sign that Barletta has finally realized he hasn’t got a shot in Hell at winning this thing and is ready to let someone else give it a go.  Hopefully.

So who is Chris Paige?  From his official biography on his website:

Today, Chris is an attorney and small business owner.  Several years ago, Chris co-founded Paige Capital Management, LLC, which is the investment manager for two hedge funds, Paige Opportunity Partners and Paige Opportunity International.  Hedge funds are similar to mutual funds, except that hedge funds may only accept investments from “qualified investors” while mutual funds, generally speaking, may accept investments from anyone.  As a small business owner, Chris has experienced the recession first-hand, and he knows how difficult and important it is to create more jobs and new businesses.  As an attorney, Chris can transform that understanding into law.

In the community, Chris is a member of Rotary and a graduate of Leadership Pocono.  He serves on the Board of Directors for several local charities, which focus on providing career education and internship opportunities to local youth.  For the past few years, he has – quite literally – played Santa for local disadvantaged children who might not otherwise receive any toys.  Previously, he was a Board member of the Union Settlement Association, which provides educational, healthcare and social services to the residents of East Harlem.

If Paige is successful in winning the Republican nomination, he will be taking on either long-time incumbent Rep. Paul Kanjorski or Democratic challenger Corey O’Brien.  While Kanjorski has a huge financial advantage over everyone, he is also considered one of the most vulnerable Congressional Democrats in the country, so he may need all that money just to hang on to the Democratic nomination.  If Chris Paige can mount a serious campaign, this race could become one of the most interesting in the nation, regardless of who wins the Democratic primary.

Paige has established his official website, www.ChrisPaigeForCongress.com, where he provides information on his biography, his views, and his campaign.  What I already like about Paige is that he is actually talking about real life issues that affect voters (the economy, unemployment, and health care).  This is a marked improvement over Lou Barletta, who notoriously refused to take a position on any issue of substance.  Additionally, Chris Paige has established both a Facebook and Twitter account, where, according to his webpage, he wants to hold a conversation with others.  Again, this seems to be an improvement over Lou Barletta, who’s idea of a “conversation” was to pound a podium and rant about imaginary illegal immigrant crime waves.

I think Chris Paige has lots of potential and I am eagerly watching his campaign.  As a Republican, I am thrilled to see someone enter this race who has a legitimate shot at taking back a seat from a Democrat.  More importantly, though, I am thrilled to see a candidate who isn’t going to embarrass both the Republican Party and the people of Northeastern Pennsylvania as he flops around the national stage like an idiot.  So far, the best thing about Chris Paige is that he isn’t Lou Barletta and that, in my mind, makes him a very strong Republican candidate.

See also: Will Lou Barletta Run?

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