: Washington Isn’t Listening, Barletta Contends

SCRANTON – Republican Lou Barletta held his fifth town hall meeting in the 11th Congressional District on Wednesday night at the Clarion Hotel by taking aim at Democratic incumbent Paul Kanjorski.

click image to enlargeLou Barletta tells supporters at a town hall meeting Wednesday in the Clarion Hotel in Scranton he would cooperate if elected.

JASON RIEDMILLER/FOR THE TIMES LEADER

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Times Leader Photo StoreIt was his final town hall before Tuesday’s election, a battle to unseat the 13-term incumbent from Nanticoke.

During the hour-long event, Barletta answered questions about taxes, the economy, Social Security, abortion, the environment, Marcellus Shale gas drilling, term limits and health care.

He opened by criticizing Kanjorski, D-Nanticoke, for not attending the meeting with him, connecting his opponent to a government that he feels has not listening to the needs of the people.

“I feel it’s very, very important to stay in touch with the people that we’re going to represent. One of the issues I’ve been hearing about on top of many others is that people feel that their voices are not being heard in Washington. The American people feel that they have been disconnected from Washington,” Barletta said.

While he said he would “like to go to Washington and fire Nancy Pelosi,” the Democratic speaker of the House, he said he was above partisan politics and would not be afraid to buck his own party on issues on which he disagreed with it.

When asked about President Barack Obama, Barletta said that everyone should want their president to succeed and he pledged to work with Democrats and fellow Republicans to improve the government.

“I’m certainly not going there with an ax to grind,” the Hazleton mayor said.

Barletta said that he hopes to defund the health care bill, which he feels was pushed on the American people without them understanding it fully. He said he is for reform, but in smaller, incremental doses, and added that no one should be denied care because of pre-existing conditions.

He touted his small-business experience and agreed with a citizen who said that business taxes are too high, adding that high taxes are the main reason so many jobs have left America.

To improve the economy, he said he would cut corporate taxes by 25 percent and implement research and development tax credits and capital equipment tax credits.

By making “the tax structure more competitive,” he said, both big and small businesses would benefit.

When asked about Social Security, Barletta, 54, said is was “unforgivable” that senior citizens have not been given a cost-of-living increase two years in a row, yet “Washington found a way to bail out their friends and donors and contributors on Wall Street.”

He said he would not vote to privatize Social Security.

The most common concern of the evening was the economy, and Barletta stressed that change is needed in Washington, not in America, where he believes people are looking for jobs and just not finding them.

He said the budget must be studied line item by line item and wasteful spending must be stopped.

“I see Americans saying, ‘Enough. I don’t care who you are. I don’t care what party you belong to. If we elect you, you better go to Washington and straighten this mess out.’ And that’s what I’m asking for the chance to do.”

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