Free Republic

A national Democratic committee has asked local television stations to stop airing a campaign commercial that attacks U.S. Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski's support of the health care reform law. In a letter dated Friday to the stations, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee lawyers sharply challenge the accuracy of the commercial paid for by the 60 Plus Association, a conservative-leaning group that bought $465,000 in air time on the local stations starting last week. "This advertisement is false, misleading and deceptive," the lawyers wrote. The commercial argues Mr. Kanjorski voted for a $1 trillion health care bill that raises taxes, cuts $500...

U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski defended the 2008 government bailout of failing financial giants as painfully necessary to prevent a complete collapse of the world economy and U.S. political system. Kanjorski, D-11, in a speech Tuesday at Pocono Medical Center sponsored by the Greater Pocono Chamber of Commerce, gave a spirited defense of the bailout and this year's passage of financial regulatory reform he said will prevent future bailouts. Both are emerging as major campaign issues this fall, with Kanjorski's Republican opponent Lou Barletta calling the bailout a waste of taxpayer money at the expense of ordinary people. Kanjorski, a Democrat...

As he sought re-election two years ago, Democratic U.S. Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski acted as if he had two opponents. One was the Republican on the ballot, Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta. The other was President George W. Bush, who had turned as unpopular among voters as any president ever. Many television commercials aired by the Nanticoke Democrat and a national Democratic committee strapped Barletta to Bush. "They're like two peas in a pod, Lou Barletta and George Bush," speakers in a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee attack commercial said. This year, the unpopular leader of the free world is President Barack...

ASHLEY – U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski Thursday unveiled a plan to lure to Luzerne County a training facility planned by the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. General Services Administration. Called the Foreign Affairs Security Training Center, the facility would train about 10,000 diplomatic security trainees annually and would be funded with some $70 million under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. An Earth Conservancy site in Conyngham Township is receiving serious attention as the location for the center, Kanjorski said. The organization owns two adjacent parcels, one 2,300 acres and the other 1,100 acres. Kanjorski said he wanted...

U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-11, was in Old Forge on Friday to mark the 10th anniversary of a small-business lending program. But his mention of a hybrid automobile manufacturer considering Northeast Pennsylvania had the crowd buzzing like an electric motor. The automaker, which was not named, is looking for a home for its national headquarters and factory and would employ 1,000 to start and 4,000 when fully operational, he said. "They came to us," the Nanticoke Democrat said, expounding on reasons he is optimistic for the area's economy. Mr. Kanjorski did not name the company, and it may be too...

HAZLETON – Responding to criticism from his political opponent, U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski on Tuesday said his focus is on jobs and the economy, not “politicizing football.” Kanjorski, D-Nanticoke, responded to Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta’s criticism for not supporting Penn State football coach Joe Paterno’s nomination for the Presidential Medal of Freedom – the highest national award that can be given to a civilian. Paterno, 83, was nominated by 5th Congressional District U.S. Rep. Glenn Thompson, a Republican who represents Centre County including State College, and 17 other members of the Pennsylvania congressional delegation. The nomination letter was sent to...

Lou Barletta has called on U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski to return campaign donations from embattled U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel of New York. Barletta, the Republican mayor of Hazleton, is challenging the 13-term Democrat in the race for the 11th Congressional District seat. Rangel, 80, a 40-year House veteran and dean of the New York congressional delegation, may face serious charges from a House ethics panel. The House Ethics Committee announced Thursday that Rangel broke unspecified congressional rules. The Associated Press reported that the secretive ethics panel did not disclose the specific violations Rangel may have committed. The AP report said...

Kanjorski $1 million behind where he was in 2008; 26-year incumbent only had 17 in-district donors July 16th Campaign finance reports filed with the Federal Election Committee (FEC) Thursday showed that Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta raised more money in the second quarter and on the July report than 26-year incumbent Paul Kanjorski, his opponent. The same reports showed Kanjorski’s campaign was only able to get 17 donations (totaling $5,300) from people who live in the 11th Congressional District. Lou Barletta was the only challenger in Pennsylvania to out-raise an incumbent in the second quarter and on the July report. (http://www.politicspa.com/politicspa-second-quarter-fundraising-cheat-sheet/13324/)...

VP Biden's bullish remarks--that $862B stimulus created or saved some 3.6M jobs--are part of a WH push to convince deeply skeptical voters that the economy is on a comeback.......Repubs question the validity of the numbers.

A Colorado-based solar panel manufacturer for which the nephew of U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-11, Nanticoke, is vice president of marketing has received a $400 million loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy. The loan commitment to Abound Solar Manufacturing - announced by President Barack Obama during his July 3 weekly radio address - is to increase solar panel production at an existing plant in Colorado and build a second plant in Indiana that will create more than 1,200 jobs, a company statement said. Part of the management team of Abound Solar is the Nanticoke Democrat's nephew, Russell Kanjorski....

U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski is being criticized again for comments he made, this time on a local radio show, but his campaign fired back on Thursday. Last week the 13-term Democrat from Nanticoke was criticized and attacked for his statements about minorities and “defective” people. On Thursday, while appearing as a guest on WILK Radio’s “Webster and Nancy Show,” Kanjorski was asked if he was going to hold any public town hall meetings with his constituents. “We will do everything we can to meet with people, but I’m not going to set myself up for, you know, nuts to hit...

A Democratic lawmaker said Thursday he does not want to encounter any "nuts" at town hall meetings with constituents. Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D-Pa.) made his comments as lawmakers are heading home for the July 4 recess. TimesLeader.com reported: On Thursday, while appearing as a guest on WILK Radio’s “Webster and Nancy Show,” Kanjorski was asked if he was going to hold any public town hall meetings with his constituents.

Today’s plunge in the U.S. financial markets is a cause of concern for a lot of people – but according to Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-Pa., we haven’t seen anything yet if congressional Democrats don’t get their way. Kanjorski was asked if by CNBC’s “Power Lunch” co-host Tyler Mathisen if financial regulation relied too much on regulators themselves and not the power of law, which Congress has the authority to enact. Kanjorski said he would have preferred a tougher bill. However, call it political expediency, especially as financial regulation legislation has an uncertain fate, but Kanjorski warned if Congress didn’t pass...

U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski's signature legislative accomplishment — financial regulatory reform — has been overshadowed by his controversial comments Wednesday about "defective" people. His 11th District Republican opponent, Hazleton Mayor and anti-illegal-immigrant activist Lou Barletta, seized on Kanjorski's remarks as an insult to minorities and demanded an apology. Kanjorski says he merely explained how opponents of a reform provision to help unemployed people make mortgage payments falsely characterized Pennsylvanians the program helped in the past. "We're giving relief to people that I deal with in my office every day now, unfortunately, that because of the longevity of this recession, these...

Several members of Congress came to the defense of U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski Friday after he was taken to task for remarks he made during a committee hearing in Washington, D.C. Kanjorski’s challenger, Republican Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta, issued a press release Thursday criticizing the congressman for making what Barletta termed “insensitive” remarks directed toward minorities. Congressman Chaka Fattah, a Democrat and author of the mortgage relief provisions in the Wall Street reform act, issued a release supporting Kanjorski, and later in the day five members of Congress – all minorities like Fattah – sent a letter to the House...

During a recent meeting on financial reform, one congressman insinuated that minorities are not "average, good American people" and said he was not fighting for people that aren’t responsible, that don’t know what the hell they’re doing or don't care what they're doing." Must have been one of those awful Republicans, right? Nope, it was Representative Paul Kanjorski (D-Pennsylvania).

VIDEO HERE.

Already locked in a tight re-election race, Pennsylvania Democratic Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski did not help his chances with comments Wednesday implying minorities are not "good American people." "We're giving relief to people that I deal with in my office every day now, unfortunately," Mr. Kanjorski said during deliberations Wednesday between House and Senate negotiators over the pending financial reform bill. "Because of the longevity of this recession, these are people — and they're not minorities and they're not defective and they're not all the things you'd like to insinuate that these programs are about — these are average, good...

GOP candidate for Pennsylvania's 11th Congressional district Lou Barletta claims that Democratic Congressman Paul Kanjorski is afraid to meet with his constituents. He did so in a press release which is published in its entirety below. Kanjorski responded saying that Barletta should stick to the real issues of the campaign, such as job creation. Barletta is seeking to oust Paul Kanjorski, who is seeking election to a fourteenth term in Congress from Pennsylvania's 11th Congressional district. The 11th contains all of Carbon, Columbia, and Monroe Counties. It also encompasses parts of Lackawanna and Luzerne Counties, including the cities of Scranton,...

U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski held a news conference recently to talk about a federal money for water system improvements at local industrial parks but also touted another resource that he believes should be developed. "We have to have protection and clarity of our water and we have to have the value of the resource of natural gas. Together those two resources can be most prosperous for Northeastern Pennsylvania," Kanjorski, D-11, said. The congressman offered some unsolicited advice to property owners in the Hazleton area: Don't sell property without reserving gas and oil rights. "You'll be very, very sorry if you...