Ed Mitchell Admits Paying Camerman to Follow Lou Barletta

But does the story end there.

My peer, Gort, once requested in his blog that if anyone knew Lou Barletta's campaign whereabouts let him know and he would post it. I was almost tempted to answer that request from May 21, 2008. However, circumstances known to me prevented releasing information ahead of time.

Lou Barletta was confronted by at least five camera-toting persons during this election at any given time at his campaign office, City Hall, Funfest, Scranton City Council, various speaking engagements like the American Legion in Wilkes Barre, and fundraisers including one at Damon's in Hazleton(I will post a special story on this one) plus a private, invitation only affair at the Stegmaier Manson.

It appears Ed Mitchell was so desparate in his quest to get Paul Kanjorski re-elected that he allowed and permitted himself to transcend levels lower than a snake. His first political commercial proffered Paul was a family man with "middle class values". Ed didn't waste any time to destroy the Barletta family, the DeAngelo famly, and all the friends and employees involved with subsequent commercials. Ed, those are not the values my parents taught me. The first question to Ed Mitchell...Did Paul know you paid someone to harass, videotape, and follow Lou Barlettta?

I will publicly name the photographers that went after Lou because I have photographs of them to back me up. The first person to approach Lou with a camcorder was identified as Mike Quinn, a bartender at The Bog in Scranton. You can see his work as LoserLou2008 on Youtube.com. Unfortunately for Mike an employee of Lou's campaign readily recognized him when the campaign captured pictures of him. There's a CIA saying. Don't worry about who you are watching, worry about who is watching you.

Ed Mitchell made the claim that these people were only sent to fundraisers. As you will see videographers showed up at official City Hall business which had nothing to do with the campaign.

If you visit Mike's Youtube page you will see a girl who I refer to as Lucy Lu. She claimed to be an aspiring journalism student but, wow, did she have her facts screwed up. You can read a post on the Youtube site that expalins the meaning of that sentence. She was the second to confront Lou in her failed attempt to get a "gotcha" moment. It was curious that both of them throughout the rest of the campaign remained in obscurity.

One young man showed up at Scranton City Hall to videotape Lou during a speaking engagement. The campaign has pictures of him but were unable to identify the videographer.


The next person, who is featured in the Times Leader story, was Joseph Van Wie, part owner of Agapic Films. Ironically the company's first film was titled "Gentleman Jack." Mr. Van Wie filled out a volunteer card and asked for a yard sign as part of his infiltration into the Barletta campaign. Watergate comes to mind.

At the Stegmaier event Joe was noticed hiding in some bushes. Campaign personnel brought Lou's car around the back of the mansion to try to avoid him. When Joe noticed Lou was leaving by a different route he jumped out of the bushes and proceeded to chase after Lou's car. He shouted "Mayor, Do you think you are sexy?" I would say not Joe's brightest moment in filming.

One late afternoon Lou and Vince Galko, his campaign manager, were driving in Scranton coming from an event when they noticed Van Wie sitting at the counter of a local eatery. He spotted the car outside the window and pretended he was videtaping them with his hands. It was a light-hearted moment for both as each took it in stride. Lou and Vince both smiled and laughed at Joe's humor. Joseph Van Wie commented to Vince at one point in the campaign that his candidate was good because he was not finding the "gotcha" moment he NEEDED.

Here are two pictures from Funfest 2008 in Hazleton showing Joe Wie following Lou. Joe is seen at the immediate left of Lou's left shoulder wearing the yellow hat. Take notice that Joe was following Lou at the Funfest event, yet another example of Lou acting in his official capacity of Mayor of Hazleton. These pictures do not corroborate Ed Mitchell's story. At the end of this piece I am posting more pictures so the reader can get a real flavor for Ed Mitchell's lies.










If you go to Open Secrets at this link you will see a campaign expenditure for AGAPIC Films for $9,420.00. Let's hold Paul's feet to the fire. Paul, why would you let your media guy stoop to such a distasteful tactic? Lou's wife was with him at times. If you weren't a part of this I believe it is time you come out and say so. Otherwise, to me, you were as complicit as all get out. How is this episode going to play out among your peers in Washington? Was this tactic their suggestion? Did Nancy Pelosi grant permission for a tracker to be deceiving including wearing the opponents campaign button? Or was Rahm Emanuel the strategist?

In the next edition I will write about Accountability Moments, Michael Stark, and his visit to Damon's restaurant after coming all the way from Virginia.

Here are the pics.