Gene Stilp To Seek Democratic Nomination in the 11th

Political activist Gene Stilp held a press conference today to announce his intention to seek the Democratic nomination in a run against Congressman Lou Barletta. Here's a link to the Pennlive.com article.

Stilp, who has gained notoriety in Pennsylvania for his battles against utillities, legislative pay raises, is announcing his intent to get into the race against Republican U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta in a Capitol news conference.

The recent redrawing of congressional boundaries extended Barletta's district into much of Dauphin and Cumberland counties as well as souteastern Perry County.

Brad Bumsted of the Pittsburgh Tribune Review wrote this opinion piece on Gene Stilp on January 8,2006.   He's fun-loving and eccentric.  Next.

Is Bill Vinsko Telling The Truth?

In this segment of "You Be The Judge" Bill Vinsko tells the public that his campaign money came from individuals, not PAC money like other candidates.



How does he explain this picture?

I guess every profession has one.

New Faith And Freedom Commercial

The Faith And Freedom Coalition created the following radio commercial supporting the campaign of Lou Barletta. Here is information from their website.

Speaking of Ralph Reed: His Faith and Freedom Coalition is focused on getting out the vote. They’re spending $500,000 on a radio ad campaign in eighteen House and Senate races. They’re some added help for Sharron Angle, Ken Buck, and Dino Rossi. And they’re targeting Ciro Rodriguez in Texas, Paul Kanjorski in Pennsylvania, Jerry McNerney and Loretta Sanchez in California, Tom Perriello in Virginia, Sanford Bishop and Jim Marshall in Georgia, John Spratt in South Carolina, John Boccieri in Ohio, Allen Boyd and Ron Klein in Florida, John Salazar in Colorado, Leonard Boswell in Iowa, and Lincoln Davis in Tennessee. FFC is also distributing 16 million voter guides, eight million voter-education mailings, and making over ten million phone calls.

Clinton Stumping For Kanjorski

It's old news that Bill Clinton came into Nanticoke yesterday to stump for Paul Kanjorski.

A little observation about Clinton by John Baer today. The article is discussing voting trends in Pennsylvania over the years.

In 1994, Clinton was seen as more liberal as president than as a candidate and got hammered over deficits and health-care reform (sound familiar?). Democrats lost 54 House seats, eight Senate seats and control of Congress.

Will history repeat itself?

Democrat Vs. Republican Control Of Congress- Who Really Created The Deficits

A discussion on politics invariably hits the topic of deficits and who was in power during those deficits. Obama and Kanjorski talk about Bush's spiraling deficits. It is time to set the record straight. Look at this chart which can be found at this link. It didn't come as clear as I wanted it to in PowerPoint conversion but the frst column is YEAR, the second Congress Number, next the President, the next column is Senate, and the final column is the House.

As you can see during those Clinton years where everyone feels the country was much better off than during the Bush years the Republicans were in control most of the time in the House and Senate.

Conversely when you look at the Bush years the picture isn't so clear until you look at this chart.

As you can see the deficits under Bush weren't as drastic until his last two years when the Democrats took control of Congress. One could never legitmately make the claim they "spiraled" out of control while he was in office.

Everyone blames Bush when in fact it was the Democrats who caused the deficits. The deficits greatly increase under Obama, Pelosi, and Harry Reid. The rest of that chart are projections. Under the present economic conditions they won't be born out.

It was the Democrats through the guise of wanting "affordable housing" that created the housing crisis and contributed to the economic crash of the present. The Community Reinvestment Act was passed in 1977. Instead of affordable housing it created "unaffordable mortgages".

Kanjorski's rank partisanship fails to recognize that there were more Democratically controlled Congresses during his time in office than Republican. Yet he wants to blame everything on the Republicans.

Is Kanjorski Shooting A Commercial At the Clinton Rally?

Press release from the Lou Barletta For Congress campaign office:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Shawn Kelly, Communications
Monday, October 25, 2010 HQ: (570) 501-8683

Is Kanjorski hurting children’s education for a television commercial shoot?

HAZLETON – In light of published stories that 26-year incumbent Congressman Paul Kanjorski will hold a re-election rally at a public school in Nanticoke on Tuesday, Lou Barletta asked the following question:

“Is Congressman Kanjorski closing school early so he can film a campaign commercial inside a public school? Is Mr. Kanjorski making the parents, grandparents, and guardians of Greater Nanticoke Area alter their daily schedule so he can be filmed with former President Clinton?

"If he is, that’s a shameful waste of a school day and a tremendous inconvenience for the parents, grandparents, and guardians of Greater Nanticoke Area. I would hope Mr. Kanjorski would strongly consider moving his commercial shoot to a location that does not cost students a day of education and does not cost the taxpayers of Greater Nanticoke Area.”:

The question I have in this particular federal race is whether there is an in-kind contribution is a consideration for the use of the school in this event. Federal races have many different rules than state races. I guess it is okay to keep God out of our schools but Bill Clinton is more than welcome.

Kanjorski Cuts Children Education In Nanticoke To Campaign

A developing story coming out of the Barletta campaign.

On Friday afternoon the Nanticoke Area School District sent a paid robo-call
from their Superintendent into the homes of parents with children in the district.

The call alerted them of a political rally for Paul Kanjorski that is to be held at the Nanticoke Jr. Sr. High School on Tuesday afternoon. It also said that the children's education day would be cut short due to Kanjorski's political rally and they would need to make accommodations to get their children.

Here is information that can be found on the Allentown Morning Call website.


I would like very much too attend this rally and see President Clinton. At what time does this event start, and do I nee tickets? Thank you,George Mizzer
Posted By: George Mizzer | Oct 22, 2010 3:48:59 PM

George, here are the details:

The public is invited to attend the rally in Nanticoke. More details are available below and at www.paulkanjorski.com.

• Address: Greater Nanticoke Area High School gymnasium
427 Kosciuszko Street
Nanticoke, PA 18634
• Doors open at 4:00 p.m., line to attend starts at 1:00 p.m.
• No tickets needed for the free event.


Posted By: Colby | Oct 22, 2010 11:21:38 PM



Questions:

1. Why were taxpayer resources used to make this call?

2. Why did the call (paid for by the taxpayers) alert the recipients of a
political rally and not just an early dismissal?

3. Does Paul Kanjorski think it is right to cut a student's education day
short for his own political ambitions?

4. Did Kanjorski think about the inconvenience and hardship his rally would
cause to parents who have to leave work early or pay for extra child care so
he can have his campaign rally?

Guess this proves one point. Bill Clinton never campaigned on family values.  You can't have prayer at a school but you can campaign.  Go figure.

Someone should remind Anthony Perrone, the Superintendent, about the Hatch Act. The Act forbids employees of the federal government, as well as employees of state and municipal governmental bodies and agencies that receive federal funds, from running for office in partisan elections or participating in political campaigning while working.

From the Missouri Attorney General website:

In Fort v. Civil Service Commission of the County of Alameda, 392 P.2d 385 (Cal. 1964) the California Supreme Court ruled invalid a county charter provision that prohibited civil servants taking any part in the political management or affairs of any political campaign or election. The court said at page 389:


"No one can reasonably deny the need to limit some political activities such as the use of official influence to coerce political action, the solicitation of political contributions from fellow employees, and the pursuit of political purposes during those hours that the employee should be discharging the duties of his position.



It is unfair in this case for the Nanticoke School District to force opponents of Paul Kanjorski to lend financial support to the his campaign by use of their Jr./Sr. High School building. I believe it is also illegal for school personnel to release public employees from ordinary duties during the paid working day in order to allow a campaign to be conducted on school property.

The following information was provided to school personnel in California.

District staff and Board members should always bear in mind the potentially serious civil and criminal liability that may result from seemingly harmless actions. There is no “de minimus” level of public spending on a partisan campaign that would be acceptable under the applicable laws and rules. School districts should take steps to make clear to employees that they are not permitted to use any publicly funded, District-owned equipment for any political purposes in connection with the election, including District-issued cell phones, the District e-mail system, District-owned computers (including laptops issued to staff and used outside the office), phones, fax machines, etc. There are rare instances where the line is less than bright. However, a good guide may be that if the District prohibits or even discourages use of such resources for private purposes or conversations, it should definitely forbid any use for partisan campaigning.


The Commonwealth Procurement Code Contains Some General Ethics Guidelines in Commonwealth Agency Procurements.
Section 1103(a) of the Ethics Act similarly generally prohibits the use of government staff, time, equipment, facilities or property for non-governmental purposes -- including business, personal or political purposes. Confidential Opinion, 05-001. See, e.g. Neff, Order 1498; Maduka, Order 1273, Heck, Order 1251, Holt, Order 1153 (business purposes); Moore, Order 1317, Meduka, Order 1277, Sullivan, Order 1245, Dividio, Order 1202 (personal purposes); Habay, Order 1313,Version: August 2010 Pt I Ch 60 – Pg 3 of 17, Order 1030, Rockefeller, Order 1004, Freind, Order 800 (political purposes).

Isn't that what Bonusgate was all about? Look at this Order by the Pennsylvania Ethics Commission against Stephen Freind relative to conducting campaign activity using his state office.

Kanjorski's Desperation

Evidently his campaign isn't going too well.

Stop Kanjorski's Spending Now

Tony Phrillas talks about Out of Control Spending on his blog today.

In the past two years, the Obama Administration and the Democratic-controlled Congress have spent $6.97 trillion, a 21.4% increase in federal spending, according to The Wall Street Journal.

And what do we have to show for the record government spending? Record unemployment, record home foreclosures, record deficits, a record number of Americans collecting food stamps, a record number of Americans living in poverty.

The national debt has risen by $2.7 trillion under Obama, passing $13 trillion ... and will continue to rise under Obama's spending projections.

Stop the madness on Nov. 2 by voting out every Democrat on the ballot.

FiveThirtyEight Forecasts Pennsylvania 11th District

Kanjorski vs. Barletta 538 Forecast New York Times

Projected Election Results

Based on polling, expert forecasts, fundraising, past election returns and other indicators, this is the prediction of how the district will vote on Nov. 2
Barletta 51.8%      Kanjorski 45.5%

Chance Each Candidate Wins The Seat

The chance that each candidate will win based on 100,000 simulations with random variation in the local and national political environment.
Barletta 80.8%     Kanjorski 19.2%

Visit the site and play with the charts.

PA-11 Moved To Leans Republican

The Rothenberg Political Report has changed the rating of Pennsylvania's 11th Congressional District race to "Leans Republican". This race is the third face-off between Lou Barletta and Paul Kanjorski. Cook's Political Report has the race as a Toss Up. For all the seniority touted by Paul Kanjorski he is in the toughest fight of his congressional political career.

On Healthcare Hold The Applause

On health care, hold the applause
By NINA OWCHARENKO AND ROBERT E. MOFFIT - The Heritage Foundation



Last March, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the Obama administration's health-care bill had to become law "so you can find out what is in it." Six months later, we're finding out, all right. And its popularity is flat-lining.

Public opinion - fueled by daily revelations of higher costs, heftier premiums and disruptions in current and future health insurance coverage - is quickly hardening in favor of full-scale repeal. A closer look at how specific groups will be affected shows why:

Businesses: The White House heralds the small-business health-care tax credits, and the taxpayer bailout for retiree coverage, as business boosters. This might impress anyone who doesn't run a business. But business leaders know that disruptive employer mandates; a raft of new taxes on insurance, drugs, medical devices and investment; plus mounds of regulation and IRS paperwork, will hike costs considerably.


Meanwhile, the New York-based Mercer consulting firm reports that 47 percent of employers expect to lose the "grandfathered status" of their health plan next year under new federal rules. So much for that repeated presidential promise of "keeping" the plan you like.

Seniors: The White House team thinks that Andy Griffith can sell their Medicare changes to gullible seniors through television ads. But Medicare's Office of the Actuary projects that the record-breaking payment reductions due to hit hospitals, home health agencies, and nursing homes will make 15 percent of these providers unprofitable and possibly "jeopardize" seniors' access to care.

Payment cuts to Medicare Advantage plans will hit especially hard. These plans' projected 10-year senior enrollment is expected to drop from 14.8 to 7.4 million. By 2017, the average annual per capita cuts for Medicare Advantage enrollees will be about $3,700 - a 27 percent reduction from today's levels. Perhaps Griffith could cut another ad explaining to seniors why this is good news.

Doctors: They lose big time. The law doesn't fix the Medicare physician payment formula, meaning that doctors again face draconian payment cut of 23 percent this December. And with an estimated 18 million more persons enrolled in Medicaid, which pays doctors on average 56 percent of what they'd make in private practice, physicians will see their pay being set even more through government formulas.

Doctors will have to comply with new federal quality and reporting standards or face mandatory reductions in Medicare payments. They can expect more bureaucracy, more rules and regulations, more compliance and reporting requirements. Top it off with more emergency room overcrowding and a shortage of colleagues, and still no relief through medical liability reform. Doctors should sue their lobbyists for malpractice.

States: Washington's micro-management of health care is very unpopular in state capitols. Twenty states have filed suit against the imposition of an unconstitutional individual mandate to buy federally approved insurance, and 13 are suing over the mandatory Medicaid expansion. Already 44 states report that they have exceeded projected Medicaid enrollment and spending targets for this year, but Washington is ordering even higher state spending.

Under Section 1311, the cash-strapped states "shall" set up federally designed health insurance exchanges, and, in so doing, comply with numerous federal rules on their establishment and management. While the Congressional Budget office says the 10-year federal costs for "start up" and related expenses to establish these exchanges is $7 billion, additional costs to the states is unknown. Expect more court challenges.

Taxpayers: President Obama promised he wouldn't raise taxes on middle-class Americans. Supposedly, no family making less than $250,000 annually would be touched. Not so. Most of the new taxes, estimated to generate more than $500 billion in the coming decade, will fall on middle-class Americans.

The president now admits that the new law doesn't lower health-care costs. With more than $1 trillion in additional federal spending, plus the creation of two new entitlements - a program of taxpayer subsidies for insurance and a federal long-term care program - government spending will skyrocket in 2014, driving up costs for taxpayers.

With such strong economic incentives to drop workers' coverage, former Congressional Budget Office Director Doug Holtz-Eakin predicts 35 million people or more could be dumped out of their employer's plan. That would mean bigger taxpayer subsidies for the displaced workers to get their coverage through the state exchanges, much higher federal spending that would raise the deficit by an additional $554 billion in the first 10 years, and as much as $1.4 trillion over the next 10 years.

Some "reform" bill. No wonder so many Americans want to pull the plug.

Lou Barletta Announces Town Hall Meetings

Lou Barletta announces first two town hall meetings
Carbon, Luzerne county events to be held next week


HAZLETON – U.S. Congressional candidate Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta announced the dates and times of the first of his five planned town hall meetings.

The first will be the Carbon County town hall meeting, which is set for Monday, Oct. 4, from 7:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at Penn’s Peak, off Route 903 near Jim Thorpe.

The second will be the Luzerne County town hall meeting, which is set for Tuesday, Oct. 5, from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. at the Wilkes-Barre Township Fire Hall, 152 Watson St.

Lou’s town hall meetings are open to the public.

On Wednesday, 26-year incumbent Congressman Paul Kanjorski voted to leave Washington early – without doing anything to stop a massive tax increase coming to the working poor, to middle-class families, and to small business owners on Jan. 1, 2011 – so he could return home to salvage his failing re-election campaign. This means Kanjorski will have more than four weeks to hold true town hall meetings – something he has not done since 2007 (according to the Wilkes-Barre Times Leader newspaper.

“Mr. Kanjorski won’t meet with the people of the 11th District in a public setting, so I will. I expect to talk about the government takeover of health care, the $500 billion Congress took from Medicare, the out-of-control taxing and spending that Paul Kanjorski and Congress have been doing in Washington, and a host of other issues Mr. Kanjorski is afraid to discuss face to face with his constituents,” Lou Barletta said. “I encourage everyone – including Mr. Kanjorski – to come out so we can talk about the issues, including how we grow our economy and create jobs and cut wasteful government spending.”

Kanjorski Flip Flops On Town Hall Meetings

Back on July 2, 2010 Paul Kanjorski appeared on the Webster and Nancy show featured on WILK news radio. According to "Hot Air" he made these comments when asked about town hall meetings with Lou Barletta's response.

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 me with a camera.”

He said often times “people can’t resist changing what you said or taking things out of context.” He said these “snippets” lead to “distortions.”

“I’m not going to arm my opponent with a baseball bat,” Kanjorski said later in the interview.

Kanjorski’s Republican opponent, Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta, leveled criticism against the congressman.

“Paul Kanjorski has been in Congress for 26 years and his response to our region’s 10 percent unemployment rate is to call his constituents ‘nuts’ and to attack the city of Hazleton,” Barletta said. “Do these so-called ‘nuts’ who attend town meetings fall into Kanjorski’s ‘defective people’ category?”

The voters have every right to expect Kanjorski to meet with them in their district to hold him accountable for his job performance. Whether that means “nuts” who want to take down his responses or just voters who are sick of the big-spending agenda Kanjorski supports, those constituents deserve Kanjorski’s time. If he feels above accountability, then he should find another line of work, preferably with those who share his unique perspective on “defectives” and “minorities.”

Kanjorski had no problem attending a town hall meeting sponsored by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority held at the Woodlands on July 8, 2010, just six days after the exchange on Webster and Nancy. I guess the prospect of a free meal was too enticing for Kanjorski to pass it up.

Rockin Traddy chided Kanjorski for his "Telephone Town Hall Meetings" back in August, 2009.

It seems that Paul Kanjorski is afraid of having a real town hall meeting with his constituents.

They are planning a "telephone town hall meeting" tomorrow evening at 7pm. You have to call his office to get on the list and they will call you prior to the meeting. You will then be connected in a conference call with him. Call his office and and plan to holler at Kanjorski with the Traddy.

What a wuss.

Barletta attacked Kanjorski in August over these taxpayer funded tele-town hall meetings and the carefully veiled mailers from his Congressional office.

In today's Times Leader Ed Mitchell, Kanjorski's media spokesman, tries to spin this issue claiming Kanjorski has held several town hall meetings during the current election cycle and all were open to the public.

The Times Leader e-mail archives indicate the paper received five of the six “media advisories” sent from Kanjorski’s Washington, D.C., office. Only one of the five advisories mentioned the term “town hall meeting” – the one held at the Downtown Scranton Senior Center.

None of the advisories mentions that the general public was invited. Each has a specific topic to be discussed by Kanjorski. The topics for the Sept. 1, 2 and 8 appearances were Social Security and health care reform law. On Sept. 7 and a second Sept. 8 appearance, the topic was the Wall Street reform law.

Shawn Kelly, spokesman for Barletta, said the meetings held by Kanjorski are not actual town hall meetings.

“It’s bogus,” Kelly said. “Kanjorski cannot go back in time and say that he held town hall meetings when he clearly did not. No matter what Kanjorski claims they are, these were not town hall meetings.”

In June, Kanjorski, 73, D-Nanticoke, announced he would forego the face-to-face town hall meetings for telephone town halls. Other congressmen across the state, mainly Democrats, also announced they wouldn’t be holding the traditional town hall gatherings in their districts or hadn’t decided if they would.

Kanjorski explained his decision by saying he has found that telephone town meetings can be especially effective because he can interact with as many as 8,000 Northeastern Pennsylvanians on a single phone call. On Wednesday of this week, however, Mitchell said Kanjorski had held six town hall meetings since Sept. 1.

“He changed his mind,” Mitchell said.

That came after Barletta’s announcement on Tuesday that he would hold five town hall meetings – one in each of the five counties that comprise the 11th District.

Commenting on the debate, Chris Borick, Ph.D., political science professor at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, said the term town hall meeting is not clearly defined. He said there is no set rule in Congress that defines what a town hall meeting is.

“It’s basically a matter of semantics. You can call a meeting with anybody a town hall meeting, but if the argument is that (Kanjorski) is not meeting with citizens in a well-advertised, open forum, then these don’t appear to qualify.”

Borick said Kanjorski has had meetings with certain elements of his constituency regarding predetermined, specific topics.

“As we’ve come to know town hall meetings in the last two election cycles, these don’t seem to fit the standard definition of what constitutes a town hall meeting,” he said.

Kanjorski's incumbency gives him the power to waste taxpayer money so he can reach his constituents voters surreptitiously.

At this link in the Times Leader article you can read Kanjorski's invitations. Read them. "Congressman Kanjorski...will discuss his efforts... For the past two years Kanjorski has been working on this legislation..." It appears to be the definition of soft campaigning at taxpayer expense.

This article from Queens Crap spells it out correctly.

“This is a persistent problem that the incumbent newsletters that go out ... are all about promoting the individual [and] much less about constituent service,” the literature is more about self-aggrandizement and evoking “warm and fuzzy feelings” than providing constituent service.

Whether it is mailers or carefully orchestrated meetings it is really about getting re-elected, not the taxpayer. In the old days if an elected official wanted to talk to the taxpayer the solon went to meet with Joe, not the other way around.

Kanjorski Fundraiser $5000 Per Sponsor- Excessive Culture

At Politicalpartytime.or, "Documenting The Political Party Circuit" the political fundraising invitation for Paul Kanjorski appears on its website. It clearly demonstrates the high price of "Pay To Play" politics representing the hallmark of Kanjorski campaigns who is in a position to influence legislation for the financial services industry.

According to Linkedin.com Jen Ustynoski is a finance assistant at Bonner Group Inc. and an associate at Orion Group Inc. where it states that the Orion Group is part of the "financial services industry".

This article from the Sunlight Foundation sums up the problem with this type of fundraising.

One year after the biggest economic collapse since the Great Depression, Congress is still debating new financial regulations to protect consumers and prevent risk-taking in the financial sector. The House Committee on Financial Services is currently undertaking the important first step of writing, amending and voting on some of the pieces of the long-proposed financial regulatory reform.

Twenty-seven committee members have so far received over one-quarter of their contributions from the finance, insurance and real estate (FIRE) sector.

Pennsylvania Rep. Paul Kanjorski is the Chair of the Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance, and Government Sponsored Enterprises and is tasked with crafting many of the initial bills for the proposed financial regulatory reform. While undertaking this important work Kanjorski has had enough time to raise large sums for his reelection. Of the $397,215 that Kanjorski has raised in 2009, 54% of it comes from the FIRE sector. For his career, Kanjorski received 44% of his contributions from the FIRE sector. Of all Financial Services Committee members, only Kanjorski and Bachus receive over 40% of their career campaign contributions from the FIRE sector.

Kanjorski has stated that he will be watchful of the influence the finance and insurance companies hold in the committee, “”We must ensure that special interests do not weaken particular solutions to the point of becoming toothless.” Earlier this year, however, Kanjorski held a fundraiser that was thrown by lobbyists for financial services organizations. Kanjorski refused to release a list of attendees to the fundraiser.

The Huffington Post wrote an article about Kanjorski's refusal to release the list.

Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D-Pa.), a senior member of the House Financial Services Committee, raised $164,500 from finance, insurance, and real estate interests during the second quarter of 2009, according to an analysis of Federal Election Commission filings by the nonpartisan Public Campaign Action Fund.

"Anytime you take $164,000 from just one sector of the economy," PCAF Campaigns Director David Donnelly told the Huffington Post, "clearly those that are giving to him hope he helps him out."

In an effort to see Kanjorski shake the money tree in real time, the Huffington Post visited a fundraiser Wednesday night at a home in Northwest Washington. Upon setting foot in the house, the Huffington Post was immediately asked to leave.

Price of admission to Kanjorski's dinner party was a $1,000 campaign contribution for individual guests, $2,500 for political action committee reps, and $5,000 for "co-hosts." The Sunlight Foundation posted an invitation to the event on its website, www.politicalpartytime.org. The house belonged to big-time lobbyist Tony Podesta, who co-hosted the event with wife Heather Podesta and Gwen Mellor, whose clients include the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and the National Installment Lenders Association.

There's no telling who attended Wednesday's fundraiser. Event organizers and Kanjorski's office declined to provide details about the guest list for the run-of-the-mill event, and arriving guests politely declined to speak with a reporter.

The Huffington Post reported on the Podesta's in this article.

Tony and Heather Podesta basked in the praise when they donated the iconic, five-foot tall "Hope" portrait of Barack Obama to the National Portrait Gallery just before Inauguration Day. But to those who hoped Obama would reduce the influence of lobbyists in Washington, there was also something uniquely depressing about the gift -- because the Podestas are exactly the sort of K Street powerbrokers candidate Obama railed against.

And while Obama's presidency so far has in many ways failed to live up to his campaign poster, it's been a cash cow for the Podestas, who have been able to leverage their insider status into a slew of new high-paying clients. The husband-and-wife lobbyist couple have become icons themselves -- of the lobbying industry's imperviousness to Obama's change agenda.

Whether you call it "Pay To Play" or "Pay For Play" it doesn't pass the smell test.

Kanjorski Is Out Of Touch

In today's Standard Speaker Paul Kanjorski wants to remind Americans that the Democrats should be proud of what they accomplished.

"First, and foremost, when I say Democrats, stand up tall, be proud. My God, the Democratic Party did everything that was good for this country and good for the working individuals of this country, and good for the middle class of this country. We have nothing to apologize for."

"You know why I'm charged up?" Kanjorski said in an interview later. "Because I think it is one of the most definitive elections in our lifetime. And that's why I'm in it. Because I think we can't afford to make the mistake of going in the wrong direction. And all of these people who are talking about going in another direction, they're (like) pre-Franklin Roosevelt people."

Evidently this chart is what he means.

"They want to go back to when Wall Street billionaires or millionaires controlled this country and their kids could just slosh around, didn't have to work, didn't have to produce and they were guaranteed their membership at the country club and their membership at the yacht club," Kanjorski said. "I don't believe in that. I believe in a merit society.

Paul, are you talking about the firms that gave you $4 million in political contributions? Paul, are you talking about the people who had American working?

This statement by Kanjorski is going to resonate over the next few days.

"The fight's not about the damn mosque in New York," he tells the Democrats at Waldorf Park. "All of us are annoyed at the fact that ... they want to build that mosque, but it's not going to have an effect on our lives.

Kanjo, you tell that to these people.

I feel sorry for you. When you are used to this it is hard to remember the sacrifices I guess.

Kanjorski Ignores Bloomsburg Univeresity Students

Apparently Charlie Rangel wasn't invited to the event so Kanjorski decided to stay away. J/K. Bloomutoday.com is reporting that the congressman that claims to represent Bloombsburg University students blew off Constitution Day, "an opportunity for students to become more knowledgeable about their rights and opportunities as American citizens.”

After making demands of Bloomsburg University officials to allow him to speak at Thursday’s Constitution Day event, Congressman Paul Kanjorski didn’t even bother to show up. Kanjorski’s staff was not present, and there were not even surrogates speaking on his behalf.

Mayor of Hazleton and Congressional candidate Lou Barletta accepted and attended his alma mater’s invitation to speak. Mayor Barletta fielded questions from students on topics ranging from constitutional issues to the current economic crisis.

“A majority of questions I received were related to concerns about the job market and how to stop Washington’s out-of-control spending. The first stimulus package and now Obama’s proposed second stimulus package have everyone scared. Americans are worried about putting food on the table and paying their mortgage. Washington’s reckless spending is adding to an already difficult situation,” Mayor Barletta said.

Mayor Barletta expressed his gratitude to the students and faculty of Bloomsburg University for being allowed to participate in this very important event. “It’s always an honor to be invited to speak at Bloomsburg. I have such great memories from here while I was a student.”

Kanjorski And Carney "Dumped" By DCCC

DCCC scales back NEPA ad buys

Democrats are slightly pulling back the TV help they’ll be giving to Congressmen Chris Carney (D-10) and Paul Kanjorski (D-11).

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has made some changes to its airtime reservations in northeast Pennsylvania, cutting off half-a-week’s worth of its planned TV buys in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre media market.

The move came as speculation builds among political insiders that Democrats are preparing to cut Kanjorski loose as part of their so-called triage plans to preserve a majority in Congress. When the DCCC recently posted a fundraising list of candidates in its Frontline Program for defending incumbents, Kanjorski’s name was nowhere to be found (Carney was on the list).

In June, 2010 it was reported that Kanjorski failed to pay his $250,000 in dues to the DCCC.

I guess the DCCC has a rule. No pay, No play.

Home Foreclsoures Five Year High

Pennsylvania home foreclosure filings, bank seizures hit five-year highs

HARRISBURG, Pa. — The number of Pennsylvania homeowners falling behind on mortgage payments and the number of homes seized by banks hit five-year highs in August.

New figures out Thursday from foreclosure listing firm RealtyTrac Inc. showed 6,500 Pennsylvania homes received at least one foreclosure filing in August, while banks repossessed 2,300 properties.

President Barack Obama:

“In just 20 months, this movement has accomplished a tremendous amount,” Obama wrote in an e-mail. “But we couldn’t have done it without the Democrats in Congress who were willing to take a stand and fight for policies that would move America forward.

“And with so much still left to be done, and too many families struggling to get by, we need to keep America moving forward -- which means I need you to support Paul Kanjorski for Congress.

Kanjorski, Pelosi, and Obama own this mess. It is time to clean it up and send them clean out of Washington

Commentary In The Times Leader- Stephen M. Alinikoff

Election will offer clear philosophical choices for U.S. COMMENTARY Stephen M. Alinikoff

I CONSIDER myself an average citizen, lucky enough to be born in a country that has bestowed bountiful gifts to my family and to me. I have lived my entire life in the Wyoming Valley and was born in the waning days of World War II. The country has changed dramatically since then and I must say in most respects not for the better. I honestly feel that we will not be leaving our children a country in which their generation will be better off and better equipped to surpass the achievements of previous generations.

If I were not so angry with what is happening with my beloved country I would have merely passed over an article in The Times Leader, which reported a meeting that Congressman Paul Kanjorski hosted at the East Mountain Inn on Sept. 8.

What Kanjorski was reported to have said is emblematic of one of, if not the major problems facing this nation: a dysfunctional Congress totally out of touch with the desires, needs and history of this country.

Kanjorski related his defense of the bailout packages over the last two years: “Those days will be remembered as the most instrumental moments of the 21st century.” Kanjorski, Nancy Pelosi, Charley Rangel and Maxine Walters were the ones standing between us and the total financial collapse of the United States. Yes, he honestly believes that and expects us to believe it.

The congressman went on to say: “If you recall gun sales were way up, America was weaponed up, that’s what the times were like two years ago.” He then said something that has yet to be followed up by our local or national media. He told the group “8,000 troops stood at the ready” in North Carolina to come to Washington to guard the White House and the Capitol.

I certainly was not aware we were so close to an armed insurrection. My question is: from whom?

It really is hard to believe, if nothing else Congressman Kanjorski is at the top of his game when it comes to political hyperbole on the campaign trail. History and its facts do not lie. The facts are that over the last 77 years, we have seen an undeniable march of one-party rule and that party’s philosophy being legislated into statutory policy.

It is the undeniable philosophy of central government growth at the expense of federalism and individual rights.

It is an undeniable fact that we are on the verge of a national bankruptcy, which, if continued, will have consequences for our national security and ability to remain the world’s preeminent power.

It is an undeniable fact that all legislation concerning matters of revenue, taxes, spending and finance must constitutionally originate in the House of Representatives.

From 1933, (the 73rd Congress) to the present (the 111th Congress) there have been 38 sessions of Congress. Thirty-one of the sessions – 81 percent – have been controlled by the Democratic Party. In the most recent 26 sessions the percentage in Democratic control has been 85 percent – even higher.

Kanjorski, one of the most senior Democrats, has served since 1985. He has worked to bring us public projects such as: an inflatable dam; some sort of shooting range/training facility to be placed somewhere. He also was successful in steering over 5 million in taxpayer funds to a failed business owned by family members. As one of the most senior members, he was one of the leaders in bringing us “Obamacare,” which will create the single largest bureaucracy by any Congress in our history.

In his meeting at the East Mountain Inn, he also heralded his role in passing Wall Street reform although he didn’t mention that the two main culprits – Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac – were left noticeably untouched in this new legislation. Those agencies have been used by Congress for years as a repository for political jobs and bad loans.

After reading the article, I do not for one moment doubt that Congressman Kanjorski believes in what he said and has done and is proud of where he has taken us. He is not only one of the leaders of the present majority in Congress, but also one of its most outspoken defenders.

So, our choice seems clear. If you are satisfied with the politics of Kanjorski, Pelosi, Walters and Rangel, and where they are taking us, your choice is easy.

However if you feel anger about the half truths, the lack of integrity, the self serving attitude and arrogance as well as the downright incompetence of our elected representatives, the choice is also yours.


Stephen Alinikoff lives in Kingston. He is a managing principal in a local insurance and investment firm.