Barletta Working To Create Jobs

Rep. Barletta, colleagues unveil five-year, $260B transportation bill that will put Americans back to work

01/31/12

WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta, PA-11, joined his colleagues on the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure to unveil a $260 billion, five-year reauthorization and reform of transportation programs that will create jobs and rebuild infrastructure in the district and the nation.

The American Energy & Infrastructure Jobs Act (H.R. 7) will be the largest transportation reform bill since the Interstate Highway System was created in 1956.

This act will reform and streamline transportation programs, cut red tape in the project approval process, increase states’ flexibility to fund their most critical needs, and encourage private sector participation in financing and building projects.

“Workers in the 11^th District and around the nation are in desperate need of work, and our infrastructure is in desperate need of updating. The American Energy & Infrastructure Jobs Act is a $260 billion, five-year plan that will give construction companies stability so they can hire more employees and buy more equipment. It gives more power to the states so they can set their own transportation project priorities. It will consolidate or eliminate 70 duplicative programs, streamlining the project approval process and reducing wasteful overspending. Basically, this bill will create jobs, fix our infrastructure, let states and not Washington pick their transportation projects, and make American taxpayer dollars go farther. It’s much needed, and I’m proud to be a member of the committee that created it,” Rep. Barletta said.

Since the last surface transportation law was signed into law on August 10, 2005 – 2,366 days ago – Congress has approved eight short-term extensions.

“Short-term extensions only create more uncertainty among job creators, so putting a five-year plan in place will provide long-term program reform and stability for job creators and states to rebuild our highways and bridges,” Rep. Barletta said. “In years past, Washington bureaucrats told states how to spend their transportation money. I believe the states know what projects need to be completed, so this reauthorization puts the decision-making power back in their hands.”

The American Energy & Infrastructure Jobs Act streamlines and condenses the project review process by allowing federal agencies to review transportation projects at the same time, setting hard deadlines for federal agencies to approve projects, and granting more decision-making authority to states. Bureaucratic reviews often bog down infrastructure projects; for example, a project in California proposed to widen a dangerous roadway by no more than two feet, construct 2,000 feet of new guardrail, replace two culvert pipes, and resurface the road. It took more than seven years just to complete the environmental reviews and permit approvals – during which time there were additional serious accidents on that road.

“As a businessman who worked in the road construction business, I can tell you that there are huge hurdles to leap when you want to fix or improve our infrastructure. The American Energy & Infrastructure Jobs Act will help make our roads and bridges safer, put people back to work, and maintain fiscal responsibility,” Rep. Barletta said.

Yannuzzi And Graham Job Creators Leads to Continued Employment For Hazleton

In the City of Hazleton Municipal races for Mayor and City Council, Mayor Joe Yannuzzi and Councilwoman Evelyn Graham placed this ad in the Standard Speaker to highlight the amount of jobs both officials created in Hazleton during their lifetimes.

Yannuzzi created several companies that continue to operate today.  Yannuzzi Inc., Yannuzzi Plumbing and Heating, J Distributing, and Crossroad Computers were started by Joe Yannuzzi and still operate today in some capacity.  Yannuzzi Inc. and Crossroad Computers continue to operated under their same name.  Yannuzzi Plumbing and Heating is now part of Zola's Plumbing and Heating.  J Distributing is now YOU Trucking.

Evelyn Graham and her late husband, Seymour started Kama Plastics in the Heights Section of Hazleton.  Eventually the company was sold to Alcoa who then sold it to Multi-Plastics, Inc.

The amount of jobs remaining in Hazleton from those business startups is at least 250 jobs. 

Their opponents have no job creation experience or any adminstration experience.  Grace Cuozzo has refused to answer the question surrounding her Social Security Disability award, however she has not held a job in decades according to her State Ethics Commission filings.  Her inexperience in any management position as well as any elected governmental position cannot be ignored in applying for the lead job in Hazleton.

John Medashefski opposed portions of the Illegal Immigration Relief Ordinance that is very popular with most voters in Hazleton.  Past remarks by Medashefski regarding the direction from the city's chief executive supports the following assessment.

Yannuzzi's experience and leadership speak volumes to the reason voters in Hazleton should re-elect Yannuzzi to the position of Mayor.  Yannuzzi has brought the compliment of officers in the Hazleton Police Department back to 40.  He has added two additional code enforcement officers and one health officer to help with the City's enforcement.

Yannuzzi announced that the deficit spending of the last few years has been stopped in the year 2010.  It appears that financial results will have the city breaking even when compared to its budget.

Yannuzzi brought in the Pennsylvania Economy League to look at all operations of the City of Hazleton and asked for recommendations.  Their overall examination will be reported in the future and can provide a blueprint to keep Hazleton's operations in the black.

The candidates will face off in a debate to be aired on Channel 13.  Let's see if Cuozzo can act like a proper person and leave the name calling at the door. 

Graham's accomplishments in the Hazleton area are too numerous to mention.  Her generosity and committment to Hazleton residents make her re-election an almost certain victory.

Polling numbers for both Yannuzzi and Graham show significant leads, however they intend on campaigning right up until the polls close. 

Obama's Claim On Jobs A Myth

Obama plan would make small dent in jobless rate

Even if Congress heeds President Barack Obama's demands to "pass this bill right away" and enacts his jobs and tax plan in its entirety, the unemployment rate probably still would hover in nosebleed territory for at least three more years.

Why? Because the 1.9 million new jobs the White House says the bill would produce in 2012 falls short of what it's needed to put the economy back on track to return to pre-recession jobless levels of under 6 percent, from today's rate of 9.1 percent.

That's how deep the jobs hole is. The persistent weakness of the U.S. economy has left 14 million people unemployed and more than 25 million unable to find full-time work.

More on the Obama Campaign and A Stimulus Recipient Hosting a $25,000.00 Fundraiser

Missouri stimulus beneficiary hosting a $25,000-a-head fundraiser for Obama

Tom Carnahan is at the helm of Wind Capital Group, an investment firm that received a $107 million federal tax credit to develop a wind power facility in his home state of Missouri. In October, he’s scheduled to host a $25,000-per-person fundraiser to aid Obama’s reelection effort.

“At a time when Barack Obama is under fire for steering hundreds of millions of dollars in stimulus funds to a failed company linked to a major campaign donor, it is stunning that he would come to Missouri and raise money with another recipient of stimulus cash,” Smith said in a statement to POLITICO. “Sadly, Missourians have come to expect this kind of pay-to-play from the Obama administration. November 2012 can’t come soon enough.”

Please tell me how this scheme is all that much different than what Mericle did with Ciavarella and Conahan.

Democrats Disconnected From Reality On Jobs

Healthcare Law Clears House Hurdle On Repeal

Honoring a campaign pledge the Republican controlled Congress wasted no time in repealing the outrageous healthcare bill railroaded through Congress by the Democrats last year.

I listened to Congressmen/women speak yesterday for and against the bill. One central theme emerged from the opposition. The Democrats stated the bill would create jobs. They failed to mention it would be 16,000 IRS agent jobs. More government jobs means more taxation, plain and simple.

New Leadership, New Thinking

On the surface the public sees the change in power, both in Washington and Harrisburg. Republicans gained control of both chambers in Harrisburg. On the national level they gained control of the House. But there is an important underlying fact in those gains. On the Democratic side there are many newcomers as well. The freshman class contains new thinking regardless of party affiliation. This class must realize that voter anger doesn't take long to develop. With the economy in such dire straits jobs must be the number one priority at this point. Before we turn to the government to create job growth we must ask government to stop hindering job creation.

In this Forbes magazine article Michael Noer makes this observation.

The most recent absurdity of the Great Recession is the $10 billion allocated by Congress to save 140,000 teachers' jobs in a bill nominally concerned with aviation safety. Well-intentioned though it may be, the measure is wrongheaded on two fronts. First, it's unclear that these jobs needed "saving"; indeed, some states are gleefully figuring out how to spend the unanticipated windfall. Second, federal stimulus spending of this sort can have only a short-term impact on employment. If we are serious about creating jobs, we need to rethink the problem from the start.

Government-backed paychecks come with a cost. The money to pay for the teachers or the extended unemployment comp or the public works project will, sooner or later, have to be extracted from the pockets of taxpayers. Anticipating that burden, taxpayers with money sit on it. Corporations shrink from hiring; consumers hesitate before buying.

This negative feedback explains how a stimulus program can backfire. Japan pays for training and other forms of help to those trying to scratch out a living but in doing so has swollen the population of "freeters," those under 35 without permanent jobs. Denmark, once hailed for its "flexicurity" system (state-subsidized programs offering temporary work to prevent layoffs, job training and up to four years of assistance for those without work), is lopping the program in half.

Here in America vast amounts of stimulus money and White House jawboning have done little to move the unemployment needle, frozen at 9.5%. Add in the people who have simply given up looking for a job and you get an unemployment rate of 16.5%. A third of this is a hard core of potential workers who have no realistic chance of finding a job in the foreseeable future.

The biggest question I hear is "How are they going to create jobs?" Most feel that the manufacturing jobs are gone for good. That position is a weak look at a complex problem. First, we need to make it more attractive for business to produce goods and services in the United States, rather than overseas, using U.S. workers, rather than foreigners. The skilled labor needed by many U.S. companies is not readily available in certain countries while readily available in others.

Just-in time manufacturing, most notable in the auto manufacturing industry, gives a glimpse to a foundation for spurring thoughts on the need to bring overseas jobs back.

Everyone will talk tax breaks. But tax breaks will only be effective if they are closely linked to real job creation. The stimulus package failed on that benchmark. There are those that say eliminating taxes creates profit and there are few that would sacrifice new found profit for labor.

Here is what the corporate leaders have to say to dispell that statement.

“A pro-manufacturing tax policy must first acknowledge that when Congress raises taxes, it makes manufacturers in the U.S. less competitive. Reduce the corporate tax rate to 25% or lower without imposing offsetting tax increases.” Result: 2 million new jobs before the end of this decade.”

“Enact tax provisions that will stimulate investment and recovery, including: Strengthen and make the R&D tax credit permanent. The Milkin Institute’s ‘Jobs for America’ analysis reported that increasing the R&D tax credit by 25% would enhance U.S. innovation, boosting GDP by $206 billion and creating 270,000 manufacturing jobs.”

“Allow businesses to accelerate depreciation of capital purchases more quickly. The Institute for Policy Innovation has estimated that every dollar in tax cuts for business depreciation adds about $9 in GDP growth. Over the past 60 years, there’s been a strong correlation between domestic job growth and business investment. Any policy that permanently allows businesses, particularly manufacturers, to expense capital purchases in the year they are made will go a long way toward putting more investment funds—and consequently more jobs—into the marketplace.

“Take the threatened tax increases off the table. The tax increases threatening businesses are huge, especially damaging to the thousands of small businesses which file as individuals. The automatic increases in tax rates on upper-income earners, dividends and capital gains are already a huge disincentive to business activity, and the Obama Administration’s proposals for additional tax increases aimed directly at business seriously compound the problem.”

“Impose a moratorium on new regulations. Many executive branch agencies, most particularly those within the Department of Labor, have embarked on what seems to be a vendetta against American businesses, threatening them with dozens of new and costly regulations.”

Regulatory Overkill: “Taken collectively, the regulatory activity now underway is so overwhelmingly beyond anything we have ever seen that we risk moving this country away from a government of the people to a government of regulators,” Chamber President Thomas J. Donohue said in a speech last week before a Chamber-sponsored Jobs Summit. He called on the Obama Administration and Congress “to immediately put a stop to the cascade of new regulations that is the principal reason businesses are so reluctant to make investments and create jobs.”

“OSHA is particularly aggressive and offensive, proposing costly and cumbersome new regulations based on their assumption that businesses will ignore workplace safety unless and until they are inspected.”

“Moving toward a competitive tax structure that creates certainty for businesses by temporarily extending all of the tax relief passed in the prior decade and reducing the U.S. corporate tax rate. In one bold, swift move, this would substantially boost investor, business and consumer confidence and would infuse our economy with fresh momentum.”

“Controlling the rising deficits and debt by generating additional federal revenues and restraining spending. As much as $1.7 trillion in revenue could be generated over 10 years through numerous oil, gas and shale leases on our lands and off our shores.”

“Tax reform, along with spending restraint, sound money, free trade and a rational regulatory policy would lead to a period of exceptional prosperity and asset appreciation. There’s no better way to increase jobs than to create a pro-growth economic environment.”

Dr. Irwin Kellner offers this perspective about cooperation between Washington and the states.

There are other measures that Washington should consider as well. Since the federal government can run a deficit while states cannot (at least over an extended period of time), Washington should step up its grants to states and local governments. Most of their budgets are in the red because of the jump in such costs as Medicaid and pensions, so they are cutting spending and raising taxes, thus taking out of the economy much of what Washington is trying to put in. As soon as Bush enacted his tax cuts Fast Eddy Rendell couldn't move fast enough to raise our income tax in Pennsylvania. Where was the gain?

Lets start moving America forward. Let's bring back Ronald Reagan's "Morning in America". Only naysayers like Steve Corbett would call it Mourning in America.

Barletta Speaks To NAACP

As the election fast approaches Lou Barletta made his pitch at a meeting of the NAACP yesterday held at Mount Zion Church in Wilkes Barre. Matt Hughes of the Times Leader wrote this observation.

Both Kanjorski and Barletta spoke at the NAACP’s Meet the Candidates Forum, held Saturday at the Mount Zion Baptist Church. Barletta arrived on time for the event and left before it ended; Kanjorski arrived after Barletta had already spoken and left.

Barletta outlined his economic policy of creating jobs by providing incentives for businesses to hire employees.

“The government doesn’t create jobs; businesses do,” Barletta said. “We have to get businesses going again so they can create jobs.”

Barletta slammed Kanjorski for not attending the meeting, as he believed Kanjorski would not attend, for refusing to hold in-person town hall meetings and for not participating in debates in each of the five counties in the 11th District as Barletta invited him to do. Kanjorski and Barletta debated once Thursday in Jenkins Township.

“One of the most important issues in this election … is that many people in our district feel that their voices aren’t being heard,” Barletta said. “He didn’t hold any town hall meetings and only did one debate. That’s not reaching out.”

Readers may recall in 2008 Kanjorski skipped out on the NAACP meeting held at East Stroudsburg University.

The reason why depends on who you ask. A campaign spokesman said Kanjorski had a scheduling conflict. But an event organizer said she was told Kanjorski objected to a Barletta press release earlier Wednesday charging Kanjorski is "afraid" to debate Barletta.

The result was that Barletta, the mayor of Hazleton, was the lone candidate to discuss his views and take questions from about 90 people — including elected officials and local activists of both parties — at Beers Lecture Hall. The forum, sponsored by the Monroe County NAACP and the ESU chapter of the American Democracy Project, also was broadcast on Blue Ridge Cable Channel 13.

Kanjorski instead went to a regional event for presidential candidate Barack Obama's campaign workers in Scranton.

What wasn't in that report was the fact that Kanjorski had actually pulled up to the East Stroudsburg University event and left. Participants relayed they saw Kanjorski to event organizers.

Another little known fact centers on how Kanjorski won his office in the first place. In the primary of 1984 Kanjorski defeated then Congressman Frank Harrison. Harrison died last year. Here is a link to a story about Harrision.

Former Rep. Frank Harrison (D-Pa.) died this week at the age of 69. He was found dead in his Galveston, Texas, apartment, according to media reports in Pennsylvania. He reportedly died of natural causes.

A lawyer and college lecturer in northeastern Pennsylvania before being elected to Congress, Harrison served in the House from 1983 to 1985, seeing his political career cut short when now-Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D) defeated him in the 1984 Democratic primary.

Kanjorski, D-Nanticoke, provided an e-mailed statement on Harrison’s unexpected passing.

“As we mourn the loss of Congressman Frank Harrison, I pass along my thoughts and prayers to his family and friends,” Kanjorski said.

“Frank and I knew each other as college debaters.

During his time at King’s, Harrison helped run the debate team. He was an avid debater at St. Mary’s and King’s and enjoyed working with young people and piquing their interest in debate, said friend Gene Brady, who is executive director of the Commission on Economic Opportunity.

“I think he believed in the public discussion of issues and everyone’s right to their opinion,” Brady said. “He was a very intelligent person … He just had a great intellectual curiosity.”

Guess it must be Republicans Kanjorski doesn't like to debate. At least Harrison saw the importance of public discussion.

In that article comments from The LuLac Political Letter were chronicled.

As the 1984 Democratic primary approached, Harrison found himself in the middle of a few obstacles. The first was the division of the Democratic Party. Eugene Hudak, the Luzerne County Clerk of Courts was angry at the local Democratic leadership of former Senator Martin l. Murray. Hudak was a long time antagonist of the Democratic power structure. Efforts to defeat him were useless since he always came out of Nanticoke with a lion’s share of votes. Hudak got behind his fellow hometown boy Paul Kanjorski who was now making his third run for the seat of Dan Flood. In the meantime, in the fall of 1983, local residents were plagued with a water crisis. Apparently some type of bug got into the water supply and residents fell prone to the disease dubbed giardiasis. As the locals were boiling their water in big pots and pans, Harrison was on a Congressional trip with the Democratic delegation to the Costa Rica to study international relations in Latin America. Even though it was an honor to be selected by the leadership for the trip, the perception of the Congressman jetting off to a sunny land while his voters back home dealt with a harsh winter and bum water was not a good omen for Harrison.

In that 1984 primary were Harrison, Kanjorski, Gene Knox and Steve Flood. Kanjorski picked as his political consultant Ed Mitchell who earlier ran for a seat in the 10th Congressional District against Joe McDade and competed for Flood’s seat in the 11th against a crowded field in the early rounds of Harrison vs. Kanjorski. Harrison had as his consultant Bob Kutler, a Washington D.C. operative known for not wearing socks and not suffering fools gladly. Kutler bragged about not knowing the local political power brokers while Mitchell massaged them onm a regular basis. Mitchell also put together a series of fast paced ads featuring Caribbean music in the background asking the question “Where Was Frank?” referring to the Congressman’s foreign affairs trip.

The ads resonated and put Harrison on the defensive. He never recovered. Kanjorski was portrayed as the local, hometown earnest young lawyer from the ultimate coal town, Nanticoke while Harrison was tagged as a Harvard educated elitist who had lost touch with his district. At the time, Ed Mitchell was quoted as saying, “We fundamentally controlled the dialogue throughout the campaign, framed the debate and kept Harrison on the defensive.” On election day, Kanjorski won his hometown by 3,000 votes (Nanticoke) while Harrison carried Wilkes Barre by only 700 votes. District wide, Kanjorski won by 2,000 votes and never looked back serving in Congress since 1984. “We ran a poor campaign for a lot of reasons” said Ungvarsky. “What we couldn’t translate to the voters was the importance future assignments Harrison would be in line for by his relationships with the House leaders. The problem was it did not transfer over to the voters. Harrison always felt that while Dan Flood built a tremendous base for the district in terms of roads and hospitals, the role of Congressman should be looking at a larger economic picture and not putting band aids on problems already in place. His vision was a bit different and perhaps he was too cerebral for the taste of local politicos. Harrison wanted to look beyond the coal fields heritage and truly expand the area to big Fortune 500 companies but he never got the chance to play out his vision” said Ungvarsky. David DeCosmo, former radio and TV journalist, who ironically broke the Giardiasis story remembers Harrison “As a straight forward guy”. He said, “Harrison recognized the political climate at the time. Whoever was going to succeed Flood could expect to be there a long time. He always answered every question put to him, was very opinionated even if that was often at odds with the general consensus of the time, was very available to all of the media and at the heart of it all was a very, very kind man”. DeCosmo agreed that it was Giardiasis, with its wide ranging implications, brought down the career of Frank Harrison. (Not to mention launching the career of Ed Mitchell as a political consultant).

The three time political battles between Kanjorski and Harrison are often compared to a local version of the Ali-Frazier heavyweight match ups.

It cracks me up everytime I hear someone say Barletta would be finished politically if he loses to Kanjorski this time. Kanjorski lost two times before defeating Frank Harrison. Three times may be a charm but four may mean more.

Paul Kanjorski And Chris Carney- Where Are The Jobs?

Kanjorski Demolished 11th District Chances With Voting Record

In today's Wall Street Journal the following Opinion on "Obamacare and the Election" is writtend by its editorial staff. Republicans should heed the advice.

Republicans have made intellectual progress on health care since the 1990s, but it remains outside their political comfort zone and certain (or shall we say uncertain) Members still believe the issue is a loser. Yet ObamaCare has scrambled everything.

For one, the plan's march to the sea is only beginning and the trail of destruction will grow. The last six months have seen 2011 premium increases as high as 9% due to ObamaCare; multibillion-dollar corporate writedowns by Verizon, AT&T, Caterpillar and others; disruption in the insurance markets leading to the erasure of child-only policies and other types of specialty coverage as shown in the McDonald's imbroglio; the Administration beginning to impose price controls on premiums; insurers withdrawing private options from Medicare Advantage; and Democratic protection of a 1099 tax reporting mandate that will slam small businesses.

Republicans should be repeating all of these tangible harms in a litany, while predicting the damage to come. Every wonk in Washington knows this bill creates a new entitlement that will transfer the costs of covering the uninsured to the government but do nothing to control underlying health costs. Democrats will embrace more restrictions on care of the kind we are already seeing in Massachusetts since Mitt Romney's ObamaCare dress rehearsal.

Yesterday the Standard Speaker published this Opinion about the stimulus package, Stimulus money being spent just as advertised. Okay if they think so. Look at this article, Spending stimulus money is key challenge in Pa., that appeared in the Delaware County Daily Times.

According to state officials, recipients of the roughly $29 billion doled out for Pennsylvania stimulus projects were given one simple, five-letter word of instruction: S-P-E-N-D.

"There has been a tremendous focus on spending this money quickly in order to spur the economy quickly," said Mary Rucci, director of citizens' awareness at the Pennsylvania Stimulus Accountability Office in Harrisburg.

"There is a big focus on spending rapidly and I think in many areas it's taken place and it's been a change for state government," she said. "There was a tremendous effort across the board to identify shovel-ready projects and to accelerate processes however possible to get the funds spent."

With more than $10.5 billion spent so far, Rucci said the state looked on track to spend its share of the $787 billion stimulus package by 2014.

They just don't get it. People need jobs and they need them NOW, not in 2014.

So what does the Pennsylvania legislature do about it. Pa. House adjourns for elections, leaving policy items unsettled

HARRISBURG - With the bang of a gavel Wednesday, the state House recessed so members could return to their districts to run for reelection.

But the fate of a number of big-ticket policy items remains up in the air, among them a tax on extraction of natural gas from the Marcellus Shale. Other bills appear destined for legislative burial, including one that would crack down on distracted driving.

Mr. Eachus and Company is worried about re-election and their jobs, not ours. There isn't one word mentioned about job creation. Unbelievable.

JOBS AND HEALTHCARE. If I was running as a Republican I would utter those words over and over and over til the end of the campaign.

Ed Mitchell's WILK RANT

Yesterday on WILK Steve Corbett read an email sent by Ed Mitchell to him about Lou Barletta. Here is the response to part of the substance of his claims.

Fact 1: Hazleton is not nor can it be bankrupt And it is not broke either- Why? Have Ed Mitchell personally supply me with the bankruptcy filing for Hazleton. It doesn't exist. Wilkes Barre is in financial hardship and so is Scranton. Scranton's been in Act 47 for since 1992. Is Mitchell crowing about Doherty? Even Reading is in financial distress. Heck the country is in financial distress.

Hazleton's property tax millage is currently at 2.38 due to reassessment. Previously the millage was 25 mills with another 5 mills permitted by Luzerne County Court every year for a total of thirty mills per Third Class City Code. Hazleton was at 30 mills for at least 30+ years leaving it cash strapped over time with ever increasing costs.

After reassessment the millage was dropped to 1.4 last year. Hazleton City Council approved an increase to 2.38 this year. Since Third Class City Code permits cities like Hazleton to assess up to 25 mills it has a long way to go before it will ever be bankrupt or broke.

On the contrary unlike the federal government that can keep printing money Hazleton is trying to live within its means. It is reducing spending and laying off personnel. Their audit will prove those facts to be true for this year. They are not running up accumulated debt unlike Maryann Petrilla and theDemocrats of Luzerne County(last report $466 million), Ed Rendell, Todd Eachus and Pennsylvania( $40 billion or a 73% increase since 2002 ), and Barack Obama and Paul Kanjorski($13 Trillion and counting ).

Barletta found alternative solutions to prevent tax hikes before reassessment when Hazleton's tax rate was stalled at 25 mills by the same law for over 30 years. Imagine trying to run a business with the same income for the last 30 years(his tenure the last ten of those) while everything else went up. And he doesn't want to raise taxes although he and council were forced to this year just to keep the city operating.

It is true that property taxes were raised 70% this year but it amounts to $98.00 per $100,000.00 assessment and hadn't been raised for over 30 years. Since the average home in Hazleton is valued at less than $100,000.00 the impact is not as bad as it could be. Hazleton City government was sensitive to the burden it would place on taxpayers. Coupled with that tax increase was pending layoffs that will start next week.

Instead of raising taxes the City has an opportunity to sell the water assets of the HCA which is permitted by Pennsylvania law. Water rates may increase but they are going to increase anyway. There are too many miles of 80 year old water lines in Hazleton to prevent that from occurring. And the fiscal impact of water rates will monetarily be less than the tax consequences.

Fact 2: Citing the report in Hazleton's unemployment is totally inaccurate.- Why? The official from the state who was in charge of those figures stated they were misleading and should not be relied on from a statistical sense. "Sholly said the figure is a little misleading:" It should be no surprise that neither Mitchell nor Kanjorski would want to be honest about that fact.

Hazleton does not have industrial parks located within its boundaries. The Valmont Industrial Park, Humboldt Industrial Park, the McAdoo Industrial Park, and the Butler Industrial Park are all located outside its boundaries. The reason any figure on Hazleton is misleading is due to the residency of the people employed in those parks. Anyone working outside of Hazleton who is laid off would be counted as a residential statistic of Hazleton, not the place where they are employed
( "Data refer to place of residence ") .

That is the reason the government created Local Area Unemployment Statistics. In order for your statistics to be valid the sample must be broad enough to be meaningful, therefore it is better to look at a region or county. Here is a link to a state file that shows unemployment by county on page 12. Look at this chart located on the CanDo web page showing that unemployment in Luzerne County has been steadily rising.

Companies in those parks include ADM, Cargill, Hershey, OfficeMax, Nature's Bounty, Amazon, Quebecor, Autozone, and more. Those are national companies. The reason people are getting laid off is due to the national economy, not lack of sales to local merchants or customers. It is Paul Kanjorski and Barack Obama policies that are responsible for the national trends, not Lou Barletta.

Kanjorski made the claim that the stimulus program would create/save 7,700 jobs in his district when it was passed.

Any unemployment figure reported for Luzerne County or Hazleton for that matter is reflective of the ineffectiveness of the stimulus program to really create jobs. A look at Recovery.gov shows that only 131 jobs were created in the 11th Congressional district for the first quarter of this year. And the cost to create those jobs was over $329 million. What a dismal showing and hardly anywhere near 7,700.

"It's certainly is a very big stimulus bill, a very big stimulus bill, some politicians give you a lot less substance than their political rhetoric" I hear Clara Peller calling out to Paul Kanjorski "Where's The Jobs"?

Mr. Kanjorski Where's The Jobs?

A look on Recovery.gov, the U.S. government’s official website, that provides America and the world easy access to data related to Recovery Act spending provides some interesting information about the results for the 10th and 11th Congressional districts so far.

If you look at this chart you will see that the reported jobs for the 1st quarter of this year show that the 10th Congressional district rated 9th while the 11th Congressional district ranked 15th. So much for Paul Kanjorski's claims of seniority, not that either district did so well. 176 jobs vs 131 jobs doesn't sound like it commands a resounding applause.

When you compare what was spent to get those jobs as referenced in this chart you will see that the 11th Congressional district outspent the 10th Congressional district by $329 million to $296 million.
Basically $33 milllion more was spent to get 45 less jobs. Why isn't Paul Kanjorski razing cane about that fact? Is he too consumed patting himself on the back over financial reform that turned out to be a joke?

The real joke is on his constituents. In 2009 he proclaimed that the stimulus bill would create/save 7,700 jobs in his district.

The $787 billion economic stimulus package signed Tuesday by President Barack Obama will save or create 7,700 jobs in the 11th Congressional District, said U.S. Rep Paul Kanjorski, D-11.

Kanjorski voted for the final version of the bill last week after voting against an earlier House version. His district includes Monroe County and all or parts of Luzerne, Lackawanna, Carbon and Columbia counties.

"While the final recovery bill is not perfect, nor does it address all my concerns, I strongly believe we must take quick action to help Americans who are struggling and help spur job creation," Kanjorski said in a statement.

It's pure politics when Ed Mitchell and Paul Kanjorski want to talk about the fictitious unemployment figure for Hazleton against Lou Barletta. The official from the state who are in charge of those figures more than once stated they were misleading and should not be relied on from a statistical sense. Sholly said the figure is a little misleading: It should be no surprise that neither Mitchell nor Kanjorski would want to be honest about that fact.

What is fact is that unemployment continues to rise in Northeastern Pennsylvania despite the expenditure of over $600 million dollars? Kanjo, why don't you give Lou Barletta $600 million and see how many jobs would be created? What's that? You wouldn't give him a dime. He already knows that by your strangulation with the Eachus as your accomplice of the money flow to the City.

Specter Vs. Eachus

Previously Arlen Specter announced that he would sponsor a bill where federal funds would pay to take material dredged from the Delaware River to abandoned mines in Hazleton.

Given the posture that Todd Eachus takes to go out of his way and oppose the use of dredge to reclaim abandoned mines in Hazleton maybe my friend Gort can ask Arlen how he feels about the effort to oppose use of the dredge when he arrives in Hazleton tomorrow.

Specter called the start of dredging, which teamed with now-deceased Sen. John Heinz to advocate 27 years ago, a great day for Pennsylvania because of the economic impact.

Deepening the 102-mile shipping channel in the Delaware to 45 feet from 40 feet will create jobs on the ports and spin-off jobs for 125,000 people, Specter estimated.

John Estey, chairman of the Philadelphia Regional Port Authority, estimated that dredging will create 30,000 to 35,000 jobs just at the ports.

Container ships need a deeper channel that dredging will create, Estey said.

"In the next five years, pretty much every ship will require at least 42 feet of water. This is the most important project in the history of the ports along the river," he said.

Todd Eachus announced the PaJobsNow package according to Brett Marcy's Twitter page. Listen here: http://cot.ag/bEUOia

Guess those weren't the jobs he was talking about. Maybe the Mayor could arrange a meeting between Arlen and Todd so Arlen can set Todd straight with some "honest notjustawhistlindixie".

Regarding Eachus's comment in the Standard Speaker about Chuck Roger's concerns over the Hazleton Creek Properties project where he is quoted as stating "We finally found an honest whistleblower inside the Department of Environmental Protection," maybe he should read this Dear Abby column from November 18, 1995 about whistleblowers.

However, informing on neighbors requires some judgment. Before you pick up the phone or pen, be sure their "violation" realistically infringes on you or others, and that is not simply a case of disapproval on your part."