Posted on 10/14/2009 5:20:56 PM PDT by Born Conservative
If Republican Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta decides to seek his party's nomination to Congress again, he'll have competition.
Chris Paige, 38, of Barrett Twp. in Monroe County, said Tuesday he will seek the Republican nomination for the seat currently occupied by U.S. Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski, D-11, Nanticoke.
"I was outraged by the (Wall Street and automobile) bailouts, which I think are unconstitutional, and terrible economic policy," said Mr. Paige, a lawyer and the co-owner of a hedge fund, Paige Capital Management LLC. "I'm worried about the state of our economy and our unemployment situation."
Mr. Paige claimed the bailouts were unconstitutional because Congress essentially ceded its power by giving broad power to the treasury secretary to bail out first Wall Street firms and then automakers. Automakers were not the original intended targets of the bailout bill.
"Congress essentially gave a $700 billion blank check to the secretary of the treasury to spend however he wanted," he said. "You can't delegate authority like that."
Mr. Kanjorski supported the bailouts, saying the nation faced economic collapse if major Wall Street banks were allowed to fail.
Mr. Paige said he "absolutely" would have allowed them to fail.
"Really, we avoided total economic meltdown? Tell that to the millions of people who are out of work and have no prospect of ever finding a job again," he said. "We saved Goldman Sachs' shareholders, we save Goldman Sachs' lenders. We didn't save anybody but those people. This was a bailout of the rich by the rich and powerful. But it didn't help the average person."
Mr. Paige said he believes "people are ready to fire Kanjorski."
"This is going to be a race about him and his record," he said.
He is undaunted by the prospects of perhaps taking on Mr. Barletta, who has not decided whether he will run for a third time.
"The voters have decided on him. I don't see there's any reason to try again," he said.
Mr. Paige grew up in Fairfax, Va., but visited the region during summer vacations because his grandmother, Ann McGuire, lived in the Poconos. He and his wife, Michele, moved to the region in 2006.
Mr. Kanjorski faces a challenge for the Democratic nomination from Lackwanna County Commissioner Corey O'Brien of Moosic.
Ping
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We need less lawyers and even fewer hedge fund owners, they all seem to gravitate towards funneling money to their kind.
Hopefully, Lou Barletta will run against him again as the Republican challenger.
Yep, he's qualified. <>sarc on
Get outta here you bum.
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