Free Republic

Lou Barletta is George Bush. In a nutshell, portraying the Republican Hazleton mayor as the local version of President Bush is the main Democratic strategy so far in the 11th Congressional District race between Barletta and U.S. Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski, the incumbent Democrat. And this isn’t the only place where Democrats are betting on the wildly unpopular Republican president to lead them to victory. As the Republican National Convention gets under way, Democrats all over the country are doing their best to play up ties between the president and Republican congressional candidates, especially incumbents, in hopes of increasing Democratic...

Paul Kanjorski’s re-election campaign could be in trouble, according to a Washington, D.C., political handicapper. The non-partisan Rothenberg Political Report has changed its analysis of the 11th Congressional District race between Kanjorski and Republican challenger Lou Barletta to “Toss-up/Tilt Democratic.” The contest previously was described as leaning Democratic. Kanjorski, a 12-term Democrat from Nanticoke, is airing early ads to “try to boost his standing,” according to the latest Rothenberg report. Barletta, the Hazleton mayor, challenged Kanjorski in 2002. Kanjorski won by 22,000 votes in the heavily Democratic district. A Republican has not held the seat since Jim Nelligan rode Ronald...

ABC News’ Karen Travers Reports: The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has purchased ad time in Pennsylvania’s 11th Congressional District targeting Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta, the Republican challenger who is looking to unseat Democratic Rep. Paul Kanjorski. This is the first ad of the general election cycle from the DCCC, which has already reserved advertising time in 31 congressional districts at the cost of about $35-million. Those ad buys are scheduled to begin airing on television between early September and early October and run through Election Day. The DCCC ad in Pennsylvania ties Barletta to President George W. Bush, stating that...

The Department of Transportation is refusing to move forward on an earmark backed by Rep. Paul Kanjorski (Pa.), the rare House Democrat facing a tough reelection this fall. Transportation (DoT) is blocking funds to build a $5.6 million parking garage to the Kanjorski Center, which was constructed to attract economic development in the city of Nanticoke in Kanjorski’s Eastern Pennsylvania district. Kanjorski’s earmark for the project was included in the 2005 transportation bill. DoT contends the garage does not meet federal rules intended to spur the use of public transportation. Those rules allow federal funds for parking garages only if...

Have you seen this delicious little quote from Pennsylvania Democrat Congressman Paul Jankorski? Why it would seem that Mr. Jankorski is admitting that the Democrats lied about what was going on in Iraq during the 2006 mid-term elections? Here's his quote: "I'll tell you my impression. We really in this last election, when I say we ... the Democrats ... that if we won the Congressional elections we could stop the war. Now anybody who was a good student of government would know that wasn't true. "But you know ... the temptation to want to win back the Congress ......

WILKES-BARRE – U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski on Monday blasted members of OPEC and the U.S. petroleum industry and asked the public to “dump the pump” and refrain from pumping gas and driving on Thursday unless absolutely necessary. Kanjorski said that by cutting down the consumption of petroleum products by a few percentage points, Americans would send a message that “we’re aware of the fact that we’re being taken advantage of, and that this $135-a-barrel oil and $4-plus gasoline has to cease.” Joined by Luzerne County Transportation Authority Director Stan Strelish at a press conference on Public Square, Kanjorski promoted public...

U.S. Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski is getting a first-hand lesson in the hazards of the digital age. For the second time in a month, a clip on the wildly popular video-posting Web site, YouTube, is earning him election-year attention he’d probably rather avoid. The clip shows him apparently pushing down on the video camera of a man trying to question him about the Iraq war. The man’s identity, known on YouTube as truthaboutkanjo, remains unknown. An attempt to reach him Wednesday via YouTube’s message system proved unsuccessful. “I may have overreacted when this person stuck a camera in my face....

Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D-PA), who recently gained media attention for his videotaped admission that, due to "temptation to want to win back the Congress," Democrats "stretched the facts" regarding their ability to actually end the war in Iraq, appears to be back for a video encore. This time, the Democratic Congressman appears in a video making two distinct statements regarding the 'Surge' strategy that has been so effective in Iraq. The video is below; below that is a transcript.

Fraud: "deceit, trickery or breach of confidence, perpetrated for profit or to gain some unfair or dishonest advantage." The HBO movie "Recount" tells the story from the Democratic Party point of view that the 2000 presidential election was improperly won by George W. Bush because of the trickery of his fellow Republicans and the Supreme Court. That has been shown to be untrue by no less a source than the reliably liberal and pro-Democratic New York Times, but facts rarely influence propaganda. Here's a better example of fraud straight from the donkey's mouth that you can bet will never be...

Congressman Paul Kanjorski (D-PA) has been a fairly undistinguished member of the House of Representatives for nearly a quarter of a century. He is a career member of the Financial Services Committee who has made little or no name for himself since his first electoral victory, and has maintained incumbency through the funneling of pork back to his district. Even his Wikipedia entry says that Kanjorski "usually plays behind-the-scenes roles in the advocacy or defeat of legislation and steers appropriations money toward improving the infrastructure and economic needs of his district." “But [in] the temptation to want to win back...

Rep. Kanjorski: "That if we won the Congressional elections, we could stop the war. Now anybody was a good student of Government would know that wasn't true. But you know, the temptation to want to win back the Congress, we sort of stretched the facts...and people ate it up."

Congressman Paul Kanjorski (D-PA) has been a fairly undistinguished member of the House of Representatives for nearly a quarter of a century. He is a career member of the Financial Services Committee who has made little or no name for himself since his first electoral victory, and has maintained incumbency through the funneling of pork back to his district. Even his Wikipedia entry says that Kanjorski "usually plays behind-the-scenes roles in the advocacy or defeat of legislation and steers appropriations money toward improving the infrastructure and economic needs of his district." Never one to stand out in a crowd outside...

Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D-Pa.) is seen in a video that has surfaced on the Web saying that Democrats “sort of stretched the facts” in the 2006 elections about their ability to end the Iraq war. In a video, posted to YouTube on Thursday, Kanjorski reflects on the Democrats’ approach to the war in 2006 and said they pushed the rhetoric “as far as we can to the end of the fleet — didn’t say it, but we implied it — that if we won the congressional elections, we could stop the war. “Now, anybody who’s a good student of government...

Congressman Paul Kanjorski (D-PA) has been a fairly undistinguished member of the House of Representatives for nearly a quarter of a century. He is a career member of the Financial Services Committee who has made little or no name for himself since his first electoral victory, and has maintained incumbency through the funneling of pork back to his district. Even his Wikipedia entry says that Kanjorski "usually plays behind-the-scenes roles in the advocacy or defeat of legislation and steers appropriations money toward improving the infrastructure and economic needs of his district." “But [in] the temptation to want to win back...

Republican congressional challenger Lou Barletta took exception Tuesday to his opponent’s motives in announcing his proposal to tax windfall profits of oil companies. Republican congressional challenger Lou Barletta took exception Tuesday to his opponent’s motives in announcing his proposal to tax windfall profits of oil companies. Barletta says it’s a meaningless move and won’t lower gas prices. He also wonders why U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski – a 23-year incumbent – couldn’t muster any co-sponsors for House Resolution 5800. “On Monday, U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski touted a bill he readily admits will do nothing to reduce the price of gasoline for...

WILKES-BARRE – U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski said it’s time for America to stand up to the big oil companies and shout out, “We’ve had enough.” Kanjorski, D-Nanticoke, was in town Monday to announce his introduction of House Resolution 5800, the Consumer Reasonable Energy Price Protection Act of 2008. The bill, introduced on the House floor April 15, would allow the federal government to tax windfall oil and gas profits resulting from historically high oil and gas prices that average Americans struggle to afford, he said. The 12-term incumbent acknowledged his proposal and four similar ones in the House of Representatives...

One of the principals in the failed Cornerstone Technologies LLC, a company that promised to create jobs while receiving more than $9 million in federal funds, has re-emerged at a start-up company in Colorado. Russell Kanjorski, the nephew of U.S. Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski, D-Nanticoke, is the strategic planning director for AVA Solar Inc. The Fort Collins, Colo.,-based company has secured a $3 million federal grant and promises to employ up to 500 people next year. Russell Kanjorski was a featured speaker at an alternative energy symposium March 13 at Colorado State University in Fort Collins. He spoke about the...

Most of $1.34M Cornerstone debt to go unpaid Creditors to get little, nothing from Kanjorski family bankrupcy. Case to be closed. WILKES-BARRE – After more than a year in the hands of a court-appointed trustee, the bankruptcy case of Cornerstone Technologies is nearing an end. And, creditors seeking a portion of $1.34 million they say they’re owed will receive little or nothing. The research company, owned by the daughter and four nephews of U.S. Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski, D-Nanticoke, was to use water-jet technology capable of pulverizing materials and minerals into microscopic pieces that could be used in high technology...

The U.S. representative says he is committed to immigration reform as well. U.S. Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski, D-Nanticoke, sent a letter to political opponent Lou Barletta on Friday and said he meant no offense to his Republican challenger and is sorry if it appeared that way. Kanjorski wrote: “Over the next eight months, we will be talking to the press and to the people of Northeastern Pennsylvania about issues that we passionately care about. Inevitably, there will be occasions in which we misspeak or our words are misconstrued. “One such occasion occurred this week when I spoke to a reporter...

AFTER A CAREER as a newspaperman in a number of different states and cities I’ve become accustomed to readers’ telling me their town is different than others. Keep that in mind as you edit our newspaper, they say, because “we really are different here.” Most often than not they aren’t and neither is the town where they reside. Not different, that is. But, there is nothing wrong with being parochial and proud of where a person lives. Feeling special and unique, even if it is just one person in a population of tens of thousands, carries its own sense of...

Politico also has the tale. The name “Hsu” does not come up. The name “Murtha,” however, does. The U.S. Navy wants a business owned by the family of Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski to hand over a piece of high-tech equipment bought with some of the $9.25 million in taxpayer funds Kanjorski steered to the company.

At least seven people died, and he voted for the aid. But that didn’t stop U.S. Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski from suggesting Minnesota is trying to “screw” the rest of the country out of federal funding for its collapsed Interstate bridge, generating a firestorm among political bloggers. Comments the Nanticoke Democrat made Tuesday at a regional economic forum at the University of Scranton were posted on political Web logs, or “blogs,” touching off the controversy. “His comments are grossly inappropriate. He needs to apologize to the victims’ families for his rude comments,” a contributor wrote on one Web site. During...

A Family Business: U.S. Rep. Kanjorski secured $10M for now-bankrupt firm. What went wrong?Sunday, 03 June 2007 By DAVE JANOSKI Staff Writer U.S. Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski, D-11, touted Cornerstone Technologies LLC as a way to spin anthracite into lightweight carbon fibers, building a high-tech future from northeastern Pennsylvania’s coal-mining past. But eight years after it was launched by Kanjorski’s relatives, the firm has collapsed into bankruptcy, leaving behind bad debt, embittered former employees and lingering ethics questions about $10 million in federal contracts Kanjorski helped secure for Cornerstone. The company’s vision of producing advanced materials for the Navy never...

To Marian Mazurkiewicz, the life he had in central Missouri was “like heaven.” Three years from retirement as a researcher and professor at the University of Missouri-Rolla, Mazurkiewicz had a house on 30 acres, where he hunted turkey and deer. “I had the house I wanted to live in for the rest of my life. I didn’t want to leave.” But in the late 1990s, Mazurkiewicz was lured to Northeastern Pennsylvania by Cornerstone Technologies LLC, which wanted to develop his ideas for using water jets to reduce materials, including coal, into fine particles. Mazurkiewicz’s technology, combined with the region’s anthracite...

U.S. Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski touted Cornerstone Technologies LLC as a way to spin anthracite into lightweight carbon fibers, building a high-tech future from Northeastern Pennsylvania’s coal-mining past. But eight years after it was launched by Kanjorski’s relatives, the firm has collapsed into bankruptcy, leaving behind bad debt, embittered former employees and lingering ethics questions about $10 million in federal contracts Kanjorski helped secure for Cornerstone. The company’s vision of producing advanced materials for the Navy never left the drawing board. University researchers and government officials who worked with Cornerstone say its core idea — using jets of high-pressure water...

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) questioned soon-to-be House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's, D-Calif., commitment to eradicating corruption with her endorsement of one of the most unethical members in Congress, Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., to be majority meader of the House of Representatives. Murtha was listed in CREW's report, "Beyond DeLay: The 20 Most Corrupt Members of Congress (and five to watch)." As reported in the study and by the news media, Murtha has been involved in a number of pay-to-play schemes involving former staffers and his brother, Robert "Kit" Murtha. Eight incumbents in CREW's report lost their races...

No longer bankrolled by government contracts secured by U.S. Rep. Kanjorski, the company run by his nephews has all but disappeared. WILKES-BARRE – Number one on the to-do-list of Cornerstone Technologies LLC was to commercialize the “breakthrough” technology it was refining with the help of more than $9 million in federal funds. Three years later, the water-jet technology capable of pulverizing materials and minerals into microscopic pieces that could be used in high technology applications has hardly produced a trickle of the promised jobs and has not transformed the region into a high-tech hotbed. Cornerstone was founded in 1998 and...

During forum, the congressman says Bush should focus on balancing the budget instead. Special to the Times Leader WILKES-BARRE (PA) -- President Bush’s plan to privatize Social Security would put the country in further debt and could cut the amount current seniors get for Social Security, said U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski during a spirited forum he held Saturday. Kanjorski, D-Nanticoke, said there is no “Social Security crisis” and said the president should focus on balancing the federal budget instead of privatizing Social Security. “In order to get their way, they tend to call things ‘a crisis,’” said Kanjorski to about...

The notices mailed to constituents criticize White House policies and are paid for by taxpayers. By BRETT MARCY bmarcy@leader.net President Bush's 2005 budget proposal earlier this year was "irresponsible," and the war in Iraq "has been a costly mistake," constituents learn from U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski in letters he mailed on the public dime. The anti-Bush tone of the letters might seem like the typical presidential campaign literature that fills area mailboxes, but the congressman's letters are not from his campaign. Two Kanjorski letters, both dated Aug. 3, were printed on his official congressional letterhead, and they clearly state they...

After bullets flew, Kanjorski took heroic role in '54 Fifty years ago radicals shot up the House of Representatives. A young page who would later become a congressman helped save lives. By JIM ABRAMS Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON - There's a penny-sized bullet hole in the desk Republicans use when they speak on the floor of the House, a memento of the worst terrorist attack on Congress, which happened 50 years ago tomorrow. On March 1, 1954, four Puerto Rican nationalists opened fire from the visitors' gallery above the chamber. They sprayed about 30 shots around the hall and wounded...

Dogged by controversies, Cornerstone eyes future By JERRY LYNOTT jlynott@leader.net TECHNOLOGY WILKES-BARRE - The last of its federal contracts awarded, Cornerstone Technologies has warehoused its equipment and idled its staff. The future of the company - held up as an example of the high-tech firms Northeastern Pennsylvania wants to attract - now depends upon its own success in the marketplace. But the head of the research and development company that has received more than $9 million in government funds since 1999 insists Cornerstone is still viable. "Nothing has changed. The company is ongoing," said Peter Kanjorski, president and chief executive...