Thread: Barletta - Hizzoner to The Honorable?

Hizzoner to The Honorable?
Immigration fight could take Barletta from Hazleton mayor to congressman.
By Josh Drobnyk

Call Washington Bureau

July 28, 2007

The federal court ruling that struck down Hazleton's illegal-immigration ordinance has again cast Mayor Lou Barletta onto the national stage, and despite his being on the wrong end of the decision, political observers say the spotlight is likely to help Barletta's long-term political prospects.

The two-term Republican mayor has been approached by state and national GOP leaders in recent months about running for one of several higher offices, including state treasurer and Congress. And with a battle for a third term as mayor almost certainly behind him -- he won both Democratic and Republican primaries in May -- Barletta has said he is considering those and other options.

''It keeps him in the center of the fight,'' G. Terry Madonna, director of the Center for Politics and Public Affairs at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, said of the court decision. ''He is in the eye of the hurricane, and he stays there.''

Barletta vowed to appeal U.S. District Judge James Munley's decision all the way to the Supreme Court. And with municipalities throughout the country using Hazleton's illegal-immigration ordinance as a blueprint to craft their own laws, legal experts say it wouldn't surprise them if the case reaches that level.

All of which means Barletta isn't likely to soon step down from a pedestal that anti-immigration

activists have placed him on since he proposed the Hazleton law last year. The ordinance would fine businesses that employ illegal immigrants and landlords who rent to them. ''The public is going to continue to look to Mayor Barletta on this issue,'' said state GOP spokesman Michael Barley.

Munley ruled Hazleton's Illegal Immigration Relief Act, crafted after city police accused two illegal immigrants of a brutal murder last year, unconstitutional.

In an interview Friday, Barletta said the court decision ''only emboldened people who are supporting our stance. Outside City Hall, people are blowing their horns, yelling 'Keep fighting, don't stop, don't back down,''' he said.

Asked how he thinks the ruling affected his political stock, he pointed to his lopsided primary wins as evidence the city is behind him. ''I can only judge by the election here how people in Hazleton felt,'' he said.

Barletta won the Republican nomination with 94 percent of the vote and the Democratic nomination by a nearly two-to-one margin. ''I think that sent a clear message to Washington.''

In the choice between treasurer and Congress, he faces a decision between running for an open state office and a congressional seat occupied by one of the most entrenched Democrats in the state's delegation.

Democratic consultant Larry Ceisler, who said Barletta's ''stock goes up'' with the ruling, said the choice is obvious, particularly because Barletta's would-be opponent in the 11th Congressional District, Rep. Paul Kanjorski, isn't on the opposing side of the immigration argument. This year, he opposed the Senate bill that would have created a path to citizenship for the country's estimated 12 million illegal immigrants.

''That is a real problem,'' said Ceisler, who has no affiliation with Kanjorski. ''You lack credibility running against an incumbent when he has the same position as you do.''

It's not just any position either, Ceisler said. ''That is Barletta's calling card.''

Given Congress' inaction on comprehensive immigration reform, though, Barletta could try to fault Kanjorski for not doing more to address the problem.

Meanwhile, Barletta, who this month said he was giving a run for Congress ''serious consideration,'' remains coy about his intentions. He says he's also been approached about running for governor and lieutenant governor.

''All of those options I believe are still out there,'' he said of the three state offices and the congressional seat. ''They are all still options that one would look at it.''


http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-a1_ ... 3102.story

he won both Democratic and Republican primaries in May --

WOW! You don't see that much, if ever!!