Thread: Mayor who got tough on illegals rips GOP for fearing conserv

Hazleton mayor lights fire under county GOP

By Mike Wereschagin
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, February 19, 2009

Conservative is the new liberal, Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta told a crowd of Allegheny Republicans on Wednesday night.

Just as Democratic politicians once distanced themselves from the liberal label, many Republicans now are worried about being called conservatives, Barletta said, speaking to about 350 party members at Green Tree Radisson. The annual Spirit of Lincoln Dinner raised more than $15,000 for the county party.

"Now, 'conservative' has become the new 'liberal' in the American political lexicon," Barletta said.

Coming off two punishing election cycles in which Republicans lost control of the U.S. House, Senate and White House, the party must begin working on rebounding immediately, he said.

"We need to start rebuilding this party, and we need to do it starting this year," Barletta said.

He drew applause when he said the party brought its current woes on itself. He blamed politicians of both parties for excessive partisanship that he said has caused many Americans to lose faith in government.

Barletta cautioned against trying to regain power by rebranding Republicans as anything other than a conservative party.

"Some believe the key to our future lies in moderating," he said. "With all due respect, those who believe that could not be more wrong."

As evidence, he cited Sen. John McCain's loss to President Obama in November, which he said was brought about because McCain didn't excite the conservative base.

Touching on a recent rallying point for Republicans, Barletta criticized the $787 billion stimulus bill as wasteful spending. The bill passed with no Republican votes in the House and three in the Senate.

Barletta, who drew national attention for his town's strict illegal immigration laws — now under appeal after a court struck them down — said the bill doesn't penalize cities that don't enforce federal immigration law.

County Republican Party Chairman Jim Roddey said the committee has retired $90,000 in debt since he took over in January 2008. The party has about 600 committee members, up from 350 in that same time period — a sign more people are getting involved, he said.

Roddey and Pittsburgh entrepreneur Glen Meakem plan to form a political action committee separate from the party coffers to fund candidates in the region, Roddey said.

"We are fielding candidates in every major race," Roddey said.

Still, Democrats outnumber Republicans by about 340,000 voters in Allegheny County, according to the Pennsylvania Department of State. Statewide, Democratic voters outnumber GOP voters by about 1.2 million.

Mike Wereschagin can be reached at mwereschagin@tribweb.com or 412-320-7900.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsbu ... 12421.html

Lou Barletta is a strong advocate for the American people.

Lou Barletta rocks

Great article and hes absolutely right

conservative or liberal........whatever!

John McCain always talked of staying in the Middle East and war there. Obama Rama talked of making peace with the world and getting troops out. Guess people were tired of hearing about war so Obama Rama was elected!

The new change brought just more war!

Just wonder if they re having anymore luck in getting the ILLEGALS out of Hazelton? I know they fought hard........have not seen any articles for awhile on that......