03/14/2007
Barletta testifies today
BY WADE MALCOLM
TIMES • shamrock Writer
wmalcolm@citizensvoice.com


SCRANTON — Unlike a criminal trial, “pleading the Fifth” doesn’t apply in a lawsuit.

Even if it did, Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta, expected to testify today in the William J. Nealon Federal Building, wouldn’t take it.

Barletta is anxious to defend the city’s right to punish businesses employing and landlords renting to illegal immigrants.

“I’m chomping at the bit,” he said during a recess Tuesday in the case of Lozano v. City of Hazleton.

Barletta, who proposed the original ordinance, will be the second witness to take the stand when the trial resumes at 9 a.m., said the attorneys challenging the ordinance on the grounds it violates the constitution and civil rights laws.

In a likely preview of what lies ahead of Barletta, an attorney opposing the city questioned Hazleton City Council President Joseph Yanuzzi for about three hours Tuesday.

The plaintiffs’ attorneys expect Barletta’s testimony to begin before noon and last the rest of the day.

“Mayor Barletta will be on the stand quite some time,” said plaintiff attorney Thomas Wilkinson, after peppering Yanuzzi with questions the entire afternoon. “We have a lot of questions to ask, and he has a lot of issues to address.”

Barletta’s opposition will call him as a “hostile witness.” The testimony will be treated as a cross-examination, meaning he can be asked leading questions.

The mayor will tangle verbally with American Civil Liberties Union attorney Witold J. Walczak, who referred to Barletta unfavorably several times in the trial’s opening argument, calling the mayor “opportunistic.”

Prior to the trial, Walczak, who successfully argued the 2005 Dover intelligent design case, questioned Barletta for more than eight hours over two days.

After the close of Tuesday’s arguments, Barletta spent about an hour reviewing trial briefs with his attorneys before making the 40-mile drive south on Interstate 81 to Hazleton — the city he says he only wished to the protect ever since he proposed the ordinance in June. He’ll likely make the same argument on the witness stand today.

“I don’t really need any more preparation,” Barletta said outside the courtroom Tuesday. “I’ve done this for months. I could talk about it in my sleep. I’ve been through all of this before.”

Barletta has indeed always been the central figure in the debate. Dozens of newspapers have quoted Barletta, and he has been a guest on numerous television programs. He has spread his message as a keynote speaker at banquets and fund-raisers around the state.

But today could be decidedly different. Barletta will not control the discourse, as he would at a dinner function, nor can he as easily dodge questions or hedge answers, as politicians tend to do in interviews.

Instead, he will be confined to a witness box and cross-examined by an opposing attorney, forced to answer the questions as asked. In fact, he said today would be the first time he has ever testified in court.

“I’m expecting them to twist words and change meanings as they have throughout,” he said of the opposing attorneys. “But their own plaintiffs dispelled the accusations (against him). I’ll be happy to talk about everything again.”

http://link.toolbot.com/republicanherald.com/69144