DCCC Files Complaint Against Top GOP Recruit

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is hitting one of the Republicans’ top recruits hard over a loan that he secured for his last Congressional campaign in 2002.

The committee is accusing Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta, who is running against Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D-Pa.) in a rematch of their 2002 campaign, of not accruing interest on a $65,000 loan that he took out in his previous run for Congress. He has not paid off any part of the loan, either.

Barletta has kept his campaign account active since losing in the 2002 election. His account has $153,670 in debt – most of which is from his personal wealth, but the remaining $65,000 is an unsecured loan from the Legacy Bank of Harrisburg.

The DCCC has also filed an official complaint to the Federal Election Commission to look into the matter.

“According to his own reports, Lou Barletta got a sweetheart deal that no other hardworking Pennsylvanians could get. It’s Barletta's responsibility to explain why he has yet to pay back the loan,” said DCCC communications director Jennifer Crider in a statement.

Barletta has claimed in his local newspaper that the loan is attributable to a clerical error.

Since his loss, Barletta has become a minor celebrity among conservatives over his outspoken opposition to illegal immigration in his hometown. With Barletta’s help, the city of Hazleton passed a law that heavily penalizes landlords who rent to illegal immigrants and punishes the businesses that hire them. It was struck down as unconstitutional by a federal judge in July.

He is the only Republican to give Kanjorski a run for his money since the latter came to Congress in 1984, holding the congressman to 56 percent of the vote in 2002.