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| Kanjo, Barletta spar over 'nuts' |
| 2010-07-04 |
| U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski is being criticized again for comments he made, this time on a local radio show, but his campaign fired back on Thursday. Last week the 13-term Democrat from Nanticoke was criticized and attacked for his statements about minorities and "defective" people. On Thursday, while appearing as a guest on WILK Radio's "Webster and Nancy Show," Kanjorski was asked if he was going to hold any public town hall meetings with his constituents. "We will do everything we can to meet with people, but I'm not going to set myself up for, you know, nuts to hit me with a camera." He said often times "people can't resist changing what you said or taking things out of context." He said these "snippets" lead to "distortions." "I'm not going to arm my opponent with a baseball bat," Kanjorski said later in the interview. Kanjorski's Republican opponent, Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta, leveled criticism against the congressman. "Paul Kanjorski has been in Congress for 26 years and his response to our region's 10 percent unemployment rate is to call his constituents 'nuts' and to attack the city of Hazleton," Barletta said. "Do these so-called 'nuts' who attend town meetings fall into Kanjorski's 'defective people' category?" Ed Mitchell, Kanjorski's campaign spokesman, fired back, saying the congressman stands by his comments made on WILK, "including the ones about Barletta's sorry record as mayor." "With the reference to 'nuts,' he (Kanjorski) meant a small number of extreme political opponents who come to disrupt town meetings solely for the purpose of scoring political points they can register on YouTube or the Internet to inflict damage and embarrass the congressman and not to the people who come to those meetings to discuss issues and gather information," Mitchell said. "He meant nothing disparaging by his comments." Mitchell said Kanjorski has held face-to-face town meetings for 26 years "that usually had crowds of 20-30 people a meeting." "When we hold our tele-town meetings, we speak to thousands of people," Mitchell said. "It is simply better to communicate with our constituents this way." Kanjorski, 73, is opposed by Barletta, 54, in the 11th Congressional District race. Kanjorski also attacked Barletta's record as Hazleton's mayor -- something he has refrained from doing so far in the campaign. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 The comments are anything but supportive of Mr. Kanjorski |
| Posted by: Pappy 2010-07-04 22:50 |