Hazleton Mayor: Barletta takes GOP, Dem bids

HAZLETON – Mayor Lou Barletta apparently won’t have to worry about a battle against former political foe Mike Marsicano in the general election come November.

Not only did Barletta win the Republican nomination to serve a third term on Tuesday, he won the Democratic nomination through a write-in campaign as well, according to unofficial results.

Barletta said he was “honored and humbled by the amount of support I received.”

Marsicano won 739 votes, while Democrats cast more than 1,200 write-in votes, which Marsicano conceded won Barletta both parties’ nominations.

Barletta easily defeated government watchdog Dee Deakos for the GOP nomination, capturing 1,363 votes to Deakos’ 83.

Deakos pointed to Barletta’s campaign war chest, the popularity he gained nationally after proposing the Illegal Immigration Relief Act and having her own campaign practically ignored by local media as all foiling her attempt at office.

“This was an election won with money, and Mr. Barletta had a lot of it,” Deakos said.

“It was also an election won on lies. I tried to get (Barletta) to debate me so we could get a lot of these issues out in public, and unfortunately, I couldn’t do that,” Deakos said.

She said a Hazleton newspaper “did not print stories detrimental to Barletta. Case in point was his contributions he got from people involved in the river-dredge project. And the two local TV stations didn’t give me air time, while they gave Barletta unlimited air time on the grounds that he’s the mayor,” Deakos said.

“When Barletta made his announcement (to run for re-election), they spent a half hour. Mine, they spent a minute. How do you beat somebody who has that type of control on the press?” Deakos said.

Deakos also charged that Barletta’s last-minute write-in campaign “did not give (Marsicano) a chance to defend himself. No one knew what Marsicano’s stance was on illegal immigration. When he said Marsicano was going to stop the illegal-immigration ordinance, he had no idea what Marsicano was going to do because Marsicano did not make a statement one way or the other. To me that was dirty politics,” Deakos said.

Barletta has said he feared his opponents would stop fighting a lawsuit filed against the city to have the illegal-immigration ordinance declared unconstitutional and try to stop a controversial mineland-reclamation project using river dredge as fill.

He said all candidates had “ample opportunity to articulate their positions on the issues.

“I think the people of Hazleton do not want to go backwards. … I think the message is clear they want me to keep fighting for them,” Barletta said.

Marsicano was a bit more gracious in his concession remarks. He said he wishes Barletta “the very best in managing the city.” Marsicano said he doesn’t plan on running a write-in campaign for the general election in November.

Barletta unseated Marsicano in 1999 after serving two years on city council. Marsicano lost in the primary that year to Councilman Jack Mundie.

Barletta inherited a $1.2 million budget deficit when he took office and turned it into a $250,000 surplus, something he touted in his campaign.

The mayor said he expects the city will see another deficit this year, which he blamed on illegal immigrants “draining city resources.” He vowed to continue battling – all the way to the Supreme Court, if necessary – a lawsuit seeking to have the illegal-immigration ordinance declared unconstitutional.

Barletta has been running on his record, touting his having “brought the city back from near bankruptcy,” rebuilding the police department, facilitating downtown revitalization and taking a stand on illegal immigration.

In his campaigning, Marsicano criticized Barletta for decimating the ranks of the police department and leaving the streets unprotected from crime. There were 42 officers when Marsicano, a retired commercial airline pilot and former state trooper himself, left office; Barletta laid off officers, reducing police ranks to the low 30s.

Barletta said that was necessary because several officers’ salaries were paid for with grants that soon would expire and there was no plan in place to fund them.

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Incumbent defeats former mayor Marsicano with write-in votes.

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