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February 11, 2008

Scranton’s Shotko to run as Independent for Kanjorski’s seat

He ran unsuccessfully against former U.S. Rep. Sherwood in 2002, 2004.

By Steve Mocarsky smocarsky@timesleader.com
Staff Writer
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Political activist and former 10th Congressional District candidate Kurt Shotko on Sunday announced his intent to enter the race for the 11th Congressional District seat occupied by U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-Nanticoke.

Shotko, 40, of Scranton, said he decided to run as an Independent because “we’ve given the Democrats a chance to do something for the future and all I see is stuff from the past.”

Shotko said he doesn’t believe that Kanjorski has “a comprehensive vision for a positive America and is not adequately representing the people.”

Kanjorski, who has been in office since 1984 and is expected to run for re-election, did not return a message left at his Wilkes-Barre office.

The only other announced candidate for the seat is Republican Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta, who launched his campaign on Thursday.

Shotko isn’t impressed with Barletta either, saying his focus is on one issue. “I don’t think he has much to say besides immigration,” Shotko said.

Barletta, who unsuccessfully challenged Kanjorski for his seat in 2002, has since gained national prominence for his stance on illegal immigration.

Barletta said he’s glad Shotko is running because “people should have a choice.”

“And he’s right that there is one issue, but he’s wrong about what the one issue is. The issue is Congress and its failed federal policies that have brought the country to the brink of a recession and have lost the faith of the American people. That’s what the issue is,” Barletta said.

Shotko said America is “not making critical investments in the human capital or in the technical infrastructure that produces rational economic growth.”

Investments in human capital would include better “education and health care and anything that makes you a more productive worker.” Initiatives to improve transportation and Internet technology “would make us a lot more effective participants in the global economy,” he said.

“Developing every child’s potential will save billions of dollars and give every child a chance to succeed in the global economy,” Shotko said.

He said the need for school property taxes for educational funding can be eliminated “by using tax revenues from all alcohol, tobacco and marijuana sales distributed through a ‘state store’ system.”

Asked if he supports the legalization of marijuana, Shotko said he supports the decriminalization of marijuana but does not promote drug use. However, he believes alcohol, tobacco and marijuana are recreational drugs that should be regulated and decriminalizing hemp production “would go a long way in saving the family farm.”

Shotko said he disagrees with the United States having “attacked a number of nations with faulty evidence” and “Big Brother making government a police state” in explaining his statement that he supports “the force of law, not the law of force.

Shotko is an outspoken opponent of the war in Iraq, evidenced by his high-profile protest and eventual arrest at Wilkes-Barre’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade in 2005.

City police said Shotko and another man were holding large signs protesting President George W. Bush while they were in the area of Public Square. The signs were blowing in the wind, police said, and nearly struck at least one parade watcher while disrupting the views of others.

The two were asked to move behind the parade watchers, but refused, police said. They became rowdy when officers tried apprehending them, police said.

The men were found guilty of disorderly conduct and sentenced to six months probation. They have an appeal pending before the state Superior Court. A charge of resisting arrest filed against Shotko was dropped.

Shotko was also arrested and cited with disorderly conduct, criminal trespassing and harassment after a verbal altercation with recruitment officers at an Army recruiting station in Hazle Township in 2004.

Police said Shotko walked into the recruiting station, told three recruiters they were cowards, asked them why they lie to kids and said U.S. soldiers were killing innocent babies and civilians in Iraq. Police said Shotko refused to leave and said he wanted to stay to protest the war. Shotko had said he called state police after a recruiter threw him to the ground.

The 2004 charges were dismissed after the arresting officer failed to show up for court.

Shotko doesn’t think the arrests will be an issue for many voters.

“Maybe for some people, but for others it will be an indication of my commitment to free speech and to protecting American soldiers,” he said.

Shotko ran unsuccessful campaigns against former U.S. Rep. Don Sherwood in the 10th District in 2002 and 2004 as a Green Party candidate before the district was redrawn to exclude the heavily Democratic city of Scranton.

Shotko is a former small business owner who now is director of the non-profit Common Sense Revival, a movement focused on “critical thinking and positive psychology,” according to Shotko’s Web site.

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