Barletta: Kanjorski energy bill can’t work

Republican congressional challenger Lou Barletta took exception Tuesday to his opponent’s motives in announcing his proposal to tax windfall profits of oil companies.

Barletta says it’s a meaningless move and won’t lower gas prices. He also wonders why U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski – a 23-year incumbent – couldn’t muster any co-sponsors for House Resolution 5800.

“On Monday, U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski touted a bill he readily admits will do nothing to reduce the price of gasoline for millions of Americans struggling to make ends meet,” Barletta said in a release issued Tuesday. “The 12-term incumbent acknowledged his proposal and four similar ones in the House of Representatives don’t have a chance of becoming law.”

Barletta called Kanjorski’s proposal a “desperate attempt to gain favor in an election year.”

Barletta, the Republican mayor of Hazleton, is trying to unseat Kanjorski in the 11th Congressional District.

Ed Mitchell, Kanjorski’s spokesman, fired back at the Barletta camp, saying, “It’s refreshing to see for once that Lou Barletta has not blamed illegal immigrants for the high price of gasoline; he blames them for everything else, including the record 9.4 percent unemployment in Barletta’s home city of Hazleton.”

Kanjorski, D-Nanticoke, announced his House Resolution 5800 in Wilkes-Barre on Monday. Called the Consumer Reasonable Energy Price Protection Act of 2008, it would allow the federal government to tax windfall oil and gas profits resulting from historically high oil and gas prices that average Americans struggle to afford, he said.

“Monday’s event was insulting to consumers, pure and simple. If he believes gas companies are going to pay a profits tax and not pass it on to consumers, he’s incredibly out of touch with reality,” said Barletta Campaign Manager Vince Galko.

“What Mr. Kanjorski doesn’t want people to know is that, after a 24-year record of failed leadership, he is to blame for the rising cost of gasoline,” Galko continued. “In fact, despite his claims of seniority, Kanjorski’s newly introduced bill has zero cosponsors in the U.S. House.”

“The reason the legislation he introduced will stall is because Barletta’s fellow Republicans will deadlock the bill in the Senate,” Mitchell said.

Mitchell said Kanjorski was pointing out that the oil interests own the Republican Party and “big oil wants big prices.”

Mitchell said Barletta did not offer his position on the issue or any solutions.

In last Tuesday’s primary, Kanjorski received 90,800 votes on the Democratic side and Barletta tallied 27,290 Republican votes. Both were unopposed. Kanjorski defeated Barletta in 2002 by more than 22,000 votes.

11th Congressional District

The 11th Congressional District includes parts of Luzerne and Lackawanna counties and all of Monroe, Columbia and Carbon counties.

The district extends east to the New Jersey border, west past Bloomsburg, south past Shamokin and north to Blakely.

In Luzerne County, it includes Wilkes-Barre, Hazleton, Pittston and Nanticoke and most municipalities on the east side of the Susquehanna River.