WILKES BARRE – Today, Hazleton Mayor and 11^th Congressional District Republican candidate Lou Barletta headlined the Republican Party of Pennsylvania’s PelosiCare Accountability Tourregarding Congressman Paul Kanjorski’s decision to support PelosiCare over the needs of his constituents.

“Paul Kanjorski thinks the opposition to this terrible bill is coming from partisans,” Barletta said. “What he doesn’t understand is that Americans know exactly what Kanjorski and Nancy Pelosi did and that is push through devastating legislation that negatively affects citizens from all walks of life, age groups and occupations. Kanjorski can keep on ignoring us but he won’t be able to ignore the voters on Election Day.”

Also attending today’s press conference were Luzerne County Chairman Terry Casey, Republican Party of Pennsylvania Executive Director Luke Bernstein, Dr. Michael Rittenberg, George Hayden (President of George J. Hayden Electric, Inc.), and a group of college students.

“By voting for government-run health care legislation, Congressman Kanjorski proved yet again that he cares far more about doing the bidding of extreme liberal leaders like President Barack Obama and Speaker Nancy Pelosi than carrying the water of the constituents he was elected to represent,” Bernstein said.  “The government takeover of the health care and student loan industry will negatively affect nearly every Pennsylvanian by killing jobs, raising taxes and driving a government-sized wedge between patients and their doctors.”

The Hill reported earlier this week that Speaker Nancy Pelosi admitted that Congressman Paul Kanjorski’s support for her government-run health care bill helped to put it over the top:

“But when word spread that previously undecided Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D-Pa.) was a yes, all uncertainty was eliminated.

“Pelosi and her team had finally done it. They had the votes.” (Hopper, Mark, “Pelosi methodically moved members,” The Hill, 3/22/10)

Bernstein concluded, “The people of the 11^th Congressional District deserve a real leader, not someone who simply serves as liberal Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s puppet.”

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