What Would Lou Do?

Wilkes-Barre, PA - Lou Barletta declined the opportunity to answer questions in the "Political Courage Test" from Project Vote Smart on the important policy matters of the day. Congressman Paul E. Kanjorski (PA-11) did answer the group's questions. You can go to http://www.votesmart.org/npat.php?can_id=27047.

Project Vote Smart is a respected, non-partisan organization that, according to the group's website, researches "the backgrounds and records of thousands of political candidates and elected officials to discover their voting records, campaign contributions, public statements, biographical data (including their work history) and evaluations of them generated by over 100 competing special interest groups."

Kanjorski Campaign Spokesman Ed Mitchell said about the questionnaire: "Of course he didn’t respond because that would force him to have positions that he would have to stand by. On most issues, Barletta refuses to even stake out a position. On others, Barletta flip-flops whenever his policies could do harm to his poll position. He changed his response to questions on the economy recovery package, among other things. If the wind blows one way, you can be sure that Lou Barletta is headed that direction.

"For example, while we don't know now where he stands on privatization of Social Security, Barletta has said previously he supports private accounts and he has accepted more than $80,000 in Political Action Committee (PAC) contributions from privatization supporters.

"On September 25th, Barletta told a Scranton Times-Tribune reporter he backed the bailout. But by September 30th, Barletta was telling newspapers, including the Politico, that he opposed the proposal."

The Political Courage Test asks candidates what they would do if elected about the following topics:

· Abortion Issues
· Gun Issues
· Budgetary, Spending and Tax Issues
· Health Issues
· Campaign Finance and Governmental Reform Issues
· Immigration Issues
· Crime Issues
· International Aid, International Policy and International Trade
· Education
· National Security Issues
· Employment
· Social Issues
· Environmental and Energy Issues
· Social Security Issues
· Legislative Priorities
· Welfare and Poverty Issues