Will Lou Show His Taxes?

Wilkes-Barre, PA - When he first ran against Lou Barletta in 2002, Congressman Paul Kanjorski (PA-11) released his income tax returns. Barletta did not. The Congressman says he will release his last ten income tax returns again during this campaign, but if only if Barletta agrees to release all his income taxes from the same period.

"Lou Barletta is getting off easy in this campaign. He ignored the Project Vote Smart candidate questionnaire, refuses to take a stand on the issues, creates phony controversies over debates and no one challenges him on it," Kanjorski said. "Barletta has smeared me and my family repeatedly. Now, let's see if he will put himself up to the same scrutiny that he has put my family through. Let the media and voters look at both of our income taxes and what’s there."

Today, the Congressman's campaign manager, Joe Werner, sent the following letter to his counterpart on the Barletta campaign, Vince Galko.

Vince,

Congressman Kanjorski has indicated that he will release his last ten income tax returns (from 1997-2007) if Mayor Barletta agrees to do the same.

The Congressman feels there is value in this - since your campaign has spread rumors and innuendo about the Congressman's finances and we've heard many people raise concerns about your finances during the course of this campaign. This might be a good opportunity to clear the air about these matters. If you are serious about transparency, we hope you consider this request.

We will ask for you to respond to this request by October 25th, with the idea that we would each release the returns to the media by October 28th.

Thank you for your consideration.

Joe Werner