Lou Barletta

Infobox Mayor
name= Lou Barletta
office= Mayor of Hazleton, Pennsylvania
term_start= January, 2000
predecessor= Mike Marsicano
birth_date=
birth_place= Hazleton, Pennsylvania
party= Republican
spouse= MaryGrace Malloy Barletta
children= 4 daughters
religion=
residence= Hazleton, Pennsylvania

Louis J. Barletta is the current mayor of Hazleton, Pennsylvania. He is a member of the Republican Party and is currently a candidate for Congress in Pennsylvania's 11th congressional district.

Born in Hazleton to parents Rocky and Angeline, Barletta graduated from Hazleton High School and later attended Luzerne County Community College and Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania. He left school early to pursue a career in Major League Baseball, trying out for the Cincinnati Reds. He returned to Hazleton and joined his three brothers in their family businesses with A. Barletta and Sons Road Construction and Barletta Heating Oil. He married the former MaryGrace Malloy with whom he had four daughters.

In 1984, Barletta and his wife founded Interstate Road Marking Corporation, a pavement marking business which is the largest pavement marking contractor in Pennsylvania and the sixth largest in the nation. In the mid-1990s, he won a seat on the Hazleton city council as a Republican despite the heavily Democratic make-up of the city and having been the only Republican on the five member council. In 1999, he ran for mayor and won by a two to one margin. After taking office in January, 2000, Barletta found the city government in poor condition with a large deficit, budget shortfall and illegal contracts with all four of its unions. He sold Interstate Road Marking in order to focus on his work. As mayor, he erased the budget shortfall and renegotiated contracts which led to Hazleton earning the Governor's Award for Fiscal Accountability and Best Management Practices.

Barletta ran for the United States House of Representatives in 2002 for Pennsylvania's 11th congressional district which includes Hazleton. He received the Republican nomination and faced 24-year incumbent Democratic Paul Kanjorski. Kanjorski won the election, in part by crushing Barletta in Lackawanna County, home to Scranton (which had been drawn into the 11th during redistricting). Since then, Barletta has made a reputation for himself for his outspoken views against illegal immigration. As mayor, Barletta and the city council attempted to pass the Illegal Immigration Relief Act, an ordinance that instituted to discourage hiring or renting to illegal immigrants. However, it was ruled unconstitutional by federal district Judge James Munley. Another act passed concurrently made English the official language of Hazleton.

Barletta will be facing Kanjorski for a second congressional race in 2008. [ [http://www.citizensvoice.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19299089&BRD=2259&PAG=461&dept_id=571464&rfi=6 The Citizens Voice - Kanjorski, Barletta throwing jabs ] ] He recently released a poll in which he claims to be leading Kanjorski, 47 percent to 42 percent. However, the poll was conducted in late March 2008 and only released in June. Additionally, the full results and internals were not released, and the five-point margin is just barely outside the poll's margin of error. The same pollster showed John McCain leading Barack Obama by 13 points in the 11th, but no internals were released on this question. [Hirschorn, Dan. [http://www.politickerpa.com/danh/558/barletta-says-internal-poll-shows-him-ahead-kanjorski Barletta says internal poll shows him ahead of Kanjorski] . Politicker PA, 2008-06-16.]

ee also

*United States House of Representatives elections in Pennsylvania, 2008#District 11

References

External links

* [http://loubarletta.com/ Lou Barletta for Congress campaign site]