From the (new?) blog Local Values:

The Department of Transportation is refusing to follow through on a $5.6 million earmark by Paul Kanjorski.

The original earmark was in the 2005 Transportation Bill and authorized a parking garage to be constructed onto the Kanjorski Center—built in Naticoke in 1993 which is currently empty.

However, the Hill reports that the earmark does not meet federal standards. Federal funds are allowed for parking garages “only if they are connected to other public transportation facilities outside a business area with a population of 50,000 or more, or if it serves high-occupancy vehicles (HOVs) and public mass transportation passengers.”

Republican Lou Barletta would defeat 12-term incumbent Paul Kanjorski by 5 percentage points if the election were held today, according to an internal poll released Monday by the Barletta campaign.

Conducted by Susquehanna Polling and Research, a Harrisburg-based Republican polling agency, the results show Barletta would receive 47 percent of the vote compared to 42 percent for Kanjorski.  read more »

Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski is as close to a political icon as you can find in northeastern Pennsylvania.

Respected for steering federal funding to his economically depressed northeastern Pennsylvania district, the 12-term Democratic congressman hasn’t had to worry much about his political prospects since he was first elected in 1984.

In fact, the only serious challenge he ever faced was in 2002, when a little-known Republican mayor from the small city of Hazleton held him to 56 percent of the vote.

Note that as of 7:30 this morning he hasn’t filed petitions with the Dept. of State…

Political activist and former 10th Congressional District candidate Kurt Shotko on Sunday announced his intent to enter the race for the 11th Congressional District seat occupied by U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-Nanticoke.

Shotko, 40, of Scranton, said he decided to run as an Independent because “we’ve given the Democrats a chance to do something for the future and all I see is stuff from the past.”

Shotko said he doesn’t believe that Kanjorski has “a comprehensive vision for a positive America and is not adequately representing the people.”  read more »

Both parties have been trying for months to recruit challengers in the districts — Bucks County’s 8th, Berks County’s 6th and Carbon and Monroe counties’ 11th. The next couple of weeks will provide a clearer picture of who’s in and who’s out.

In Bucks, Republicans have their eye on Thomas Manion, a 53-year-old pharmaceutical executive whose son, Travis, was killed in a sniper attack in April near Fallujah. The matchup would pit a strong supporter of the war — in Manion — against one of Congress’s most high-profile advocates of a troop withdrawal — in Murphy, the only House lawmaker to have served in Iraq.  read more »

Rep. Paul Kanjorski is scrambling to position himself as a tough-on-immigration lawmaker before a possible challenge from Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta in 2008.

The 12-term Democratic incumbent sent out a mailer to constituents in the 11th District this month that touts his anti-immigration votes in recent years. It bears the headline: ‘‘Congressman Paul Kanjorski: Tough on Illegal Immigration.’‘  read more »

Old news is still old to U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski, no matter what his opponents say.

The 11-term Democrat from Nanticoke said partisan politics was behind a story published Wednesday in the Washington, D.C.-based Politico.com about the bankrupt research and development company that was headed by the congressman’s nephew, Peter Kanjorski.

“No doubt this inquiry was triggered by the relentless assault the National Republican Congressional Campaign Committee launched against me in the 2002 campaign. The voters scrutinized their unfounded charges then and overwhelmingly re-elected me,” he said in a statement released Friday.  read more »

I’m all for high-speed trains and clean transit!

A crowd of about 40 people sat in stunned silence as U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-11, gave his prediction for the future of Monroe County.

The New York metropolitan area will grow by 4 million people in the next two decades. They can’t go north; not enough infrastructure. New Jersey is already densely populated. So where will they go?

“Greater New York is coming west. Right through Monroe County. And you better act quickly and think about planning and smart growth,” he said.  read more »