As Corman ends his campaign that failed to get off the ground, he’s endorsing Lou Barletta, who has a long record himself of failing Pennsylvania families and workers.
PENNSYLVANIA — Well, it looks like this time Jake Corman’s exit from the messy GOP primary for Governor is real, but he’s endorsing Lou Barletta — a candidate with a record just as unimpressive as Jake Corman’s campaign. Let’s take a look back at Lou Barletta’s greatest hits:
A FAILURE AS MAYOR
- As Mayor of Hazleton, Barletta led the city to financial ruin and bragged about throwing out contracts with unions and setting a single day record for the number of anti-union grievances filed against him.
- Under Barletta’s leadership, property taxes in Hazleton increased by 70 percent, the city had the highest unemployment rate in Pennsylvania, and crime soared by 104 percent.
A HARMFUL RECORD IN CONGRESS
- Lou Barletta was also one of Donald Trump’s most loyal allies in Congress – and he signed on as an “alternate elector” as part of a nationwide plan to overturn the results of the 2020 Presidential election.
- While in Congress, Barletta voted for tax giveaways for the wealthy and against the ACA, which gave 1.22 million Pennsylvanians access to healthcare coverage — he’s even vocally opposed the child tax credit in the ARP, which helped lift millions of children out of poverty and reduced taxes for PA families.
AN EXTREME CAMPAIGN
- Barletta has repeatedly refused to acknowledge Joe Biden as the legitimate President, instead, endorsing Harrisburg Republicans’ sham election “audit” that risks nine million Pennsylvanians’ personal, private information.
- Barletta’s LOU PAC was called out as “an ethically questionable venture designed to benefit Barletta personally,” and was handed an FEC complaint for allegedly “funneling campaign funds to his own property.”
- As a gubernatorial candidate, Barletta has even campaigned alongside insurrectionists and said it’s “an honor and a privilege” to have an endorsement from Rose Tennent, a defender of the Jan. 6 insurrection which was “one of the worst days of injuries for law enforcement in the United States.” His PAC also tacitly supported former insurrectionist, current inmate Frank Scavo, who is serving time in federal prison for his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection.
- And of course, as a candidate for U.S. Senate, Pennsylvanians strongly opposed his record and handed him a resounding defeat when Barletta lost to Democratic Senator Bob Casey by double digits in 2018.
“The fact that Jake Corman believes Lou Barletta is Republicans’ best shot speaks volumes about the PA GOP’s field of extreme candidates,” said Pennsylvania Democratic Party spokesperson Marisa Nahem. “Clearly Corman hasn’t looked at Barletta’s record because if he had, he’d realize that believing Pennsylvanians will vote for Lou Barletta is almost as out-of-touch as believing he could clear the field.”
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