Beyond the city limits (Wilkes-Barre Times Leader profile)
By BILL O ’ BOYLE
Staff Writer
HAZLETON – A postcard that hangs in the mayor’s office shows a team of German shepherds watching as a brave little kitten strides by. The caption recites Psalm 23: “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.”
Lou Barletta smiles when he looks at the card; he sees himself as the brave kitten.
“That’s how I often feel,” he said.
That fearlessness that has brought physical threats to the mayor’s doorstep has also endeared him to ordinary people who hunger for a politician with unwavering convictions.
On Tuesday, the Republican mayor was elected to his third term with 89 percent of the vote, despite a heavy Democratic registration edge (5,771 to the GOP’s 3,509) and in a city which rejected him in his first political endeavor 11 years ago.
His growing popularity is not contained within city limits. Since launching his crusade to control illegal immigration in Hazleton, Barletta has vaulted into the national limelight.
It has his ardent supporters – and even him – thinking about what to do with this newfound political capital.
Barletta lost his first bid for higher office when he ran against Democratic incumbent Paul E. Kanjorski for U.S. Congress in 2002.
But, that was before Barletta’s meteoric rise to celebrity status. His appearance on numerous national television shows gained him recognition throughout the United States and beyond. Friends of Barletta who met Sean Connery while vacationing in the Bahamas said the actor had heard of the Hazleton mayor.
“Imagine that, James Bond knew who I was,” he said.
While Barletta remains humbled by the spotlight, he realizes this notoriety would be beneficial should he decide to seek a higher office.
“One big difference is this time I can raise a lot of money,” Barletta said. “Not only in the district or the state, but nationally.”
And, he’s not counting it out.
“I’d be lying to you if I said I wasn’t considering it,” Barletta said. “But I have been considering a lot of options. I have received and continue to receive many calls from supporters who want me to run for several different positions. I am overwhelmed by all of this and I will tell you that I am considering all of them.”
Kanjorski declined to comment on the possibility of another challenge from Barletta.
But, Barletta had some complimentary words for the longtime congressman from Nanticoke.
“I was pleased to see Mr. Kanjorski recently got on board with his immigration bill that he proposed,” Barletta said. “I’m glad that I converted him to my side of the issue.”
PRICE OF FAME
Cherie Homa, the mayor’s executive assistant, will be the first to tell you that fame hasn’t gone to Barletta’s head.
“I’m very lucky to work for such an amazing person,” she said. “The image you see on television is exactly the person he is. He is sincere, honest and dedicated. The popularity hasn’t changed him at all. And he has remained humble.”
But, it has changed him in other ways.
He has a new bulletproof vest and a new 12-gauge shotgun he has yet to learn to fire. He carries a concealed weapon.
His phone number is no longer listed; there have been too many threatening phone calls from critics as far away as Los Angeles. He doesn’t drive the same route to work every day. He worries about his family.
Despite the threats, Barletta remains adamant in his crusade to tackle illegal immigration. He isn’t deterred by setbacks like last summer’s court decision that struck down the city’s Illegal Immigration Relief Act. He isn’t dissuaded by a follow-up lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union that wants the city to pay millions of dollars in legal fees.
He keeps fighting because of the tales he hears everywhere he goes – in the city where he was born and raised and in places he visits.
Last year, after addressing a town meeting on illegal immigration in Lewisburg, he was approached by the parents of Carly Snyder, a 20-year-old girl who had been stabbed to death by an illegal immigrant who was a fugitive from Honduras. The couple asked him to keep fighting.
Barletta has been told that many illegal immigrants come to this country to reunite with their families – one of the top reasons people offer to try to justify the movement.
“I see this issue from a totally different end,” Barletta said. “And I’m not saying I wouldn’t do the same thing given the same circumstances. But the bottom line is illegal is illegal. They know when they come here that they are entering this country illegally and could be caught.”
Then, he remembers the brutal murder of Carly Snyder and the way her parents pleaded with him.
“How do you reunite that family?” Barletta asked. “I remember driving home and trying to understand how they must feel. I am their voice.”
HIGHER ASPIRATIONS
But, his voice is being heard – and applauded – throughout the country.
Homa said people drive hundreds of miles just to come to City Hall to meet Barletta and shake his hand. A woman from Baltimore called the office Wednesday, one day after the general election, to tell the mayor she voted for him as a write-in candidate – in Baltimore.
“She told me she wished he was the mayor of her city,” Homa said. “The other day another woman e-mailed him to say there should be a statue of him erected in the city. Even he doesn’t know how many calls and letters and e-mails he gets. We have boxes full of letters in the next room.”
On the other end of Luzerne County, Jimmy Zambito flips eggs and burgers and deals out political wisdom and opinions along with delicacies like the Dynamite Cheesesteak at his Tony’s Diner on Wyoming Avenue in Kingston. Anyone who has been there knows Zambito’s politics. He’s a staunch Republican whose passion for politics has clear, succinct opinions.
“Lou Barletta? The greatest guy in the world,” Zambito says as he points to two pictures of him with the mayor that hang on his walls. “We need a lot more Lou Barlettas. There’s too many wimps in politics. He should run for governor.”
What about Congress, Jimmy?
“Better yet,” he said. “Most people agree with what he wants to do. Republicans and Democrats will support him. He’s not afraid to take a stand.”
Zambito has a Lou Barletta for President sign behind the counter.
“I think he could win,” Zambito said.
And so do the anonymous supporters who have established the louforcongress.com Web site which is encouraging another Barletta run.
Republican bigwigs on the national level aren’t dismissing the notion.
Ken Spain, press secretary of the National Republican Congressional Committee, agrees Barletta would be an ideal candidate.
“Lou Barletta is an impressive individual who transcends partisan politics because he is driven not by political ideology, but by the courage of his convictions,” Spain said. “With the Democrat-led Congress’ record low approval ratings and the American people looking for real change in Washington, Lou Barletta could certainly be the right person at the right time. Should he decide to become a candidate for Congress, he would be a very appealing candidate to Republican, Democrat, and independent voters alike.”
Tom Baldino, professor of political science at Wilkes University, doesn’t see a Barletta candidacy for Congress as an automatic victory. He said Barletta has become enormously popular, but feels winning in the 11th District would be a tough assignment, given the demographics and the Democratic edge in voter registrations.
“First of all, he would have to reach all parts of the district,” Baldino said. “And that will take him way beyond Luzerne County. He would have to prove himself to be better than Kanjorski; to be more than a one-issue candidate.”
Barletta was unfazed by the assessment.
“I know that the resolution of this issue has to happen in Washington,” Barletta reiterated. “I do feel, however, that my standing up has caused Washington and the nation to take some action. I still don’t fully appreciate the attention I’m getting. I am still fighting the fight and I believe in it with all my heart.”
FAMILY VALUES
If he decides to run for a state or federal office, he has the support of the person who matters most – his wife, Mary Grace.
The couple, who recently celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary, have four daughters and a solid union.
He calls her his best friend. She said she will support him in whatever career path he chooses.
Mary Grace Barletta said she is proud of her husband whom she calls “a good man, a wonderful father and a loyal friend. To be truthful, I’m very proud of him.”
His family is his sanctuary. His life revolves around his girls. His parents – Rocky and Angie – are deceased, but their spirit lives on in him.
“When I was a kid, my parents never had to worry,” Barletta said. “I’d get on my bike in the morning, throw my baseball glove on the handlebars and off I’d go. And I was home at 5 p.m. because that’s when we ate dinner.”
And a bonus for him was his family-owned amusement park – Angela Park. It was the best of all worlds for Barletta.
“I was taught that family was the most important thing in life,” he said. “But my girls aren’t the best drivers. My car insurance is $18,000 a year. They seem to hit everything everywhere.”
Barletta says families are different today. He said many parents tell him they are afraid to let their children play in playgrounds. Gangs try to recruit little children playing on swings and sliding boards.
“When I was a kid, boys just being boys meant stealing tomatoes from somebody’s garden,” Barletta said. “Today they shoot guns and sell drugs.”
Other than his wife, Barletta said he has one other best friend – Jimmy Walton – who was also his cousin. Walton died in 2000, but Barletta said he still calls on his friend for advice and guidance.
“Jimmy would always worry about me as a person,” Barletta said as he looked at Walton’s picture. “He was always concerned about my happiness, not my political success.”
CAREER CHANGES
Faith also plays a major role in Barletta’s life. He describes himself as a devout Catholic.
“I have very strong beliefs,” Barletta said. “In my prayers, I pray that I will do what God wants me to do and that what I do will be good. God has taken me to where I am and where I need to be.”
Barletta, who was a pretty good baseball player, dreamed of going pro. His idol was Mickey Mantle and his team, the Yankees. He played centerfield like Mantle and taught himself to be a switch-hitter, just like Mantle. Shortly after he was married, Barletta convinced his father that he should drop out of college and head to Tampa, Fla., to participate in a tryout camp.
“I was a lead-off hitter. I could bunt and steal bases. But I didn’t make it,” Barletta said, even though he could get from home plate to first in 3.7 seconds. “They found out I couldn’t hit a curveball. So I came back home and went to work for my dad in the construction business.”
He started a business – painting parking lots – with his father’s blessing. With the same competitive fire that he used to play ball, Barletta applied it to his new business. In five years his company – Interstate Road Marking – was the largest in Pennsylvania. By the time he sold the business in 2000, it was the sixth largest company of its type in the United States.
EXECUTIVE GATHERINGS
While Mantle was his idol on the diamond, Ronald Reagan was his hero in the political arena.
Two photos of Reagan hang on the wall behind Barletta’s desk in the mayor’s office. He is such a fan that his daughters had to drag him away from the late president’s gravesite during a visit to the Reagan Library in California.
When he met President George Bush at the White House, Barletta said he wasn’t intimidated by the experience.
Until he looked around the room outside the Oval Office.
“There was a big conference table with leather chairs all around. The arms of the chairs were worn and I remember wondering who has sat in those chairs. Could JFK have been one of them? That’s when I got nervous.”
Barletta found himself in the presence of President Kennedy’s younger brother, U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy, when the mayor spoke at a congressional hearing in Philadelphia in 2006. U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter also was on the panel and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg also testified.
At first, Barletta was nervous and felt somewhat intimidated, but that all soon changed.
“Mayor Bloomberg said his city’s economy would crash without illegal immigrants,” Barletta said in disbelief. “He actually asked who would wash dishes and bus tables. I remember thinking, well who did those jobs before? Where are they now?”
That was the first time Barletta had to stand up to some heavy opposition.
“I was shocked that he (Bloomberg) didn’t realize that these illegals were displacing other legal immigrants and other minorities,” Barletta said. “After that experience, I found myself not being intimidated by anyone.”
PROBLEMS NEED SOLUTIONS
One of the reasons Barletta feels so passionately about the issue is because he believes it is destroying the quality of life in America. Small cities like Hazleton, he said, are affected more than the big cities.
And, if he decides to run for state or federal office, it could be because he believes the issue of illegal immigration can only be fixed in Washington.
“I wouldn’t do this because I think I can win,” Barletta said. “I would do it because it would be something I want to do and that I would be good at.”
His need to make a difference motivated him to run for mayor in 1999 instead of seeking re-election to council.
“I had to be the mayor,” Barletta said. “I realized if I was going to effect any real change for the city, it had to be in a position of leadership. And here I am.”
The fallout from the growing problem is hurting his city, he said.
“I deal with it every single day,” Barletta said. “Our schools are overcrowded. Our emergency rooms are overflowing. We need more police protection and other services are also affected.”
Barletta said Hazleton is facing a $157,000 debt.
“That’s a lot of money to make up,” he said. “We may have to cut services.”
Barletta said the city’s population has grown by 50 percent, but at the same time, its earned income tax has stayed the same.
“So we are faced to provide all these services to people who don’t pay taxes,” Barletta said.
He said at times there is one police officer patrolling the city’s 120 miles of streets. He said the quality of education is declining because classrooms are overcrowded. More and more students are being pushed along because teachers just can’t spend enough time with them.
Barletta said he is always hopeful that the Hispanic community would get involved and would want the same thing he wants. He feels they should stand up with him and work on the problem of illegal immigration.
“I think about Derek Kichline,” Barletta said. “He was 29 when an illegal alien stuck a gun in his eye and fired, killing him.
A DAY IN THE LIFE
Barletta starts his day with a 5:30 a.m. workout at the gym, lifting weights and doing cardio. He showers at home, eats breakfast and reads the paper. He whistles while walking into City Hall every day, alerting employees that the mayor is coming. He’ll either eat lunch in the office or go home. And dinner is a crapshoot, but he and Mary Grace often dine out.
His favorite restaurant is Juan Pedro’s – a Mexican place.
“I grew up on Italian food, but too many carbs there,” Barletta says. “My favorite food is pizza; it would be my last meal if I had a choice.”
He’s come a long way from his childhood days on Pine Street where he was the youngest of four sons. His brothers Anthony, Lefty and Francis provided him with enough competition to allow him to hone his skills.
Today he likes to golf, admitting his handicap could be a lot lower. He meets the same group of friends for breakfast every week before their round. He’s one of the guys and he loves it.
To relax, he likes going to the beach, enjoys sitting on the sand and staring at the ocean. He watches sports, especially his beloved New York Yankees and listens to Cat Stevens and classic rock from the 60s and 70s.
His favorite movie is “It’s a Wonderful Life” with Jimmy Stewart.
“I can definitely relate to him in that movie,” Barletta said. “Often times I am shocked at the number of people I have touched. And today I can hit any curveball they throw at me. I’m not a fan of politicians. I don’t like politics. They don’t want to stand next to me, either. They don’t want to be asked if they agree with me.”
DOG'S BEST FRIEND
Barletta’s office is filled with other pictures and notes from supporters, like Chad, a physically challenged teenager who made a plate for the mayor that reads: Mayor Lou, you are a great man. I love you. Chad.
And there are several pictures of Casey, his collie and constant companion. Casey died in 2004 at age 14. She was the runt of the litter, Barletta said.
“I brought her to work every day when I had my own business,” he said. “When I was elected mayor, I didn’t bring her to City Hall the first day and I was guilt-ridden. When I got home I told my wife how I felt and she said Casey hadn’t left the front door. She waited for me to take her to work.”
Casey was there the next day and every day after until she died. Will he get another dog?
“No way,” he said. “She can’t be replaced.”
Makes you wonder how the residents of Hazleton will feel if their mayor ever decides to take another job.
FAST FACTS:
NAME: Lou Barletta
AGE: 51
PERSONAL: Born and raised in Hazleton, one of four sons
FAMILY: Wife, Mary Grace; daughters Kelly, 27; April, 25; Lindsey, 25; and Grace, 20
POLITICAL: 1996, lost bid for City Council; 1998, elected to Council; 1999, elected mayor; 2002, ran for Congress and lost; 2003, 2007, re-elected mayor.
APPEARANCES: Lou Dobbs of CNN, Neil Cavuto of Fox, Bill O’Reilly, Anderson Cooper, Tucker Carlson, Hannity and Colmes. Steve Kroft of CBS-TV’s 60 Minutes has interviewed him. All three major networks – NBC, ABC and CBS – have given him air time. He has spoken at Notre Dame University and Boston University and testified at a U.S. Congressional Hearing in Philadelphia.