Paul E. Kanjorski
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| Paul Kanjorski | |
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office January 3, 1985 |
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| Preceded by | Frank G. Harrison |
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| Born | April 2, 1937 Nanticoke, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | Nancy Kanjorski |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
Paul E. Kanjorski (born April 2, 1937, Nanticoke, Pennsylvania) is an American Democratic politician from the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, currently representing Pennsylvania's 11th congressional district (map) in the United States House of Representatives. His district includes the cities of Scranton, Wilkes-Barre and Hazleton as well as most of the Poconos.
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[edit] Early life and career
A lifelong resident of Nanticoke, Kanjorski attended Wyoming Seminary, Temple University and the Dickinson School of Law. He also spent some time in the United States Army Reserve. As a lawyer, he served as a worker's compensation administrative law judge and served as solicitor to several communities. He first ran for Congress in 1980 as an independent in the special election to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Dan Flood (who had held the seat for most of the time since 1945) due to being censured for bribery. Kanjorski came in a distant fourth place behind State Representative Ray Musto. He ran against Musto in the Democratic primary later that year, but finished third. Musto lost to Republican James L. Nelligan in the general election. In the 1982 primary, he finished in second place to college professor Frank G. Harrison who defeated Nelligan in the general election. In a fourth try in 1984, Kanjorski defeated Harrison in the primary. Despite the wide perception that the election year was a disaster for Democrats (largely due to the landslide reelection of President Ronald Reagan), Kanjorski won by a solid 17-point margin.
In 1986, Kanjorski faced a younger, well-financed Republican opponent in Marc Holtzman. The race was initially seen as one of the hottest in the country. However, Kanjorski won by 41 points, his largest margin of victory in a contested election. He ran for reelection unopposed in 1988 and 1990 and didn't face another credible opponent until 2002 when he faced Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta. At the time, Kanjorski was under federal investigation for improperly using his influence to funnel millions of dollars in federal funds into companies owned by his family. However, Kanjorski had gotten an inadvertent assist from the Republican-controlled Pennsylvania General Assembly two years earlier. 10th District Congressman Don Sherwood, a Republican, had barely won the seat in 1998, and faced another close race in 2000. The legislature shifted heavily Democratic Scranton--which had been the heart of the 10th for over a century--to the already heavily Democratic 11th District. The legislature also shifted some rural, Republican-leaning areas near Wilkes-Barre to the 11th. It appeared that the state legislature wanted to protect Sherwood by packing as many Democrats into the 11th as possible. In part due to this, Kanjorski defeated Barletta by 13 points, helped by a massive 34-point win in Lackawanna County, home to Scranton (he won the area that he'd previously represented by only 9,000 votes). After facing no major-party opposition in 2004 and a nominal Republican challenger in 2006, Kanjorski is facing Barletta again in 2008.
Throughout his congressional career, Kanjorski has had a mixed record, liberal on economic issues, but more moderate on social issues. He has spoken out against the Iraq War and has pro-labor leanings. He has served on the Financial Services Committee since he entered Congress in 1985 and is now the second-ranking Democrat on that committee. He usually plays behind-the-scenes roles in the advocacy or defeat of legislation and steers appropriations money toward improving the infrastructure and economic needs of his district.
On May 10, 2007, the usually moderate Kanjorski voted with fellow Democrats to begin the redeployment of all forces from Iraq, however the bill was defeated. As of the sixth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks, Kanjorski's position on the war in Iraq appears to be that he will vote for redeployment, but not as a condition of continued funding for the war until and unless the expected presidential veto of such a bill would be overridden.
After the August 1, 2007 collapse of the I-35W Mississippi River bridge in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Kanjorski said he believed the $250,000,000 bill passed by Congress to rebuild the bridge was a ripoff because it exceeded the normal $100,000,000 limit for emergency relief projects. He added in saying that Minnesotans "discovered they were going to get all the money from the federal government and they were taking all they could get" and that they took the opportunity "to screw us." [1]
[edit] 2008 election
In the 2008 congressional election, Kanjorski will be facing off with Mayor Lou Barletta for a second time. Barletta will have an even better edge then he did in 2002, having made a name for himself for his tough, no tolerance stance on illegal immigration. Barletta has also been known nationwide for his actions in Hazleton against illegal immigration. Kanjorski came under scrutiny when, in February, 2008, he compared Barletta to David Duke saying, "What David Duke was to civil rights, my opponent has done that with immigration...He's used that issue the same way Duke used the civil rights issue." The bad publicity caused Kanjorski to later apologized for the comments. [2]
On May 22, 2008, a video of Kanjorski at a townhall meeting on August 28, 2007 surfaced on YouTube inwhich he admits that Democrats "stretched the facts" during the 2006 elections in order to win back a majority of Congress.
"I'll tell you my impression. We really in this last election — when I say we, the Democrats — I think pushed it as far as we can to the end of the fleet, didn't say it, but we implied it. That if we won the congressional elections, we could stop the [Iraq] war. Now anybody was a good student of government would know that wasn't true. But you know, the temptation to want to win back the Congress, we sort of stretched the facts and people ate it up."
Soon after the video came to light, Kanjorski came under fire from critics. The National Republican Congressional Committee called on Kanjorski to apologize and the chairman of the Pennsylvania Republican Party, Robert A. Gleason, called on the congressman to resign for "violating the trust of the people of his district and betrayed them through his purposefully deceitful remarks." [3][4]
[edit] References
- ^ Lynott, Jerry. "Kanjo: Public angry with government", TimesLeader, 2007-08-09. Retrieved on 2008-04-01.
- ^ Vasoli, Bradley. "Congressman Apologizes For Comparing Hazleton Mayor To KKK Leader", The Bulletin, 2008-03-03. Retrieved on 2008-04-01.
- ^ Kraushaar, Josh. "Kanjorski Caught On Tape Saying Dems Oversold Ability To End Iraq War", CBS News, 2008-05-23. Retrieved on 2008-05-24.
- ^ Barley, Michael. "PA GOP: Chairman Gleason Calls On Kanjorski To Resign", Republican Party of Pennsylvania, 2008-05-23. Retrieved on 2008-05-24.
[edit] External links
- Representative Paul E. Kanjorski official U.S. House website
- Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
- Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
- Campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
- Campaign contributions at OpenSecrets.org
- Biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
- Issue positions and quotes at On The Issues
- Profile at SourceWatch Congresspedia
- A twisted tale of congressional earmarking Kenneth P. Vogel, Politico, September 5, 2007
- YouTube: Rep. Kanjorski admits the Democrats Over-Promised on Iraq Posted May 22, 2008
| Preceded by Frank G. Harrison |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania's 11th congressional district January 3, 1985 – |
Succeeded by Incumbent |
