Congratulations Lou Barletta!

There is at least one pol in PA who is a real man and a real American patriot...

Harrisburg Patriot-News: Hazleton mayor coasts to third term

Mayor Lou Barletta, a Republican who gained national prominence by targeting illegal immigrants living in this small city, easily won re-election Tuesday to a third term.

He defeated a Libertarian candidate, John Medashefski, a coffee shop owner who had argued the city should drop its costly effort to push through a law targeting illegal immigrants.

Unofficial returns showed Barletta winning with 3,530 votes, or 90 percent, to Medashefski’s 405 votes, or 10 percent.

In the primary, Barletta also won the Democratic nomination as a write-in candidate, easily defeating a comeback bid by a former mayor and leaving himself with no Democrat to face in the general election.

Last year, Barletta pushed through a law that targeted landlords who rented to illegal immigrants and businesses that employed them in this city of 30,000. The law, emulated by dozens of towns around the nation, was struck down by a federal judge as unconstitutional. The judge said states and municipalities cannot regulate immigration.

The city has since appealed.

At his victory party at an Elks Club, Barletta talked about fighting drugs and violence in the city and about the issue of illegal immigrants.

“We’ve seen what illegal immigration has done to our small town quality of life and we have said, ‘No! We will not let this happen,’” he said. “We will fight!”

The city’s Illegal Immigration Relief Act sought to impose fines on landlords who rent to illegal immigrants and deny business permits to companies that give them jobs. Another measure would have required tenants to register with City Hall and pay for a rental permit.