Paul E. Kanjorski

Infobox_Congressman
name = Paul Kanjorski


date of birth = birth date and age|1937|04|02
place of birth = Nanticoke, Pennsylvania, U.S.
residence= Nanticoke, Pennsylvania
alma_mater= Dickinson College
occupation= attorney
state = Pennsylvania
district = 11th
term_start= January 3, 1985
preceded = Frank G. Harrison
succeeded = Incumbent
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 ( [http://nationalatlas.gov/printable/images/preview/congdist/pa11_109.gifmap] ) 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.

Early life and career

Kanjorski is a legal resident of Nanticoke. He generally resides in northern Virginia. Kanjorski attended Wyoming Seminary, Temple University and the Dickinson School of Law and spent some time in the United States Army Reserve. Technically an attorney, he served as a worker's compensation administrative law judge and served as assistant 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 1984, after sitting out the 1982 campaign, Kanjorski defeated incumbent Frank G. Harrison in the primary. 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. After facing no major-party opposition in 2004 and a nominal Republican challenger in 2006, Kanjorski is facing Barletta again in 2008.

Like many Pennsylvania Democrats from outside Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, Kanjorski opposes gun control and is moderately conservative on abortion. However, he is strongly pro-labor, and has spoken out against the Iraq War. 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." [cite news |url=http://www.timesleader.com/news/20070808_08_FHL_SUMMIT_JL_BIZ_ART.html |title=Kanjo: Public angry with government |date=2007-08-09 |accessdate=2008-04-01 |work=TimesLeader |author=Lynott, Jerry]

2008 election

In the 2008 congressional election, Kanjorski will face Lou Barletta, who is the mayor of Hazleton and was Kanjorski's opponent in the 2002 race. Since the 2002 race, Barletta has become known as mayor for his strong opposition to illegal immigration.

Barletta has released a poll in which he claims to be leading Kanjorski, 47 percent to 42 percent. However, the poll was conducted in late March 2008 and only released in June. Additionally, the full results and internals were not released, and the five-point margin is just barely outside the poll's margin of error. The same pollster showed John McCain leading Barack Obama by 13 points in the 11th, but no internals were released on this question. [Hirschorn, Dan. [http://www.politickerpa.com/danh/558/barletta-says-internal-poll-shows-him-ahead-kanjorski Barletta says internal poll shows him ahead of Kanjorski] . Politicker PA, 2008-06-16.]

A new poll released by The Scranton Times in September 2008 showed Barletta leading Kanjorski 44% to 35% with 21% still undecided.

References

External links

* [http://kanjorski.house.gov/ Representative Paul E. Kanjorski] official U.S. House site
* [http://www.kanjorski.org/ Pennsylvanians for Kanjorski] official campaign site
* [http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Kanjorski Profile] at SourceWatch Congresspedia
* [http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0907/5667.html A twisted tale of congressional earmarking ] Kenneth P. Vogel, "Politico", September 5, 2007
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nc5lHXkrdQ8 YouTube: Rep. Kanjorski admits the Democrats Over-Promised on Iraq] Posted May 22, 2008