Lou Barletta: Why I’m running for Pa. governor

Thirty-seven years ago, my wife Mary Grace and I started our pavement marking business with $29.95 and a dream to build something for our family, and five years later it was the largest of its kind in Pennsylvania. Along the way we had setbacks, as any business owners will face, and many sleepless nights. We worked hard, and we became a success story.

I’m running for governor because I fear that dreams like the one we lived have become increasingly unattainable for too many Pennsylvanians. I’m running because I’ve heard the voices of Pennsylvanians who believe that Harrisburg insiders have stopped listening, and worse, have made decisions that dramatically damaged their quality of life. And I’m running because I know Pennsylvania as it once was and can be again.

There’s no question that all Americans were affected by the coronavirus pandemic, but here in the commonwealth it was made so much worse by shameful mismanagement from Gov. Tom Wolf and his cronies. They crushed small businesses out of existence and put hard-working Pennsylvanians on the unemployment line. They stole a year of school from our children and likely caused educational problems that are as yet unknown. They botched the vaccine rollout and sent covid-positive patients into nursing homes, dispensing death sentences to too many loved ones in too many families.

We’ve been led too long by policymakers who bow to out-of-state activists and Washington, D.C. elitists who think they know what’s better for us than we do. Pennsylvania must again unleash the entrepreneurial spirit of the people and get government out of the way, so that small businesses can flourish and create jobs. And we must clear away excessive regulations and allow responsible access to our natural resources, tapping into our abundant natural gas, oil, and coal deposits to fuel our economy and produce thousands of jobs.

The riots which gripped the nation last summer spilled into Pennsylvania cities, prompting cowardly politicians to bend their knees to the “defund the police” movement. This was a deliberate undercutting of law enforcement, which harmed the very communities they claimed they were protecting. When I am governor, we will honor the men and women who protect us and make sure they have all the resources they need to keep us safe.

We have too many jurisdictions in the commonwealth which have declared themselves sanctuaries for illegal immigrants, meaning they refuse to cooperate with federal immigration authorities. As the mayor of Hazleton, and later a member of Congress, I fought against illegal immigration to preserve public safety and protect jobs for legal residents. As governor, I will continue to stand strong and oppose sanctuary cities, which prioritize the interests of people who break our laws over the rights of law-abiding citizens.

Last year, the Harrisburg insiders used the pandemic as cover and radically changed the way we conduct our elections, resulting in chaos, uncertainty and widespread distrust among voters. We cannot allow these half-baked notions, put in place during a public health emergency, to take root and become the permanent methods for selecting our leaders. We must strengthen our election laws to restore integrity to the process, revive public confidence in our democracy, and return to the idea that all eligible citizens should be able to vote, vote once and have their votes be counted.

The Anyone who tells you that it’s an easy decision to run for public office hasn’t really thought it through. It requires total commitment from yourself and your family, and it demands every ounce of strength you can muster to fight for the principles you hold dear. In the end for me, I concluded that I had 14 very good reasons to move forward: my four daughters and 10 grandchildren. And I feel a responsibility to try to leave my children and grandchildren a Pennsylvania that’s in better condition than the one we know today.

All of our citizens want to live in a place that gives them an honest chance to succeed for themselves and their families. It’s what we once had here in Pennsylvania. And together we can get that place back.

Lou Barletta is a former mayor of Hazleton, a former member of Congress, and a Republican candidate for governor of Pennsylvania.