The Koch brothers group Americans for Prosperity is targeting Congressman Lou Barletta over his vote on the spending bill Congress passed in March with online ads and mailers in the midst of the Senate election.
According to the Inquirer the ads are targeting 17 Congressmen who voted for the $1.3 trillion spending bill passed in March. The only other Pennsylvanian being targeted is Democratic Congressman Matt Cartwright.
From the Inquirer:
In hitting Barletta, it could hurt a GOP underdog who is battling U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa. — and who is counting on conservative advocacy groups to help counter a significant fund-raising gap. Instead, Barletta is taking friendly fire from an expected ally seeking to punish lawmakers who it argues have strayed from conservative fiscal principles.
The only other Pennsylvanian targeted is U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright, the state’s most vulnerable Democratic congressman. The ads are set to begin running over Memorial Day weekend.
While Americans for Prosperity did not say how much it is spending in Pennsylvania, the attack on Barletta is notable because of the group’s typical support for Republicans. The organization, backed by the billionaire industrialist Koch brothers, campaigned heavily in 2016 for Pennsylvania’s Republican Sen. Pat Toomey, who won a narrow reelection.
Barletta’s campaign views the ads as a positive, saying it proves he is “doing the right thing for Pennsylvania.”
“I have Bob Casey attacking me from the left and the Koch Brothers from the right. If the far left and far right are against me, I must be doing the right thing for Pennsylvania,” Barletta told the Inquirer.
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In an interview with The Hill, Americans for Prosperity President Tim Phillips said the pro-amnesty, pro-mass immigration Koch networks would closely evaluate their participation in GOP midterm races if those candidates did not help push an amnesty for the millions of illegal aliens who are eligible and enrolled in the President Obama-created (DACA) program. Phillips said the Kochs are disappointed” because the DACA amnesty has yet to pass through the GOP-controlled Congress, despite multiple attempts by the Republican establishment and Democrats. This is counter to what Lou Barletta stands for as he has an A+ rating from NUMBERSUSA.. So don’t blame the Omnibus that Ryan & McConnell cooked up on one Congressman and that Trump signed cause he wanted the military spending
Casey by 10
It really is time to get the outside / dark money out of political races. It should be individual donations and only by people that live inside the election district where the candidate lives. This crap of the Kochs and George Soros spending hundreds of millions to influence voters who will believe the sky is green if you tell them it is enough times has to STOP. And corrupt criminals like Donald Trump shouldn’t be allowed to run.
Barletta has very little support from the NRSC and the Senators that he hopes to join. It should be an interesting summer.
Dale Kerns now ahead of Lou Barletta in the polls
Barletta has the right view in regard to illegal immigrants and getting them deported. So he may be okay. It’s more important to get illegals out of the country. So his vote can be overlooked by a majority, as he’s running against a guy who’s best asset is the last name Casey…he’ll survive the attack ads and he’s still an underdog…but?
All 8 million of them? How’s that goin g to work? We need a reasonable solution to the illegal immigration problem –0 and that certainly includes a system for legalizing some of those who have been in this country and paying U.S. taxes for years. Barletta is an extremist. BTW, since he left as Mayor, relations between the immigrant population the traditional residents have never been better. Barletta is part of the problem — he is not the solution.
Also I think the “people will only vote for a Casey because he’s a Casey argument” is 12 years out of date.
Interesting. Will Americans for Prosperity support Democrats and Republicans who voted against the $1.3 Billion spending bill?
Barletta is a bigger moron than Trump
How right you are