JENKINS TWP. - Just five days before Election Day, Republican U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta and Democrat Gene Stilp questioned each other's integrity in a testy debate Thursday that touched on campaign finance reform, Medicare, federal spending and taxes.
Almost from the start, Mr. Stilp accused Mr. Barletta of being a pawn of lobbyists and special interests who contribute to his campaign.
"What we have is a stranglehold by the biggest lobbyists and biggest corps on Congress," Mr. Stilp told a television and studio audience from an auditorium at WVIA-TV.
Mr. Barletta fired back, accusing Mr. Stilp of violating federal election law by failing to properly file campaign finance reports.
"Every dollar that I've raised was raised honestly," Mr. Barletta said.
The congressman also accused Mr. Stilp of "sending out a phony endorsement letter," claiming he was endorsed by current Rep. Tim Holden, who represents the 17th District.
Mr. Stilp and Mr. Barletta want to represent the 11th Congressional District, which includes most of Luzerne County and all of Wyoming County.
Mr. Holden has said he has not endorsed Mr. Stilp, but he has publicly praised him and posed for a picture with him.
Mr. Stilp said the election law violation was nothing more than his campaign treasurer filing his campaign finance report a day late. He said the claim of an endorsement was "miscommunication" between Mr. Holden and one of his staff members.
Mr. Barletta pointed out Mr. Stilp's election law violation centered on failing to file reports electronically rather than filing late.
They also tangled on defense and spending cuts.
Mr. Barletta said he was against dismantling the "world's greatest military" and voted five times to replace sequestration - the $1.2 trillion deficit-reduction plan that automatically kicks in Jan. 1 and cuts defense spending by almost $500 billion unless Congress votes to alter it. He claimed Mr. Stilp favored it.
Mr. Stilp said he opposes sequestration, which rose out of Congress' failure to follow a deficit-reduction committee's recommendations for reigning in the deficit.
Mr. Stilp said Mr. Barletta "missed a vote" to ensure the Tobyhanna Army Depot is well-funded, a reference to a threatened cut in funding for maintenance depots.
Mr. Barletta said he never missed any votes on Tobyhanna and said the tax cuts Mr. Stilp wants to expire would cost 700,000 jobs, hurt 1 million small businesses and increase taxes an average of $2,500.
Mr. Stilp said he wants only tax cuts for the wealthy to expire.
In his opening statement, Mr. Stilp boasted about his fight against the state General Assembly's massive late-night 2005 pay raise and role in bringing to light Bonusgate, which centered on top legislators paying bonuses to staff who did political work.
"Many people say they're going to do something or complain about something. I get things done," he said.
Mr. Barletta tried to portray Mr. Stilp as a hypocritical apostle of reform because he accepted an endorsement from former state Rep. Kevin Blaum of Wilkes-Barre who voted for the pay raise.
They fought over Medicare, with Mr. Barletta saying Mr. Stilp wanted to leave the program the same without considering whether it could survive because "that's good for you." Mr. Stilp is 62 and approaching the Medicare eligibility age.
Mr. Stilp said Mr. Barletta voted for the budgets of U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, the Republican vice presidential nominee, which take $716 billion out of Medicare, but still faults President Barack Obama's health care reform law for doing that.
They disagreed, too, on immigration, with Mr. Stilp saying he favors a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants who have been in the United States for decades or served in the military.
Mr. Barletta said his fight against illegal immigration, which has received national attention, shows he's ready to stand up to anyone because he didn't waver when he was criticized for advocating local laws to fight the problem.
On a question on Marcellus Shale development, Mr. Stilp said he would renew federal incentives for renewable energy sources.
"What I'm not willing to do is jeopardize the air, water and the environment," he said. "Yes there are some regulations that go overboard. At the same time, we have to make sure we don't sell out to one industry".
Mr. Barletta said he's against providing any more money for green energy.
Contact the writer: bkrawczeniuk@timesshamrock.com