SHAMOKIN - U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta says his absence from an election event Tuesday night in Danville was a "non-issue" raised by his opponent in an effort to grab attention.
"We offered if they could change the date I would be happy to try to make it. (But) I wasn't going to back out of a (prior) commitment I gave two months ago," Barletta said during a visit Wednesday to The News-Item for a campaign interview that was scheduled several weeks ago.
Barletta and challenger Gene Stilp were invited to a Candidates Night hosted by the Danville Area League of Voters at the American Legion. The congressman couldn't make it and, as offered by the League of Voters in its invitation, he sent someone else from his staff - communications director Shawn Kelly.
Stilp took exception, viewing it as a dismissal of the electorate in a new area for the recently realigned 11th Congressional District. "What event takes precedence over this debate?" he asked Tuesday night.
Wednesday, he said the situation has resulted in his reform list growing longer.
Surrogate allowed
Barletta said the events surrounding his absence were much less of an issue than portrayed by Stilp.
He'd already been expected at a Republican Party dinner for 500 people from Dauphin and Cumberland counties, two new counties in the 11th, that was booked two months ago. He said that was long before an invitation was received from the Danville group. In fact, Barletta said he read about the Danville forum and his anticipated appearance in the newspaper before he was invited.
When he was invited, he said he asked if the date could be rescheduled. It couldn't, and so he sent Kelly in his place, he said.
Kelly works for his public staff and not his campaign. His appearance was not a conflict, according to House ethics rules, because Kelly's appearance was voluntary. Kelly was not paid and no taxpayer resources were used, Barletta said.
He said the Dauphin County dinner was not a fundraiser for his campaign. He did acknowledge it was an opportunity to appear before 500 constituents two weeks before the election.
As for the event itself, Barletta says he was never made aware it would be a "debate."
Barletta has twice debated Stilp, once in a newspaper feature in a Wilkes-Barre publication and once on radio in Harrisburg. A third debate is scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 1, to air on WVIA-TV.
Stilp had sought debates in each of the nine counties of the district. Barletta said that request is unreasonable due to scheduling, pointing out that the three debates he has agreed to are two more than offered by his opponent in 2010, former Rep. Paul Kanjorski.
"We're doing as many debates with Mr. Stilp as the (candidates) are doing to be president of the United States," Barletta added.
Chance for reform
Stilp said Wednesday that, beyond the details of who was invited when, he learned something "very interesting" Tuesday night, and he's added it to the list of reforms he hopes to enact if elected.
"At 11:59 a.m. you can be on congressional pay, and at noon you can be on campaign pay," he said. "We need to establish a clear red line between campaign activity and congressional staff activity. The line is totally blurred at this point."
He figures most taxpayers feel the same way.
"It's a clear example of what should not happen: A taxpayer-funded person going to a campaign event to represent a congressman in a debate," he said.