Social Security in forefront of 11th District race

Republican congressional candidate Lou Barletta blames a public perception that he supported Social Security privatization as a major reason he lost his 2002 congressional race against U.S. Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski.

When something works, why not try it again?

In its first two television commercials aired locally, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is trying to tie the Hazleton mayor to President Bush, partly through Barletta’s past support for a limited Social Security privatization, a stance he has repeatedly renounced this year. Bush supported much more extensive privatization.

The ads are giving Social Security a prominence in the 11th Congressional District race it so far doesn’t enjoy in other congressional races across the country. The first commercial was the DCCC’s first anywhere in the general election campaign.

“I can’t think of a specific Social Security” attack television commercial across the country by a candidate, said Nathan Gonzales, political editor for the Rothenberg Political Report, a Washington newsletter that tracks congressional races.

Gonzales cautioned that it’s too early to truly assess Social Security’s prominence as a campaign issue because few candidates are airing commercials.

Social Security isn’t among the top five issues voters worried about in poll after poll statewide and across the country.

No independent poll has measured its prominence in Northeast Pennsylvania, but it’s sure getting the royal treatment.

“Did that surprise you, given the number of senior citizens here?” asked Thomas J. Baldino, Ph.D., a political science professor at Wilkes University. “There’s a large number of people who really depend on it. We all know there’s a large number of senior citizens, but they also vote.”

In a year when younger voters might figure more prominently because of the presidential candidacy of Democrat Barack Obama, senior citizens will probably again be a hallmark of the region’s electorate.

n Luzerne County, with 18.24 percent, ranked 9th in residents 65 and older among the state’s 67 counties. Lackawanna County, with 18.07 percent, ranked 12th.

Large swaths of both are in the 11th District.

Carbon, which ranked 27th, Columbia, 39th, and Monroe 66th, are the other counties in the district.

n More than 187,000 people receive Social Security benefits in the five counties — 77,178 in Luzerne and 49,777 in Lackawanna — almost a quarter of all their residents. The numbers include benefits paid to widows, widowers and disabled people.

During the 2002 race, Barletta favored allowing people to divert part of their Social Security payroll taxes into individual personal retirement accounts invested in government-backed securities or bonds, but not the stock market. The money would remain in government control, he said. Democrats say that’s privatization. Barletta argues it’s not, but says he’s against personal accounts now, too.

Ed Mitchell, Kanjorski’s campaign media consultant who developed Kanjorski’s 2002 Social Security ads, said the region’s demographic makeup isn’t the only reason Social Security is resonating at the moment.

“It’s an issue that has broad appeal with every American, especially at a time the stock market is down, the economy is so poor and people are seeing their 401(k) (pension plans) and IRAs (individual retirement accounts) diminish,” Mitchell said.

In an AARP poll of 401 Pennsylvania voters released Wednesday, almost six in 10 said they were somewhat or very worried when asked specifically if they worried about Social Security existing when they retired. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9 percentage points.

One of Kanjorski’s top commercials in their 2002 contest accused Barletta of wanting to “gamble with your retirement.”

As hard as Barletta tried to deny supporting privatization, the charge stuck and afterward he said it was a major factor in his loss along with lacking enough money to air his own commercials.

Within hours after he announced his latest candidacy Feb. 7, Democratic Party officials attacked Barletta as a privatization backer again.

In late May, aiming to head off another barrage on the issue, Barletta had a news conference on Courthouse Square in Scranton where he made it clear he wouldn’t stand for being ripped on Social Security.

“I don’t support privatizing Social Security, and anyone who says I do is lying,” Barletta said. “I’m against personal savings accounts. How much clearer could I be? The public has said it’s against personal accounts, so let’s take that idea off the table.”

The mayor also counterattacked, accusing Kanjorski of being part of a Congress that raided the Social Security Trust Fund 18 times to the tune of $4 trillion to balance the federal budget since 1991. He made a similar accusation in 2002, though not as specific — and much later and less forceful than now.

Kanjorski said the Social Security Trust Fund, which currently runs a surplus, routinely loans money to the federal government by buying the government bonds and securities. The government must sell bonds and securities to raise money to fund the budget. But that only happens because the past Republican-controlled Congress and President Bush allowed the federal budget deficit to mushroom to historic proportions