by Josh Drobnyk
Hillary Clinton’s campaign today abruptly cancelled a meeting that some of her volunteers scheduled with Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta, calling the matter a “mistake” brewed by over-eager supporters of the New York senator.
The meeting would have been striking because Barletta is a Republican running against Rep. Paul Kanjorski, a Clinton supporter. Also, the mayor is at odds with Clinton over immigration policy. He has gained national attention for introducing an ordinance to crack down on businesses that employ illegal aliens and landlords that rent to them. Clinton supported a Senate measure last year to give illegal aliens a path to citizenship.
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“The campaign has volunteers who go to primary states on their own and discuss Sen. Clinton’s record on different issues,” said Clinton communications director Howard Wolfson. “In this instance they made a mistake. As soon as we found out about it, of course the meeting was cancelled. … There is no way that the campaign would authorize a meeting with Mayor Barletta.”
Barletta’s camp didn’t take news of the cancelled meeting lightly.
“A half-hour before they were supposed to be in Hazleton, Sheila Menz, Senator Clinton’s economic development aide, told Campaign Manager Vince Galko they were unable to attend the meeting they arranged,” said Shawn Kelly, a Barletta campaign spokesman. “What happened? Why did they set the meeting then cancel it?”
Barletta’s campaign has invited all of the presidential candidates to meet with the mayor to discuss immigration policy. Presumptive GOP nominee John McCain’s campaign has said he’s far too busy — all the way through November.