Congressman Paul Kanjorski has apologized to Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta for linking him with former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke.

Kanjorski sent Barletta a formal letter of apology Friday afternoon. The Kanjorski campaign copied the letter to media outlets, including the Standard-Speaker.

“I did not say you are a racist and did not mean to imply it,” the one-page letter, signed by Kanjorski, concludes. “I meant you no offense and I am sorry if it appeared that way.”

Barletta accepted the apology.

“I respectfully accept his apology and commend Paul Kanjorski for recognizing that inflammatory rhetoric is not what voters of the 11th Congressional District want,” Barletta said Friday evening. “Hopefully this will be a turning point in this campaign and the congressman and his Washington, D.C., team will stop the negative and baseless attacks and focus on the issues facing the taxpayers.”

The dispute began when Kanjorski told a reporter for the political news Web site Politico.com, “What David Duke was to civil rights, my opponent has done that with immigration … He’s used that issue the same way Duke used the civil rights issue.”

Kanjorski’s comments came two days after the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee cited a story posted on Duke’s Web site about Barletta’s entry into the race.

The committee claimed it was an endorsement from Duke and called on Barletta to renounce the endorsement. Barletta, noting that the story on Duke’s Web site was a link to another site that endorsed him, disavowed any support from Duke.

“I have not sought nor do I accept his endorsement or the endorsement of any hate groups,” Barletta said earlier this week. “I’ve made that clear in the past and my position has not changed.”

From the Hazleton Standard-Speaker