Keyes leaves GOP, considers 3rd-party run

Keyes leaves GOP, considers 3rd-party run
Says 'Republican Party has come to a dark and confused place'

Alan Keyes, who worked in the administration of Ronald Reagan and unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for president three times, announced Tuesday night that he has left the party.

Speaking to a group of about 60 people in the Lincoln Ballroom at Genetti’s Best Western Inn in Hazleton, Keyes, 57, said he could no longer stay in a party that has lost its way.

He said the “Republican Party has come to a dark and confused place.”

Though he stood in front of a red, white and blue banner that read, “We need Alan Keyes for president,” Keyes did not say he was running this fall. He hinted at that possibility and mentioned the Constitution Party as a potential fit for him, but stopped short of making that announcement official.

Keyes said he chose Hazleton as the place to make his announcement and to talk about his unhappiness with the political system in the country because of the link between the city and illegal immigration issues. He said the lack of border control has been one factor in the deterioration of the nation’s qualities. Immigrants, he said, have put a heavy burden on the country’s schools, infrastructure and hospitals. He chided legislators in Washington for not doing more to protect our borders and for not upholding current laws.

“Before we try to change the laws, why don’t we try enforcing our laws?” he asked.

He praised Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta for passing a law that tried to curb illegal immigration in the city. The law was later overturned, but Barletta’s efforts put a national media spotlight on the southern Luzerne County city.

Immigration, Keyes said, is not the reason he’s left the Republican Party. The reason is because the party isn’t the same one he joined decades ago.

He said the Democratic and Republican parties have become too much about power and not enough about listening to the voice of the people. He said border control is one issue to which the government has turned a deaf ear.

He said the political parties in the country are “a sham” and urged citizens to take it back to the way the founding fathers meant it to be when they wrote the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.

Donald Doyle, of Pottsville, said he wouldn’t change his registration from the Republican Party this year but he would consider voting for Keyes if he ran as a third-party candidate. He said his views mirror Keyes’ views and he is not a fan of McCain’s moderate views. Doyle said he likely would have voted for McCain just to keep a Democrat out of office.