It appears political mailings are not the cool thing to do anymore. You know what else isn’t cool? Abortion. Abortion is so not cool that the Republican County Executive candidate has to let you know that he is pro-life. What will Raja do about the abortion problems in Allegheny County? Nothing. You know why? Because the County Executive has no authority to overturn Roe vs. Wade.
Raja keeps deflecting his poor record on outsourcing by saying Rich Fitzgerald doesn’t want to talk about the issues. Are these the issues that Raja wants to discuss?
The other point about Rich Fitzgerald’s ‘liberal agenda’ is another Supreme Court issue and has nothing to do with the Allegheny County Executive. Raja might want to go back and read the Constitution. Keeping the religious symbols out of government buildings is something our Founding Fathers put in our original Bill of Rights. Why anyone gets up in arms about this is beyond me. The Republicans say they want less government, but then they want to spend our tax dollars to put up religious symbols.
My last critique of this mail piece is that it was sent to Non-Partisan voters. The Pro-life and liberal agenda bullet points probably work well with the Republican voters that vote in every election. Is it a good piece to send to the independent voters of Allegheny County?
Just saying 'I'm not a politician' is not enough to convince me you aren't going to act like the stereotypical politician.
Example 1: Misleading negative ads
I have been very frustrated by the attack ads that Raja have been running against Rich Fitzgerald. One of the most frustrating claims that I have heard Raja repeat over and over is that Rich Fitzgerald is a 'career politician.' I would like to know what Raja believes the definition of the word career is. Fitzgerald graduated from college in 1981 so I will give him about a 30 year professional career. He has been on Allegheny County Council since 1999. 11 years out of 30 is hardly a political career when most of the first 19 years were spent not working in politics. On another note, a county council member makes $9,000 a year. I don't know anyone that would call a job that only pays $9,000 a year a career. Let me re-word that, I don't know any American that would call a job that pays $9,000 a year a career. Maybe that is good money to workers in India that work for Raja's company.
Example 2: More misleading negative ads
I also can't stand the ad with lies that no one, including the media, will take the time to fact check.
The Corbett campaign even would give credit to the Tribune Review as the source for this so called 'fact.' If you take the time to actually check the article you will see that the 'largest tax increase in Allegheny County history' quote is nothing more than a comment made by an uninformed lobbyist that had an agenda. Glad to see the Tribune Review fact checked that one.
Example 3: Forcing us to read between the lines while denying an accusation.
So the Fitzgerald campaign has gone hard after Raja's company for outsourcing, not paying the minimum wage to his workers, and for suing his employees. I have yet to see a response that either actually denies these accusations or gives enough of an explanation to make me doubt the Fitzgerald camp's attacks.
Some of Raja's responses:
My opponent is trying to distract you from my awesome plans!
My opponent should be ashamed of attacking me about my cutthroat business decisions!
94% of my payroll is in the United States! (No, I'm not going to tell you how much of that 94% is mine, and how cheap it is to employ people in my hometown in India)
I have created thousands of family substaining jobs! I think you are stupid enough to ignore that I don't have to pay as much in India to substain a family.
I could have taken my company anywhere, but I choose Allegheny County! However, I'm also going to tell you how horrible it is here because of 80 years of Democrats being in charge. Wait, why did I pick Allegheny County again?
At the end of the day, Raja sure looks, acts, and talks like a politician. One that is having a hard time not tripping over his own feet.
