Raja sure acts like a politician

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 largest tax increase in Allegheny County? Might want to check the revenue from the RAD tax in the 1990's. Haven't we heard this unchecked lie before? Oh that's right, our current Governor hammered Onorato with this same lie last year.

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.

Look Familiar?

The recent mailing that someone sent out against Luke Ravenstahl as seen at the Post Gazette Early Returns blog looks rather familiar to me. A negative post card with simple black print on a grey post card with no return address and using first class mail has been done before in Pittsburgh/Allegheny County. Just this past spring in the County Controller race a very similar mailing was sent out against George Matta. Do you think the same person was behind these two mailers?

On a side note, does anyone want to point out that Dan Onorato started his career on city council when he was younger than Mayor Luke Ravenstahl is now? Was Onorato a 'non-adult' in 1991? Also, is 31 not an adult?

*UPDATED* Why does everyone want to be Allegheny County Controller?

With the almost announcement that Mark Patrick Flaherty will be running for County Executive no matter what decision Dan Onorato makes, a slew of candidates have been named as possible candidates for a position that doesn’t seem that desirable.

What does the County Controller do anyway? Here is the position according to the Allegheny County website:

The Controller is the chief elected fiscal officer of Allegheny County and provides general supervision and control of the County's fiscal activities.

The Controller has the responsibility to prescribe and maintain the accounting systems of the County and the authority to conduct audits of all County expenditures and offices. The Controller is the final, independent check on the fiscal activities of the executive and legislative branches of County government, as well as the independently elected row offices.

The Controller’s Office is comprised of the Accounting Division, Asset Management and Tax Lien Division, Auditing Division, Weights and Measures Division and the Information Systems Division.

According to the League of Women voters the county controller is paid a $65,500 salary.

I figured that based on the salary and perceived lack of ‘real’ power that this isn’t a position that people line up to run for. However, I have been proven wrong over the last few days.

Here’s the breakdown (so far):

Chelsa Wagner – Current State Representative from Brookline. She was just elected to her third term. This would be a cut in pay ($78,315 + per diems) so I’m not sure the motivation of what I think would be a step down. Maybe she is thinking about running for mayor. I think she would have some strong city support, but might run into the Wagner vs. Ravenstahl mess in the Primary.

Nick Kotik – Current State Representative from Robinson Township. He was just elected to his fifth term. He is considered a ‘blue dog’ Democrat. If they treat him the same way they treat Rep. Jason Altmire for being a blue dog, he will have a tough Primary.

George Matta – Perennial candidate. Seriously, what hasn’t this guy run for? He currently works at the Rivers Casino. He has served as an elected Controller before in Duquesne and also served as the mayor. He also was the Allegheny County Clerk of Courts (2000-07). He ran for State Rep. in 2006 against Marc Gergely and lost. I most remember Mr. Matta for his supposed racial slurs that he used to a Clerk of Courts employee a few years ago.


Valerie McDonald Roberts - She is the manager of the Allegheny County’s department of real estate. Ms. McDonald Roberts is a former Pittsburgh school board and City Council member. She served as recorder of deeds before the county post was abolished with the consolidation of the county's row offices. In 2006, she ran for Lt. Governor and lost (I voted for her). She could also have some strong city support, and she has always impressed me as a candidate.

Matt Smith - Current State Representative in Mount Lebanon. I am a big fan of Matt Smith and believe he is the right guy for that State Rep district in that area of the county. He won his seat during the 2006 pay raise election. The incumbent (Tom Stevenson) lost in the Republican Primary to a 21 year old extreme right wing nut. Matt Smith appears to do well with the Moderate Republicans in his district.

Brenda Frazier - Former two and a half term Allegheny County Councilwoman. Resigned from council to run for State Representative in the 21st District, but came up just short in a three way race with Dom Costa and Len Bodack. (h/t Jon Delano)

Brian O’Malley – He is a former Richland Township Supervisor and former President of the Young Democrats of Allegheny County. He is planning on running for District Magistrate, but I was told that he mentioned to North Hills Democratic Committee members that he was interested in running for County Controller if the magistrate district is eliminated (as it looks will happen).

I emailed Mr. O’Malley about his plans and this was his response (the whole email was a little long, so I edited it):

Thank you for contacting me about my interest in running for Allegheny County Controller. As of right now I am focused on fighting to save the magistrate district that I was planning on running for. (He went on with his reasons for why they shouldn’t cut the district)…

The position of County Controller is something I have long been interested in and would not rule out a possible candidacy at this point due to the uncertainty of my magistrate campaign. I have a well-rounded background that makes me uniquely qualified for Allegheny County Controller. I have a history of fighting for fiscal responsibility of tax dollars by voting for a multi-municipal merger of our police department and helped to make changes to a proposed municipal building that saved Richland Township taxpayers over a million dollars. One of the main components of the County Controller’s job, that is often ignored, is the inspection of weighing and measuring devices. I have hands on experience with weights and measures. I worked for four summers as a scale technician for an industrial scale company…

I was a fan of Mr. O’Malley while he was on the Richland Township Board of Supervisors. He has some support in the North Hills, but that doesn’t do you much good in a county wide Democratic Primary.

I’m sure more names will come out of nowhere over the next few weeks.

Is Dan Onorato going to seek a third term?

I've heard rumors that Dan Onorato will announce his decision about re-election at 2PM this afternoon. Everyone has opined that Mr. Onorato will not run for Executive and will focus on running for Auditor General in 2012.

My opinion is that Mark Patrick Flaherty would not be running for Executive unless he was sure that Onorato would not seek re-election this year.

Random RNC Mailers

Just thought I would share.

Why Did Jane Orie get indicted? Hmmm...

Why Did Steve Zappala indict Jane Orie? Hmmmm.....overwhelming evidence is the correct answer. The actual question is misleading since a jury of Orie's peers indicted Sen. Orie (h/t RossRenegade on Twitter):

* Rioja (Intern) testified that beginning in fall of 2009, she personally observed Orie's paid staff members performing political campaign work for Orie's sister, now Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie Melvin.

*Rioja became aware that various election and campaign materials for Orie Melvin were being created on Orie's district office equipment, including the photocopier, scanner, computer(s) and telephone(s) which were provided and paid for by the Pennsylvania Senate.

*Rioja testified that a majority of the political work that she observed had been conducted in the Orie office during the legislative workday by senate staffers Joshua Dott (hereinafter "Dott") and Kurt Acker, Esquire (hereinafter "Acker"). Rioja also stated that she had heard Acker state to fellow staffers on at least one occasion that if the Attorney General's Office knew what was occurring in Orie's office, that "they all would be in handcuffs".

*Young indicated via IM that Frantz had been directed to conduct certain campaign work for Orie Melvin's campaign during the legislative workday while at Orie's office.

*That day, after Rioja had submitted her resignation from her internship, Rioja called both the Pennsylvania Bureau of Elections and later the Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General to report the political activities that were being carried out at Orie's legislative office. Rioja was told by the person with whom she spoke at the Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General that her complaint should be directed instead to the Office of the District Attorney of Allegheny County. Rioja's own telephone records for that day have been admitted into evidence, and they corroborate Rioja's description of the sequence of the phone calls that she made that day that ultimately led to her filing a written complaint with the Investigations Unit of the Allegheny County District Attorney's Office. (Where were you at Mr. Corbett???)

*Pavlot recalled that on October 29, 2009, Pavlot directed Frantz to make phone calls to convents because Orie wanted to deliver letters to nuns promoting Orie Melvin's campaign for Supreme Court Justice.

*According to Pavlot, as per the directive by Orie, Campbell, Frantz, Young and another Orie staffer, Dan Soltesz, all helped to prepare those campaign materials for delivery to the convents; Pavlot admitted that this work was done at the legislative office using senate-owned equipment and supplies, as well as legislative workers who were on state time.

*This Grand Jury takes note of the fact that during the pendency of this investigation, no fewer than fifteen either current or past members of Orie's Senatorial staff have testified under oath before this body that they either participated in, and/or observed non-legislative work occurring during legislative working hours. Staffers reported that directives to do this political and campaign work came from at least three sources: Orie herself, Orie's Chief of Staff, and, in regard to the 2009 political campaign of Joan Orie Melvin, from Orie's sister, Janine Orie. (I'd like to point out that I know someone that did a high school shadow study with Ms. Orie when she was still a State Representative in 1999. He observed campaign work on state time and even had a staffer tell him that it was 'part of the job?')

Did Jane Orie "screw" with the Zappala family? She didn't pass any legislation that has hurt the Pennsylvania Casino Association. She just makes up stories about casino gangsters based on popular movies so that she can frame her crazy arguments.

By the way Jane, your opponent is Dan Demarco, not Steve Zappala! Demarco is a Ross Township Commissioner that is so 'unconnected' that he didn't even decide to run against you until April. Demarco had to get on the ballot as a write-in candidate. If this conspiracy theory exists about the Zappalas and the insider deals, wouldn't the Zappalas have lined up a candidate to go against you this year in February when a candidate can circulate a petition to get on the ballot?

Ms. Orie, I used to have respect for you. I also used to vote for you. These mailers and your campaign is a joke.

Also, why haven't we heard more Joan Melvin Orie's indictment?