When now-Allegheny Executive Rich Fitzgerald accused Raja of outsourcing in 2011, his campaign took great pains to avoid racial overtones – making a point of avoiding the word “India.”
Pa. Rep. State Rep. Mark Mustio showed no such hesitation today when his campaign unveiled a new television ad in the race to replace retiring Sen. John Pippy.
“Why is Raja sending jobs we need to India? While our friends and families need work, Raja is still sending our jobs to India,” a narrator says, as an image of Raja is presented over an Indian flag.
Update: The Raja campaign did not address racial overtones in its response, instead focused on reports by the Tribune Review that the outsourcing attacks were misleading.
“I lived the American dream, and I am proud of the jobs we’ve created here. My campaign is focused on changing the culture in Harrisburg and voters will have a clear choice between a conservative myself and a pay-raise politician, Mark Mustio,” said Raja.
Raja released an ad last week called “Fluent” which also addresses his race.
“He may look just a little different. Talk with a bit of an accent, but there’s one language Raja is quite fluent in: conservatism,” says a male narrator.
The ad comes on the heels of an internal poll from the Raja campaign showing him a solid favorite in the primary.
Raja takes 43 percent of the vote, Mustio takes 22 percent, and homeschool advocate Sue Means takes 11 percent. The numbers reflect Raja’s name ID, bolstered from his countywide campaign last year.
67 percent of Republican voters have an opinion of Raja (55 to 12 percent favorable) versus 32 percent for Mustio (28 to 4 percent favorable).
The survey was conducted by Basswood Research on Monday, March 26. It has a margin of error of +/- 5.6 percent.
Mustio, meanwhile, has been doing well with endorsements. He has Pippy’s backing as well as other local leaders, and this week picked up the support of Rep. Tim Murphy.
Correction: Murphy’s endorsement came over a month ago, the Mustio campaign said.
Update: Raja has apparently scored an endorsement of his own.
“PA Manufacturers’ Association PAC supports Raja. As manufacturers, we are working to grow jobs here in Pennsylvania. Raja will be an advocate in Harrisburg for domestic manufacturing,” said Dave Taylor of PA Manufacturers’ Association
There is not a Democrat presently on the ballot, however, there are rumors of a write-in campaign by local Democrats.
Raja’s critics note that he lost the 37th district to Fitzgerald in 2011, and argue that Mustio would be a stronger general election candidate.
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5 Responses
Gleeson,
Your drinking the Koolade. Mustio voted against the payraise. I guess your one of those who sit in front of the tv and believe every commercial they see. This is the problem with our society today. You will probably cast your vote based on that assumption.
Mustio voted for the midnight pay raise for a part-time job he has used his position to expand his insurance business at taxpayer expense.
Raja may employ 300 (linkin says 500) but only 100 are located in this country. But many are located in other states. How many of these in Allegheny County are imports from India? I understand he has a ‘green card’ revolving door where when those with expired green cards go back to India and new ones come in. Doesn’t say a whole lot for creating jobs here.
Raja? Mustio? which one is the Democrat?
Has anyone looked at Mark Mustio’s record?
With his “YEA” vote for Capital Budget Act 130 of 2011, Rep. Mustio (and every other Pennsylvania State Senator including alleged Republican Senators Ward and Pippy) added $1.6 billion dollars in debt to Pennsylvania’s Forgotten Taxpayer’s financial burden and, simultaneously, voted millions for billionaire corporations: Comcast, Janney, Teva Pharmaceuticals, ShopRite, Franklin Mint and $850,000 to Philadelphia Democrat Chaka Fattah’s Philadelphia House of Imoja and $1,970,000 to Philadelphia University‐Arlen Specter Library and $10,000,000 John P. Murtha Center for Public Policy Cambria
Contrary to Rep Mustio’s rhetoric, the reality of the record is that Rep. Mustio is not The Forgotten Taxpayer’s BFF.
The Vote
http://www.libertyindex.com/actsDetails.asp?ActID=4360
Act 130 Comcast, Janney Investments, Teva Pharmaceuticals, ShopRite, Franklin Mint http://www.scribd.com/doc/86817438/Liberty-Index-Act-130-of-2011-Five-Buildings
ACT 130 $850,000 to Chaka Fattah’s House of Imoja http://www.scribd.com/doc/86817526/LibertyIndex-Act-130-of-2011-House-of-Imoja
I’ll reiterate what I said in another article about the Raja-Mustio race. The United States has the highest corporate income tax on the planet and labor labor’s expensive. On top of that, It’s all small-business owners can do to keep their heads above water with all these rules and regulations keeping them from repatriating jobs; instead, they’re forced to play catch-up with the government. The problem is __not__ with businessmen like Raja–they’re the solution–it’s the simple fact that the government isn’t competing for these jobs. The jobs are going overseas precisely because these countries (China, India, etc.) are simplifying their tax codes. The United States’ obscenely over-complicated tax code is why we’re not repatriating jobs. Not Raja or others like him. It’d serve Mustio well to look at the facts. On top of that, Raja employs something like 300 Americans, if memory serves me. That’s not bad for a small-business owner.