New Raja Ad Says Smith Flip-Flopped on Pension (Watch Videos)

The Raja campaign released a new ad Monday which targets Matt Smith’s “broken promises” while in Harrisburg.

The ad, titled “Broken Pledge,” zeroes in on broken promises made by Smith while in office. The ad claims that Smith took a taxpayer funded pension, after he said he wouldn’t.

“When Matt Smith ran for office he promised he would not take a taxpayer funded, state pension,” the ad says. “But after the election, he broke his promise and took the pension.But taking taxpayer’s money is nothing new to Matt Smith, he’s voted to raise taxes a million dollars a day for every day he’s been in office.”

Smith campaign manager Jake Pawlak blasted the ad, saying Raja is hiding behind his own record with these attacks.

“Once again Raja is hiding from his own record with another misleading ad distorting Matt’s record of reform. It’s a desperate move from a desperate candidate, and the voters will see right through it, just as they did in last year’s race for County Executive,” said Pawlak.

“This latest attack makes one thing abundantly clear: Raja will say anything to take the voters’ attention away from the fact that he’s made millions outsourcing western PA jobs because he knows that the voters of the 37th district won’t elect a State Senator who doesn’t believe the future can be built in western Pennsylvania.”

The Smith campaign has also been on the offensive in recent weeks against Raja. They released an ad (watch below) blasting him for outsourcing Pennsylvania jobs and for shady business tactics while CEO of his company – all familiar charges from Raja’s run for Allegheny County Executives.

Raja spokesperson Jennifer Haas put the Smith campaign’s remarks to rest, citing Raja’s business record as a positive mark for Pittsburgh.

“More false attacks from Matt Smith. Raja’s global company is headquartered here, 94% of its expenditures are here, and it is hiring in Pittsburgh today,” said Haas. “The only candidate in this race who has created good paying American jobs is Raja. Matt Smith’s extensive taxing of small business, manufacturing, healthcare and energy along with his anti-reform policies over the past 5 and a half years have driven jobs out of our region.”

The Race for SD-37 is one of the most highly contested races in the State Senate. Both Raja and Smith have poured their resources into ads thus far in the campaign. The way they are churning ads out now suggests that they won’t stop anytime soon.

6 Responses

  1. spend, spend, spend, then tax, tax, tax that seems like the Matt Smith way. You liberals have no sense of financial reality. Mr. “reformer” promoted eliminating the legislative surplus and returning ALL dollars to the taxpayers. Public documents show MATT SMITH KEPT THE MONEY AND IT ENDED UP IN HIS OWN LEGISLATIVE ACCOUNT!!!!!!!!! How can you trust a guy like that?

  2. Lets not forget that Raja never finished his term as commissioner but during his tenure neglected state mandated infrastructure upgrades to our storm water system, took street and sidewalk repair out of the muni budget, then floated a bond for the same repairs, and left us with a structural budget deficit. Thats the “Raja Plan”. Thats also why the guy lost Mt Lebanon, his ward, his district, and even his street when he last ran for office.

  3. let’s not forget 300 AMERICAN JOBS, 94% of his spend is in the UNITED STATES. Let’s also not forget while RAJA MADE A CAREER CREATING JOBS IN THE PRIVATE SECTOR. Matt Smith has made a career KILLING jobs in legislature. It’s a very simple decision, JOB CREATOR VS. JOB KILLER?

  4. Raja has created 300 American jobs. Matt Smith has created less than 0, because he’s voted for taxing small businesses and voted against every single pro-marcellus shale measure that came across his desk. Much like Obama, he’s a honey tongued liberal that’s been endorsed by the PSEA, AFL-CIO, AFSCME, and the radical leftist group PennEnvironment.

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