Allegheny County executive candidates exchange barbs over economics
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The Republican candidate for Allegheny County executive, D. Raja, offered a jobs plan Thursday while his Democratic opponents contended that its credibility was undermined by a 2001 case investigated by the U.S. Labor Department in which he had underpaid his own employees.
The testy exchanges between the campaigns ended a post-primary lull in the race to succeed Dan Onorato as a day that started with generic policy discussion devolved into personal charges and counter-charges.
Mr. Raja, a businessman and former Mt. Lebanon commissioner, discussed his employment agenda at a news conference at Etcetera Edutainment, a Strip District firm founded by graduates of Carnegie Mellon University's entertainment technology center. He cited the company, which develops video game-based training applications, as an example of the kind of innovative workplaces he hopes to foster.
"There is a stark contrast between me and my opponent," Mr. Raja said of former council President Rich Fitzgerald. "He has had over a decade to bring jobs to our region and he has failed."
Mike Mikus, Mr. Fitzgerald's campaign manager, offered a blistering response, claiming that the high-tech entrepreneur "has waged a war on workers over the years as CEO of CEI America."
He referred to the software development firm whose founding Mr. Raja proudly cites in his standard stump speech. Mr. Mikus contended that the firm's employment of workers abroad, "does nothing but kill American jobs and lines Raja's pockets."
Mr. Raja acknowledges his firm's offshore employees but says that the net result of its operations has been the creation of many more American jobs.
Mr. Mikus also supplied reporters with case files of a 2001 U.S. Labor Department investigation into its payroll practices. The federal agency cited the Raja firm for failing to pay overtime. The firm initially argued that the affected employees were actually salaried workers who were not eligible for extra pay, but it eventually settled the case with the payment of approximately $133,000 in back wages to 72 employees.
First Published August 5, 2011 12:00 am
