Trib: State Rep. Smith running for Senate seat against Raja

State Rep. Matt Smith, D-Mt. Lebanon, said he is running for the state Senate seat vacated last month by Sen. John Pippy, R-Moon.

Smith will face Republican D. Raja, a businessman and former Mt. Lebanon commissioner, in the November election. Raja ran unsuccessfully for county executive last year. Smith also plans to seek re-election to his House seat.

Read the full article:

• www.triblive.com/news/2201322-74/smith-raja-seat-state-election-lebanon-senate-fontaine-month-rep (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)

P-G: Raja got one too many tax exclusions

A homeowner in Allegheny County may receive a homestead exclusion for only his or her primary residence. For two years, D. Raja, the Republican candidate for Allegheny County executive, received the tax reduction on two residences.

His campaign said the error was the result of a miscommunication with his accountant and construction problems that had delayed his moving plans. His accountant filed the papers with the county to remove the homestead exclusion from one of his residences on Tuesday, said Mark Harris, Mr. Raja's campaign strategist.

Read the full article:

• www.post-gazette.com/pg/11159/1152093-455-0.stm (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

Raja resigns (Update 3)

Blog-Lebo has just learned that D. Raja has resigned his seat on the Mt. Lebanon Municipal Commission, effective immediately. His term was to end December 31, 2011.

In the primary election on May 17, 2011, Raja won the Republican nomination for Allegheny County Executive.

Update: Ward 5 Commissioner Dan Miller has more information on his blog.

Update 2: The municipality is now calling for candidates to fill the vacancy:

Seeking Ward I Commission applicants
LEGAL NOTICE
MT. LEBANON, PENNSYLVANIA

The Mt. Lebanon Commission is seeking letters of interest with resumes from residents of the First Ward of Mt. Lebanon who would like to be appointed to fill an unexpired term as a Commissioner.

At the time of appointment, a Commissioner shall be a citizen of the United States, shall be at least twenty-five years of age, shall have been a registered voter in the Municipality for at least two years, and shall be a bona fide resident of the First Ward of Mt. Lebanon. The term of this appointment shall continue until January 2, 2012 or until the installation of the person elected at the next general election.

First Ward residents who are interested in this position should submit a letter of interest and resume to: Stephen M. Feller, Municipal Manager, 710 Washington Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15228. Letters of interest shall be in a sealed envelope marked “COMMISSIONER APPLICATION” and must be received by the Manager no later than 4:00 p.m. on Thursday, June 9, 2011.

Update 3: More coverage:

• Mt. Lebanon commissioner resigns to focus on county exec bid (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)
• Raja resigns from Mt. Lebanon to focus on campaign (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
• Raja resigns (Lebo Citizens Blog)

P-G: Mt. Lebanon commissioner enters county executive race

Encouraging startup companies is key to bringing more jobs to Allegheny County, the newest candidate for county executive told about 50 cheering supporters this morning.

D. Raja, a Mt. Lebanon commissioner and founder of an information technology company, became the third Republican to announce a run for his party's nomination for the post.

Read the full article:

• http://www.postgazette.com/pg/11048/1126132-100.stm (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

P-G: Mt. Lebanon commissioner to enter race for county exec

D. Raja, a businessman and Mt. Lebanon commissioner, is poised to enter the Republican race for Allegheny County executive.

Mr. Raja, who could not immediately be reached for comment, has called a variety of senior county Republicans to alert them to his interest.

According to an associate, he plans to make a formal announcement some time next week.

Read the full article:

• www.post-gazette.com/pg/11040/1124153-100.stm (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)


• Mt. Lebanon commissioner considers county exec bid (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)


• Exclusive: Raja Leaning Toward GOP Run for Allegheny Exec (PoliticsPA)

P-G: Groups Says It Has Funds To Buy Closed Mt. Lebanon Theater

The Denis Theatre Foundation has raised the funds to purchase the Denis Theatre on Washington Road in Mt. Lebanon, according to a news release today.

The foundation launched its capital campaign to buy the Denis in October 2009, and since then the campaign has raised more than $663,000 in cash and pledges.

Read the full article:

• www.postgazette.com/pg/10244/1084205-100.stm (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

Mt. Lebanon Community Gets Loud In The Blogosphere

Forget gossip over the back fence: These days in Mt. Lebanon, community bloggers are the town criers.

Commissioners Dan Miller and D. Raja have blogs. So do school members Josephine Posti and James Fraasch. The high school's technology director Christopher Stengel has his own blog, and residents Joe Polk, Tom Moertel, Kristen Linfante and Elaine Labalme also run blogs that discuss community developments and events.

Read more: www.post-gazette.com/pg/10063/1039995-55.stm

Fundraiser Planned To Help Purchase Mt. Lebanon's Denis Theatre

The Denis Theatre Foundation is embarking on a major push over the next month to raise enough money to purchase the Denis Theatre on Washington Road in Mt. Lebanon and reopen it by late 2011.

Purchasing the Denis means the foundation must raise $750,000 by Feb. 28, when the purchasing options expire, foundation executive director Anne Kemerer said.

Raja, president of the Mt. Lebanon commission, owns the building.

Read more: www.post-gazette.com/pg/10021/1029815-55.stm

Reviewing Raja's Budget Message

Over the holidays, Commissioner Raja sent out an email (and posted to his web site) explaining why he voted for the 2010 municipal budget. This was particularly interesting to me since Commissioner Miller had previously posted his comments in opposition to it.

A couple of issues caught my eye:

First, Commissioner Raja seems to trumpet the savings of limiting COLA raises for employees in 2010 by pegging the COLA to the current low inflation numbers. Forget that fact that this seems to treat people differently just because they don't have a union, does anyone really think that inflation is going to stay low? Or regardless of how it goes up and down, are we now saying to the employees that whatever the inflation number is at the end of the year you will get that raise when the number exceeds 3%?

Commissioner Raja also made a reference to paying for “expenses from the fund balance.” He said that he would “have preferred to implement organic changes that could have funded these increases on a sustainable basis going forward.”

An example of his “organic changes” seems to be the merger of the Assistant Manager and Finance Director positions. If I understood the budget broadcast, the merger of the two positions was unanimously approved by the Commission. The debate seemed to be about what would happen to the Assistant Managers HR duties. Raja wanted those duties distributed amongst other staff while the majority supported the managers recommendation of hiring a new HR person. It was said that having a separate HR position was one of the Matrix report recommendations.

Commissioner Raja said that if the majority had agreed with him we would have saved annually $141,000. Commissioner Miller said that the 2011 budget shortfall is already $3.14 million.

Commissioner Raja said that he recommended “organic changes” (notice the plural) that “could have funded these increases on a sustainable basis going forward.”

Anyone else interested in knowing what his organic suggestions were that would solve our problem? It would be great for Commissioner Raja to post his suggestions that were rejected by the Commission so we could evaluate them ourselves -- and if necessary -- lobby other Commissioners to adopt them!

Additionally, I saw that the majority did not support a strategic planning process in 2010. Given the size of our problem for 2011, I wonder why this was not supported. Doesn't the municipality need a plan - and need it quickly?

Raja's Take On The Budget

1st Ward Commissioner has posted his own thoughts and comments about the 2009 budget on his personal web site in a posting called "Small Tax Cut & Key Services Restored in 2009 Approved Budget".

Raja Comments on McNeilly Property and 2009 Budget

1st Ward Commissioner Raja has published two new postings on his blog regarding selling the McNeilly property and the 2009 budget.

Link: www.joinraja.com/2008/11/17/selling-mcneilly-to-fund-mellon-turfinglighting

Link: www.joinraja.com/2008/11/17/increasing-revenue-to-mt-lebanon-with-zoning-changes/

Commissioner Raja Comments on KOHS/Police Issue

1st Ward Commissioner Raja has recently commented on the issue regarding the proposed reassignment of a Mt. Lebanon Police officer to Keystone Oaks High School -- and the previous actions of the commission regarding this issue. You can read the posting on his web site.

Link: www.joinraja.com

For New Official, Business Is His Business

It's not unusual for Raja to take trips out of town, given the global nature of his IT services and consulting company, Mt. Lebanon-based Computer Enterprises Inc. But Raja, who, by Indian custom has a one-name name, was doing something a little different this week. He took a vacation.

But it's back to work Monday, when Raja and fellow first-term Commissioners Dan Miller and Joe DeIuliis take their seats at the first regular Mt. Lebanon municipal meeting of 2008.

Link: www.post-gazette.com/pg/08010/847997-55.stm

Raja-juvenation

Raja, our new 1st Ward Commissioner, was recently highlighted in the latest Pittsburgh Magazine:

Link: http://www.wqed.org/mag/features/0108/raja.php