To the Editor:

As one who has supported the election campaigns of D. Raja in the
past, posted a lawn sign on his behalf, and talked up his candidacies
to many friends and acquaintances, it is with utter disgust that I note the negative television ad he is currently airing against his opponent in the State Senate race, Democrat Matt Smith.  

This disgraceful promotion is particularly outrageous, given that the Raja candidacy was subjected to the slimy, smarmy Mark Mustio campaign in the primary election. For the Raja campaign to take a page out of the same dishonorable playbook is to insult and patronize every voter of the district.

As an intelligent, thoughtful voter, I have never been swayed by the
tactic of "vote for me because my opponent is a dirty rotten bum." I
do not want to believe that such a strategy will succeed in a district
as sophisticated as the one in which this campaign is being waged,
which includes high-income, professional communities that overflow
with other savvy and informed voters.

Mr. Raja has a wonderful family and a great story to tell of how he
came to succeed in this country through hard work, initiative, and
education. It is a shame that all of that is absent in this
regrettable attack ad.

I am a Republican/Libertarian in most of my views, but one who prides
himself on objectivity and crossing party lines when it is
appropriate.  Although I have never been a constituent of his, Matt
Smith has reached out to me. I have been in contact with him on
numerous occasions through email, and we have met to discuss issues
facing the Commonwealth. I know him to be an honorable man and not the
overtax and overspend money-waster, entrenched "Harrisburg politician"
that the Raja ad would make him out to be.

I had believed that there would be a difficult choice in this race
between two good and decent men, but if the offensive television ad in
which Matt Smith is slammed is reflective of the type of campaign that
is ahead, the Raja camp shall lose my support.

I wonder how Mr. Raja explains the "need" to slime one's opponent to
his family, including his impressionable young children.  Does he say,
"I am sorry, but this must be done to win, and it works." It must not
be allowed to work.

D. Raja was a sympathetic figure when an individual not worthy of
holding public office sought to diminish him for his Indian heritage.
How tragic that the oppressed has now become the oppressor.

Oren Spiegler
Upper St. Clair

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