Opponent denies racism in Raja 'attack' ads

State Rep. Mark Mustio said on Friday he will end attack ads against primary election opponent D. Raja that fellow Republicans have labeled "racist" and "anti-Indian" because they exploit racial stereotypes.

"I don't have a racist bone in my body," Mustio, who is white, said in an interview. "The emphasis is on India because that's where he sent the jobs."

Mustio's campaign for the state Senate seat mailed thousands of flyers printed with the messages, "D. Raja has outsourced many of our jobs to India," and, "Why would we ever vote for Raja to represent us?" next to pictures of India's flag and a map of the country. Another ad features a photo of Raja and his full first name, Dakshinamurthy.

Raja, a naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in India, is listed as D. Raja on Allegheny County Election Division ballot materials.

"The intent was to highlight jobs. I apologize for any offense that may be taken. That certainly was not the intent," Mustio said. "If the jobs went to China, there would have been a Chinese flag there."

Mustio said he chose to use Raja's full name because it's written that way in 84 lawsuits Raja's company filed against former employees. The firm, Computer Enterprises Inc., a custom software firm Raja co-founded in 1992, alleges in most of the lawsuits that employees resigned without giving four weeks notice. CEI has an office in India, but Raja said 94 percent of the business is in the United States, including about 300 workers.

Mustio declared a "cease fire" yesterday, promising to mail and air only positive ads about his record leading up to Tuesday's election.

"The damage is done," Raja said. "He has dropped these mailers, and there's no taking that back."

Leo Knepper, executive director of Citizens Alliance of Pennsylvania, a pro-business political action committee, said the anti-Raja ads are racist and an attempt by Mustio to distract voters from the fact that he voted for the 2005 legislative pay raise.

"It has more to do with that than outsourcing. A state-level race has nothing to do with international trade," Knepper said.

Mustio returned the raise and voted for its repeal.

Jim Roddey, chairman of the Allegheny County Republican Committee, said attack ads on both sides disturbed him. Mustio said Raja has erroneously accused him of being a liberal and supporting labor unions.

"I've asked both campaigns to stop," Roddey said. "The implications of racism and (being) anti-Indian are not the values of the Republican Party and certainly not my values."

Charlton McIlwain, a New York University professor and co-author of "Race Appeal: How Candidates Invoke Race in U.S. Elections," said Mustio's ads promote a stereotype of Indian-Americans as "ruthless money-grubbers" willing to "do anything to make a dollar."

He said using Raja's full name promotes the idea that he's a foreigner, and the messages play on a theme of "us and them."

"The tone of the ad is very personal. It's not about a particular issue, they're talking about Raja himself," he said.

Mustio, 54, of Moon, Raja, 46, of Mt. Lebanon and Sue Means, 60, of Bethel Park are running in the Republican primary to replace outgoing state Sen. John Pippy in the 37th Senatorial District. A Democratic candidate did not file.