Pgh. Post Gazette: powerful endorsement of Dem. Fitzgerald for County Exec.

[Divernan]

Their sharpest policy difference is over the county's 7 percent poured alcoholic drink tax. Mr. Raja wants to abolish it, while Mr. Fitzgerald says its revenue, used to leverage state matching dollars for transit, is necessary to keep property taxes in check. When pressed on how he'd make up the lost revenue from the drink tax, about $27 million a year, Mr. Raja says he'll find economies at the jail, the Kane nursing centers, public works and other areas. But the next executive is going to have to find savings in those areas just to balance the county budget, let alone cover the elimination of a tax.

Mr. Raja's position on this issue is illustrative, we fear, of his general approach to the job. He makes costly promises (an end to the drink tax, reduced property taxes, lower car rental and hotel taxes, etc.) but fails to convince us he can pay for them. Although a corporate CEO can operate by decree and deal with the fallout later, a Republican county executive who would be joined at the hip with a mostly Democratic council must be politically astute, nimble in the art of the deal and able to hold office without tripping over his learning curve. Mr. Raja is intelligent and engaging, but we're not sure he is well-suited to Allegheny County's political pressure cooker.

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We have no such reservations about Rich Fitzgerald. On county council, he's endured budget battles, tax fights, pressure from special interests and calls from constituents. As someone who's had to make a living in the meantime (council members get a stipend, not a salary), Mr. Fitzgerald lives life in the private sector and believes that government must enhance, not inhibit, the county's quality of life.

The votes he has taken and the record he has compiled -- sometimes in opposition to his party's leadership -- attest to Rich Fitzgerald's experience in this arena. That's knowledge his opponent will take months, maybe years, to acquire.
Allegheny County can't afford on-the-job training. That's why the Post-Gazette endorses Rich Fitzgerald.

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