Over breakfast in the Fairmont Hotel in downtown Pittsburgh, the Pittsburgh Business Travel Association hosted a discussion between two candidates for Allegheny County Executive; D. Raja (Republican) and Rich Fitzgerald (Democrat). The moderator was Bill Flanagan of WPXI-TV.

Raja is a commissioner in Mt. Lebanon and served as president of the commission in 2010. Raja co-founded CEI, an Allegheny County technology company.

Fitzgerald is currently in his fourth term on the Allegheny County Council and has served as president since 2004. 

Flanagan is executive vice president and chief public affairs officer for the Allegheny Conference on Community development and its affiliated regional development organizations; the Pennsylvania Economy League — Western Division, Pittsburgh Regional Alliance and Greater Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce. In this role, he also hosts “Our Region’s business” on WPXI-TV, WJAC-TV, WTOV-TV and the Pittsburgh Cable News Channel, a program the Conference produces in partnership with Cox Enterprises.