By Joe Smydo

An Allegheny County Sanitary Authority board member is hitting up representatives of ALCOSAN vendors, among others, to buy tickets for a $500-per-person, $5,000-per-table fund-raiser Wednesday for Allegheny County Controller and Democratic county executive candidate Mark Patrick Flaherty.

"As you know, we are gearing up now for our grassroots and media campaigns, and it is more important than ever that we have the money to stay continuously in front of the voters in order to get out Mark's message of a track record of fiscal responsibility, uncovering government inefficiencies, holding the line on property taxes and encouraging and supporting economic development throughout Pittsburgh and Allegheny County," Jacques Moye Sr. said in the e-mail.

Mr. Moye, an attorney and former aide to outgoing county executive Dan Onorato, sent the message from his email address at the McGuireWoods law firm, Downtown.

In all, the email was sent to dozens of people. The fund-raiser will be held at the Rivers Club, Downtown.

In an interview, Mr. Moye said the e-mail was sent to friends and business associates "I've met through my career." He said some of those on the list are employed by ALCOSAN vendors but didn't believe it was improper to solicit them.

"It's no way pressuring to anyone," he said.

Among those sent the e-mails were representatives of Ebony Development, EADS Group, Graves Architects, Hatch Mott MacDonald, KLH Engineers, MS Consultants, PNC and SAI Consulting Engineers, all of which are current or former vendors, ALCOSAN said. In addition, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette identified seven other firms whose representatives received the solicitation.

"I respectfully encourage you to support at your highest level possible," the email said, referring to the $500-per-person and $5,000-per-table options. "Even if you can't make the event, your contribution will be appreciated and recognized."

Mr. Flaherty is one of two candidates seeking the Democratic nomination for county executive in the May 17 primary. The other is Rich Fitzgerald, the former Allegheny County Council president.

The Fitzgerald campaign declined comment on the email. Mr. Flaherty's campaign said, "There are hundreds of supporters helping Mark Patrick Flaherty raise money in his campaign for county executive. We appreciate the groundswell of support. The campaign doesn't monitor or control lists that our supporters use in sending out emails from their private email accounts."

Two candidates, D. Raja and Chuck McCullough, are seeking the GOP nomination.