Doublespeak

When Fayette County Commissioners Vince Vicites and Vince Zapotosky voted last year to raise the salaries of all county row officers, including the commissioners, by 3 percent a year for the next six years, the Herald-Standard newspaper lauded and supported the move.

Here are some excerpts from their editorial, titled “Fair Wage -- Pay Raise for County Officials Backed” and published on Aug. 6, 2010:

“Things are not great here in Fayette, but we're not in such a bad shape that a fairly standard 3 percent increase should be seen as inappropriate.”

“The economy is in bad shape and some people are struggling across the county, but we don't think a 3 percent raise is exorbitant. We're not talking about a 20 percent jump in pay here.”

“It's important that our public officials are paid fairly. They deserve to be compensated with a respectable wage. There's no way of getting around the fact that you get what you pay for, and if we want to make sure that decent, intelligent people run for public office, then we have to pay them accordingly.”

The newspaper thus firmly put its stamp of approval on what actually does amount to a 19.4 percent pay raise for county elected officials over the next six years. No matter how bad the economy gets, the Fayette County commissioners and row officers are going to get regular 3 percent raises for more than half of a decade.

Given the newspaper’s official stance as concerns Fayette County officials, everyone in the patch -- even 99-year-old Stutta Bubba in House 222 -- is confused over the newspaper’s Thursday editorial.

“Vat’s vis dis stuff?” proclaimed Stutta Bubba. “I am old lady from old countary, and I learn English as second language, dis is true. But does Herald-Standard tink I am stupid?”

From underneath her babushka, Stutta Bubba pulled out a neatly folded copy of Thursday’s editorial, entitled, “Legislative staffers to get raises.” It was critical of the Pennsylvania House Republicans and Senate Democrats for deciding to lift a pay freeze for their legislative employees.

The fact that House Republican staffers haven’t had a pay raise in three years doesn’t matter to the Herald-Standard, which now says, “To this, many Pennsylvanians would say, ‘Welcome to the club.’ They haven’t been getting any pay raises either, and that’s not likely to change in the foreseeable future.”

Maybe if the House Republican leaders had decided to guarantee 3 percent raises for their employees for the next six years, like Vicites and Zapotosky did, the Herald-Standard would see things differently. (It might help, too, if House Republican leaders decided to throw a little money into the Redstone Foundation pot to operate Fayette TV, but that’s another blog post.)

Although the House Democrats and Senate Republicans have made no decision on granting their employees a pay raise for the first time in three years, that didn’t stop the Herald-Standard from doing what it does best these days: speculating. Absent any facts, the newspaper speculated that they probably will, following the pattern of “theft from Pennsylvania taxpayers” set in motion by the House Republicans and Senate Democrats.

Accusing somebody of theft is a pretty serious thing, isn’t it? The newspaper might want to take a refresher course in the laws of libel, but then again, that class has been failed in that building before.

On Thursday, the Herald-Standard held this chest-thumping position: “The fact is, pay raises are problematic these days in a Pennsylvania economy that is more used to seeing pay freezes, pay cuts or -- worse -- pink slips.”

But just eight months ago, their position, at least as concerns something done by Vicites and Zapotosky, was comparatively demure: “Things are not great here in Fayette, but we're not in such a bad shape that a fairly standard 3 percent increase should be seen as inappropriate.”

Which side of their mouth will be speaking tomorrow?