Brother, can you spare a job?

Now that his 16 years of "moving Fayette forward" are about to end, given the results of Tuesday's election, folks here in the patch are wondering if outgoing county commissioner Vince Vicites will find work in the county where he's been "getting things done."

It is no secret that Vicites has been telling us for years that things are on the upswing. Stutta Bubba over in House 222 even saved the last-minute campaign mailer sent out by Vicites and his running mate Vincent "Vince Jr." Zapotosky.

Based on the boasts listed in that slick mailer, Vicites should have no problem finding private-sector work in the county he headed since 1996. In the Vicites-Zapotosky campaign's own words: "Over the last two decades, Fayette County has experienced over $1 billion worth of infrastructure investment in the manufacturing sector (annual average of over $60 million). This investment has created and retained almost 8,000 jobs and generated new payroll dollars of almost $150 million annually."

Of these 8,000 jobs, surely Vicites can snag one, don't you think? With $150 million in new payroll dollars flowing in each year, it should be a given that employers will line up to hire Vicites, who after all holds a master's degree and, in prior campaigns, has trumpeted the fact that he is "dedicated, educated and experienced."

Which lucky local employer will win out in the race to get Vicites? Competition should be rather stiff to acquire someone of his calliber. Viewing the flip side of the Vicites-Zapotosky mailer could provide some clues:

In the "Oil & Gas" category, the contenders to hire Vicites are BOS Solutions, GHX Industrial, Valerus, Calfrac, Express Energy, R&H Supply, Holloman Corp, Chevron and Universal Wells. According to Vicites and Zapotosky, they have over 500 new jobs.

But maybe Vicites will land under "Department of Defense and Homeland Security," where the pickings are Trident Systems, BAE Systems, United First Responders, Hybrid Learning Systems, Ultra Electronics, Boeing and Advanced Acoustic Concepts. Vicites and Zapotosky told us they have 200 new jobs.

If that's not possible, perhaps Vicites can work in at one of the "Customer Support Centers" of which he is so proud: Vertex Outsourcing, Teleperformance, TeleTech or Commonwealth Marketing Group. Vicites and Zapotosky said they have 1,650 new jobs.

If none of the above is to his liking, Vicites could land at one of the "Other Companies of Note," including Power Piping, Tri-State Biofuels, EbTech, Johnson Matthey, PTC Software, Hunter Panels, First Rate Metal Fab or Brownsville Marine Products. Vicites and Zapotosky told us they have over 330 new jobs.

We're not the ones who were telling voters, "Good things are happening in Fayette County. New industries are springing up. New jobs are being created." That was Vicites and Zapotosky.

Since things are going so swimmingly well in Fayette County, it should be no problem for Vicites to find gainful local employment in the private sector, where he's been among those telling the rest of us there are plenty of great jobs. We'll see if he ends up there ... or in another government job.

Bet on the latter.