The LuLac Edition #534, August 10th, 2008

PHOTO INDEX: BILL BRACE (FROM A RECENT TIMES LEADER PHOTO) AND STATE REPRESENTATIVE EDDIE DAY PASHINSKI.

THE POLITICAL CLASS

Whether we like it or not in our society, as free as this country is, there is a class system. There’s the upper class, the middle class and the lower class, otherwise known as the poor. However what exists today is still another component: the political class. This class exists because of the growth of government and opportunities within it for those so inclined. The trouble though is that unlike private business where merit matters, in the political class it’s who you know, how you come upon an opportunity and especially in Luzerne County, how many bites you get at the publicly funded apple. Members of the political class sometimes exhibit a tone deaf attitude toward the regular, private business earning taxpayer who in these times might have to work two jobs just to get by. Two big examples on the national stage were Tom Ridge and the late Tony Snow. Both were making over $135,000 a year in federal jobs but left because they had to earn more money. Ridge for the education of his children, Snow for the long term well being of his famly because of his illness. This is all well and good, one should do their best for their family but to announce it, saying “you just can’t get by on a 100,000 grand a year” rubs the noses of the taxpayer in some pretty smelly manure. This week, there were two examples of “The Political Class” that I feel bear mentioning. The first involved a long time government employee who is once more dipping his beak in the public trough and the second one involves an elected official who thought he was helping Barack Obama win an election here in Luzerne County.

TRIPLE PLAY

When I was a member of the Wilkes Barre City Softball team, the Killer Bees, and afterwards a team manager in the same league (with the hapless Lady Killers) then Commissioner Bill Brace accomplished many athletic feats on the playing field. One that eluded him though was a triple play. However, as a government employee, Brace has pulled off the trifecta, the triple play, the thrice dip if you will. Brace was appointed local registrar with the state Department of Vital Statistics. He replaces the late Phil McCabe, a former Wilkes-Barre city councilman. A few questions, was the job advertised? Who had access to whether or not there would be a replacement? And was this a topic of conversation at poor Phil’s wake? I don’t have a problem with Bill Brace working. I like the guy. As a news reporter I covered him when he was City Clerk for the Lisman and McLaughlin administrations and he did a good job. Mary Anne Petrilla says he did a good job for the county and if he wasn’t, given her recent history, he’d be out the door. But the way these things go through the political underground is one of the reasons why in Luzerne County we have a gentry of special class of individuals that have an insider’s view that would make a Vegas better green with envy. Hey say what you want about Skrep and Vonderheid but at least they advertised the jobs and interviewed a bunch of people before making a choice. Mary Anne Petrilla carried on that practice too.
Right now, Brace collects a city pension of roughly $42,000, or 60 percent of his highest two-year average salary of $70,000. The city retirees receive full health-care coverage until death. Until his death!! And while the rest of the city has to kick in for their own health care costs, the political class gets a free ride. So whenever private citizens stress about a rate increase for their health plan or their companies change the deal so they have to pay more, the political class says “Don’t worry, be happy”. Now no information is available on Brace’s county pension but given his salary, it will be based on his top two earning years. So when Mr. Brace retires, he’ll get a city, county and state pension. In the meantime, many qualified but politically unconnected residents of the city and the county remain on the outside looking in while insiders like Brace monopolize public sector jobs. The political class is alive and well here and this appointment proves it.

EDDIE DAY’S TNT

I thought Eddie Day Pashinski knew better. But it appears that even after one term, Pashinski has lost touch with his district. His recent remarks at a public function went off like dynamite to many people I’ve talked with over the weekend. Again, I like the guy, like the way he has taken on issues in Harrisburg like the one with the Cathoic School union. But at the recent Obama campaign opening, here’s what he said about Obama and the working class people he represents: “I believe he’s the only guy that can understand what it’s like to live on 40, 60 or 80 thousand dollars a year.” That quote was reported by Times Leader reporter Sherry Long who I have no reason to doubt. Pashinski said he grew up in a working class family and he says the Republican party has forgotten the working class. From the comment, it appears the GOP is not the only one who forgot about the workers and their income in this area. Let’s run that quote by you again: “I believe he’s the only guy that can understand what it’s like to live on 40, 60 or 80 thousand dollars a year.” Incredible. How many people in Pashinski’s district that do not belong to the political class earn 40, 60 or 80,000 dollars a year? Does the clerk at Turkey Hill earn that? How about the cleaning people in the halls of the school districts? How about the waitresses and waiters in all those restaurants by the Arena? For that matter, how about all those employees at the Arena? Do they earn, 40, 60, 80,000 a year? Now I know Eddie is a retired teacher (and he most likely was making around 60 or 70 grand a year with the summers off) and has his state rep salary as well as his retirement pension. (Eddie has not yet pulled off a triple play but I bet he’s trying!) But news flash for Pashinski: the average salary here in your district is not even close to $40,000. And for him to say that in public shows a serious disregard and lack of knowledge about the economic hardship the regular folks in the district have to endure. Just so you don’t think I’m going “bitter” on all of you, the average median single person income for Luzerne County (by the way we rank 25th out of 67 counties) is $18,288. The average median family income is $33,771, (source: U.S.Gov't Census Bureau Table P82) and well below the 40, 60, or 80,000 dollars a year Pashinski thinks makes up the middle and working class here in his county and district. Who knows, maybe he was comparing notes with his old teacher buddies and politically connected cronies. But I can give him a long list of residents in this county who would do back flips just to reach a family income of $40,000 grand. Wow! Talk about out of touch. But guess what? He’ll skate because no one is running against him in the fall. And as always in this county: the beat goes on!