Following is my letter to the editor of the Galveston County Daily News. I doubt the newspaper will publish it. I have sent it to you so members of your department will know that not everyone supports the view of the newspaper's publisher.
The impression publisher Dolph Tillotson gives his readers is that one of his past editorials gave the Galveston policemen's union quite a licking. If the union had taken such a beating, why would he have to circle around the block and beat up on the police officers themselves as he did in a more recent editorial? (Rich police bleeding island dry, Jan. 25, 2009) And he beat them up using distorted and misleading statistics.
Denigrating individual police officers with distortions about their pay in an attempt to discredit their union is simply and undeniably unfair, just as it would be unfair to rip the Galveston County Daily News for costing twice as much per page as the Houston Chronicle when one's real beef is with the opinion of its publisher.
But worse, Mr. Tillotson, this inaccurate and misdirected criticism serves to drive a wedge of resentment between the citizens of Galveston and its police officers. While facing the threat of real bullets out there on the street, do they really deserve such a cheap shot from you?
David Morrow, O.D.
Palisade Palms, Galveston
The above was in response to the editorial below, copied from the newspaper's website.
Rich police bleeding island dry
By Dolph Tillotson
The Daily News
Published January 25, 2009
Here's what I think after some reflection (you probably ought to think about it, too, since it's your money):
Unions are neither good nor bad, they are simply engines of self-interest. Also, public-employee unions are very different from unions in the private sector.
What happens in union negotiations is that a union guy sits across the table from a management guy. In the middle of the table is a big pile of money, and each side tries to leave the room with as much of the money as possible. Simple, right?
In private enterprise, maybe it is simple, but the situation becomes muddled when one side is a public-employee union and the other side isn't some corporate fat cat - it's us, you and me, taxpayers.
Public employees can and do influence elections in Galveston, and thus they help elect the people empowered to hire and fire the city manager. The city manager must negotiate with unions who play a role in electing his bosses. The bottom line is that the city manager is negotiating on your behalf and collective bargaining puts him at a big disadvantage.
One correspondent wrote: "The city has a right not to agree with anything it feels will hurt the city." That's right in theory, but it's not right in practice. Because of politics, the unions have too much power in Galveston.
"Unions had nothing to do with Galveston's failure to make needed investments in its infrastructure," someone wrote. That's just untrue.
The city has a finite amount of money to spend on all Galveston's needs. So, every dime paid to the police and other employees affects what it can spend to fix potholes, improve drainage and repair broken traffic lights.
Another correspondent wrote: "I don't see any firemen or policemen getting rich."
Maybe they aren't "rich" in the sense that Donald Trump is rich, but they are far richer than most in Galveston.
According to figures for the year ending Sept. 30, 2008, the city's 153 policemen had average annual total income, including benefits, of $71,092. That average excludes overtime pay for Hurricane Ike, which would drive the figure up. It also does not include any estimate of off-duty income, which most policemen also earn, putting total income for many at far more than $100,000 annually.
And, just to be clear, the average above includes no management or administrative salaries.
Galveston was a poor city before Hurricane Ike, and it's poorer now. Median household income in Galveston (that's for the whole household, not its individual wage earners) is just $34,153.
Galveston's police will take a 3 percent pay cut Feb. 1, but that just puts them back to the 2008 levels. After the pay cut, they still will make on average more than twice the household income in Galveston.
Galveston traditionally reveres unions and collective bargaining, even among public employees. That's something the city may choose to continue in spite of the financial misery caused by Hurricane Ike.
If that's the choice, though, ask yourself this question: How much are you personally willing to pay to ensure that the police make more than you do?
Dolph Tillotson is president and publisher of The Daily News.
