The media, biased? II
Geoff Dornan of the Nevada Appeal writes a talking point of public-employee activists right into the lede of his recent article on public-employee pay cuts.First of all, a 6 percent reduction in pay is hardly draconian. Many families are dealing with job losses or salary reductions of over 50 percent. What would you call that? Uber-draconian or SUPER-DUPER draconian? Nope, that's just a normal part of life for non-government employees.Lawmakers Monday rejected Gov. Jim Gibbons' proposed cuts to employee benefits as well as his 6 percent pay cut for state workers.
They instead adopted the much less draconian benefit reduction plan worked out by the Public Employee Benefits Program and replaced the pay cut with a mandatory 12-days a year furlough for state workers. The furlough works out to about a 4 percent salary cut and the PEBP reduction plan saves about $50 million. Speaker Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, said the state will continue making the full retirement contribution for those workers so their retirement isn't hurt. (Emphasis added)
Second, draconian is a matter of opinion and perspective. It doesn't belong in a news article describing a budget plan.
Third, you know that Dornan is parroting the public-employee activists because he cites them at the bottom of the article:
Employee representatives including Jim Richardson of the Nevada Faculty Alliance and Marty Bibb representing the Retired Public Employees of Nevada praised lawmakers for not endorsing what the both referred to as the most draconian cuts proposed by the governor. (Emphasis added)Dornan's articles are usually quite enjoyable and informative. Let's hope this one was just an exception, not the standard operating procedure.
Although if it is SOP, we've got some good talking points on Nevada's budget and education funding. Call us.
