THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 5, 1995 TAG: 9511040013
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J4 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Medium: 53 lines
Governor Allen has announced several paid holidays for state employees - just before election. While I am sure manipulation of the work schedule to gain votes will or has been denied, that is exactly what it is.
Manipulation of state employees and other taxpayers occurs all too often when a governor announces a plan for this or that.
High-priced consultants have been doing a lot of work for the state well before announced cutbacks of 16,000 state employees and the move to privatization. Private does not always mean a better product or a good return on investment of taxpayer dollars. Perhaps privatization needs only to be ``politically correct.''
Don't blame consultants for getting available work, nor state employees for taking available time. However, there seems to be a large discrepancy in value received. With all the paid days off for state workers, the state will have to pay more consultant fees or delay projects to make up for lost time.
State employees deserve better political leadership in their work environment and compensation. Days off by political decree don't improve the needs by one bit, byte or iota.
And state employees are also state taxpayers and deserve a better return on their investment.
H. J. CRAWFORD
Suffolk, Nov. 1, 1995
I am grateful to Gov. George Allen for additional days off for the holidays that he added with my Nov. 1 pay check - just days away from Election Day.
There is one small problem, however. On Sunday morning, Oct. 29, while at work, an inmate was so severely beaten that correction officers had a difficult time identifying him before he was flown to a nearby hospital by Nightinggale. This inmate is now on life support because of what I feel is a severe shortage of correctional officers.
I was asked to protect and to serve all people of Virginia, but because of this incident I will not be able to participate in the governor's extra-days-off offer. Our facility is now on lockdown, working 12-hour shifts with a 29-officer shortage, and it doesn't seem to be getting better.
I hope one day that the governor and the Virginia General Assembly will find a way to end the dangerously high turnover rate so that I and my 6,000 comrades will be able to take him up on his extra-days-off offer. I'm grateful to Governor Allen for being ever so kind and thoughtful!
STEVEN K. BAINES
Corapeake, N.C., Nov. 2, 1995 by CNB