To the editor:

The Sept. 4 headline article on the mayors pay as compared with the rest of the state has troubled me. I see a style of reporting that appears deliberately incomplete and sensationalized. Some things I have long understood about the press. So long as newspapers are about selling papers you may not see all of the truth. If you think this is not the case with the “free” publication of the Record on the Internet, remember they do receive money from the people and businesses who advertise on those pages. Your visits to those Web pages are counted as are the number of comments attached to those articles and then used to value the “real estate” rented to advertisers on those Web pages. It is a business and it is about the money.

Nothing sells papers like negative press. With negative reporting, such as this article, a paper may report only what is necessary to strike an emotional chord and may hold other pertinent information aside to keep the pot boiling. They may minimize elements that might temper the emotional content. They will likely not represent as thoroughly those aspects as they do the more negative “investigative” reporting. If you are getting worked up, it may be a sign you should get some more facts, maybe more details. My life experience has taught me the most angry are often the least informed and the least likely to seek more information once their opinion is formed.

Clearly the on going story at the City of Langley is layered and complicated but it is a separate story from the one headlined in the Sept. 4 article. Since it is meant to bring us back to the ongoing mayor/city council/city treasurer coverage it is all about driving emotions. Here however is the incomplete portion of the article and that might temper its emotional impact: Every township is different.

It was thinly alluded to in one paragraph that was pushed off of the front page by the oversized graphic to the first paragraph of the page A16 continuation. Each town has a different business environment, different services and different institutions. How the mayor operates within the structure of the cities government is different as well. This is probably too much information to tackle in one article vested in continuing to kicking the hornets nest but there are many ways to show the differences that the Record chose not to do. In stead they chose a thin story and a splashy hollow graphic to ride on the emotions of the previous story. The issue of mayors pay compared with other mayors should have been layered with more information that would help illuminate the differences in a meaningful way and may have even proven their point with more of an indictment.

Something that I would have liked to have seen is another layer in the front page graphic that shows each mayors pay in relation to each towns overall payroll. Perhaps compare each mayors pay to the pay rate of each employee within their respective municipality. I believe Paul Samuelson is number 11 from the top of a list of 18. That is 10 people who are payed more than the mayor within the city of Langley. I am sure the Record has this information but it is not sharing it with you at this time.

Another item that would have been of interest would have been a figure for each towns over all civic revenue that is managed by that city. A list of service attached to those municipalities. Things like sewer systems, city water, schools, hospitals, fire stations, EMT centers, fairgrounds. I am certain the Record could obtain this information as well if it hasn’t already. That might have narrowed a field of comparable townships to a few. It may not be as exciting as reporting the mayor is second in a field of 50 but it would be more in context and defined. By the way, the graphic on the front page was deliberately misleading. If the icons were scaled equally, as they are up to $30K mark, the $60K mark would actually be just below the $50K mark. Get a ruler and see for yourself. The Record might have been able to fit the first few paragraphs from page 16 on the cover.

Another figure to compare would be the population the townships serve. The city of Langley serves a larger community than just its voting population of over 1,000 just like many townships. Many of the towns must work with other governmental bodies. Organizations like military bases, the Coast Guard, county and state police, correctional facilities, port commissions, public housing programs, perhaps they may even be a county seat. Not all of these organizations are attached to Langley but I am trying to point out each town is very different. The headline argument of this article is deliberately over simplified for its one purpose which is to direct our emotional ire back to the story the Record is now most vested in; the mayor/ city council/city treasurer story.

Almost all of this information could have been collected with the same phone calls made in regard to mayors pay. Perhaps it may have been collected but you probably won’t see it. It is hard to stay angry with so much important and informative information to process. All that information makes for a large investigative article that would lack a lot of emotional fire and that does not sell papers or advertising.

David Gignac

Langley