EDITORIAL: Vendetta politics

New Castle News

May 09, 2008 10:22 am

— Wayne Township Supervisor Dennis Hall sees a “personal vendetta” in complaints being aired in the community.
Those complaints are being directed at the supervisors and some of their actions. So naturally enough, Hall isn’t happy about them.
Whether they constitute a “vendetta” depends, we suppose, on one’s perspective. Where Hall sees mistreatment, others see citizens showing concern for what their local government is doing.
The problems in Wayne Township are actually variations on a theme. We’ve seen them elsewhere in Lawrence County, and they undoubtedly crop up in similar fashion in other communities in the commonwealth.
Personality clashes and turf battles come into play in local government. People wind up battling over what outsiders might define as relatively insignificant issues.
For instance, one of the disputes in Wayne involves the decision to make election days paid holidays for the staff. According to a state official, the supervisors are allowed to do this. We’re not surprised that residents might wonder why supervisors should have the power to pick and choose holidays.
That’s especially true when township supervisors also serve as township employees. It’s one of the strange twists of township government in Pennsylvania, where supervisors can essentially hire themselves and become their own bosses.
When supervisors make enemies within the township — something that’s almost inevitable — the accusations of abuse of power may start to fly. That’s what happened in Wayne, where charges and counter charges are now being tossed back and forth, with the supervisors objecting to certain fees charged by township auditors.
We have no evidence of significant wrongdoing in Wayne. But some of the complaints — such having the township pick up the tab for spouses’ dinners at supervisor gatherings — raise questions. In the past, similar issues in other townships prompted state ethics complaints that led to supervisors paying penalties.
So long as supervisors seek office with the idea of hiring themselves as roadmasters or other township positions, they run the risk of creating conflicts for themselves that their critics will exploit. If they are comfortable with that situation, they will deal with it and move on. If they are not, they need to rethink their priorities.