As the Millcreek teachers and school district officials tangled in recent weeks before finally coming together on a new labor contract, the squabbling played out quite publicly on the editorial pages of the Erie Times-News.

In fact, one letter to the editor from a teacher stands out in memory. Essentially, the teacher said the district could take its measly offer of a 3 percent raise and stick it.

That comment triggered a torrent of scathing letters that blasted the teacher. Practically every writer said he/she would love an offer of a 3 percent raise, and many said they had worked for several years without a raise. Others said they were unemployed, and a 3 percent raise sounded like a gift from heaven.

Looking back, the day that letter ran in the Times-News seemed to be the day the teachers began losing the public relations battle. They eventually agreed to a new contract and all appears to be well. But in today's newspaper, a similar comment by former state Rep. Linda Bebko Jones seems to have unleashed another flood of angry comments, letters and e-mails.

Bebko-Jones, who recently retired after 14 years of state service, will receive a monthly pension of about $2,581 and a lump-sum payment of about $65,000. A story in today's Times-News listed the pensions and lump-sum payments for lawmakers from this region and around the state.

Bebko Jones defended the amount, pointing to her years of service to her constituents. But what angered the readers who called or sent e-mails to me was her comment: "If you compared (my pension) with what somebody would receive in the private sector, it's probably pretty close."

We are living in an age of the incredibly shrinking pension, and I doubt that many private-sector positions -- at least in this region -- would offer such a pension or lump-sum payout to workers with 14 years of experience on the job. The Robert Nardellis of the world -- he recently negotiated a buyout of his contract as CEO of Home Depot that amounted to ten of millions -- are few and far between.

From my messages and mail, it sounds as if the average working stiff equates himself with Bebko-Jones. And no way are they in line to receive the kind of retirement she got. At least that's what they're telling me, in very emphatic language.

There seems to be a disconnect between how the employees -- in this case, the Millcreek school teacher and Bebko Jones -- and how the readers think. And the readers are offended at what they consider to be the public employees' inflated view of their worth.

My grandfather used to say: "Never tell anybody how much money you make, because it always leads to sore feelings -- either yours or theirs." There's wisdom in those words, but it's a different story with public employees. Still, I think they'd fare better by choosing their words more judiciously.

At least that's what my mail tells me.

-- Kevin Cuneo

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