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Schools could use Clark's undeserved pay

ISSUE | PHILADELPHIA PAYROLL Clark's pay misused Philadelphia schools go begging to taxpayers for funds to operate while Anthony Clark, chairman of the City Commissioners, is paid $138,612 a year for a low-show job. When he retires, he'll collect more than $10,000 a month in benefits plus a lump-sum payout of about $500,000 from the Deferred Retirement Option Plan.

ISSUE | PHILADELPHIA PAYROLL

Clark's pay misused

Philadelphia schools go begging to taxpayers for funds to operate while Anthony Clark, chairman of the City Commissioners, is paid $138,612 a year for a low-show job. When he retires, he'll collect more than $10,000 a month in benefits plus a lump-sum payout of about $500,000 from the Deferred Retirement Option Plan.

Can you imagine what else goes on in this city? No wonder the schools have no money.

|Arnold Einfalt, Voorhees

Blame it on Brady

U.S. Rep. Robert Brady, longtime chairman of the Democratic Party in Philadelphia, has asked Anthony Clark, chairman of the City Commissioners, to "just resign as chairman and show up" for work ("Brady: Clark a 'disgrace,' " Thursday). Brady also called Clark "an absolute disgrace" and "some piece of work."

Didn't Brady support Clark in the primary and general elections? Look in the mirror, Mr. Brady - you are the reason this incompetent is in office.

|Sidney Glauser, Bensalem

Backers at fault

It is very easy to explain how an inept, incompetent, and corrupt person has a powerful position within the political landscape of the Democratic Party: It reflects the values of those who endorse and those who vote for these candidates.

|Brad Tiffany, Phoenixville

More deserving

Philadelphia should take a good chunk of the money it's wasting on Anthony Clark, chairman of the City Commissioners ("In charge, rarely seen," Sunday), and give it to Joyce Smith and the Viola Street Residents Association ("Working for a better city, block by block," Sunday).

|N.M. Clifford, West Chester

Race deserved better coverage

The editorial on the lamentable record of Anthony Clark urged Mayor Kenney to encourage the city's Democratic machine "to field qualified candidates" for the City Commissioners ("Another vote for apathy," Jan. 14). But last year, at least one qualified candidate ran in the Democratic primary: Carol Jenkins, who combined the practical experience of a ward leader with the erudition of a doctorate in political science from Temple University.

The fact that neither she nor any other candidate prevailed against Clark is partly due to The Inquirer's refusal to seriously cover or offer an endorsement in the City Commissioners' race, an oversight that was an abrogation of the paper's responsibility to encourage an informed electorate.

It's all very well for the paper to wring its hands about Anthony Clark now; it's a shame it didn't happen when it might have made a difference.

|Barbara Nolan, West Philadelphia

Pension craziness

I almost couldn't believe Desiree Peterkin-Bell's pension situation ("Nutter staffer's pension scuttled," Saturday). After working nearly five years for the city, she would have received a $17,610 annual pension after she turned 60. That's after being paid $150,000 a year by the city (read: taxpayers).

I worked for Mayor Frank Rizzo from 1976 to early 1978 and had three great titles: deputy city representative, chief information officer, and press secretary, for which I was paid the glorious sum of $33,000 a year.

My hat's off to Mayor Kenney for stopping this nonsense. Philadelphia has an unfunded pension liability of about

$5.8 billion. Kenney made the right decision in removing Peterkin-Bell from the payroll before she qualified for a pension. Let's hope it's one of his first steps in reining in unnecessary expenditures to get the city back on the right track.

|Ken Mugler, Doylestown, kenpatmuggins@gmail.com

ISSUE | TEMPLE

Football is not No. 1

Temple President Neil Theobald and some board members seem not to understand the identity of the university they serve ("No vote planned for funding Temple stadium architect," Philly.com, Wednesday). Many students, including my son, chose Temple because it is an urban school with endless possibilities for enrichment beyond the classroom. Temple students are not Iowa students. A college football game is never going to be the leading weekend event in Philadelphia.

Even in this exceptionally successful season for Temple football, the only sellout games were against Penn State and Notre Dame - teams with enormous local fan bases. For other games, the stands in Lincoln Financial Field were less than half-full.

Temple leaders are justifiably proud of the university's rise in prominence, but they should recognize that it has less to do with the football program than with investments in facilities and programs that actually benefit students, and with its increasing integration into a great city.

|Chris Reynolds, Rose Valley, reynoldsrvpa@gmail.com

ISSUE | UNION DUES

Reaping benefits

If and when the Supreme Court strikes down the right of unions to collect money from nonmembers to support contract bargaining in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association ("Court is poised to hit unions," Jan. 13), will those nonmembers offer to pay fees? I think not.

As a former teacher and labor negotiator, I am not aware of any of the nonmember teachers I helped represent at the bargaining table voluntarily paying. But they shared in all of the bargaining benefits and were happy to do so.

|Richard Allebach, Limerick, rsallebach@verizon.net