Say No To Cyril by Mischa Gelman (published on 11/1/99) Cyril Wecht has forced my hand. Because of him, I'm going to have to vote for a Republican for a major office for the first time ever. Thankfully, Jim Roddey makes this choice easier. Wecht's flaws are many. He considers it a great honor to appear on television with Geraldo Rivera, for one, and has labeled Mr. Roddey jealous for criticized this attention-seeking behavior. I guess all the strippers, Klan members, transvesties and other Geraldo guests are equally worthy of praise and envy, in the mind of Dr. Wecht. What company he seeks to place himself in. Dr. Wecht has been very vocal this campaign in condemning 'mud-slinging'. Sadly, his idea of mud-slinging consits of Mr. Roddey pointing out his high absence rate as County Commissioner. Dr. Wecht defends his record by claiming an attendance rate of over 91% - not that great a record anyways (how would your boss reacts if you missed one day out of every eleven you were scheduled to be there?), and one not supported by the research done by his own campaign, which shows a record of 89.9%. For criticizing Dr. Wecht, Roddey has been insulted for using "Joseph Goebbels type of propoganda," showing that Wecht can sling mud with the best of them. Likening someone to a Nazi for exposing the truth shows as much spin, deceit and propoganda as anything I've seen in politics for some time. It is nothing new for the coroner, though, who has previously lambasted respected local politicians like Frank Lucchino and the late John Heinz. Do we need such a hateful man in office? Do we need a man responsible for injustice in office? Because Dr. Wecht sought out fame for himself, he caused a mistrial in the Gammage case. For those new to the city, this case involved the murder of a black man at the hands of white police officers. Because of Wecht, Gammage's killers went free. Speaking of killers going free, Wecht has recently won the support of O.J. Simpson lawyer Johnnie Cochrane, another man familiar with being responsible for injustice in major murder trials. Meanwhile, true defenders of blacks, the Pittsburgh Courier newspaper, join other local papers like the Post-Gazette in endorsing Mr. Roddey for County Executive. Do we need a man responsible for high taxes in office? While our region was dying economically in the early 80s, Cyril raised taxes as County Comissioner, and still defends those increases. Now our taxes are the fourth highest in the nation. While both now support tax cuts, Mr. Roddey also wants to reduce spending. He has identified millions in governmental waste that can be eliminated to give reason for the tax cut - after all, when one cuts income, one must also cut spending. How desperate to get electedis Wecht? Desperate enough to have his equally arrogant and power-hungry son write letters on his behalf? Yep. Desperate enough to keep on telling lies about his attendance record and a supposed desire on the part of Mr. Roddey to privatize the Kane Hospitals (when Mr. Roddey has expressed a want to strengthen them)? Yep. Desperate enough to besmirch Mr. Roddey's business record? Yep. Even after it is found that the first supposed job cuts by Mr. Roddey were done before his involvement in the company? Even after it is found the other job cuts did not benefit Mr. Roddey in any way but rather were widely recognized as necessary by the radio station? Even though Dr. Wecht himself is responsible for similarly firing workers right before Christmas? Yes, yes, yes. Such deceit and hypocricy is hardly what we should want from our very first county executive. While Dr. Wecht's candidacy makes it hard to vote for the Democratic side, Mr. Roddey makes it easy to vote for the Republicans. He supports the Living Wage, albeit with reservations. He has a proven track record of nonpartisan activity and success in both business and government endeavors, as head of the Port Authority, Alcosan and other entities. He knows how to run things without his ego getting in the way of the process. He hasn't foiled major murder trials. He doesn't use his kids as political pawns, nor teach them that politics is a family business. He has a proven record of supporting minority employment, a major concern locally. While he has stood up for corporate welfare in the form of stadium taxes, this sole flaw does not negate all his positive qualities, nor does it come close to measuring up to all of Dr. Wecht's many bad points. We have a chance to right wrongs this election. For the past term, we suffered under a County Council known for bickering and disorganization. The discontent for Republicans Larry Dunn and Bob Cramner and Democrat Mike Dawida became more and more evident, leading to the public rejection of all three as viable candidates for county executive. We have eliminated a seemingly flawed system and 3 bad choices. We just have one more bad choice left, as well as a good one. Our choice should be simple when we enter the polling booth on Tuesday. Mischa Gelman lost relatives in the Holocaust and doesn't toss around terms like "Joseph Goebbels type of propoganda" for the sake of political opportunism.