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Sports team owners should be protested; Oren M. Spiegler; Beaver County Times; October 20, 2011.
Mr. Spiegler is such a prolific letter writer the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review gave him a little tribute back in 2003. Google “Oren M. Spiegler” and you’ll get more hits than you know what to do with. Unfortunately, prolific is not a synonym for competent. Mr. Spiegler claims to be a Republican. In my critique of “Breathing more freely,” I cited reasons why I was “beginning to believe Mr. Spiegler is simply another Republican impersonator,” but he sealed the deal with “Greatest foreign policy debacle.” Subsequent letters have been more confirmation, including this one. The group of local Republican impersonators also includes Messrs. William A. Alexander, Arthur Brown, William G. Horter, Edward J. Hum, Bill Ralston, and George Reese, all claiming to be disgruntled Republicans.
Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.
“I wonder if the Occupy Pittsburgh protesters will recognize and protest against some of the greatest corporate robber barons of our day, the Rooney, Lemieux and Nutting families, who have shamefully benefitted from the forced public ‘contribution’ of hundreds of millions of dollars to provide them with state-of-the-art sports facilities.”
[RWC] Surprise, another lefty with the wrong target.
“This public ‘investment’ is all the more foolhardy and outrageous in this era of the contraction of government spending, which is occurring out of necessity as public coffers become empty. We live in a state which has not yet found the means even to maintain the current substandard state of its roads and bridges, let alone to build any new ones.
“The good times continue to roll for the sports moguls of the community, though, who unlike other beneficiaries of public monies, were able to secure decades-long agreements to rob us from a bipartisan coalition of pickpockets who serve in local and state government.”
[RWC] Mr. Spiegler notes the role of “a bipartisan coalition of pickpockets who serve in local and state government,” but somehow misses they are the real culprits.
“Do we give a pass to certain types of corporate greed when the thief is associated with sports that we have elevated to great heights and which we crave? To do so would to be demonstrate rank hypocrisy.
“President Obama has stated his desire to go after ‘millionaires and billionaires.’ I know he will never challenge the Rooney family, which offered its support to his presidential bid. Dan Rooney receiving an unearned and unmerited ambassadorship in exchange.
“I also believe that as a rabid sports fan, Mr. Obama will not target other sports team owners. Should the grassroots demonstrators not shine a light on lavish and undeserved handouts for the sports world rich?”
[RWC] It’s easy for lefties to demonize “the sports world rich,” but who are the real culprits? The “Rooney, Lemieux and Nutting families” and their Philadelphia counterparts simply lobbied government and accepted what local and state government offered. There’s nothing criminal with people – whether poor or rich – lobbying government for handouts. The crime is when government approves the request, made even worse when doing so overrides the wishes of the voters. You may recall voters in Southwest PA defeated a 1997 proposed tax rate increase to help fund the building of new stadiums for the Pirates and Steelers. Government simply switched to “Plan B,” a means of providing funds that did not require voter approval.
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