Carl Taylor – 6/8/06

This page was last updated on June 8, 2006.

Veon there when it counted; Carl Taylor; Beaver County Times; June 8, 2006.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“I take exception to the letter recently submitted by Sonja Ott (‘What’s Veon done?’). She obviously has no understanding of why Darlington Brick closed and why men lost their jobs. She criticized state Rep. Mike Veon and asked where he was when the jobs at there were cut and lost.”

[RWC] Ms. Ott’s letter is not on the Times website so I don’t know if Mr. Taylor accurately describes the content.

“Veon was standing front and center with us. Does that surprise her? I served as president of Local D-508 of the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers and can tell her that Veon made every effort to respond to the needs of my members and colleagues and the company.

“Despite his best efforts to bring the resources of the state to find a way to save the plant, the company demonstrated little or no interest in dialogue to save the jobs of our members by keeping the plant open.

“His actions spoke louder than words. He assisted us during our period of lay-off by providing help with our unemployment compensation, health benefits and prescription drugs, utility bills, job training, and other help. Without fanfare, he made sure our children had Christmas gifts at the holidays and access to food supplies and certificates for our families.”

[RWC] This paragraph is a rehash of Mr. Taylor’s previous letter.

“What is the motivation for someone to write a letter and to make allegations without the facts? I want to set the record straight loudly and clearly. Veon is the best friend labor and the working people of this area could ever ask for.

“Darlington Brick did not close because of anything Veon failed to do. No, the real story is that Darlington Brick and its management closed in spite of what Veon did and offered to do to keep the plant working and men working.

“No intentional letter to misguide the public will change that fact. This is the real story.”

[RWC] This position is similar to that of a previous letter from Mr. Dave Krupa. In essence, Mr. Veon deserves credit for successes, but someone else gets the blame for failures.