THE CHIEF-LEADER welcomes letters from its readers for publication.
Correspondents must include their names, addresses and
phone numbers. Letters should be submitted with the understanding
that all correspondence is subject to the editorial judgment of this
newspaper. Letters can be e-mailed to: RSTEIER@RCN.COM or
mailed to: Richard Steier, Editor, 277 Broadway, Suite 1506, NY, NY
10007.

A HARSH ASSESSMENT

A Harsh Assessment

To the Editor:

I am writing in response to the article by Reuven Blau, "Moog is Re-Elected At Assessors Local," that appeared in the May 12 issue of The Chief-Leader. I was one of the people running in opposition to Mr. Moog's ticket in the election and I wish to question the journalistic standards that Mr. Blau applied in writing this story.

First, the name of Mr. Moog's opponent was reported incorrectly. The candidate I ran with was Francine Schloss - not the "Francis Schloss" that Mr. Blau wrote of. Perhaps he heard the name "Fran" and simply assumed what her full name was without bothering to check the facts. If a reporter cannot get a person's name right, one wonders how much of the story he investigated properly and how much was done by simple assumption.

Unfortunately in this case, it was a lot. Our ticket ran not on the premise that certification of Assessors was bad, as Mr. Blau reported. Rather, we believe that people currently working in the assessment title who had passed the civil service Assessor exam should be grandfathered in. Mr. Blau did not report this correctly because he apparently never bothered to find out.

Another error he made was in stating that Assessors need to pass "an exam" to keep their jobs. The fact is that each assessor must take eight classes and pass eight exams - not one - to remain in the Assessor title. Mr. Blau also failed to mention that Mr. Moog and members of his executive board held assessing designations that make them exempt from the certification process - at the same time that they supported legislation that would put other assessors' jobs on the line.

I was a journalism student at New York University, where I was also an editor of the Washington Square News for two years. Had I practiced the level of journalistic diligence that Mr. Blau applied in this story, I would surely have been given failing grades. I would think that people who work in civil service deserve better than the way this story was reported.

DAVE RUDIN

Editor's reply: For a former journalism student, Mr. Rudin doesn't show much savvy about public relations. The time to get information out about his slate's campaign was prior to the election, not after it. Mr. Blau relied on the information he received from David Moog for the simple reason that neither Mr. Rudin, Ms. Schloss nor anyone else on their slate bothered to contact us either prior to or immediately after the voting.

Incumbent union presidents often have little desire to talk about re-election campaigns and make no effort to publicize them until after the votes are counted. Those persons running against incumbents should not hesitate to call us to make us aware of the election, particularly if they care enough about our coverage to gripe afterwards.