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He Doth Protest Too Much

To the Editor:

Attorney Arthur Schwartz (Oct. 10 letter) remarks that his treatment in this newspaper has been "generally positive coverage." His comment grossly understates the reality of his relationship with The Chief. In point of fact, Arthur has benefited from dozens upon dozens of stories and what must amount to thousands of column inches of The Chief's newsprint devoted to his arbitration cases and legal actions on behalf of union members over many years. Perhaps the archivist at The Chief could give us the count of how many times his picture has appeared in its pages over the past 10 years.

Clearly, his many accomplishments outweigh his failings by far. But when he quibbles and criticizes this newspaper for not supporting his view of the world 100 percent of the time, he evinces a prickly pear, thin skin that does not become him.

We can overlook his continuous self-promotion, and the fact that publicity from the pages of The Chief has garnered him and his partners and associates new clients and considerable revenue for services rendered over the years, but not a sense of entitlement, nor the notion that news writing must always serve his client's interests, to the exclusion of everything else.

Schwartz correctly claims credit for contributing to the ouster of Gus Bevona at SEIU Local 32BJ in what was an outstanding accomplishment. Yet, he won't mention that he did so at the cost of a golden parachute of millions of dollars that proved essential to Bevona's departure.

And he has not owned up to his failed attempt, years later, to use the golden parachute strategy to oust the venerable leader of one of New York City's largest municipal unions. This leader told Schwartz and his allies to take a hike. So his attempt to use this Bevona ploy a second time went up in smoke.

Schwartz does have a damn good overall batting average, but he needs to beware of the failing of hubris, and to learn to be more charitable towards his benefactors in the fourth estate. If Arthur insists on putting his overall record out there, then he must be ready for the critical review that may follow.

RUSSELL SMITH