David S. Sandoval: Here we go again, bashing public employees

Re “Public pay: City Hall salaries, benefits dwarf those in private sector” (Page 1A, Dec. 9): I am compelled to write because it is time for the annual “those darn city/county” employee salary surveys, and why do they make more than the average worker here in Modesto and Stanislaus County.

I especially like that the company providing the data is called “Transparent California” but is headquartered and based in Nevada. Any high school student can tell you that it is easy to lie with statistics. In fact there is a good book by that exact title.

The data seems to be skewed and incomplete if all you are comparing is salaries. This is like comparing apples to oranges (both fruits but very different). In Modesto, 30 percent of the population has less than a high school degree and only 18 percent have a bachelor’s degree. Many of the people listed with “high” salaries are probably those that have advanced degrees required for their level of expertise.

Please Modesto Bee, spare us the diatribes against competent city and county employees. They deserve your support, not disdain.

This story was originally published December 16, 2015 at 12:07 PM with the headline "David S. Sandoval: Here we go again, bashing public employees."