Apr 17, 2006 3 min read

I was surprised to learn that our county commissioners have control over who gets money from some state grants. That explains some things the public ought to know. Two years ago, state Rep. Larry Roberts got $5,000 from one county commissioner and full campaign support from another. He also managed to get a viable challenger removed from the primary election over a small technicality. Then, in the general election, the challenger did not give up and ran as an independent.

When that threat happened, Gary Gearing was introduced into the race also as an independent. At the time, Gearing was given $16,000 from a commissioner for the obvious reason – to split enough votes to allow Roberts to win. Gearing also came up with enough money to wage an expensive campaign managed by a top professional firm.

The result was Roberts got back in for one more term, then resigned to pave the way for one of those county commissioners to replace him in the present election.

Now for the real facts. Gearing’s white elephant, the Fayette Bank Building, was designated as a tax-free property. Even his tenants get tax breaks, which ensures the building will be occupied with a cash flow of rent money. On top of that, during the projected sprucing up in downtown Uniontown, his building got a costly exterior cleaning and decorative up-grades. No other property owners ever rated that kind of treatment. Why?

Now Gearing is running again, this time as a Democrat, in this primary election with enough money to run another first-class campaign. It should be clear to all that it is intended to draw the votes that would go against Commissioner Vincent A. Vicites and steer them away from the dedicated challenger. To sweeten Gearing’s pot, I see where this time he was on the list for a possible $1 million state grant for his building.

Although the commissioners have control over this grant money, they and Gearing claim they don’t know who made the decision to put him on the list for such a large chunk of available state grant money, or why it was done. This is an insult to the intelligence of our voters. They expect the public to believe these exorbitant windfalls that keep enriching Gearing during election times is just coincidental.

Even the most na?ve voter can smell this con job and resent it by voting to dispose of it.

Bryan K. Rossini

Uniontown