Jul 26, 2006 3 min read

It’s time for Fayette Countians to challenge their political and economic leaders in a robust debate on poverty, including a painful but necessary assessment of why current strategies have failed so miserably over so long a period. No single issue is more critical to the county’s future. Year after year – and it seems election after election – we’ve been fed a steady diet of what can now arguably be called propaganda. We’re told how the clout and savvy of the people in charge are benefiting the county, and how things are on the upswing. We’re asked to rally around the proverbial maypole of efforts, watching as “strategic plans” are proclaimed successful and in need of updating to continue their profound effectiveness. Our politicians pepper us with novelty checks and grant announcements, proudly posing with shovels during groundbreaking ceremonies designed to visualize progress.

If we’re not cheerily on board, waving the flag and beating the drum in full support of these efforts, we’re called naysayers and negativists, and those in charge point a crooked and vitriolic finger at us as part of the problem.

It the wake of the recent debate sparked by Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare Secretary Estelle Richman, who proclaimed Fayette the fifth-poorest county in the nation before retracting that statement, state Rep. Peter J. Daley II came up with some statistics that should have everyone up in arms.

In fact, the census data emanating from Daley should have everyone seriously questioning the effectiveness of those in charge at all levels.

For the long-term benefit of us all, those officials should be forced to assess and honestly defend this track record: As of 2003, according to Daley, Fayette is the second-poorest county in Pennsylvania – and the poorest rural county in the state. Median household income is $29,415, which is just 68.4 percent of the state average of $42,952. Fayette is also the second-worst county among the Commonwealth’s 67 counties in number of children under age 17 living in poverty. According to Daley, that means 25 percent of our youth live in poverty.

By any definition, is this progress? (And if so, how?) It certainly doesn’t mesh with what we’ve been told month after month, year after year, and decade after decade. We’re still in next-to-last place in a 67-team division.

If Fayette were a baseball team, do you think the manager would still have his job, or that the player roster would remain static?

In his own response to the Richman controversy, Daley asks, “Why are we arguing over whether we are the poorest of the poor, or just really poor?” The truth is, neither standing is acceptable.

If our political and economic officials were doing the job and living up to their own self-billing, we wouldn’t remain the “poorest of the poor,” or “just really poor” after all this time.

Painful as it may be for some to accept, that’s a fact.

In his written retort on these very pages, Daley challenges this newspaper to “start fighting for the good of the county.”

As people who live and work here, and who have as much vested interest in seeing things improve as anyone else, we believe that we’ve always done and will continue to do that.

So here’s our clarion call: It’s time for you, the people of Fayette County, to take your eyes away from the pocket watch being waved to and fro in front of your face, as a soothing voice repeats, “All is well and things are getting better,” and to start demanding better performance.