Another Hatchet Job by the “Charlotte Observer”
Recently, the Charlotte “Obfuscator” published what was clearly a politically-motivated article detailing the compensation of Howard Levine, CEO of the Family Dollar chain. What on earth was the point of the author, Ely Portillo, in doing so? I could not help but notice that Portillo’s screed came at a time when the latest Democratic party class warfare ploy was to again try to raise income taxes on “the rich!” What better way to help that in their minds than by stirring up some sort of class envy against a well-paid corporate executive?
Portillo included some obvious and unnecessary references to the lower incomes of Family Dollar’s customers, the high unemployment, and sour economy. Aside from the fact that, clearly, none of these are Mr. Levine’s responsibility or fault, the article made it obvious that the author was most like motivated by politics and economic envy and not some noble journalistic purpose.
Personally, I don’t care how much Howard Levine makes. If he made $10 million, that would be the business of the publicly-owned company! As CEO of this business founded by the Levine family with 6,800 stores from Maine to Arizona, Howard has to be earning every dollar he makes! Family Dollar is a success, earning $8 billion last year, because it delivers products the public wants at prices the same public that Portillo sheds crocodile tears over are happy to pay. While Family Dollar continues to expand because of the efforts of Levine and the other folks in the company (300 new stores this year), I cannot help but “observe” that the Charlotte paper’s circulation continues to shrink because it offers what less and less customers want!
It’s not even necessary to dwell on the blessings that the Levine Family has generously shared with this Charlotte community, the Levine Museum, the Levine’s Children’s Hospital, on and on. Howard’s parents, Leon and Sandra recently received the Echo Foundation’s annual “Award Against Indifference” for their work in benefitting humanity. One of our family’s reasons for patronizing Family Dollar is specifically because we want to support the generosity of the Levines. On the other hand, frankly, the Observer’s greatest “contributions” to the Charlotte community is their promotion of such wasteful financial white elephants as the “Whitewater Center” or the NASCAR “Hall of Fame,” where the taxpayers get stuck for the bill. (Of course, their publisher, Ann Caulkins, membership in the taxpayer-funded Charlotte Center City Partners has nothing to do with that!)
Mr. Portillo’s “dig” at Howard Levine included a reference to high unemployment backfired in my book. While the Charlotte Observer lays off its employees, thus contributing to that high unemployment, Family Dollar more than does its fair share, with each new store location adding 5 to 7 people to the rolls of the employed, adding up to over 50,000 people working for the chain. How about, instead, the Observer publishing a detailed article on what Ann Caulkins, its publisher, receives in compensation, particularly at a time when the paper is putting many of its own people on the unemployment rolls?
Mr. Portillo tried his hands at stonecasting at the Levine family; I think he picked the wrong target.
Mel Morganstein,
Charlotte, NC
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