OVERREACTION TO UNITED WAY WOULD BE HARMFUL

Last week's revelations regarding the pay, benefits and travel habits of the president of the United Way of America came as a surprise to a lot of people, just as it did to local United Way officials around the country, many of whom pressed for his resignation. It didn't take much pressure to get the president, William Aramony, to step down; he did so voluntarily on Thursday, apologizing for what he called his "lack of sensitivity."

Some may be tempted to overreact to the matter, perhaps even to go as far as deciding against future giving to United Way. That would be a tragic overreaction. The agency, after all, has been in operation for more than 80 years, and has proven its worth in providing monetary support to a growing number of local agencies, which now total 25. Without that support, most of those agencies would not exist today.

Aramony, who headed up the national organization for 22 years, resigned after news stories reported that he was paid $463,000 annually in salary, received generous benefits and traveled extensively in high style. When he resigned Aramony said that of the more than 10,000 trips he had made on United Way business, some were first class aboard airlines, and two or three were aboard the supersonic Concorde. The reports also said that Aramony used chauffeur services in New York and that a United Way spinoff corporation purchased a $430,000 New York condominium primarily for Aramony's use.

For unknown reasons, none of that apparently had been public knowledge or was even known by most local United Way officials around the country until last week. That in itself is disturbing, particularly in view of the national organization operating on a $29 million annual budget derived from about 1 percent of donations to local United Way agencies, including the Area Wide United Way here, which paid $4,000 to the national agency in 1991.

An outside investigative firm hired in December found no wrongdoing on the part of Aramony, and a followup investigation is expected to be completed in early April. Hopefully, that investigation will put the matter to rest so that the United Way can go about its business of charity in the unblemished fashion it always has.

If nothing else, the matter hopefully brought to the attention of United Way officials that some changes may be needed at the national level. If so, this is the opportune time to make them.

Many United Way officials expressed fear that the Aramony matter would hurt local giving. We hope that is not the case, and caution against overreaction to such a worthwhile cause. The United Way still needs all of our support.