Addition by Addition

Here's a scoop: raises could be on the horizon for employees of the Bay Area News Group-East Bay (rolls right off the tongue, doesn't it?).At least that's what Pete Wevurski said in an e-mail sent Friday to BANG-EB workers.Management is supposed to be rolling out a new performance review process, which is supposed to lead to raises.That move is supposed to be a step in leveling out the pay levels between Contra Costa Times employees and former Alameda News Group workers. But don't hold your breath: "...former ANG employees will recognize an accelerated program intended to close the pay gap over the next two to three years," wrote Pete Wevurski in the e-mail.Now, I hate to quibble, but one of the elemental rules of journalism is that over means above, not more than.Secondly, the wording and promises Wevurski made about the pay and reviews remind me of a promise Kevin Keane made when Dean Singleton absorbed the Contra Costa Times and San Jose Mercury News.More advertising, more newshole, more profits and more reporters, Keane promised. "This is going to be addition by addition, not addition by subtraction," to use his phrase.Right.