Do Our Leaders Feel Our Pain?

Oregonians have seen what can happen when our leaders leave working people behind.  Over the past months, we have watched as our families, friends and neighbors lose their jobs, their retirement, their healthcare, and even their homes.  We see our children sliding further behind in school and now, as Wallstreet gets billions in government bailouts, working people in Oregon are taking a close look at those making our decisions in Washington.  What do we see in Senator Gordon Smith?

Unfortunately for Smith, it's a bad time to be a wealthy, out of touch Senator.  Notably when his record consists of repeatedly voting against raising the minimum wage [Vote 278, S. Amdt. 3540 to S. 1301, 9/22/98; Vote 357, S. Amdt. 2547 to S. 625, 11/9/99; Vote 26, S. 256, 3/7/05]

AND

supporting legislation that would cripple the union's ability to represent working families on political and legislative issues (on the ballot again this year, Measure 64).  The rules Smith supported would have only applied to unions and not corporations, despite corporations outspending labor 11-1  [Vote 17, S. 1663, 2/26/98].

Perhaps The San Francisco Chronicle put it best this morning when it pointed out that, "No Republican says aristocrat like Sen. Gordon Smith of Oregon" and that "If Kerry looked like a professor at La Sorbonne, then Smith resembles a playboy at the Monte Carlo Casino".  Check out the whole editorial here.