Pancho, there is no "official Blue Oregon position" on minimum wage, or anything else.

From our About BlueOregon page: What else will BlueOregon do? Probably nothing. We're just a place for progressive Oregonians to gather 'round the water cooler. We expect our contributors to individually motivate our readers to action - but BlueOregon itself won't collectively endorse candidates, stage protests, or even go out for donuts.

Pancho,

Our higher minimum wage must be why Walmart is so desperate to build in Oregon. Our minimum wage workers can still afford to shop there.

By the way, I believe that job growth in Oregon exceeds the national average now. Our unemployment rate is high because people keep moving in because they want to live here. Maybe they can't afford to live in other states.

Unlike the righties, we dems actually do care what happens to the people of the country and believe that helping others across the country is the right thing to do. That's why we believe that the national minimum wage should be raised.

Chuck, I'll be glad to support an increase in the federal minimum wage if you'll support repealing the indexing of Oregon's minimum wage.

Of course, I realize keeping Oregon's unemployment rate among the highest in the country is really a full employment act . . . for Chuck Sheketoff.

But then I guess you now have another job: President of the Wal-Mart Fan Club.

Jack, quick quiz:

(1) how many years since 1973 has Oregon's unemployment rate been below the national average?

(2) Oregon raised its minimum wage in 1989, 1990, 1991, 1997, 1998 and 1999, yet from 1988 to 2000 Oregon's GSP growth outpaced the US average every year and from 1989 to 2000 Oregon had the second fastest growing economy in the nation based on real per capita growth in GSP, and the fourth fastest GSP growth among the states, leading the economists at the state employment office to pin Oregon's high unemployment during the Bush recession on what factors other than the minimumm wage?

Double-click the Wal-Mart logo. To paraphrase Mo Udall, if nominated I will not run, if elected I will not serve.

Jack, one more thing: the trade you are offering shows you don't respect the goals of or understand the position of organized labor, human services advocates, advocates for the poor, and the majority of Oregonians who repeatedly have supported increasing the minimum wage.

Chuck, you've just given a great example of why labor has lost so much of its political clout in recent years.

First, the attitude that you are either with labor 100% of the time or you are an enemy has made it very difficult to form alliances on individual issues of importance to labor.

Second, the idea that sosme people disagree with labor on an issue automatically means they "don't respect the goals of or understand the position" of labor or other well-intentioned groups again makes it very hard to promote a constructive dialogue or seek workable compromises.

For the record, I publicly supported increasing the federal minimum wage when I was labor commissioner, urged our congressional delegation to vote for the increase, called Senator Hatfield and personally thanked him when he did vote for it (along with Congressman Jim Bunn, who Democrats later ran ads wrongly accusing of having opposed it).

Where I have parted company with labor is over increases since 1996 that I believe have pushed too far, too fast (and now automatically indexes one of the highest minimum wages in the country) because I think it has substantially contributed to our high unemployment--particularly in rural Oregon where, unlike the country as a whole, unemployment is substantially above unemployment in urban Oregon.

I understand that reasonable people can take a different position on issues like this. I just think it helps to have the intellectual security to permit people to have differing opinions without demonizing them.