Chris Dudley is a political dancer

J. Graber

You put your right foot in (your mouth), you take right foot out, you put your right foot in (your mouth) and you shake it all about. You do the hokey pokey and you turn yourself around, that’s what it’s all about …

Chris Dudley seems to have grown accustomed to political dancing.

First, he says he wants to slash the minimum wage. Apparently he feels those who serve him his meals and such are rewarded too extravagantly for the honor.

"It doesn’t make sense that our waitresses are getting tips plus the highest minimum wage in the country … that’s one area I would like to tackle first is to at least get a training wage going … " he said during a question and answer session last month.

But here’s the part where Duds changes his tune and turns himself about:

When the fit hit the shan over his comment, Duds did an about face and told The Oregonian in a Sept. 28th piece that the voter approved minimum wage is “a settled issue.”

So which is it? Does he want to change the minimum wage or not? It’s hard to tell. Even in the same article Duds turned around and said, “Everything should be on the table.”

One gets the feeling his stance on the issue depends on who is asking the question and what they want to hear.

I mean, Duds’ comments at Intel were in response to a question by someone who clearly felt the minimum wage was too high.

“My question comes back to labor and labor costs,” the questioner said. “I’ve noticed that our state tends to have a very high minimum wage and I think that’s difficult for our businesses but I think it also attracts people from other states to come to our state and take our jobs away from our kids and those that might need them. I think it attracts the wrong end of the labor pool to our state …”

And presto, Duds is spewing out an answer that supports that line of thinking of the person in front of him.

It’s not the first time Duds has done a political 180 either.

As Carla Axtman has pointed out in the past, Duds has also flip flopped on a woman’s right to choose. According to an August New York times article, Duds “supports abortions and civil unions” but then he turned around and told Oregon Right to Life he supports parental notification (which Oregon voters rejected) and a ban on late term-abortions.

Now, regardless of how stand on any of these issues, Duds’ political two-step has to be disturbing. It seems he is ready to strap on his dancing shoes for anyone calling a tune. With just a few days until ballots go out, it will be interesting what political pirouettes he will try next.

By J. Graber Oct. 14, 2010