NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS | November 6, 2015 | PAGE 5
ONE OF THESE THREE WILL LIKELY BE OREGON’S NEXT SECRETARY OF STATE. Brad Avakian, Richard Devlin,
and Val Hoyle await the call to take the stage for a debate over who should have labor’s endorsement.
Debate, but no endorsement
SEASIDE — Democrats Brad
Avakian, Richard Devlin, and
Val Hoyle took the stage for an
hour of good-natured debate
Oct. 24 at the Oregon AFL-CIO
convention. They’re running for
Oregon Secretary of State
(SOS), the office responsible for
elections and state audits.
Devlin, a state senator from
Tualatin, presented himself as a
dedicated public servant who
gets the details right, and em-
phasized the SOS’ role as
“auditor in chief,” making sure
state government works.
Hoyle, a Eugene state rep and
former House majority leader,
told the story of her firefighter
dad, a union leader, who stood
with locked-out factory workers
even when mounted police
made the picket line too risky
for his daughter.
Avakian touted his record as
Oregon labor commissioner,
saying his entire career has been
dedicated to working families.
SOS sits on the state land use
board, and candidates were
asked about the proposed Jordan
Cove LNG project in Coos Bay.
Devlin and Avakian said they
wouldn’t stand in the way; Hoyle
said she absolutely supports it.
The primary is still six
months away, and most large af-
filiates haven’t yet interviewed
the candidates — all three of
whom have had solid ties to la-
bor over the years. In the end,
delegates took no action, and in-
stead referred the question of
endorsement to the first AFL-
CIO E-Board meeting of 2016.
Senator Jeff Merkley won’t be
voting for the Trans-Pacific deal
SEASIDE—Before U.S.
Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.)
even got to the stage at the
Oregon AFL-CIO conven-
tion, delegates gave him a
standing ovation. Merkley is
one of labor’s top allies in op-
posing further NAFTA-style
trade deals like the Trans-Pa-
cific Partnership (TPP),
which faces a ratification vote
in Congress.
At the convention, he ex-
plained why he opposes it:
American workers used to
benefit from a “virtuous cy-
cle” in which rising wages fu-
eled greater consumer buying
power, which added jobs and
led to rising wages.
“In the mid-’70s, that fell
apart,” Merkley said, “and it
started with an explosion in
imports from overseas.”
Since then, Merkley said,
U.S. trade deficits rose after
virtually every trade agree-
ment. The agreements make
it easier for U.S. companies
to invest overseas, but do
nothing to improve labor
standards in those countries.
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