PAGE 6 | October 19, 2018 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
Who’s on our side?
By Tom Chamberlain Oregon AFL-CIO President
Governor Kate Brown:
Guiding Oregon Forward
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Oregon’s economy is one of the fastest growing in the country.
Our 3.9 percent unemployment rate is the lowest in Oregon his-
tory, and real wage growth is the highest since the 1980s. We
have one of the highest minimum wages in the country. Ninety-
four percent of Oregonians have access to health care. Construc-
tion is booming. In 2017 we passed the largest transportation in-
vestment package and K through 12 education budget in history.
We are building more affordable and low-income housing to get
families off the streets.
Oregon is on the move. We are a state leading the nation on
many fronts. It seems to me that our elected leaders are playing
a winning game and moving forward to address problems caused
by a ballooning population (we are the sixth fastest growing
state) coupled with an imbalanced tax system which favors cor-
porate Oregon. Our unfair tax system is placing more and more
responsibility to fund essential programs like health care and ed-
ucation on the backs of working people while not requiring giant
corporations to pay their fair share. As my favorite coach would
always say: “Never change a winning game, but always change
a losing one.”
Governor Kate Brown has guided our state forward for over
three years. She’s a big reason why Oregon is on the move, and
we need her leadership for the next four years. Her opponent has
torn a page out of Karl Rove’s playbook: Attack your opponent’s
strengths, and attempt to turn them into a negative. For example,
under Governor Brown’s leadership, high school graduation rates
jumped by almost 4 percent since 2015, with a goal of reaching
90 percent by 2024. While Governor Brown is making progress
on her aggressive agenda improving Oregon’s schools, her op-
ponent has pledged no new taxes and would increase funding
for education on the backs of teachers, education staff and all
public employees by reducing wages and cutting pension bene-
fits by up to 39 percent. He conveniently attacks our governor
using cherry-picked statistics, without offering any truly viable
solutions.
It is appalling to me when a millionaire doctor proposes cut-
ting wages and benefits to balance the budget — and ignores the
fact that Oregon has the lowest corporate tax rates in the United
States - a solution in plain sight. Our governor has made signifi-
cant investments to build thousands of housing units — to the
tune of over $300 million. That’s coupled with a holistic ap-
proach to homelessness, drug treatment, job training and health
care. Her opponent is proposing to rob $50 million from low in-
come Oregonians on Medicaid as a way to fund a renter assis-
tance program.
Elections are about setting a vision and direction for our nation
and our state. We have two candidates for governor with very
different visions for the direction of Oregon. Governor Brown’s
vision is about fairness. It is about opportunity. It is about an Ore-
gon where every citizen has access to affordable healthcare, qual-
ity education, a good job, and a roof over their heads. It is about
a transportation system that meets the demands of the 21st cen-
tury and allows folks to get to work and goods to get to market.
Her vision is built on the understanding that to move forward re-
quires bringing our tax system into balance and strategic invest-
ments for education and key public services. Her opponent has
a very different vision for our state. His vision is an Oregon
where the wealthy and powerful are protected at the cost of
everybody else, where small gains for students and the homeless
are paid for by robbing workers and the poor.
That’s why Governor Kate Brown has my vote. I hope she
has yours.
The Oregon AFL-CIO is a 138,000-member-strong federation of labor unions.