[Vision2020] Ri$ch & Crapo

Fri May 2 10:13:53 PDT 2014

Oh, I see . . . now that we're going with the ol' "I know someone who . . .
" stories, shall I start reciting all mine as well?  Maybe I'll share a just
a couple rather than the scores & scores I could share.

I know someone who works in Washington who spent years working hard to
advance up through a relatively small business.  Every time minimum wage was
increased, her employer appropriately adjusted the wage scale.  Her employer
has rewarded her competence, hard work, and longevity, and she's a huge
supporter of minimum wage increases because as a single mom with a bum for
an ex who has never paid child support, she knows how important living wages
are.

I know someone who works in Idaho.  He's spent years working for the same
employer, and he always gets excellent performance evaluations.  There
haven't been opportunities for formal advancement.  His employer has set a
reasonable pay scale that uses minimum wage as the bottom rung and then
factors in longevity.  It's a business with a fair amount of turnover, and
there aren't too many people who benefit from the wage & benefits package,
but those who stick around do.  This man has been able to support his family
because he's got an employer who hasn't forgotten about the importance of
"the human factor" in a successful and ethical business.

I know someone who worked in Idaho in a professional position for a national
corporation.  She was an excellent employee - hard-working & dependable &
very, very dedicated to her job.  There were no chances for advancement
without four years of additional education, but it's a field where many are
satisfied with working their lives in that professional field.  When she was
hired, it was above minimum wage with annual increases based on longevity
and merit.  Three out of the four years she was there, there were "excuses"
as to why the annual increases couldn't happen, all the while the company
was posting "record profits."  I'm sure those record profits where helpful
to those at the very top of the food chain, but it meant nothing elsewhere -
they certainly weren't reinvesting any of it in employees or in training or
in equipment or anything else that mattered.  Turnover was massive, morale
sucked, and the employer had a bad local reputation not only amongst
employees around the country but also in the field.  After four years, she
left the job and got hired in a completely unrelated field.  She realized
she'd never get anywhere with that particular employer because they didn't
value their employees.  She's happy as a clam now - before changing fields,
she hadn't a clue as to what it was like to work for a decent employer.

Hmmm - maybe someone should have told the person you know that sometimes one
has to move on to find a decent employer.  Something tells me that the
situation would be the same for her regardless of any minimum wage smoke &
mirrors.  When I was growing up, most of my friends' parents & grandparents
worked for the same company/business most of their adult lives and
retirement celebrations after 40 or 45 years - and I remember some after 50
years - service weren't uncommon.  "Only" having worked for the company for
20 or 30 or 35 years wasn't that common.

I think about the retirement parties I've attended over the past couple of
decades, and I've attended a whole lot where even 25 years was uncommon.
There are still some people retiring after working three or four decades for
the same employer, but that's less common, it seems to me.

Saundra

From: vision2020-bounces at moscow.com [mailto:vision2020-bounces at moscow.com]
On Behalf Of Paul Rumelhart
Sent: Friday, May 02, 2014 8:19 AM
To: Tom Hansen; Moscow Vision 2020
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Ri$ch & Crapo

About the minimum wage:

I know someone who works in Washington that spent years moving up the chain
thanks to her hard work until she hit the wage cap that her employer had
instituted.  Every time the minimum wage increased, the wage cap stayed the
same.  Now there is very little difference between what she makes and what a
wet-behind-the-ears kid off the street makes.  So while you are all
congratulating yourselves on how nice it is for those kids with no
experience, you've essentially pissed on all the work she has done over the
years.

Paul

  _____  

From: Tom Hansen <thansen at moscow.com <mailto:thansen at moscow.com> >
To: Moscow Vision 2020 <vision2020 at moscow.com <mailto:vision2020 at moscow.com>
> 
Sent: Friday, May 2, 2014 4:19 AM
Subject: [Vision2020] Ri$ch & Crapo

Courtesy of today's (May 2, 2014) Lewiston Tribune.

------------------------------------

Ri$ch & Crapo

Marty Trillhaase

JEERS ... to Idaho's Republican senators, Jim Risch and Mike Crapo.
Wednesday, they helped scuttle raising the federal minimum wage from $7.25
to $10.10 an hour.

Yet they represent one of the poorest states in the union. Last year, 7.1
percent of Idaho workers earned the minimum wage. That's the second largest
proportion in the country. The only reason Idaho didn't retain its status as
the No. 1 minimum-wage state is because Tennessee had an even worse year.

These are not teenagers earning gas money. Of the people on the economy's
bottom rung, 88 percent are at least 20 years old and 55 percent are working
full time. One of every three is supporting a child.

The Idaho Risch and Crapo represent now ranks next to last - second only to
Mississippi - in per capita incomes.

Raising the minimum wage would put more than $172 million into the hands of
struggling Idaho families. And it would make up for lost ground. Had the
minimum wage kept pace with inflation, it would already be at $10.60 an
hour.

The last time Congress raised the minimum wage - from $5.15 to $7.25 - was
2007. Then, Crapo, joined by Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, voted yes.

Who are Risch and Crapo looking out for?

Not the little guy.

JEERS ... to former Idaho state Sen. Evan Frasure, R-Pocatello. He's playing
both sides of the religion card.

Frasure is one of four Republicans seeking to succeed retiring Secretary of
State Ben Ysursa.

Writing in the Idaho Statesman's online voter guide, Frasure notes he served
a mission for the Mormon Church in New Zealand. Nothing unusual there.
Frasure hopes to win big in heavily Mormon eastern Idaho while Chief Deputy
Ada County Clerk Phil McGrane, former Sen. Mitch Toryanski, R-Boise, and
former House Speaker Lawerence (Boss) Denney, R-Midvale, split the votes
everywhere else.

But that wasn't good enough for Frasure. He characterizes McGrane as "a good
Catholic (who) goes to work for AmeriCorps for a year, then off to two
colleges in Washington, earning a degree in philosophy at the University of
Washington, hardly the path of a future Republican."

If Frasure thinks it's OK to vote for him because he's Mormon and McGrane is
not, presumably the reverse is true.

JEERS ... to Congressman Raul Labrador, R-Idaho. Wednesday, he stood alone
among every member of Congress and blew off America's military veterans.

Let that sink in.

The men and women who served this country, some of whom came home grievously
wounded, can count on the support of people like Eric Cantor, R-Va., Nancy
Pelosi, D-Calif., Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., and Mike Simpson,
R-Idaho. They can even count on every one of Labrador's Tea Party allies
such as Justin Amash, R-Mich., Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., Steve King,
R-Iowa, and Louie Gohmert, R-Texas.

All of them recognized the need to boost spending on veterans services by
$1.5 billion to reduce what Simpson called "the unacceptable backlog of
disability claims."

Labrador alone sees things differently.

When he gets around to explaining why, we'll let you know.

JEERS ... to former University of Idaho football coach Robb Akey.

Before he was bounced in 2012, Akey had amassed a 17-33 record - including
winning only three games during his final two years.

Meanwhile, his players weren't exactly hitting the books. The NCAA requires
teams to meet an average Academic Progress Rate of 930 during four years. In
2010, the UI's APR slipped to 921, then to 881 the next year and 838 in
2012. That put the average at 903.

Last week, the NCAA imposed sanctions: No postseason play and the loss of
four hours of practice each week in 2014.

Some teams lose games. Some get knocked for flunking classes. Under Akey,
the UI managed to do both.

CHEERS ... to Sandy Patano of Coeur d'Alene. Once a top aide to Sen. Craig
with serious political bona fides of her own, Patano is in the thick of a
battle to cleanse the Panhandle of its wingnut legislative brigade.

Along with establishment Republicans such as former state Rep. Dean
Haagenson, R-Coeur d'Alene, and former Intermountain Forest Industry
Association head Jim Riley, Patano has founded a political action committee
to support "reasonable" Republicans.

Two years ago, they helped pragmatic incumbents such as Sen. Shawn Keough,
R-Sandpoint, survive Tea Party challenges in the state's first closed GOP
primary election.

Now they're trying to ditch five Tea Party incumbents, including Sen. Bob
Nonini, R-Coeur d'Alene, and Reps. Shannon McMillan, R-Silverton, and Vito
Barbieri, R-Dalton Gardens.

If they succeed, you may have heard the last of Barbieri's flirtation with
nullification and Nonini's unconstitutional ploy to siphon off your tax
dollars from public schools toward private and religious academies.

Godspeed.

JEERS ... to Clarkston City Councilor Terry Beadles. If he thinks the law
will allow Clarkston to avoid implementing Washington's legalized marijuana
initiative, let him find the legal authority to do so.

But Beadles' comments Monday suggest he's resorting to subterfuge under the
guise of extending the city's six-month moratorium.

A moratorium to give city officials time needed to implement the system of
producing, processing and selling marijuana is one thing.

Renewing it simply because, as Beadles said, councilors don't want to
"implement a drug into society" is something else.

Right or wrong, Washington voters already made that call.- M.T.

------------------------------------

Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .

"Moscow Cares" (the most fun you can have with your pants on)

 <http://www.moscowcares.com/> http://www.MoscowCares.com

Tom Hansen

Moscow, Idaho

"There's room at the top they are telling you still.

But first you must learn how to smile as you kill,

If you want to be like the folks on the hill."

- John Lennon

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