State labor federation gives year-end grades to Oregon legislators

SALEM — Oregon lawmakers packed their bags and left the State Capitol Aug. 5, but at the Oregon AFL-CIO, staffers stayed on to produce a tally to hold them accountable. On Aug. 24, they announced the result: 15 legislators had a perfect record of pro-worker votes, while the most anti-worker of 90 was none other than Karen Minnis, Republican Speaker of the House, who is from Wood Village.

Every two years, after Oregon’s biennial Legislature closes, the Oregon AFL-CIO produces its COPE rating, named for its Committee On Political Education. The state labor federation lobbies for and tracks legislative issues that affect all workers, not just union members.

This year’s COPE ratings were based on 25 votes the Oregon AFL-CIO took a position on. Representatives from all affiliated unions were surveyed to see which votes mattered most, and they came up with 25 votes on a range of issues. In each case, the Oregon AFL-CIO had asked legislators to vote a particular way. The COPE rating is expressed as a percentage, with 100 percent meaning the lawmaker voted entirely in accord with the Oregon AFL-CIO recommendations.

The average lawmaker voted in line with Oregon AFL-CIO recommendations 69 percent of the time. That was a slight improvement from the 65 percent average in the 2003 session, and was the best overall rating in more than a decade.

Democrats voted with the AFL-CIO 93 percent of the time, while Republicans averaged 47 percent.

In the 30-member Senate, four senators had 100 percent ratings, all Democrats: Ginny Burdick and Frank Shields of Portland, Bill Morrisette of Springfield, and Charlie Ringo of Beaverton. Senate President Peter Courtney of Salem and Senate Majority Leader Kate Brown of Portland — both Democrats — had 89 percent.

The Senate’s worst rating — 38 percent — went to Hillsboro Republican Charles Starr. The highest-rated Senate Republican was Ben Westlund of Tumalo, at 68 percent, while the lowest-rated Democrat was Betsy Johnson of Scappoose, at 88 percent.

In the 60-member House, 11 members had 100 percent ratings, all Democrats: Phil Barnhart and Paul Holvey of Eugene; Terry Beyer of Springfield; Peter Buckley of Ashland; Jackie Dingfelder, Steve March, Mary Nolan, Diane Rosenbaum and Chip Shields of Portland; Carolyn Tomei of Milwaukie; and Brad Witt of Clatskanie.

Witt, who is secretary-treasurer of the Oregon AFL-CIO, was appointed to his seat in mid-session. He took a leave of absence from the labor federation to serve.

Rosenbaum is a member of Communications Workers of America Local 7901, March is a member of the American Federation of Teachers, and Holvey is a member of the Carpenters Union.

The worst rating in the House (and in the Oregon Legislature) went to Republican House Speaker Karen Minnis, who voted with the Oregon AFL-CIO 36 percent of the time. The highest-rated House Republican was Vicki Berger of Salem at 59 percent, and the lowest-rated Democrats were Deborah Boone of Cannon Beach and Mike Schaufler of Happy Valley, with 76 percent.

Bills that counted in this year’s COPE rating included measures the Oregon AFL-CIO supported, such as transportation funding, forest restoration, strengthening prevailing wage and responsible bidder requirements, making it easier for public employees to unionize, and extending unemployment insurance; and bills the Oregon AFL-CIO opposed, such as an anti-worker collective bargaining law for farmworkers; a special tax shelter for Nike; a subsidy of minimum wage employers in agriculture; a tax cut on corporate profits; and a bill limiting school funding.

Labor leaders acknowledge that the ratings don’t tell the whole story — sometimes legislators did their most important work preventing labor-opposed bills from getting to a vote on the floor, such as a bill rolling back minimum wage gains approved by voters in 2002.

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