{"id":39,"date":"2005-09-28T15:01:53","date_gmt":"2005-09-28T21:01:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/loco\/with-supporters-like-pfeffer-who-needs-enemies\/"},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2005-09-28T21:08:39","slug":"with-supporters-like-pfeffer-who-needs-enemies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/loco\/with-supporters-like-pfeffer-who-needs-enemies\/","title":{"rendered":"With Supporters \r\n\r\nlike Pfeffer, Who needs Enemies?"},"content":{"rendered":"

To its credit, the Albuquerque <\/p>\n

Journal has granted space to a number of opinion pieces on the upcoming vote to increase the Minimum Wage.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

ABQjournal: Lack of Data Foils Minimum Wage Evaluation<\/a> By David Pfeffer, Santa Fe City Councilor<\/p>\n

High toned <\/p>\n

phrases<\/em> highlighted Santa Fe’s “living wage”<\/em> debate. Proponents haughtily<\/em> blamed business for getting rich off <\/p>\n

“the backs of the poor.” One adult working in two jobs or two adults working in one family proved reason enough to “do something about <\/p>\n

it.” Articulate opposition could not hold against this supposedly<\/em> moral stand. …<\/p>\n

We do know that some employers have <\/p>\n

relocated. The local newspaper’s printing plant has left town, leaving only the white collar staff within the city limits. We know of <\/p>\n

businesses that have opted not to come here. …<\/p>\n

[W]e may be kicking up by another dollar an hour this fact-blind <\/p>\n

insistence<\/em> on a supposedly<\/em> moral stand\u2014 a stand taken, not only without regard to “immigrant status,” but without regard to <\/p>\n

the damage it is doing to the very people it is supposedly designed to help.<\/p>\n

David Pfeffer<\/strong>, a Republican <\/p>\n

running for the U.S. Senate, was the only Santa Fe city councilor to vote against the wage ordinance<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\nclass=\"mine\">The sniveling tone of the preceding may be all the reason one needs to vote against Pfeffer in any election. I’m amazed any <\/p>\n

business finds it cheaper to relocate; such a business cares as little about its customers as it does about its employees. Read the whole <\/p>\n

thing to see just how important the “immigrant status” issue is to him (and a block of xenophobic Republicans).<\/p>\n

In spite of <\/p>\n

Pfeffer’s claim that there is no data on Santa Fe (which hardly supports voting against<\/em> the issue in Albuquerque), what do you <\/p>\n

know, here’s some data….<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

ABQjournal: Higher Pay Good for Santa Fe Workers, <\/p>\n

Economy<\/a> By Monsignor Jerome Martinez and City Councilor David Coss, Living Wage Advocates<\/p>\n

Here are some key <\/p>\n

facts<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

# We have reduced poverty.<\/strong> According to a report just issued by the state Human Services <\/p>\n

Department, recipients of Temporary Aid to Needy Families have fallen 9.7 percent in the last year, while in the state as a whole it has <\/p>\n

only gone down 0.6 percent.<\/p>\n

# We have gained jobs.<\/strong> According to a Sept. 22 report from the New Mexico <\/p>\n

Department of Labor, 1,400 jobs have been added to the Santa Fe work force since the living wage came into effect. This 2.3 percent rate <\/p>\n

of job growth is a little more than the state’s 2.1 percent job growth rate during this same period. Santa Fe’s 2.3 percent growth rate <\/p>\n

is very high, as the state’s job growth, at 2.1 percent, ranked 12th highest in the country.<\/p>\n

The hospitality industry in <\/p>\n

Santa Fe did even better, adding 300 jobs, a 3.2 percent growth rate. The unemployment rate in Santa Fe in August was 3.8 percent, down <\/p>\n

from 4.1 percent a year ago. The Santa Fe rate is much better than the state as a whole, which had 5.3 percent unemployment last month. <\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

Low-wage workers often have to choose between putting food on the table or leaving their children alone and working a second <\/p>\n

or third job.<\/p>\n

The typical low-wage worker is not a teenager and is not new to the workforce.<\/strong> Forty percent <\/p>\n

are single moms. The average age of low-wage workers is 31 years. They have been working an average of over 13 years.<\/p>\n

\nclass=\"mine\">Note improvements in the hospitality industry, which depends a lot on low-wage workers.<\/p>\n

No one can be surprised the <\/p>\n

Journal comes out against the measure. Their support of public campaign financing does stun me, though.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

ABQjournal: Recommendations On Ballot Propositions<\/a><\/p>\n

Living Wage, No<\/strong>: Albuquerque should avoid being at <\/p>\n

the bleeding edge of economic actions more appropriately taken by federal or state government. And voters should be wary of a clause <\/p>\n

inside the Trojan Horse measure that sacks<\/em> employers’ right to control access to their work place.<\/p>\n

Public <\/p>\n

Campaign Finance, Yes<\/strong>: The municipal campaign trail is being repaved in gold every four years. … The price tag: one-tenth of 1 <\/p>\n

percent of the city’s operational budget.<\/p>\n

Ripping up the golden campaign trail may have unintended and unfortunate <\/p>\n

consequences, just like McCain-Feingold got hijacked by the independent “527” committees. But restraining political inflation is <\/p>\n

worth a try<\/em>.<\/p>\n

“Worth a try.” Wow, the Journal backs an experiment and its attendant risks. Surely <\/p>\n

the same argument supports raising the Minimum Wage and tweaking it as we see its impact. mjh<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

ABQjournal: Guest Columns<\/a> [mjh: in some strange lottery-<\/p>\n

fashion, various pages at the Journal are free now and then — as the pro-ordinance article quoted above is today.]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To its credit, the Albuquerque Journal has granted space to a number of opinion pieces on the upcoming vote to increase the Minimum Wage. ABQjournal: Lack of Data Foils Minimum Wage Evaluation By David Pfeffer, Santa Fe City Councilor High toned phrases highlighted Santa Fe’s “living wage” debate. Proponents haughtily blamed business for getting rich … Continue reading With Supporters <\/p>\n

like Pfeffer, Who needs Enemies?<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-loco"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}