Happy Sunday fellow Kossacks! And welcome to another addition of "Gordon Smith is crying in a corner," A.K.A the weekly Merkley Progressive Roundup!
If you thought John McCain floundered around erratically this week, wait until you see the desperate machinations of Gordon Smith. It was a very good week to be a progressive Senate candidate in Oregon and a bad, bad week to be a Republican incumbent! Jeff Merkley is killing in the polls!
It was also a good week to be an Oregon State Beavers fan. Now, I am more of a Ducks fan myself, but I hate USC, so in this case I say "Go Beavs!" But I digress.....
On September 10th, the Pulitzer-Prize winning Willamette Week published an article that alleged Smith's family business was knowingly hiring undocumented workers:
Gordon Smith, a United States senator from Oregon and the only Republican senator representing a West Coast state, has owned the plant his grandfather founded in 1919 for nearly 30 years."
. . .
Today, Smith Frozen Foods generates millions in income for the senator, according to Smith’s 2007 financial disclosure report.
And in this town, Smith’s wealth looms large, even though the 56-year-old lawmaker seldom visits and calls nearby Pendleton his home. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Smith is the 12th-richest member of the U.S. Senate, with an estimated net worth between $8 million and $39 million—wealth that’s allowed him to buy a $3.5 million mansion in Bethesda, Md., property on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, a Park City, Utah, condominium and—more famously—four antique golf clubs worth $1.25 million.
The workers at Smith Frozen Foods, who clean the machinery, monitor production and pack upward of 50 million pounds of produce each year, earn about $80 a day, four or five days a week, 10 months a year—if they’re lucky.
One other thing—some of them appear to be illegal immigrants.
Why is this important? Because Gordon Smith has repeatedly gone on the record to state that the family business does not employ illegal immigrants:
...it is news to Oregon’s Republican foot soldiers, the Smith loyalists currently knocking on doors and raising money to support the two-term incumbent’s upcoming election.
"His staff makes sure his employees are legal," says Rick Hickey, vice chairman of the Marion County Republican Party and a member of the anti-illegal-immigrant group Oregonians for Immigration Reform. "He’s said it on the Lars Larson (KXL radio) show at least three times in the last year."
Ah yes, the old Republican tactic - listen to what I say but do not be distracted by you know, what do you call it, that thing....uh....the TRUTH.
Smith didn't respond well to the article - he called the Willamette Week a lying liberal tabloid:
Smith quickly denounced the story, accusing the Willamette Week of fabricating almost the entire piece.
. . .
"Today’s Willamette Week article is false," Smith said. "It is wholly compromised of unsubstantiated and ridiculous allegations from a liberal tabloid whose purpose is to advance a left-wing agenda rather than the truth."
I think they meant "comprised" not "compromised," but I can understand the Freudian slip there. Compromised, indeed.
Ok, so what did the Willamette Week do? They marched right on back to Weston, Oregon to talk to more workers. Story number two came out on September 17th. Those allegations Smith called unsubstantiated and ridiculous? Not so much:
WW returned to Eastern Oregon and Washington last week and found five workers who are—or were—undocumented when they worked for Smith Frozen Foods or a second related business owned by Smith, who’s running for re-election against Democrat Jeff Merkley in one of the nation’s most closely watched Senate races.
D'oh! Well, surely, Smith would acknowledge the truth now, right? Sigh:
The Smith campaign says the latest WW piece is "intended purely to smear Sen. Smith."
Here's a statement from the campaign:
"The individual in the story lied to Smith Frozen Foods to obtain employment. When Smith Frozen Foods uncovers false documents, the worker is immediately fired. Willamette Week's desire to stop short of nothing other than the destruction of Senator Smith becomes clearer by the day," Smith campaign spokesperson Lindsay Gilbride said. "Their continued dedication to publishing rumor and unsubstantiated anecdotes speak to their style of 'gotcha' journalism. This level of unprofessionalism is unheard of."
Now this was really starting to hurt:
"I think this means trouble for Gordon Smith," says KXL’s conservative talk-show host Lars Larson, who’s usually in Republicans’ corner but is a critic of Smith on this issue. "If it turns out he has employed people illegally when he has claimed he has not, that’s a problem."
And Smith said "rumor and unsubstantiated anecdotes," right? Ok, well that brings us to this week and story number three from the Willamette Week. This time, there is not only proof that the company employed undocumented workers, there is proof that the company knew or should have known about it:
Manuel Raya, a 58-year-old Walla Walla resident, says he worked at Smith Frozen Foods on and off for nearly a decade sorting corn and repackaging frozen produce—from September 1997 until June 28, 2007. He says he used a fake Social Security number he bought on the streets of Los Angeles in 1980, just days after he immigrated illegally to the United States from Guanajuato, Mexico.
. . .
Smith Frozen Foods confirmed Raya’s work history. But the company fired Raya when it learned he was an undocumented worker, says Mike Lesko, Smith Frozen Foods human resources manager.
...Lesko’s explanation is puzzling for three reasons: Raya worked nearly a decade for Smith Frozen Foods before his firing, the senator has responded to WW’s previous stories ("Señor Smith," WW, Sept. 10, 2008) with a fierce defense of his business’s supposedly stringent hiring practices ("Señor Smith, Part Dos," Sept. 17, 2008), and there’s one other noteworthy factor—Raya attracted substantial media attention while employed at Smith Frozen Foods.
Beginning in 2000, Raya was the subject of a lengthy profile that ran periodically for several months in the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, a daily newspaper that circulates in Eastern Washington and Oregon. Raya suffers from neurofibromatosis, a highly unusual medical condition that badly disfigured his face. The newspaper series focused on Raya’s efforts to have the damage surgically repaired. (As a seasonal worker at Smith Frozen Foods, Raya did not qualify for employer-sponsored health insurance.)
The story printed Raya’s full name, published several photos of him and stated clearly that he was an undocumented worker in order to explain why he also did not qualify for public assistance. Walla Walla lies just 20 miles north of Weston, Ore., where Smith’s operation is located.
Emphasis mine. In other words, Smith's company fired Raya in 2007, "promptly" after learning that he was an undocumented worker, but that was seven years after that fact was published in the newspaper in a story that attracted lots of attention. Oh, and according to Raya, he was let go because his salary was too high (a princely $9.00 an hour). He was replaced by a cheaper employee with less experience, not because of his immigration status.
Ouch. That's gotta hurt Señor Smith. And from the campaign? Crickets.
His campaign did not respond to a request for comment for this story.
As McJoan noted:
The issue for Smith is two-fold. First, he keeps lying about it, denying the allegations. Second, to boost his Republican cred with his base, he takes a very hard line in the immigration debate in Congress. That kind of hypocrisy on the part of a Republican comes as no surprise to us, but Republican voters in Oregon aren't going to like it.
That's it exactly. So let's see how it's playing out among said voters. Smith is running a sleazy, nasty campaign - flooding the airwaves with vitriol and lies. He recently ran an ad where he implied that Jeff Merkley fought to protect rapists over rape victims. Low. Willie Horton low. Former Governor Barbara Roberts was not amused.
Smith held a fundraiser noted not for its success, but for the protesters and the absence of the big name draw, who canceled for a second time:
It turns out that the folks who ponied up a thousand bucks to see California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger at a fundraiser for Oregon Sen. Gordon Smith only ended up seeing the former actor on the big screen again....Outside, about 25 demonstrators rounded up by the Democratic Party of Oregon picketed the event.
Emphasis mine.
Jeff Merkley, on the other hand, released two highly effective ads this week. The first hits Smith hard on the state of the economy and the bailout:
The second reiterates that Jeff Merkley will always protect a woman's right to choose, no matter what:
Gordon Smith's campaign tried feebly to fight back this week. First he tried to paint Jeff Merkley as "rash" for coming out against the $700 billion version of the bailout that was a blank check with no oversight:
Republican Sen. Gordon Smith blasted his opponent, Democratic House Speaker Jeff Merkley, for "prejudging" the $700 billion rescue proposal before details have been worked out.
. . .
"Part of being a U.S. Senator is reading and understanding bills of this magnitude," Smith said in a conference call with reporters. "He's not showing leadership. He is showing partisan opportunism. This is a profile in cowardice."
But Jeff Merkley was all over Smith on this, pointing out that Smith supported the 1999 Gramm-Leach-Bliley (de-regulation) Act and pointing out that there wasn't too much to "pre-judge" on the bailout plan:
Merkley, on the campaign trail, has mocked Smith for failing to take a position on the Bush administration's proposal for a $700 billion bailout of the financial services industry. The initial bill was only three pages and not too hard to understand, Merkley said.
Emphasis mine.
So Smith ran to a "liberal democrat" for help. He once again sought rescue from former Democratic Congresswoman Elizabeth Furse who, earlier in the campaign, misspoke in a Smith ad and had to backtrack shortly afterward. Well she's at it again.
She claims this time that Smith was one of the first Republicans to oppose the war in Iraq. But what about the dozen Republicans who opposed the war from day one? What about the 17 times Smith voted to support the "awful" war before the November 2006 election? What about the 6 times Smith voted to support the "awful" war after supposedly coming out against the Iraq war?
And there's good reason to question why Furse is so chummy with Gordon Smith this election year. The Merkley campaign asks and answers the question:
Why does Furse continue to stretch the truth about Gordon Smith?
Many have noted that since Furse has agreed to cross party lines and offer Smith her public support, Smith has returned the favor with financial support for her. (Willamette Week, 6/25/08)
Smith has worked to shepherd multiple bills to direct millions from taxpayers to Furse's "pet project." Read more.
In 2005 Smith introduced Senate Resolution 474, which carried Elizabeth Furse's name and would provide $50 million to Furse's project at Portland State University, the Institute for Tribal Government.
On April 30 of this year, just a few weeks before Furse appeared in Smith's first ad, Smith introduced Senate Bill 2949. This time Furse's name was no longer on the bill. The measure authorizes the creation of the Mark O. Hatfield Scholarship and Excellence in Tribal Governance Foundation, a move that would then allow Congress to fund the project.
Sounds like a marriage made of convenience to me. And none of Smith's tactics seem to be stopping his campaign's slide. Jeff Merkley is ahead in the polls!
Survey USA has Merkley up over Smith 44 to 42.
And McJoan reported this week that Research 2000 has Merkley up by five, 45 to 40.
Nate Silver at FiveThirtyEight has moved the Oregon senate race to "toss up" status:
Back to the Democratic side of the ledger, we also have them improving their position in North Carolina, where Elizabeth Dole's approval ratings have tanked, and in Oregon, where Jeff Merkley's name recognition has improved. Both contests now rate as true toss-ups.
In fact, when I went to check the Oregon Senate race in the columns on the right at FiveThirtyEight, I couldn't find it at first. Then I realized it was because it had moved from the right side (leans GOP) to the left side (tilts DEM)! Woohoo!
And I think the best thing I have seen this week, in regards to the Oregon Senate race, is the trend line over at Pollster:
Wow, that's pretty! Smith's negative campaigning and pretending to be independent isn't working on Oregon voters. It seems to be alienating his base and the many real independents in this state.
But this is no time to get complacent, folks! This is an excruciatingly close race. And while it is great to see Smith struggle, we can't rest until we know Merkley is headed to Washington and Smith is headed anywhere else. As Jeff Mapes notes:
The Washington Post's Chris Cillizza writes "The Fix," a must-read for the Washington political establishment. And he's now spreading word of what we're certainly seeing in Oregon: Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., is in a very tough race...In his regular feature ranking the Senate races, he's moved Smith's Senate seat up from eighth to sixth most likely to change partisan hands.
This is close! And Team Merkley is doing a fantastic job. Jeff Merkley is running the largest grassroots campaign in Oregon history! There are so many people giving their time and money to help the cause. But they need more help.
I know we can send Gordon Smith packing. Please do what you can to help!
Donate!
Volunteer!
And of course - VOTE!
You can get Oregon voter registration forms here.
You can check your Oregon voter registration status here.
You must re-register if you have changed your name or moved since you last registered.
The deadline to register in Oregon is October 14, 2008.
Oregon votes entirely by mail. Ballots start to drop on October 17, 2008.