Two Members of the Oregon Prosperity Council Dissent

Sometimes the arguments progressives make refute themselves. Take, for instance, a revealing sentence by two union leaders on the Governor’s Oregon Prosperity Commission: “Just like any smart CEO, Oregon should pursue a strategy of its own and ignore the low road of doing everything other states do, just more cheaply.”

This comes from a white paper from two members of the 16-member Oregon Prosperity Council, Robert Camarillo of the Oregon State Building Trades Council and Alice Dale, who represents the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). This paper broadly rejects the very basis for the Governor’s creation of the Oregon Prosperity Commission, essentially telling Oregonians to move along, there’s no economic problem to see here, folks.

But I find that one sentence particularly revealing. Let me quote it again:

Just like any smart CEO, Oregon should pursue a strategy of its own and ignore the low road of doing everything other states do, just more cheaply.

This self-impeaching statement misses two important realities. First, smart CEOs never stop looking for ways to keep costs lower than their competitors. Second, the high costs Oregon imposes on itself tend to be the result of our blindly following the policies of other states, such as California, without considering the Beaver State’s ability to afford them.

Eric Shierman lives in Salem and is the author of We were winning when I was there.