Oregon Republican Senator Gordon Smith owns a food processing company that has come under scrutiny because it was apparently hiring and using undocumented workers. He denied it ardently, calling the Willamette Week publication that broke it a liberal rag and saying that the company followed stringent hiring procedures and fired any employee who was found to be undocumented. Well, now it turns out that Smith's company hired one particular undocumented worker for an entire decade (1997-2007) whose status was widely known because in 2000 he was the subject of a local news series on a rare disease. This series revealed that this worker couldn't get treatment because he was undocumented.
This worker was finally fired in 2007 because his salary hit $9/hour and he could be replaced by a worker who was paid $8/hour.
Ouch.
This race was considered a long shot just a few months ago, because Smith was well-liked in the state. That was frustrated because his opponent, Jeff Merkley, is one of the most progressive candidates in the country. Because of bumbles like this, though, Smith is in trouble and going harshly negative; the polls are tied and Smith has a 33% approval rating.
You can give to Jeff Merkley on Better Democrats. He's going to be another Russ Feingold type, only more partisan.
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