Fw: August - Beating up on Farm Workers

["Sue Hovey" <suehovey@moscow.com>]

The following is a portion of a message from Craig Williams, candidate for
the House of
Representatives, 2nd District. His take on the interim committee's response
to the children's testimony on minimum wage for farm workers is compelling.
I am sending only the portion of the message which is the report on the
meeting.  If you want the rest you can get it from his website.
Sue Hovey
----- Original Message -----
From: Craig Williams for Congress <craigw@craigwilliams2000.com>
To: <suehovey@moscow.com>
Sent: Monday, July 31, 2000 5:56 AM
Subject: August - Beating up on Farm Workers


>
> ```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
> In this month's letter:
> 1)   What really happened in Burley
> 2)   How we strike back
> ```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
> WHAT REALLY HAPPENED IN BURLEY
>
> Have you ever watched your child perform at a school function? Parents
> remember those moments for a lifetime.
>
> Last Thursday I watched a group of children perform and it was a sight
I'll
> never forget. But there was none of the glitter or giggles you expect from
> little ones. That's because they were testifying in Burley before the
> Legislature's Interim Committee on minimum wage for farm workers.  These
> young people stood at a podium and struggled to remember their words. Some
> were nervous and stammered; others stood straight and spoke with
> conviction.  And every single one of them was impressive.
>
> One after another they stood before a trio of Republican lawmakers who
made
> it clear they didn't care about the subject and who snickered over foreign
> names that were difficult to pronounce; names like Sanchez, Ramirez and
> Raincloud. Too bad the youngster's moms and dads couldn't see their
> bravery; their hearts would have burst with pride. But the parents were in
> the fields, trying to make up the lost wages of their child taking a day
> off work.
>
> One young girl explained she had worked in the fields since the age of
> seven and could not understand why the state government refused to
> recognize the need for equal rights under the law. In response to a
> lobbyist suggestion that some farm workers got low cost housing as payment
> another youngster asked if the computers, telephones, offices, automobiles
> and other accoutrements that his firm provided were deducted from his
> paycheck.
>
> A Hispanic teenager from Canyon County testified he'd done farm labor for
> as long as he could remember. He remarked almost offhand that his parents
> were in the fields that afternoon as they had been for twenty years and
> made less today than when they started.  He didn't say why but the reason
> is clear; it's because Special Interests are much smarter now. They know
> how to purchase favors from Republican legislators who are only too
willing
> to sell their votes for campaign contributions.
>
> At the meeting I sat on the front row, right next to the podium. While the
> kids spoke I watched their faces and looked into eyes filled with a
> desperate urgency to be understood. I wish you could hear the voice of a
> child pleading for their parent's lives. And I saw the terror when they
> stepped away believing they had failed. But what else could they think
> looking at that committee?
>
> During the testimony the Republican legislators poured each other drinks,
> swapped jokes and snickered openly over amusing anecdotes, whether about
> the crowd or from something unrelated I couldn't tell, but the sight was
> appalling.  While chilling testimony spilled from the lips of one person
> after another, so filled with human anguish, the three Republicans
appeared
> totally disinterested.
>
> Now and then someone would recount a particularly horrific example of this
> life-without-hope and the audience, who live this existence every day,
> would burst out with spontaneous cries of understanding or applause.  And
> each time the committee chairman would rise and admonish the crowd, "Here,
> here.  I told you we won't have any of that. Let's keep it quiet.  Now,
the
> next testimony is from Mr. Rameses, I mean Ramerice?" Someone would look
> over his shoulder and speak into the microphone for him. "Adan Ramirez is
> next please."
>
> Never have I seen such a spectacle of disrespect and government
> indifference as displayed by those three Republican officials; Senator
> Williams of Pingree, Representative Fields of Glens Ferry, and
> Representative Jones of Filer.  Whether they agree with the bill or not is
> beside the point (although how anyone could disagree is unimaginable). The
> people who testified were Idaho Citizens. They were all voters. They
> deserve MUCH more than they received last Thursday.
>
> So I make a pledge on behalf of those farm workers.  For the rest of this
> election cycle I will work with the labor unions, with the Democratic
> Party, and with anyone else who will help me find three Idaho citizens to
> run as write-in candidates this November against those officials. When I
> find the candidates I will do everything I can to get them elected. I will
> help raise money, I will speak in their districts, I will travel from one
> end of this state to the other to find support for them because Idaho
> voters deserve legislators that represent EVERY citizen in their district;
> and that's not what I saw last Thursday.
>
>