In a recent editorial comment published in The Greenville News U.S. Representative Bob Inglis wrote an optimistic breezy column about how all Americans should be thankful to live in the good ole U.S.A. and how great our lives were and how much we had to be thankful for. He referenced Jesus several times and talked about forgiveness, sinners and hope. I'm thinking that perhaps Rep. Inglis would be happier and more fulfilled as a preacher than our elected representative to the U.S. House of Representatives.

While I agree that we should be thankful to live in the greatest, most prosperous nation in the world, I'm looking to Rep. Inglis for leadership on issues that affect every working adult in South Carolina's 4th District. I keep hoping that Rep. Inglis will offer leadership, guidance and thoughtful consideration of legislation that would uplift the poor, protect our environment and keep peace in the world. If I need a spiritual awakening or a message of hope I can go to church on Sunday or any other day of the week.

Rep. Inglis' sincere and heartfelt concern for the poor and the vulnerable which he makes a glancing reference to in his editorial stands in contrast to his voting record and stance on vital issues like raising the minimum wage. Rep. Inglis believes that raising the minimum wage wouldn't actually benefit working adults and would hurt our economy by eliminating jobs. Even though current research refutes these suppositions. In a letter to me, Inglis stated that the average pay for all Americans has been steadily increasing over the past few years. This simply isn't true. According to a report from McClatchy Newspapers published in the July 18, 2006 edition of The Greenville News "The average worker hasn't seen a meaningful pay increase in three years, despite the economy's rebound, according to U.S. Labor Department data." Rep. Inglis also contends that "Labor production has gained 26% since 1997, and real earnings of non-supervisory workers are up 7%." The real story from recent information supplied by the Census Bureau is that while the economy in 2004 grew 4.2%, real median family income (the purchasing power of the typical family) actually fell. Meanwhile poverty increased, as did the number of Americans without health insurance. According to a recent survey by The Business Roundtable (a group of 160 CEO's) cited by Robert Samuelson, "From 1995 to 2005, median CEO compensation at these companies rose 151% while median sales of these companies increased 51% to $7.6 billion and median profits 126% to $591 million. By contrast, the median pay increase for full-time, year round workers aged 25-64 in these years was only 32% to $38,223 (that's all workers, not just those at the study's firms.)"

As for Rep. Inglis argument that increasing the minimum wage will eliminate jobs and hurt our economy I call to your attention recent surveys of Los Angeles, Boston and Baltimore of those workers affected by living wage increases enacted by their state legislators as cited by The Economic Policy Institute, which found that living wage laws actually raised productivity and decreased turnover among affected firms. In just one example, a study of the San Francisco Airport found that annual turnover among security screeners fell from 95% to 19% as their hourly wage rose from $6.45 to $10.00 an hour.

I find Rep. Inglis opposition to an increase in the minimum wage and his lack of engagement or knowledge about the subject to be neither Christ-like or moral but rather irresponsible and unrealistic.

Meanwhile despite the bleak economic picture confronted by working Americans, Congressman Inglis and his colleagues did find time this session to approve a 2% pay increase above their current base salary of $168,500. So while working Americans try to be optimistic and Christ like, our elected officials continue their self-serving ways. What inspiring leadership.