Critics attempting to marginalize SeaTac's "Good Jobs Initiative" as a wacky, far-left, labor-backed jobs-killer, are going to have a tougher time making that argument after this morning's announcement that the $15 an hour minimum wage measure has been enthusiastically endorsed by the eminently centrist US Representative Adam Smith, and a host of other elected officials including King County Executive Dow Constantine, King County Council member (and "lifelong SeaTac resident") Julia Patterson, state House Speaker Frank Chopp, and other prominent Democrats.

Representative Smith is by far the most influential of the endorsers, not as much for his high public office as for his personal biography. Smith's father raised his family working as a baggage handler at Sea-Tac Airport, back during the heyday of the US economy, when our nation still honored physical labor, and rewarded honest work with a living wage:

“I grew up in the SeaTac area, my father worked in the SeaTac area — he was a ramp serviceman for United Airlines, where he got decent wages and benefits at his blue collar job. That enabled me to pursue my hopes and dreams, and that’s what I want for everyone in society as well. Equality of opportunity — a chance at creating that middle class life and I’m very worried that we’re losing that. That’s why I’m supporting SeaTac Proposition 1 – to bring back decent paying jobs at the airport and give thousands of our region’s families a fair shot at success.”

Representative Smith's statement underscores a very important point: The battle for a living wage in SeaTac and throughout the nation isn't about raising low-wage workers to new economic heights; it's about winning back the decent wages many of these jobs once earned. This is about reversing our nation's decades-long march to the bottom and declaring that honest work deserves a fair wage.

This is now a mainstream issue. So if a $15 an hour minimum wage is crazy, prepare to declare the mainstream of the Democratic Party totally insane:

The full list of Democratic endorsers is included below:

  • U.S. Representative Adam Smith

  • King County Executive Dow Constantine

  • King County Councilmember Julia Patterson

  • State Senator Karen Keiser (33rd)

  • State Representative Dave Upthegrove (33rd)

  • State Representative Tina Orwall (33rd)

  • SeaTac City Councilmember Mia Gregerson

  • King County Councilmember Joe McDermott

  • King County Councilmember Larry Gossett

  • King County Councilmember Larry Phillips

  • King County Councilmember Rod Dembowski

  • House of Representatives Speaker Frank Chopp (43rd)

  • House of Representatives Majority Leader Pat Sullivan (47th)

  • State Senator Bob Hasegawa (11th)

  • State Representative Zack Hudgins (11th)

  • State Representative Steve Bergquist (11th)

  • State Senator Sharon K. Nelson (34th)

  • State Representative Joe Fitzgibbon (34th)

  • State Representative Eileen Cody (34th)

  • State Senator Adam Kline (37th)

  • Washington State Democrats

  • King County Democrats

  • 33rd District Democrats