The Charleston Gazette-Mail published an op-ed commentary criticizing the minimum wage yesterday.  The author was Kristen Lopez Eastlick, “senior economic analyst for the Employment Policies Institute, which studies entry-level employment.”

Let’s see what the internet tells us about Ms. Eastlick and the Employment Policies Institute.

• According to Citizens for Responsbility and Ethics in Washington, Ms. Eastlick has a very long resume – having been listed over the years with 17 different job titles with 8 different companies, including the Employment Policies Institute.
• “The Employment Policies Institute was launched in 1991…. EPI deliberately attempted to create confusion in the eyes of journalists and the general public by adopting a name which closely resembles the Economic Policy Institute, a much older, progressive think tank with ties to organized labor,”  says SourceWatch.
• The Employment Policies Institute’s executive director is Rick Berman.  Indeed, all of the companies for whom Ms. Eastlick has been listed as working are connected to Mr. Berman.
• And just who is Rick Berman?  He is a lobbyist for the restaurant, hotel, alcoholic beverage, and tobacco industries and was dubbed “Dr. Evil” by 60 Minutes a few years ago for, among other things, shamelessly using non-profit organizations for his clients’ political and economic purposes and taking on groups like Mothers Against Drunk Driving to protect your freedom to drive drunk.  I encourage you to check out the 60 Minutes video.

While I understand that freedom of speech means that everyone is entitled to express his or her opinion, I wish the Charleston Gazette-Mail at the very least had made Mr. Berman pay for the use of its printing press, even if that payment probably would have been made with tax-free dollars because the Employment Policies Institute claims to be a non-profit organization.  Joseph R. Goodwin, Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia, wrote more than a decade ago in a case styled Collard v. Smith Newspapers that, while everyone has a right to express his or her opinion, that right does not extend to guaranteeing anyone (least of all Mr. Berman and his ilk) a free printing press.