An editorial in today’s Wall Street Journal notes that then-Rep. Olympia Snowe was one of the sponsors of the comparable-worth legislation strongly criticized by John Roberts when he worked in the Reagan Administration, and that now-Senator Snowe is none too happy about it.

The Maine Republican hasn’t gone so far as to use the ’s’ word [“sexist”], but she’s made known her displeasure at Judge Roberts’s remarks in a 1984 memo on the subject. “I honestly find it troubling that three Republican representatives are so quick to embrace such a radical redistributive concept,” he wrote. “Their slogan may as well be, ‘From each according to his ability, to each according to her gender.’ ” Good line, that. But guess who one of the Republican representatives was?
Former Congresswoman and now Senator Snowe said in a statement that the Roberts memo “demonstrates a difference of opinion” about “the value of women’s contributions.” She added, “Hopefully, 21 years later, Judge Roberts possesses an openness with respect to issues of gender-based wage discrimination.” She went on to say she will “carefully and rigorously evaluate” his views on the subject.
Our own hope is that Ms. Snowe had used the last 21 years to learn more economics. But since she claims to be such a fan of comp worth, we called her office to find out where she stands on two comp-worth bills pending in the Senate. Senator Hillary Clinton proposes authorizing the Labor Department to set voluntary wage guidelines for various occupations. Senator Tom Harkin wants to leave the job to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and make compliance mandatory for every business with 25 or more employees. Senator Snowe isn’t a co-sponsor of either bill, which suggests that perhaps she has learned a little about the labor market after all, but doesn’t want to admit it publicly.