> I don't know what the party line is to justify the gas attendant rules.
Blatant employment protectionism. Every time it comes up on a ballot the "statement in favor" is always primarily employment protectionism. The arguments are generally of the form "if we allowed self service, nobody would pay for full service, and those jobs would go away".
As with many similarly obnoxious laws: Portland votes for it, the rest of Oregon votes against it, and Portland wins.