[Cross-posted from the ProgressMass blog. Like ProgressMass on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.]
In recent days, Massachusetts Attorney General and 2014 gubernatorial candidate Martha Coakley has been sparring with failed 2010 Republican gubernatorial nominee and fellow 2014 gubernatorial candidate Charlie Baker over the minimum wage. Coakley has been critical of Baker’s opposition to raising the minimum wage.
This prompted Team Baker to clarify Republican Charlie Baker’s position on the minimum wage, a clarification that begins with:
Charlie’s position remains clear: he is open to an increase in the minimum wage
This begs the question: since when is Republican Charlie Baker “open” to an increase in the minimum wage?
Just this past October, less than three months ago, Republican Charlie Baker appeared on the Boston Herald Radio program “Morning Meeting” and had the following exchange:
Interviewer: I’d like to talk to you a little bit about the minimum wage in Massachusetts. Would you be in favor of increasing the minimum wage?
Charlie Baker: I’m a much bigger fan- the answer is, I would love to see work pay. OK, I think we should all be supportive of that. But I worry about two things on the minimum wage. The first is I really do worry about people losing job opportunities because of the increase in the minimum wage. And I also worry about the impact it has on Main Street businesses and small businesses which, for the most part, are the ones that are most likely to be negatively affected.
First off, point of fact, Republican Charlie Baker is wrong when he claims that increasing the minimum wage harms employment. Numerous studies across the country spanning multiple decades bear that out.
But, even more importantly, Republican Charlie Baker can’t have it both ways. Baker can’t (wrongly) argue that increasing the minimum wage will cost jobs and “negatively affect” small businesses while Team Baker tries to placate voters by insisting that Baker is “open” to an increase in the minimum wage. Just follow that twisted logic. If Baker (again, wrongly) says that increasing the minimum wage costs jobs and hurts small businesses, and Team Baker says that Baker is “open” to increasing the minimum wage, then Baker must be “open” to costing jobs and hurting small businesses, by the logic of Baker World. Baker and his spokesman are simply trying to speak out of both sides of their mouths.
So who are we supposed to believe: the candidate himself, who claims that increasing the minimum wage costs jobs and hurts small businesses; or the Baker spokesman, who insists that the candidate is “open” to increasing the minimum wage? There is just no way to tell, but one thing is for sure: the issue is a major blemish on Republican Charlie Baker’s credibility.
jconway says
Sounds like another neophyte businessmen-turned politico I know in Illinois and another we all know far too well.