Oh yes, that pesky Bible thing can be a pain in the azz........
After all her disparaging remarks about it in recent days, it was pretty clear what Mayor Catherine Pugh was going to do with the bill to raise Baltimore’s minimum wage to $15:
Veto it.
The only question was how would she frame the decision, considering her clear campaign promise a year ago to sign the bill.
It was the first question she was asked during today’s brief news conference to announce her planned veto.
At the time she made the campaign pledge, Pugh said to a group of reporters, “I wasn’t aware I was going to have to come up with the money to fix up our school system. Nor was I aware of the fact that I would walk in the door and I’ve got a DOJ federal contract that I have to deal with that’s on my desk, a consent decree. We don’t know at this point what that cost is going to be.”
But what about her statements in interviews and written answers in candidate questionnaires unequivocally promising to sign a $15 minimum wage bill?
“I don’t think they would make me swear on a Bible. They asked me: ‘Do I support?’ And I absolutely do support. But when you ask me as the chief executive officer of this city what I will do as it relates to the conditions of this city currently and where we are economically, I have a right and a responsibility to respond on behalf of all the citizens of this city.”
Pugh said she was persuaded, after talking with assorted community and business stakeholders as well as neighboring county executives, that raising the minimum wage to $15 in Baltimore would drive businesses out of the city, taking away jobs for the unskilled.
She said she decided the city should not get ahead of the state, which is raising the minimum wage to $10.10 by 2018.
Her decision brought quick condemnation from the Fight for $15 Baltimore Coalition, which pushed a version of the bill last summer as far as the full City Council, where the measure failed.
“We are deeply upset that Mayor Pugh has broken her campaign pledge by vetoing this legislation, which promises to give tens of thousands of workers higher wages and the opportunity to lead self-sufficient lives,” said coalition chair Ricarra Jones.
“As a state senator, Mayor Pugh was a strong supporter of a livable minimum wage and explicitly promised to sign the Baltimore wage bill as mayor. Today, she has made clear that promises are made to be broken. The voters will remember her turn-around.”
https://www.baltimorebrew.com/2017/...-wage-bill-she-said-as-a-candidate-shed-sign/
After all her disparaging remarks about it in recent days, it was pretty clear what Mayor Catherine Pugh was going to do with the bill to raise Baltimore’s minimum wage to $15:
Veto it.
The only question was how would she frame the decision, considering her clear campaign promise a year ago to sign the bill.
It was the first question she was asked during today’s brief news conference to announce her planned veto.
At the time she made the campaign pledge, Pugh said to a group of reporters, “I wasn’t aware I was going to have to come up with the money to fix up our school system. Nor was I aware of the fact that I would walk in the door and I’ve got a DOJ federal contract that I have to deal with that’s on my desk, a consent decree. We don’t know at this point what that cost is going to be.”
But what about her statements in interviews and written answers in candidate questionnaires unequivocally promising to sign a $15 minimum wage bill?
“I don’t think they would make me swear on a Bible. They asked me: ‘Do I support?’ And I absolutely do support. But when you ask me as the chief executive officer of this city what I will do as it relates to the conditions of this city currently and where we are economically, I have a right and a responsibility to respond on behalf of all the citizens of this city.”
Pugh said she was persuaded, after talking with assorted community and business stakeholders as well as neighboring county executives, that raising the minimum wage to $15 in Baltimore would drive businesses out of the city, taking away jobs for the unskilled.
She said she decided the city should not get ahead of the state, which is raising the minimum wage to $10.10 by 2018.
Her decision brought quick condemnation from the Fight for $15 Baltimore Coalition, which pushed a version of the bill last summer as far as the full City Council, where the measure failed.
“We are deeply upset that Mayor Pugh has broken her campaign pledge by vetoing this legislation, which promises to give tens of thousands of workers higher wages and the opportunity to lead self-sufficient lives,” said coalition chair Ricarra Jones.
“As a state senator, Mayor Pugh was a strong supporter of a livable minimum wage and explicitly promised to sign the Baltimore wage bill as mayor. Today, she has made clear that promises are made to be broken. The voters will remember her turn-around.”
https://www.baltimorebrew.com/2017/...-wage-bill-she-said-as-a-candidate-shed-sign/
