Hit him hard:
The Pennsylvania Democratic Party released a new web video hitting Gubernatorial candidate state Senator Scott Wagner (R-York) for his opposition to increasing the minimum wage, and his comments about friends skiing in Chile.
The video uses clips from a ‘Scott Wagner Coffee and Donuts’ from the end of March where Wagner voiced his opposition to the minimum wage.
“Scott Wagner is an out-of-touch Harrisburg insider who spends too time roaming the halls of the capitol and rubbing elbows with special interests to care about what matters most to Pennsylvanians,” PA Dems Communications Director Beth Melena said in statement.
Melena also provided these quotes and links to Wagner’s past statements:
“And I have friends that ski, and a lot of my friends go to Chile over the summer and ski on the glacier.” [Newsradio 1070 WKOK Interview, 4/7/17, Audio]
“I am not in favor of raising the minimum wage to $12. I don’t really know of anyone who is paying minimum wage now because you can’t find anybody.” [Scott Wagner Coffee and Donuts in York, 3/31/17]
“I don’t really know of anybody that is paying the minimum wage today,” Mr. Wagner told print reporters. [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 1/12/2017]
Meanwhile, Governor Tom Wolf (D. PA) continues the fight to raise the minimum wage:
Gov. Tom Wolf wants to raise Pennsylvania’s minimum wage to $12 an hour, a nearly $5 increase from the status quo.
But getting that done this year with the Republican-controlled assembly will be “tough,” state Sen. Jay Costa told The Incline on Thursday after a rally outside the City-County Building. He was joined by Mayor Bill Peduto, state Rep. Ed Gainey, County Executive Rich Fitzgerald and Councilman Corey O’Connor.
“We have to continue to be advocates, strong advocates,” Costa continued. “That’s why events like today, raising awareness about where Pennsylvania stands as it relates to the states in this region, the Northeast region, [are] important. Talking about the face of the minimum wage person: that they’re minorities and primarily women and older adults. That conversation, that advocacy has to take place.”
Pennsylvania’s minimum wage is currently $7.25 an hour, the lowest allowed by federal law. The state is surrounded by higher minimum wages in New York ($10.40 an hour), Maryland ($9.25), West Virginia ($8.75), New Jersey ($8.62), Ohio ($8.32) and Delaware ($8.25).
As Peduto pointed out Thursday, Pittsburgh is gradually raising the minimum wage for city employees to $15 an hour. But that’s about all the city can do, because of its second-class status.
Wolf’s budget calls for the state to increase the minimum wage to $12, which if implemented by Jan. 1, 2018 would increase revenue by $40 million, according to an analysis by Pennsylvania’s Independent Fiscal Office. The IFO also projected a loss of nearly 54,000 jobs because of the increase, while more than 1.2 million workers would have a higher wage as a result. The governor’s office disputes the analysis.
Wolf is also gearing up for another major fight against Republican State Senate extremists like Wagner on this issue:
Seated to Shay's right were Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards and Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf.
"We're heading into the next round in Congress when these issues are being debated, and we're going to have to lift them up," said Richards, referring to the expectation that Republicans in Congress will bring forward another plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act when their session resumes.
Closer to home, Pennsylvania Republicans have introduced Senate Bill 3, which calls for shortening the window for a legal abortion from 24 to 20 weeks, and Senate Bill 300, which would effectively defund the family planning clinic Planned Parenthood.
That bill, which was introduced by state Sen. John Eichelberger, would reprioritize how Pennsylvania divvies up medical funding, to put Planned parenthood at the bottom.
Wolf promised to veto both if they reach his desk.
Weekday, mid-afternoon press events are not the most accessible form of public outreach. About 20 people attended the roundtable, which also had representatives from Planned Parenthood Keystone, the Ann Silverman Community Health Clinic, and the Bucks County Women's Advocacy Coalition. Many in attendance had the lanyards and ID cards that denoted members of the press or government staff. Several camera people of Showtime's political documentary series "The Circus" hovered at the sides of the room - that show is featuring Richards in an episode about resisting Trump's policies.
And Wolf has also been in an ongoing battle with Wagner on this:
Anita Salvato, an executive assistant, lost her job Feb. 13.
It took her eight weeks to get her first check, despite intense effort and no opposition from her former employer, a Philadelphia hospital.
This week, when legislators return from recess, the House may vote on a measure that would apply $15 million to temporarily fix the mess and rehire some of those laid off. A Senate version, SB 250, passed by 39-8 on March 29, with Sen. Scott Wagner (R., York), a potential gubernatorial challenger, voting no. His fellow Republicans say the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry is poorly run, evidenced by its costly failure to modernize its computer system.
The measure won't permanently resolve problems of running the state's unemployment benefit system, say advocates for the unemployed. A new funding source must be found. One idea? Shift some of the unemployment taxes that employees pay from benefits to administration.
Salvato will be watching. After working for decades, she’s behind on the mortgage for her South Philadelphia rowhouse. She thinks she’ll lose her car. Luckily, she qualified for food stamps, although so far, she has received only $100 worth.
“I manage,” she said. “I have soup or something.”
The current debacle stems from a political dispute between Wagner and Gov. Wolf, but its roots reach back to at least 2002, grounded in how states fund unemployment compensation.
This week, Wolf was able to at least resolve the unemployment benefits issue for now:
A spokesman says Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf will sign a bill headed for his desk intended to be a short-term fix for problems with the state’s unemployment compensation processing system.
It all started last December, when a dispute between Senate Republicans and Governor Wolf over state funding for the system led to hundreds of layoffs and the closure of several unemployment call centers.
A Wolf administration official testified at budget hearings in February that at one point, people were waiting up to six hours for assistance on the phone…if they could get through at all.
It’s important we help Wolf win re-election. Not only do we need to keep a Democratic Governor in the Keystone State, we need Wolf in office if we are ever going to undo the GOP’s gerrymandering on Pennsylvania. So let's get ready to squash Trumpism next year. Click here to donate and get involved with Wolf’s re-election campaign.