Em and Emmer

Just when I think the faltering DFL campaigns are handing the Statehouse to the GOP for another 4 years, Emmer shows he is the gift that keeps on giving:

Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer rekindled a smoldering debate Monday when he said minimum-wage workers who earn tips should have their wages reduced.

Minnesota is one of seven states that forbids employers from using a "tip credit" to avoid paying the full minimum wage otherwise required by law.

Now, from a policy stand point, the debate is fair enough to have, but from a political standpoint, this is nothing short of shoving his foot down his throat.

In 2008, Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty vetoed a bill that would have raised the minimum wage to $7.75 because it didn't include the tip credit for hourly service workers. Emmer voted against that bill. In 2005, DFLers defeated a tip credit amendment.

Emmer said he supports reinstituting the credit, which he said hasn't existed in Minnesota since 1990. He quoted a 2008 Hospitality Minnesota survey of restaurant owners that said state servers make an average of $15.43 an hour in wages plus gratuities.

And in case there is any confusion, this proposal is nothing more than a redistribution of funds from hard working Minnesotans to the wealthy business owners. And the GOP calls the liberals, socialists?!? Maybe they need to look in the mirror.

Flash