Economy

Governor LePage Not a Big Fan of Democracy, Very Big Fan of Poverty Wages

Maine Governor Paul LePage wants to prohibit cities from voting to pass their own minimum wage hikes and one of his lackeys in the state legislature will introduce a bill for him to do just that.

AUGUSTA, Maine — Gov. Paul LePage is promoting a bill to thwart municipal officials in two of Maine’s largest communities from raising the minimum wage for employers within their city limits.

LePage’s bill — LD 1361, An Act to Promote Minimum Wage Consistency — faces preliminary action Tuesday in the Senate, where it will be introduced by Assistant Majority Leader Andre Cushing, R-Hampden.

Really.

MaineMinWageBill

"Minimum Wage Consistency" in this case means a consistency of $7.50 per hour which is a poverty wage. The cities of Portland and Bangor want to increase their minimum wage to $8.75 and $9.75 respectively, and that's not exactly spectacular, but Governor LeShithead is hoping to put a stop to these modest proposals.

It's telling that the conservative notion of sovereignty stops at the state line but not the city limits. They're in favor of central government power as long as they're the ones who control it. Many major cities in conservative red states are controlled by liberals and Democrats.