Ron Unz: Why I Dropped My Ballot Initiative to Raise California’s Minimum Wage

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http://www.thenation.com/article/178890/ron-unz-why-i-dropped-my-ballot-initiative-raise-californias-minimum-wage



A one-time California GOP gubernatorial hopeful, and erstwhile publisher of The American Conservative, Unz recently spoke to The Nation about his minimum wage initiative and why he broke ranks with his conservative comrades.

Sasha Abramsky: Before we talk about why you support a minimum wage, let’s talk about why, after months of optimism, you now don’t think you’re going to be able to get this on the ballot come November. Aren’t you wealthy enough to self-fund this?

Ron Unz: I obviously did not make much of an effort to debunk the media statements early on [about his levels of personal wealth]. But in my meetings with trade unions and wealthy donors, I always explained to them that I wasn’t as wealthy as people thought. I was trying to raise money to get it on the ballot. Unfortunately, it hasn’t come together.

Do you think the unions held back on supporting this because they are confident that Democrats in California’s state legislature will soon pass a higher statewide minimum than the $10 hourly wage those same legislators only recently enacted? In other words, now that public sentiment has swung behind higher wages for the working poor, perhaps legislators believe they have cover to introduce living wages legislatively rather than having to hope that a well-worded, and also popular, initiative somehow makes its way onto the ballot?

It should be very easy to do in California right now, even without the Initiative. The Democrats have a supermajority in both houses of the state legislature. I would hope that the climate has changed enough that they could now do it. I would hope the reason they are reluctant to support my initiative is they think they will get it through the state legislature—which is fine with me.