Gov. Dannel P. Malloy supports an increase to the minimum wage.
Just not in Connecticut.
Malloy is at odds with many of his Democratic colleagues in the Connecticut General Assembly who are pushing to increase the state”™s minimum wage from $8.25 to $9.75 an hour by July 2014.
Earlier this month, he told reporters that he would prefer to see Congress increase the federal minimum wage ”” currently at $7.25 an hour ”” before Connecticut pursues an increase.
“I absolutely support the president”™s move to raise nationally to $9 and I”™m open to discussion about what we should do in Connecticut,” Malloy said, according to reports. “I would prefer it be done on a national basis, but I understand that Connecticut frequently leads.”
We would argue, however, that passing the buck to Congress does not qualify as leadership.
Instead, one might look to Malloy”™s counterpart in New York, where Democrats control one house of the state Legislature and Republicans control the other.
Just last week, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo struck a deal with legislative leaders in both parties to raise the state”™s minimum wage to $9 over three years.
Cuomo won the support of Republicans ”” who are traditionally opposed to minimum wage increases ”” by promising a package of at least $700 million in tax cuts for businesses and families.
New York”™s governor has been criticized for his closed-door agreements with top legislative leaders, and rightly so.
But it”™s tough to argue with the results: After becoming the first state to pass stricter gun regulations in the wake of the Newtown shooting, New York has taken the lead among those states pushing for higher minimum wages.
Both Cuomo, age 55, and Malloy, age 57, are lawyers. Both graduated from Jesuit colleges (Fordham and Boston College, respectively). Both are governors from left-leaning northeast states. Only one is being discussed as a presidential candidate.
Malloy would do well to follow the lead of his counterpart in Albany, and he could start by taking a stand on the minimum wage issue, rather than straddling the line.
