Mitch Perry
A day after Mayor Philip Levine announced his intention to raise the minimum wage in Miami Beach to $13.31 an hour, he’s now purchased ads to air in three California markets explaining why it’s a good thing.
It’s a rebuke to Gov. Rick Scott, who, before he went to the Golden State earlier this week to attempt to recruit businesses to come to Florida, aired radio ads criticizing California’s decision to raise the minimum wage.
“There is nothing more powerful than a worker motivated to succeed,” Levine said Thursday in a statement. “I saw firsthand while creating my companies. My business success was largely based on the incredible work, dedication and loyalty of my employees.”
Levine announced Wednesday he’ll introduce a resolution to raise the minimum wage within the city limits of Miami Beach to $10.31 in July 2017. The wage would then increase $1 per hour a year until it hit $13.31 in 2020. It’s a direct challenge to Scott, who in 2013 signed a law preventing any city in Florida from raising the minimum wage on its own.
Now Levine, widely considered to be contemplating a run for governor in 2018, is further sticking it in Scott’s eye. Levine’s ads praising a higher minimum wage come two weeks after Scott ran ads paid from Enterprise Florida’s marketing budget criticizing the decision of Gov. Jerry Brown to raise his state minimum wage to $15.
“Gov. Scott’s failed policies continue to hurt Floridians and his latest stunt to use taxpayer dollars to fight against raising wages is simply wrong,” Levine said. “I look forward to working with my colleagues next week to set the bar in Florida by establishing the first citywide minimum living wage.”
Levine’s radio ads are scheduled to air in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Sacramento.
