Labor-Backed Group’s Ad Slams Emmer On Waiters’ Wages (VIDEO)

Minnesota gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer (R)
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

Minnesota state Rep. Tom Emmer, the presumptive Republican nominee for governor, is now being attacked in a new third-party ad over his recent advocacy of a policy known as a “tip credit” that would keep waiters’ wages low — a flap that was best exemplified by his public complaint that some of them were supposedly making over $100,000 per year.

“Why is Tom Emmer so worried that the lowest paid workers are making too much?” says one woman in the new ad from the Alliance for a Better Minnesota, a liberal organization affiliated with labor and environmental groups. Another woman also adds: “I do not think Tom Emmer personally cares about working Minnesotans.”

Emmer has publicly backtracked from his claim that waiters were making over $100,000 and that “Something has to be done about that.” He has also attempted to control the damage by waiting tables for a photo-op, proposing that tips be made tax-free, and holding a town hall meeting with servers that did not go well.

The ad has a buy of over $300,000, and is running for one week. A new Rasmussen poll out this morning shows Emmer trailing the three Democratic candidates. The TPM Poll Average also shows the Dems narrowly ahead.

Latest DC
Comments
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Associate Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: