FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 09/15/2014
ANCHORAGE — After months of telling Alaska’s working families he doesn’t support an increase in the minimum wage because it would “kill a half a million jobs” U.S. Senate candidate Dan Sullivan is desperately attempting to create distance from his own radical beliefs. According to the Wall Street Journal, Sullivan is claiming he will support an Alaska ballot measure to increase the minimum wage, a claim that conflicts with his promise to vote against the proposition just one month ago.
“From the minimum wage to the Violence Against Women Act, Dan Sullivan won’t be honest with Alaskans about what he believes on core issues. Dan Sullivan has always dismissed the needs of Alaska’s working families who would benefit from a increase in the federal minimum wage and his most recent attempt to flip-flop proves he’ll say or do anything in an attempt to deceive Alaskans. Mark Begich knows the importance of paying workers a fair living wage and remains the only candidate in this election that supports raising the minimum wage and equal pay for equal work,” said Max Croes, Communications Director for Alaskans for Begich.
Examples of Dan Sullivan’s opposition to raising the minimum wage:
“Simply raising the minimum wage isn’t an answer; it’s an acknowledgement of President Obama’s broken promises and failed economic policies.” Dan Sullivan [AP, 1/18/14].
“Sullivan said 24 percent of teens are unemployed as it is and that a Congressional Budget Office study found that the proposed federal boost would ‘probably kill a half million jobs.’ He didn’t mention the other main point in the report, that more than 16 million Americans would see wages rise.” Anchorage Daily News [Anchorage Daily News, 4/30/14].
Sullivan’s confusing flip-flop follows numerous examples of Sullivan’s shaky stances on core issues such as support for the Violence Against Women Act, his residency, Alaska’s fisheries and whether or not he claimed tax credits while declaring his million dollar home in Maryland his “principal residence” but voting in Alaska.
Sullivan never lifted a finger as DNR commissioner or attorney general to raise the minimum wage which would raise 5,000 Alaskans out of poverty and increase incomes for 49,000 Alaskans in minimum wage jobs. Sullivan’s refuses to support a federal increase.
Also, Sullivan continues to receive millions of dollars in backing from anti-minimum wage, anti-worker groups like the Koch brothers and the Club for Growth. Sullivan received the Club for Growth’s endorsement after a secret interview where he pledged to support the organization’s agenda, like opposing an increase to the minimum wage.
Raising the minimum wage would raise incomes for 1,700 Alaskan veterans. Of the 49,000 Alaskans who will see increased incomes, 56 percent are women. Sullivan’s belief that raising the minimum wage would kill jobs puts him in direct opposition to common sense as well as the majority of Alaskans who support the measure, further ignoring 16 million Americans who would see wages rise.
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