Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer will have to deal restaurant servers' ire a little bit longer.
An anti-Emmer group released a new television ad Tuesday to bash Emmer for the support he expressed earlier this month for a so-called "tip credit." In states with tips credits, employees who make tips make below minimum wage, assuming tips would make up the difference.
The group, Alliance for a Better Minnesota, has put some money behind its bashing. It said it will spend $300,000 to run the ad statewide for a week.
"Tom Emmer's plan for working Minnesotans? Cut the wages of restaurant servers," the ad begins before airing the views of servers.
Emmer has been far less than clear on his views on restaurant workers salaries. He initially said he would support a tip credit, which would allow servers to earn less than the minimum wage, but he later said he would envision freezing tipped employees' salaries if the minimum wage went up. And his spokesman said he wouldn't propose a minimum wage increase.
But he also told MPR that he would "absolutely" sign a cut in the minimum wage if the Legislature approves one and told a crowd last week that, "If you excel, you should make more than the minimum. If you are not the best, you should make less and work your way up."
Last week, he also suggested a change the minimum wage law, and for saying that some waiters make $100,000 a year, Emmer also proposing exempting the first $20,000 of servers salaries from income taxes.
Here's the ad:
