A coalition led by Outback Steakhouse puts together $1.25-million to dissuade voters from adopting the minimum wage hike on the ballot Nov. 2.
By JONI JAMES
Published October 19, 2004
TALLAHASSEE - Two months ago no one thought it possible to beat an initiative to raise Florida's minimum wage by $1.
But that hasn't stopped a coalition of restaurants and supermarkets, led by Tampa's Outback Steakhouse, from trying.
The Coalition to Save Florida Jobs raised $1.25-million through Oct. 8 with all but about $250,000 coming from restaurants or supermarkets, campaign finance reports released Monday by the state Division of Elections show.
The reports also show the group spent $1-million, including $782,207 on TV ads statewide. The ads shown in the Tampa Bay area last weekend dubbed a minimum wage increase as the "fifth disaster" that would hit Florida after a quadruple punch of hurricanes in August and September.
"Now's not the time to be putting Florida's economic future in further jeopardy," the campaign says.
But no one is betting yet that the cash or the doomsday message will be enough to defeat the proposal on the Nov. 2 ballot.
Two weeks ago, a Mason-Dixon poll showed 59 percent of registered voters support Amendment 5, a citizen initiative to increase Florida's minimum wage to $6.15 an hour.
The measure, backed by labor and ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, also would raise the salary for employees who rely on tips, such as waiters, by $1 to $3.13 an hour. And it includes a requirement that the minimum wage increase every year based on inflation.
Campaign finance reports for Floridians for All, which is backing the proposed wage hike, were not in Monday.
Supporters note that it's been seven years since the federal government raised the minimum wage and Florida would be the latest of several states that have increased it.
But businesses see it as the worst example of government interference in the market economy, potentially undermining their pay structures, eroding their ability to increase staff and forcing them to grant wage hikes each January.
But that's a tough sell.
"We still have a hill to climb," Rick McAllister, chief executive officer of the Florida Retail Federation, acknowledged Monday. He is the chairman of the anti-minimum wage coalition. "But we're making progress and we just hope we don't run out of time."
In an August St. Petersburg Times poll, 73 percent of likely voters said they planned to vote for the measure.
Democrats, including those hoping to recruit voters for Sen. John Kerry's presidential bid, have largely backed the measure. Organizers see it as a way to increase turnout among Democrats who might otherwise stay home on Election Day.
The popularity of the measure is daunting for the opposition. Gov. Jeb Bush, usually a staunch defender of free-market economics, has largely taken a pass on opposing the measure publicly in a year when his brother is on the presidential ticket. So have many other Republicans, who generally oppose increasing the minimum wage but don't want to risk alienating voters in an important battleground state.
Associated Industries of Florida, one of the state's most influential business lobbies, has sat out the campaign. And the Florida Chamber of Commerce has contributed just $60,000, far less than the $110,000 contributed by McAllister's retail federation and the Florida Restaurant Association.
The biggest dollars by far have come from Outback and its political action committee. The combined $400,000 account for nearly one-third of the campaign's contributions.
But Outback Senior Vice President Joe Kadow downplayed the significance of the amount.
"I think it's a question of timing (of the campaign finance reports) that we look like the main funder. It's not my understanding it will remain that way."
Those donating $100,000 each include: GMRI Inc. of Orlando, related to the Darden Restaurant group of Olive Garden fame; Brinker International of Dallas, owner of Chili's and other chains; and Publix Supermarkets of Lakeland.
The Food Marketing Institute, a Washington, D.C., food retailer group, contributed $125,000.
