“It’s a bunch of politicians who want to buy votes,” San Diego City Councilman Scott Sherman said of Democrat councilmembers pushing a minimum wage increase in a suspiciously-timed vote to overturn a mayoral veto. “Don’t let them tell you that you’re not worth more than $11.50 an hour. Every single one of you are,” Sherman encouraged citizens, as he emphasized their ability to raise themselves above minimum wage without government intrusion.
“I think they [council Democrats] were hoping for [a] unanimous vote to overturn [a] veto and look unanimous on video,” the Republican Councilman told Breitbart News of the special session San Diego City Council meeting, announced four days before it was to take place.
Councilman Sherman rushed back from a fishing trip with his son on a remote island to vote and speak to the realities and impact on citizens, including minimum wage employees. In the video of the meeting posted, he calls to those employees not to lobby government for paltry personal increases, but prove to employers that they are worth more and see their wage be raised through their own hard work.
The meeting was scheduled for August 18, right in the middle of a legislative recess period. Council Democrats were made perfectly aware that all three Republicans on the council were scheduled to be out of town during the recess; however, on August 14, Council President, Democrat Todd Gloria, signed a letter that declared the short-notice, special session meeting.
Democrats on the council originally passed the minimum wage increase back on July 28. The increases are in excess of impending state minimum wage increases. San Diego’s Mayor Kevin Faulconer subsequently vetoed the measure, but council Democrats pushed back, scheduling the short-notice vote to overturn the Mayor’s veto.
The curious aspect of the timing was the fact that council Democrats could overturn the veto with a simple lock-step vote of the Democrats. Only six votes were needed to overturn the veto. There are six Democrats on the council. However, they still seemed to make a point to schedule the vote while they were supposed to be on recess, and Republicans were specifically scheduled to be absent.
What they didn’t plan on is the will of Republicans to make the meeting and Sherman’s determination to be there in person to voice the concerns of area residents and businesses with whom he has spoken.
Sherman rushed back from a trip with his son to be there. Running straight from a small plane, complete with almost a week’s worth of beard growth and casual clothes, Sherman addressed the council. He reasoned, as shown in the video, why the business and citizen-oppressing minimum wage increase should be opposed, including the heavy negative effects on the people of their city.
As expected, that day a 6-2 party line vote overturned the veto, but not without Sherman voicing the impact on employees and small businesses.
Breitbart News recently reported that, of the three Republicans on the council, just one of three was unable to rush back or participate remotely due to restrictive remote participation requirements set.
Follow Michelle Moons on Twitter @MichelleDiana