After Governor Cuomo’s State of the State address, Working Families Party executive director Dan Cantor released the following statement:
Two important ideas came out of Albany today: the Governor’s plan to get money out of politics and Speaker Silver’s proposal to raise the minimum wage. Both measures have our strong support, and show the possibility that government can, indeed, work for the people.
Governor Cuomo’s proposal makes an important statement: big money should not be able to buy and sell influence in Albany with big campaign contributions. Such a major change surely won’t come easily, but putting voters back in charge and fixing Albany is well worth the effort.
Speaker Silver deserves tremendous credit for his leadership in support of raising the minimum wage. You don’t have to make minimum wage to know that it’s impossible to make ends meet in New York on just $7.25 an hour, or $290 a week. People who work hard simply shouldn’t live in severe poverty. New York is better than that. While our economy is still stagnant, raising the minimum wage is one of the only ways we can push wages upward, boost demand, and get our economy moving again.
If we can accomplish those two good ideas in the next few months, New York will be a much better place for it.
