The Tap: Saturday, June 4, 2016

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The Tap covered election news, public policy, and other noteworthy events from February 2016 to February 2022.

Review of the day

The excerpts below were compiled from issue #20 of The Tap, which was published on June 11, 2016. READ THE FULL VERSION HERE.

Federal

• Hillary Clinton won the U.S. Virgin Islands’ Democratic caucuses on Saturday with 84 percent of the vote. Clinton won all seven of the territory’s pledged delegates, and, so far, two out of five U.S. Virgin Islands superdelegates—Democratic National Committeeman Emmett Hansen II and congressional delegate Stacey Plaskett—have publicly expressed their support for Clinton. Barack Obama won the U.S. Virgin Islands in the 2008 Democratic caucuses.
  • See also: Presidential election in the U.S. Virgin Islands, 2016

• U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter proposed expanding a "security network" among the U.S. and Asia-Pacific countries, which would entail having the militaries of the countries included in the network train and operate together. Carter said that the proposed "principled security network" would include "nations building connections for a common cause, planning and training together, and eventually operating in a coordinated way.”

Local

• In Cleveland, Mayor Frank Jackson (D) and City Council president Kevin Kelley publicly opposed a proposal to raise the city’s minimum wage from $8.10 to $15 per hour. The proposal was brought to the Cleveland City Council after the group Raise up Cleveland, backed by the Service Employees International Union, sponsored a petition drive to collect signatures in support of the wage increase. If passed, the measure would only affect the city of Cleveland, not Ohio as a whole, and would gradually raise the wage to $15 by 2020. Proponents argue that the increase is needed to keep Cleveland’s business sector regionally competitive and to propel workers into the middle class. Opponents claim that the wage hike would ultimately lead to lost jobs and would be implemented too quickly for businesses to adjust. Letters of opposition that were sent to multiple state and national leaders on June 3, however, cited the Cleveland-only portion of the proposal as the main cause for the city leadership’s dissent. The city council has not voted on the measure during the two hearings held on the matter. If the proposal is voted down or is amended before adoption, petitioners can opt to bring the original proposal back to voters.
  • Debates over the minimum wage have become commonplace in cities across the United States.
    • Seattle, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C., have all begun implementation of $15 per hour minimum wages in recent years. In 2014, the Seattle City Council unanimously supported a minimum wage increase for full implementation in 2021, and San Francisco voters approved a ballot measure to phase in the full wage hike by 2018. The Los Angeles City Council soon followed in 2015 when it voted 14-1 to enact the increase by 2020. A third California city, San Mateo, is expected to enact a $15 per hour minimum wage ordinance in July. It would phase into effect in 2018 with some exemptions ending in 2020. On June 7, 2016, the Washington, D.C., City Council unanimously approved a proposal to raise the city’s minimum wage to $15 by 2020.
    • Two more cities—Miami Beach, Florida, and San Diego, California—recently approved smaller minimum wage hikes. The Miami Beach City Commission voted in favor of increasing the minimum wage to $10.31 in 2018 with an increase over time until it reaches $13.31 in 2021. San Diego voters approved Proposition I by more than 63 percent of the vote, which will increase the city’s minimum wage to $11.50 in January 2017.

Preview of the day

The excerpts below were compiled from issue #19 of The Tap, which was published on June 4, 2016. READ THE FULL VERSION HERE.

Federal

• Democrats in the U.S. Virgin Islands are holding a caucus on Saturday to allocate the territory’s seven pledged delegates. The Virgin Islands also has five superdelegates, at least two of whom—Democratic National Committeeman Emmett Hansen II and congressional delegate Stacey Plaskett—are backing Hillary Clinton. Hansen had previously supported Bernie Sanders but switched to Clinton’s side in mid-May after learning more about Clinton’s stances on issues related to U.S. insular territories. Hansen said, “It comes down to one thing: what’s best for the Virgin Islands, to be fully incorporated in the United States.” Barack Obama won the Virgin Islands’ Democratic caucus in 2008. Republicans held a caucus on March 10, 2016, to elect six unpledged delegates. Less than two weeks later, however, the Virgin Islands GOP disqualified those six pledged delegates on the grounds that they violated party rules. The party then promoted six alternate delegates in their place. The Virgin Islands does not cast votes in the general election.
  • See also: Presidential election in the U.S. Virgin Islands, 2016