Well here’s a new one. In the midst of the heated MN-08 debate, multi-millionaire Stewart Mills III announced that the federal minimum wage was “unconstitutional.”
This is the same Stewart Mills III who – despite at one point making $1600 an hour and recently profiting from a reported $1.2 billion sale of his family business – has said that minimum wage jobs are “stepping stones” for “sixteen-and-seventeen year olds.”
Mills was pounded for his “stepping stones” gaffe in 2014, with actual Duluth minimum wage workers pointing out that the average minimum wage earner is over 35, and two-thirds of them are working mothers. But that didn’t stop Mills from declaring again yesterday that these jobs are for kids.
And this might be news to Mills, but the rest of the world has known since 1941 that the federal minimum wage has been constitutional. The Supreme Court ruled as such, in a unanimous opinion in US v. Darby Lumber Company, which upheld the constitutionality of the Fair Labor Standards Act. So while Mills can say he disagrees with it, he doesn’t get to declare it unconstitutional.
“We shouldn’t be surprised Stewart Mills III believes the minimum wage is ‘unconstitutional’ considering he says minimum wage jobs are ‘stepping stones’ for teenagers, which is simply false,” said DCCC Spokeswoman Sacha Haworth. “Stewart Mills III is entitled to his own opinions, but not his own facts. However, it seems that part of Stewart Mills’ act is to mislead voters with made-up statements, which is why Minnesotans in the 8th District are going to once again see through this façade in November.”