WBOC: Johnny opposed $15 minimum wage to protect Eastern Shore small businesses

When Annapolis rammed through a $15 minimum wage by 2025, Johnny stood with Eastern Shore small business owners and voted no. The wage that sounds reasonable in Bethesda or downtown Baltimore is the same wage that hits the Federalsburg diner, the Cambridge hardware store, and the family restaurant in Easton right in the bottom line — places where a single payroll bump can mean cutting a server’s hours or closing the doors.

Johnny didn’t stop at a no vote. He worked the bill from the inside, pushing back on the worst provisions and pulling the legislation closer to something Shore businesses could absorb without laying people off. The bill that passed wasn’t the bill Annapolis Democrats wrote — and Johnny made clear it still wasn’t fixed.

Here on the Eastern Shore, a job at $11 an hour beats no job at all. Johnny kept naming that reality while the supermajority kept ignoring it.