Liberal group warned Clinton campaign about $15 wage ‘losing jobs’

The head of the liberal Center for American Progress privately warned Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s campaign staff against endorsing a $15-an-hour minimum wage, saying that it would be bad for the economy.

Despite that, both the Clinton campaign and the center have since promoted state and local activists’ efforts to push a $15 rate, and Clinton has even said she would sign $15 federal legislation.

Neera Tanden made the warning in an April 2015 email to top Clinton campaign staffers John Podesta, Robby Mook, Jake Sullivan and Jennifer Palmieri. The five were discussing a recent email from New York Mayor Bill de Blasio that gave them a heads up on a rally he was planning that would promote, among other issues, a $15 federal minimum wage. That would more than double the current federal rate of $7.25.

“Substantively, we have not supported — you will get a fair number of liberal economists who will say it will lose jobs. Most of rest seems fine (obviously trade sticks out),” Tanden said in response to de Blasio’s email.

WikiLeaks has released a trove of illegally obtained emails from the inbox of Podesta, formerly the head of the Center for American Progress and now Clinton’s campaign chairman.