From: Subject: Edwards on Poverty Date: Fri, 13 Jul 2007 10:33:09 -0700 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/html; charset="Windows-1252" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Location: file://C:\Documents and Settings\User\Desktop\acorn.html X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.3138 Edwards on = Poverty

Edwards=20 on Poverty

New=20 York Times, June 28, 2007

 

=93In Aiding Poor, Edwards Built Bridge to 2008=94 (front = page, June 22)=20 proves the cynical saying =93no good deed goes unpunished.=94 =

As=20 president of Acorn, a national antipoverty organization, I traveled with = John=20 Edwards in 2006 to states across the country to help launch ballot = initiatives=20 to raise the minimum wage above the shamefully low $5.15 an hour.=20

Mr.=20 Edwards worked hard on behalf of these initiatives =97 leading rallies = and press=20 conferences and, outside the spotlight, helping to organize coalitions = and raise=20 funds. His efforts were both sincere and a very effective way to fight = poverty.=20

More=20 than 1.5 million of the country=92s lowest-paid workers will receive a = pay=20 increase because of these ballot initiatives. The campaigns built = momentum for=20 an increase in the federal minimum wage, which passed last month and = will help=20 another 12.5 million low-income workers.

Mr.=20 Edwards deserves to be applauded, not attacked, for finding the time and = raising=20 the money to successfully promote fairer wages.

 

Maude=20 Hurd

President,=20 Acorn

 

Boston,=20 June 23, 2007