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Central Wisconsin lawmakers are divided along political lines over a recommendation to raise the state's minimum wage.Partisan tensions have been mounting in Madison since a task force recommended in May 2004 that the state raise its minimum wage to $5.70 on Oct. 1 and to $6.50 in 2006. A Republican-controlled state committee voted against raising the minimum wage in September 2004.Democrats argue that this was a GOP attempt to silence all discussion of raising the minimum wage. State Rep. Mary Williams, R-Medford, offers a different explanation. "I don't believe they were voting against a minimum wage increase," Williams said. "They just wanted a compromise." Williams, too, said she favors a compromise between the existing minimum wage of $5.15 and the task force's proposal. The proposed increase $1.35 would be bad for business, she said. On the other side of the aisle, central Wisconsin's Democratic lawmakers have come out in favor of increasing the minimum wage. They argue that the present wage, which was last increased in 1997, is out of step with the cost of living in the state. A full-time worker making $5.15 an hour brings in $10,712 annually, which is 32 percent below the poverty rate for a family of three. Keeping workers below the poverty line reflects poorly on society, said state Rep. Louis Molepski Jr., D-Stevens Point. "The minimum wage is a moral minimum wage," Molepski said. "We say a lot by what our lowest pay level is worth." . [more]