A fighter in front lines for wage law

0 Comments | Philadelphia Inquirer, The, January, 2007 | by Amy Worden

Among those whom low-wage workers can thank for getting a bump in their paychecks this week is a soft-spoken but tenacious lawmaker from Philadelphia. State Sen. Christine M. Tartaglione, along with a handful of Democratic colleagues, toiled for six years to overcome powerful Republican leadership and business interests to win passage of the first minimum pay raise since the federal increase in 1996.

Few realize that she waged her fight from a wheelchair. A freak boating accident in 2003 left her paralyzed from the waist down. Tartaglione, 46, quickly bounced back, rounding up support for the wage bill from her hospital bed, while enduring a series of complex back surgeries and excruciating rehabilitation. Doctors said she'd never walk again, but she proved them wrong for a...