Mara, in a 2011 campaign photo.

In 2008, Patrick Mara defeated incumbent Republican Councilmember Carol Schwartz in part because she had ushered through a bill guaranteeing paid sick leave for employees of D.C. businesses. The bill, which was unanimously endorsed by the D.C. Council at the time, enraged the business community, which threw its weight behind Mara in the Republican primary. He defeated Schwartz, only to lose to former Councilmember Michael Brown in the November general election.

It’s five years later, but the issue hasn’t died down. Rather, Mara’s opponents in the April 23 At-Large Special Election have turned it back on him, claiming that his opposition to extending the bill’s provisions to restaurant workers proves that he’s and out-of-touch Republican who cares more for business interests than he does for the working man.

In late March, former reporter and current candidate Elissa Silverman urged D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson to extend the provisions of the law to tipped restaurant workers, who along with independent contractors and students were exempted from the law’s provisions in 2008.

“As you know, nearly 80 percent of D.C. restaurant workers do not have paid sick days and almost 60 percent of workers have reported cooking, preparing, and serving food while sick, according to the Restaurant Opportunities Center,” wrote Silverman. “Even those few restaurant workers who are covered by the legislation are not aware of it, due to lackluster promotion and enforcement of the law. This is an issue that has impact beyond an individual or a household; it is a matter of public health, as well.”

According to a coalition of organizations backing the cause, including restaurant workers would offer them a measure of economic justice while protecting consumers from the possibility that a sick worker opts to come to work instead of missing out on their daily pay.

At a forum yesterday hosted by a group of social advocacy organizations that have asked D.C. to join the likes of San Francisco in expanding the scope of the paid sick leave law, five of the six candidates—including Interim Councilmember Anita Bonds (D-At Large), Perry Redd, Paul Zukerberg, and Matthew Frumin—said they would vote to give restaurant workers paid sick leave, with only Mara dissenting. (The Post was there and has more details.)

Much like he did in 2008, he argued that D.C. is already unfriendly enough to small businesses and that the council shouldn’t micromanage how bars and restaurants handle staffing issues. Mara isn’t only speaking theoretically, though—until recently, he was an investor in Meridian Pint, the popular Columbia Heights bar and restaurant. John Andrade, who owns the restaurant (along with Smoke & Barrel in Adams Morgan), agrees with Mara’s take on the bill.

“I do my very best as the principal owner to take care of my staff above and beyond what I would argue is 99 percent of the restaurants in the industry, and I do very well at that. But when it comes to the government mandating that I take care of paying my employees in their absence, whether it be from being sick or emergencies or other issues that may arise, I’m not in favor of the government mandating it,” he said.

Andrade said that even if sick leave were mandated, the hourly wage of $2.77 doesn’t return much after taxes are taken out. As such, he prefers to work with his employees to let them make up lost time by working other shifts. Other restaurant owners have also noted that profit margin in the industry can be razor-thin, leaving owners with little extra money to work with to cover paid sick leave.

The D.C. Chamber of Commerce—which strongly opposed the 2008 law—has already endorsed Mara, and the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington came out and criticized Silverman for wanting to burden small businesses with more regulations and restrictions. (The association didn’t return a phone call seeking more details.)

Restaurateurs like Andy Shallal of Busboys and Poets, though, have argued that paid sick leave is an expense that he and his counterparts can afford. Additionally, he has rejected the argument that restaurants would be saddled with additional costs if the law was expanded to cover tipped workers. A recent study out of San Francisco has found that most businesses—including restaurants—have done just fine with a broader paid sick leave law.

The issue could continue to follow Mara in the closing weeks of the campaign. Though he now says that the existing paid sick leave law is a settled matter, yesterday he also hesitated to jump on board with his fellow candidates in saying that the minimum wage should be increased. (Redd went as high as $14, while Silverman and Bonds settled with $12.50.) Still, Mara has sounded a different note in arguing that D.C.’s regulations and taxes make is harder for small businesses to thrive and easier for big box retailers and chains to survive.

His opponents have broadly (and somewhat simplistically) tried to paint him as just another Republican, but Mara has generally been able to brush them off, citing his support for marriage equality, advocacy for D.C. voting rights and work on the school board as evidence that space exists between the national GOP and local GOP. On the issue of paid sick leave, though, Mara has been boxed in by his opponents, and it could be an issue for undecided voters when they cast a ballot on April 23.