Conservative businessman Ron Unz has abandoned his push to ask voters to raise the state's minimum wage to $12 an hour, saying he couldn't raise the money to get the measure on the ballot.

Unz, a Republican who authored a 1998 ballot measure that sharply restricted bilingual education in California, garnered attention with his announcement last fall that he would lead an effort to raise California's minimum wage to $10 an hour in 2015 and $12 the following year. The wage is now set to increase to $9 on July 1 from the current $8, and to $10 in 2016.

Unz argued that the wage increase would be beneficial to all residents because it would make working people less reliant on welfare and other government aid.

But the 52-year-old Unz, a onetime software entrepreneur who was publisher of the American Conservative magazine from 2007 to 2013, said he isn't wealthy enough to fund the campaign himself. He was unable to persuade labor unions or wealthy conservative donors to kick in the money, he said.

"A lot of media coverage made me sound an awful lot wealthier than I am," Unz said Monday. "The bottom line is I certainly have money, but I can't afford to pay for the campaign myself."

Unz said he had met with some of the state's largest labor groups and that union officials had expressed interest, but ultimately wouldn't commit.

"One or two of them seriously considered partnering with me, but they already had financial commitments, campaigns they were working on," he said. "Also, I am a conservative Republican they never knew before this popped up. It's hard to get involved with somebody they hadn't even heard of before."

Unz said one wealthy Republican individual had also expressed interest in bankrolling the campaign, but that partnership didn't pan out either.

Unz said he was pleased with the dialogue that his proposal started, noting that a number of high-profile conservatives, including Fox News personality Bill O'Reilly, recently came out in support of raising the minimum wage.

He said he hopes the state Legislature will tackle the issue, though lawmakers voted only last year to raise the state minimum wage.
