Fresh from their victory with the Seattle City Council, backers of a $15 minimum wage want to take the campaign to other cities. Homecare workers are also angling for a $15 minimum.

In my column today, I urge caution. No need for any one to rush to be the second lemming.

There’s a natural experiment underway in Seattle. It makes sense to let it play out. Remember, the second lemming has a choice. No need to play follow the leader over the cliff. Take a beat. See what happens. You just might save everyone a lot of misery.

Meanwhile some business owners are upset that they were not told that any ballot measure to boost the wage to $15 could not appear on the Seattle ballot this year. Charter amendments can only be placed on the ballot in odd-numbered years. The threat of a November ballot issue helped drive the mayor’s committee to compromise.

Dave Meinert, a small-business owner who served on Murray’s Income Inequality Advisory Committee, said he was angry that the pressure put on the committee to reach a decision was based on a threat of a 15 Now ballot measure in November.

“We rushed through the process based on a deadline that was false,” Meinert said. “Many people now feel the process was dishonest, manipulative or incompetent.”

A business group backing a $12.50 minimum for Seattle was also caught off guard.

Tim Eyman has dropped an initiative to the Legislature that would require uniform wages across the state, preempting municipalities from setting their own wage floors. Seattle Times editorial writer Erik Smith is intrigued.

Elizabeth Hovde writes in The Oregonian that the Seattle experiment is good theater but bad policy. She brings a unique personal perspective to the discussion.

When I was 15 living on my own in Seattle, it was hard. The roomates were many, living conditions ranged from good to interesting, I missed a lot of high school and took jobs at places that gave workers discounted food. I quickly became convinced it was a good idea to put myself through college in hopes that I could get a job with a wage that afforded me a house of my own one day. Had I a $15-an-hour job — or one paying an equivalent value in the early ’90s — maybe I wouldn’t have been convinced.

Gary Burtless, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, thinks minimum wages are best set at the state or national level. He cites the Seattle risks.

If a $15 an hour minimum wage has a chance of working and enjoying broad political support, Seattle is a good place to test the idea. I will be interested to see whether low-wage Seattle businesses continue to prosper even after they are required to pay a minimum wage that is 50% higher than the one faced by competitors in nearby suburbs. The risk of a big minimum-wage hike at the city level is that the city’s low-wage employers will be harmed in their competition with out-of-town businesses that sell the same products or services.

The Seattle Times says the city must be prepared to revisit the wage hike if “the most dire predictions are realized.”

There’s no reason for other cities to follow suit. Let the experiment play out.