Weeks before the first gradual increase in Seattle’s minimum wage kicked in, conservative pundits decided that the city’s vibrant restaurant scene was shuddering to a halt. Numerous prominent outlets on the right touted a thin report in a local magazine that a handful of well-liked restaurants were closing down to avoid the wage law.

High-profile writers confidently proclaimed that Seattle’s once-proud restaurant scene was in retreat and that the wage hike was already chilling business activity and killing jobs, based on one anecdotal report. None of that was true. When the Seattle Times asked them about the story, the restaurant owners in question laughed off the claim that their decisions were motivated by the wage law. But even that direct testimony didn’t stop the media wave all the way. The conservative National Federation of Independent Business ran a post parroting the disproven restaurant closures claim days after the Times debunked the anecdote underlying the narrative.

Now, there’s even harder evidence that the right was wrong. The Big Picture pulled the numbers on how many restaurant permits have been […]