Gov. Bill Ritter’s bold veto of a controversial labor union bill is sparking a daring experiment in cooperation under the Golden Dome. It is a far better model than the poisons of confrontation, and if it succeeds, Colorado will be better for it.
Rather than sulking after Ritter’s veto,House Speaker Andrew Romanoff did something much more creative. He quickly cobbled together a business-labor council to advise the legislature on such key issues as health care, job training and economic development. Ideally, the council will seek common ground that will ease a path for consensus legislation.
By Saturday, Romanoff had already appointed two heavyweights – Mitch Ackerman of the Colorado Council of the Service Employees International Union and Tom Clark of the Metro Denver Economic Development Corp.
“Consensus doesn’t magically materialize out of thin air,” Romanoff said. “Consensus is forged by leaders. Nobody really benefits from paralysis.”
Ritter agreed with the intent of House Bill 1072, which would have made it somewhat easier to set up all-union workplaces, but he disagreed with the way it was pushed before the legislature without input from anyone except organized labor. He didn’t just wring his hands over this mistake, he took out his veto pen.
His veto was a tough message to legislators and interest groups trying to short-circuit the broad coalition that brought Ritter to office. It was a rebuke to supporters who feel Ritter owes than anything more than an honest effort to do what’s right for Colorado.
But, in the blink of an eye, there is a new tone at the state Capitol. The governor doesn’t want “cynical politics,” as he called them, to bog down his agenda. We’re confident a vast majority of Coloradans would agree.
“I committed in my first State of the State speech just a few weeks ago, and I promised the people of Colorado over the last two years, that I would work tirelessly to bridge traditional divides, to bring together groups that often find themselves at odds: Republicans and Democrats, business and labor … ,” Ritter said in a well-crafted veto message.
Republicans are patting themselves on the back for urging Ritter’s veto, but their partisan vision of the episode is beside the point, utterly.
Romanoff’s business-labor council can be a constructive place for a dialogue that allows groups to defend their own interests while seeking a measure of common ground – to Colorado’s benefit.
