It wasn’t supposed to be this way.
When the Democrats took control of the statehouse and Governor’s Mansion this year for the first time in nearly half a century, groups like labor were looking forward to finally gaining some ground.
But Gov. Bill Ritter vetoed their first bill out of the gate (House Bill 1072), and a Senate panel last week killed another union-sought bill to require hospitals to establish and post nurse-to-patient staffing ratios.
Although Senate Bill 10 by Sen. Lois Tochtrop, D-Thornton, had many strong opponents before its demise, Tochtrop says she believes the success that business groups had in persuading Ritter to renege on a campaign promise and veto changes to the Labor Peace Act buoyed her opponents’ efforts.
“The bill was a bit poisoned before,” she said. “But as the process moved forward, I believe they played on the hysteria that surrounded 1072.”
Hospital administrators had opposed her bill from the start, contending it would have increased administrative costs without improving patient care. They also enlisted some chambers of commerce to fight the bill, and the final opposition campaign included mailings that indicated nursing care would suffer.
When it became clear on Tuesday the bill had become toxic, Tochtrop said, the Senate Health and Human Services Committee killed the bill so she could go back to the drawing board.
“Business is concerned that labor will have an ear. I think that they’re nervous, and unfortunately these two issues that they became hysterical over were very minor,” she said.
Indeed, some union officials say privately that they fear that any bills perceived as being pro-labor will carry a stigma, and that Democratic senators who expended political capital to ward off eight hours of Republican opposition during debate on HB 1072 may be less inclined to stand strong in the face of uncertain support from Ritter.
Among those proposals some fear may fall victim are a proposal to extend workers’ compensation coverage to firefighters with certain types of cancer linked to chemicals from fires, and a bill to let employees who are hurt on the job pick their own doctors. That change to the workers’ compensation system has been passed the past two years but vetoed by former Republican Gov. Bill Owens.
House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, D-Denver, is establishing a business-labor council to act as an advisory panel to the legislature in hopes of bridging some of the divides between the two groups.
And he and House Majority Leader Alice Madden, D-Boulder, insist HB 1072 is in the past.
Some senators seem less inclined to forgive and forget after carrying most of the public heat over the proposal, which sailed through the House before registering on many opponents’ radar screens.
For instance, Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald, D-Jefferson County, has yet to weigh in publicly on the Romanoff concept. Since the veto, she also has avoided directly commenting on the governor – in any forum.
In a speech to the Colorado Municipal League on Thursday, she made no mention of the Democratic chief executive or the complementary agendas that previously have been mainstays in speeches by Democratic leaders.
Ritter, in his veto message, said he killed the bill not because of its substance but because of the process and the overheated partisan politics surrounding its passage.
Asked if she feared future labor efforts would be jeopardized, Fitz-Gerald said: “If there is another bill that affects organized labor, you may see some of the old wounds opened. … But as far as I’m concerned – because I still believe in the value of organized labor – I think their bills ought to be judged on their content and not on the furor that surrounds them. That’s unfair.”
Capitol Bureau chief Jeri Clausing writes every Sunday. She can be reached at 303-954-1555 or jclausing@denverpost.com.
