Feel free to MapQuest or Google Map the coordinates.
The offices of the Democratic National Committee and the AFL-CIO are fewer than 3 miles apart in Washington.
Having lived in our nation’s capital, I can tell you for sure there are countless coffee shops, steakhouses and hotels within walking distance of both offices.
So why then do DNC chair Howard Dean and AFL-CIO president John Sweeney need to fly to Denver for a much-heralded tête-à-tête (ultimately, it fell through) to discuss the future of labor in Colorado?
I can’t recall voting against either one of those guys.
The scripted dance between unions and Democrats, sadly, will not reach its soap operatic finale until the last possible moment to maximize media exposure.
Sweeney, in last week’s episode, told reporters that there was plenty of work to be done before he’s satisfied with the selection of Denver as the site of the 2008 Democratic National Convention.
To which a citizen of Denver might retort: Who cares what he thinks?
Or perhaps the more pertinent question is how much do Mayor John Hickenlooper and Gov. Bill Ritter care what Sweeney thinks?
How far are those two willing to go to placate union bosses? Neither has said for the record that he will not tolerate a gun pointed at the heads of Coloradans.
How many no-public, no-media-allowed meetings will be conducted – like the one Thursday involving the mayor and labor officials – to discuss policy issues that affect all of us?
On Friday, I attended a “Strategic Planning Session – Preparing for a Remarkable Year” at the Colorado Convention Center to search for clues.
It was a brainstorming get-together where participants began chewing on ideas and wondering what to do with 35,000 visitors in 2008.
Admittedly, I only caught bits and pieces of the talk after dozing off to a cliché fest that included “synergy … changing the world … team effort …” and the always odious “breakout sessions.”
My ears perked up, however, when Ritter had his turn at the microphone and issued assertive words on the issue of labor unions and the convention.
Turns out that Ritter – like almost every politician who struggles with a controversial issue – blamed the media.
According to Ritter, the media were creating the perception that there was strife. The media, he said, were putting a “wedge in this issue.”
Funny, I don’t recall the media prompting Jim Hoffa to point his threatening finger at the governor in Washington a couple of weeks ago. I’m also pretty sure Denver Post reporter Chuck Plunkett hadn’t prompted Hoffa to claim the labor situation would “blow up” in our city if unions didn’t get their way.
I’m also virtually certain that no Post employee purchased Sweeney’s ticket to Denver for his faux meeting aimed at blackmailing the city.
Later, Ritter went on say that he’d never met a local labor leader who wasn’t concerned with economic development and the future of Colorado – and, yes, I cringe, the need to “build bridges.”
Perhaps. But the duo in question, Sweeney and Hoffa, aren’t concerned about Colorado or bridges.
Colorado has a legislature that forwards bills to the governor, who either signs or vetoes them. Nowhere in that process does it mention Dean, Sweeney, Hoffa, unions or bridges.
Most of us are hopeful that the Democratic convention provides Colorado with an economic boost.
But at what price? What happens once the convention revelers go home? What is being promised behind doors?
If having this convention means that Colorado is now beholden to Howard Dean and John Sweeney, maybe Coloradans would rather skip it.
Because, while it is all quite dramatic now, at some point every soap opera ends.
And while the media didn’t create this one, they should be able to report the surprises the final episode holds.
David Harsanyi’s column appears Monday and Thursday. He can be reached at 303-954-1255 or dharsanyi@denverpost.com
