The four-day Democratic National Convention in August is expected to pump $160 million directly into the regional economy.
The economic shot-in-the-arm, whatever the total actually ends up being, will be a welcome boost. But we’re beginning to question whether the short-term benefit is worth the long-term expenses.
Denver, and Colorado, could be left holding the bag for years to come.
Even before the Democrats awarded their national convention to Denver, Mayor John Hickenlooper had to promise a union-run hotel, the city’s first. He delivered.
Then, with the memory of picket lines set up by Boston police during the 2004 DNC convention hanging quietly over negotiations, Denver cops received at least a 14 percent salary increase for the next three years. The contract nearly tripled the percentage raise handed out in the previous three-year contract.
And last spring, after Gov. Bill Ritter wisely vetoed a bill making it easier to form labor unions in Colorado, the AFL-CIO threatened to ask national Democrats to find a new city for the convention if the state didn’t adopt a pro-labor measure.
Teamster president James Hoffa Jr. confronted Ritter, saying if he and Hickenlooper didn’t work out some key issues, the convention could be plagued with protests and picket lines.
“It could blow up,” Hoffa told Ritter.
Months later, right on cue, Ritter delivered his Friday afternoon executive order, granting state workers unnecessary collective bargaining rights that will drive up the cost of state government.
Unions have been thriving only in the public sector, and Ritter’s order ensured that they will continue to flourish there — at least until there’s a new governor to overturn the order.
And now, parking lot workers at Denver International Airport are the latest to hold the city hostage as they negotiate a new contract.
The Service Employees International Union’s chapter director for parking employees, Dennis DeMaio, said the union will strike during the DNC if it needs to. The union is concerned about which company may get the contract to manage parking at DIA.
The threat of a strike is enough to perk up most ears on the city council. After all, what would happen if 40 percent of the more than 6,000 delegates who are union members refused to land at DIA while their brethren were striking?
Then we learned that three city councilmen, two with strong union ties, met privately with representatives of the union and one of the companies vying for the parking contract. Not only was the meeting in violation of Colorado’s open meetings law, it raised questions about who those councilmen are working for: the union or Denverites?
Hickenlooper has promised that not a penny of taxpayer money would be spent on the convention. Yet it appears taxpayers could pay more indirectly for having the convention here.
As we move forward, our elected leaders need to govern based on what’s best for Denver and Colorado, and not just on what may appease labor during a four-day convention.
The convention may well end up being one of the best things to happen to the area in years. We certainly hope it is. But citizens shouldn’t have to pay for it forever.
To allow unions which represent just 7 percent of Colorado’s private workforce to permanently encumber the state in exchange for a four-day party would indeed be unfair to Colorado citizens.
