Here's the link from the Denver Business Journal

http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/storie s/2007/02/05/daily80.html

Choice quotes:

"Gov. Bill Ritter vetoed the controversial pro-labor House Bill 1072 Friday, telling Capitol reporters that he thought the process that brought it to his desk was flawed and the debate rhetoric overheated.

Ritter, however, said he agreed with the bill "in substance" and would have signed it had the process been different.

"Opposite sides dug in, refusing to consider reasonable compromises," Ritter said in his veto letter. "The bill's proponents made no effort to open a dialogue with the opponents. At times, the opponents were neither respectful nor civil. It was overheated politics at its worst."

The measure, sponsored by Rep. Michael Garcia, D-Aurora, did away with the current two-step election process that unions and employers must go through before striking all-union shop agreements. All-union agreements require all of a company's employees to pay union dues as a condition of employment. While they must pay fees, workers can't be forced to join a union under federal law.

During the campaign, Ritter told two labor organizations in written questionnaires he would support eliminating the second election.

"But I strongly believe that the way we do the people's business is as important as what we do," he said.

Ritter was under heavy pressure by business groups to veto the measure. They said the pro-union bill would send the wrong message to prospective employers looking to expand or relocate to Colorado."

You know, with CO being touted as a "blue state" model, you wonder why you can't get a blue governor to actually step up and support organized labor, which means so much to blue electoral chances.

Obviously, this points out the necessity of holding elected offical accountable to their promises and bolsters the argument for a progressive infrastructure independent of any particular party.

Regardless, the fact that a blue governor with a blue legislature won't sing somehting as important to blue electoral chances as a low stregnthing the right to organize is alarming and needs to be addressed.

I would suggest called to Ritter's office decrying the veto and insisting that he sign a new version of the bill those doens't cave to corporate interests.

Mail
Bill Ritter, Governor
136 State Capitol
Denver, CO 80203-1792

Phone
(303) 866-2471