Gov. Ritter violates commitment to business

Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter won office in 2006 with substantial support from the business community, which saw in him an ally for business, ala former Colorado Gov. Roy Romer, also a Democrat.

But with Ritter’s executive order granting collective-bargaining status to thousands of state workers, it’s clear that rather than a new Romerite, business is saddled with a Rocky Mountain version of Hugo Chavez – a governor who bypasses the legislative process and rules by fiat.

Ritter seemingly had cemented his ties to business when he vetoed a pro-labor bill earlier this year, arguing that the process by which the bill was written was not broad enough and did not include adequate input from business.

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“The message is this: We’re going to do things differently,” Ritter said at the time.

Ritter has violated that pledge, in fact preparing his Nov. 2 executive order with no input from business and issuing a press release about the action late on a Friday, when media coverage would be minimal. He didn’t even have the courage to announce the order personally, announcing it only via a press release.

We now know that Ritter’s earlier veto of a pro-union bill was not a sign of a pro-business bent. His brazen power-grab indicates a dangerous willingness to pander to union interests, while disregarding prior commitments to seek the input of business.

One has to wonder if the peace that Ritter and others secured among union interests for the Democratic National Convention in Denver next year was won only with a promise of a quid pro quo – a stroke of a pen at an opportune time.

The order itself could lead to budgetary disaster, despite its no-strike provision. Colorado state employees already earn 25 percent more than their counterparts in neighboring states, according to the Rocky Mountain News, and rank ninth in the nation in terms of average salary.

Those are reasons why former Colorado Gov. Dick Lamm recently came out in opposition to Ritter’s move, preferring the current civil-service system of pay raises, which has served state workers – and the state – well.

The Denver Post recently editorialized on Ritter’s executive order, warning that, “We’re concerned this may be the beginning of the end of Ritter as governor.”

If so, Ritter has no one but himself to blame. Business has been ready and willing to embrace this governor, who came into office with a commitment to promoting pro-business policies but who, with one executive order, squandered all he had gained with the business community.

This is not about partisan politics. This is about a governor with a stated commitment to seeking the input of business, a stated commitment to greater input on public policy.

We now know that those commitments were worth nothing.

Christopher Wood can be reached at 970- 221-5400 or via e-mail at cwood@ncbr.com. Catch his blog, Woody’s World, at www.ncbr.com.