April 02, 2012 08:27 PM UTC

I Never Knew Thee, Cesar Chavez

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• by: Colorado Pols

The Pueblo Chieftain’s Patrick Malone reports, one yardstick for the ratchet rightward:

Every senator regardless of party and all House Democrats listed themselves as co-sponsors of the [Cesar] Chavez resolution, among lawmakers present when the vote happened. Eight House Republicans declined to sign on as supporters of the tribute…

[Rep. Libby] Szabo, who is Hispanic, and [Rep. Marsha] Looper, whose husband is of Hispanic descent, said Chavez’s ethnicity was not a factor in the decision not to support the resolution.

In fact, last year Looper co-sponsored the resolution and delivered an impassioned speech about Chavez’s contributions through the lens of her husband’s grandmother’s experiences.

“I don’t recall (last year’s resolution) being as heavy in the union language,” Looper said. “And that was very disappointing to me, because we should be honoring (Chavez) for his work, not the union contracts.”

But a comparison of last year’s resolution recognizing Chavez and this year’s revealed that the language was identical. [Pols emphasis]

Rep. Marsha Looper, of course, is in the midst of the nastiest GOP primary in the state–it’s pretty obvious why she is changing her tune on this normally uncontroversial resolution honoring farm worker activist Cesar Chavez. It’s a little less clear why Rep. Libby Szabo made this decision, having self-identified as Latino for the purpose of criticizing Democrats–though Szabo is at least consistent, having not sponsored the resolution last year either. It’s also worth noting that Rep. Robert Ramirez, who did not sponsor last year’s resolution, did this year.

In any event, claiming there is a difference this election year in the identical language one had seen the previous year is a fairly straightforward embarrassment all by itself.