September 05, 2007 07:16 PM UTC

News Flash: Ritter Discusses Legislation!

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• by: Colorado Pols

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How many times can you say “Gotcha!” before people stop paying attention? Apparently a lot, as Republicans in Colorado continue to play their “a-ha!” routine in regards to Gov. Bill Ritter and discussions over a collective bargaining plan for state employees. Ritter has never pretended that he wasn’t discussing legislation surrounding collective bargaining, and he has never shied from publicly stating his support for the idea. Yet Republicans continue to insist that this is all a really big secret – the kind of really big secret that everybody already knows about.

The Rocky Mountain News reports today on a story that they’ve basically already reported once before:

Gov. Bill Ritter and legislators are quietly working with two major unions on a bill that would, for the first time, give state employees the power to bargain collectively for better wages and benefits.

The closed-door efforts were flushed out into the open Tuesday when Ritter’s office released more than 1,000 pages of documents in response to an open records request by a Republican consultant…

…Republican campaign consultant Brad Jones, who also is managing editor of facethestate.com, a “free market news Web site,” filed the open records request.

(Brief pause while we stop laughing at the absurdly silly title “free market news Web site.” Although, in fairness, it does sound better than “Andy McElhany’s Web site.”)

Here’s the headline from today’s “free market news Web site”:

Revealed: Governor’s Secret Plot to Bring Collective Bargaining to State Gov’t

Um, yeah. Great work, Nancy Drew, but the “secret plot” has been revealed about a dozen times already. Ritter’s spokesman talked about it just last week in a Rocky Mountain News story:

“We’re working on how to best partner with state employees to deliver services faster, smarter and more effectively,” said his spokesman, Evan Dreyer.

“It’s too bad Senate Republicans don’t think we should have productive and meaningful relationships with the state’s snowplow drivers and other employees,” he added.

Revelations this month of new, pro-union policies and partnerships in state government have drawn Republican complaints.

Ritter has not shied from the pro-union characterization. During his campaign last year, he said state employees should have the right to collectively bargain.

Read that last part again: “During his campaign last year, he said state employees should have the right to collectively bargain.” The very same idea was mentioned back in April by The Denver Post. Ritter has also been openly talking about it as he traveled around the state in July and August talking to state employees.

So, why is this a story again? The Governor of Colorado is “revealed” to be having preliminary discussions about potential legislation. We would assume that he is having preliminary discussions about a lot of potential pieces of legislation, just as former Gov. Bill Owens and every other governor before him has always done.

Obviously Republicans don’t like the idea of collective bargaining for state employees, and that’s fine. But it’s really disingenuous to pretend that this is a secret and that it is somehow sinister to hold preliminary discussions about an issue that Ritter has never been shy about supporting. That’s kind of what a governor does. He discusses issues and legislation with various legislators, individuals and groups.

What’s next? “Revealed: Governor Meets With Legislators to Discuss Budget!”