While discussing Gov. Bill Ritter's (D) recently issued Executive Order D 028 07 with nationally syndicated newspaper columnist David Sirota on the November 8 broadcast of KBDI Channel 12's Independent Thinking, host Jon Caldara and guest Rep. Cory Gardner (R-Yuma) repeated several falsehoods related to the order, which established state employee partnerships. Besides suggesting that Ritter's Friday, November 2, announcement of the order was done “so that it didn't get as much attention,” Caldara repeated the falsehood that House Bill 1072, which Ritter vetoed on February 9, “would have made it easier for unions to, in essence, close union shops.” In addition, Gardner misleadingly asserted that Ritter's mill levy freeze (Senate Bill 199) “ask[ed] for a property tax increase without going to a vote of the people for a vote.”

In addition, after Caldara characterized Ritter's order as “a surprise movement” and stated that he was “upset that ... certain special interest groups who give almost exclusively to Democrats were working hand-in-hand with our chief executive officer” and that “those people were on the inside track, but the rest of us were on the outside track,” Sirota replied, “I guess that you were that upset when [former Gov.] Bill Owens [R] administered the state work force through executive order, as he did.” Caldara responded, “He did?” and then asked, “What change?” However, just two days earlier, while guest-hosting Newsradio 850 KOA's The Mike Rosen Show, Caldara had discussed with Owens the executive order that affected employees' ability to have union dues deducted automatically from their state paychecks, as Colorado Media Matters noted.

1. Ritter announced his executive order on a Friday afternoon in order to evade public attention

Caldara and Gardner suggested that Ritter announced his employee partnership executive order on a Friday afternoon in order to keep it “under the radar” because he was “trying to hide something.” Caldara said, “My read on that was so that it didn't get as much attention as he would really want.” Similarly, Gardner stated, “And I think if you are trying to hide something, if you want to do something, try to sneak something in under the radar so that nobody pays any attention-- maybe there's a big story Friday night about a movie that opened really big -- you sneak it in at 3, 4 o'clock in the afternoon on a Friday. Hopefully nobody's paying attention.” Later, Gardner again accused Ritter of “tend[ing] to do what's in the best interest of he and his friends. In this instance it was trying to sneak something through at 3 o'clock on a Friday afternoon.”

However, according to columnist Jim Spencer of the online political daily news site Colorado Confidential, Ritter spokesman Evan Dreyer “said the governor 'extended the courtesy' of telling [Denver Post owner Dean] Singleton and Post Editorial Page Editor Dan Haley about the executive order the day before it was issued last Friday.” [emphasis added] Furthermore, while the Rocky Mountain News noted in a November 2 online article that Ritter issued the executive order “quietly,” the article reported the governor made himself available for a Friday evening interview with the newspaper, during which Ritter “said the order, which now will go into effect without approval from the legislature, will empower state employees to improve government without tying his hands.”

Moreover, while the Post does not publish a Saturday edition, the News' November 2 online article was published in its November 3 print edition, and the Post ran articles on its website on November 2 and November 3.

2. House Bill 1072 would have allowed for so-called “closed” union shops

During the same broadcast, Caldara stated that House Bill “1072 was a public-sector union bill that would have made it easier for unions to, in essence, close union shops and force everyone else to pay union dues or their equivalent.” While Gardner affirmed Caldara's misleading statement, saying, “That's correct,” Sirota disagreed, saying, “It's not really correct.”

House Bill 1072 would have revised the Colorado Labor Peace Act to strike provisions regarding procedures under which workers preparing to negotiate a union contract can obtain necessary authority to make the contract an all-union agreement. Such an agreement requires all workers covered under the contract -- whether they are union members or not -- to contribute money to the union, through dues or fees. The text of the bill stated that it:

Eliminates the requirement that, in order to validly enter into an all-union agreement, the all-union agreement must be approved by the affirmative vote of at least a majority of all the employees eligible to vote or three-quarters or more of the employees who actually voted, whichever is greater. Makes conforming amendments.

As Colorado Media Matters has noted, Caldara made similar statements while HB 1072 was being considered in the state legislature and shortly after it passed. Contrary to Caldara's repeated claim, an American Bar Association (ABA) overview of U.S. labor and employment law published by the Bureau of National Affairs stated that a “closed shop” is illegal under the National Labor Relations Act. As the ABA overview also made clear, a “union shop” agreement, which is allowed under the Colorado Labor Peace Act and under HB 1072, can compel a worker to pay dues and fees to a union, but not to become a full member.

3. The mill levy freeze is a property tax increase that passed without voter approval

Later in the program, Gardner attacked Ritter, saying, "[T]his governor tends to do what's in the best interest of he and his friends." As an example, Gardner cited Ritter's plan to freeze property tax, or mill levy, rates as a means of redistributing sources of public education funding in the state, via Senate Bill 199, which passed the legislature on May 1. Caldara allowed Gardner to misleadingly assert that "[d]uring the mill, the property tax increase, it was going to the legislature and asking for a property tax increase without going to a vote of the people for a vote."

However, as Colorado Media Matters noted when Gardner made the same misleading statement on the September 17 broadcast of KOA's The Gunny Bob Show, the provisions of the freeze apply only to school districts whose residents already have voted to allow the retention of mill levy revenues above limits set in the Colorado Constitution.

4. “What change?”

Near the end of the broadcast, Caldara criticized Ritter for issuing the executive order in “a surprise movement.” Caldara complained, “I am upset that certain folks, certain folks, certain special interest groups who give almost exclusively to Democrats were working hand-in-hand with our chief executive officer. I'm very upset that those people were on the inside track, but the rest of us were on the outside track.” He added, addressing Sirota, “And if George Bush did that, I imagine you would be spitting fire.” After Sirota replied, “I guess that you were that upset when Bill Owens administered the state work force through executive order, as he did,” Caldara, asked, “He did?” and then asked, “What change?”

However, just two days earlier, while guest-hosting KOA's The Mike Rosen Show on November 6, Caldara discussed with Owens his 2001 issuance of an executive order that affected employees' ability to have union dues deducted automatically from their state paychecks. During that broadcast, Caldara didn't challenge Owens when he criticized Ritter for issuing his executive order “on Friday afternoon at 3 o'clock ... hoping to avoid the debate we're now having” and cited as a contrast his own paycheck deductions executive order. However, as Colorado Media Matters noted, Owens issued his controversial order -- which became the subject of a union lawsuit -- on the Friday before Memorial Day, May 25, 2001 -- a fact Caldara failed to note on the Independent Thinking broadcast.

From the November 8 broadcast of KBDI Channel 12's Independent Thinking:

CALDARA: Let's first, I want to talk about the style in which this was done before we get into the actual executive order for partnership units. The governor puts through what's been called one of the biggest changes in government in years -- and that's both by the editorial page of the Rocky and the Post recognized this pretty big change in state government. How do you feel about him dropping it at 3:30 on a Friday afternoon? You're involved in the press. My read on that was so that it didn't get as much attention as he would really want.

SIROTA: You know, I haven't thought about it exactly, you know, why he did it at the exact time. I think the issue is whether, why he did it as an executive order. I know there's been some criticism in the paper about should he have done it as an executive order, should he have done it through the legislature. You know, when I took a look at this issue I found that lots of states have done, dealt with their work forces via executive order. Lots of states have gone even farther than Governor Ritter did, actually granting collective bargaining rights through executive order. That's because the governor is the chief executive officer of the state work force. And so I think that the, sort of the attempt to make even the executive order part of this controversial is sort of ridiculous.

[...]

GARDNER: Right, Jon. And I think if you are trying to hide something, if you want to do something, try to sneak something in under the radar so that nobody pays any attention -- maybe there's a big story Friday night about a movie that opened really big -- you sneak it in at 3, 4 o'clock in the afternoon on a Friday. Hopefully nobody's paying attention. If you're trying to hide something, this was perfectly executed. Unfortunately, it was not hid very well.

[...]

GARDNER: If you go back to the legislative session, when House Bill 1072 was rushing through the legislative process --

CALDARA: And for those folks who aren't there, 1072 was a public-sector union bill that would have made it easier for unions to, in essence, close union shops and force everyone else to pay union dues or their equivalent.

GARDNER: That's correct. And so as that was rushing through --

SIROTA: It's not really correct.

GARDNER: -- through the process at breakneck speed, Governor Ritter vetoed that bill. In his veto message, he said, “How we do things, the process that we do things, is as important as what we do.” He was upset that this moved through the legislature too quickly.

[...]

GARDNER: And, again, you mentioned process earlier. I think it's important to realize, too, this governor tends to do what's in the best interest of he and his friends. In this instance it was trying to sneak something through at 3 o'clock on a Friday afternoon. During the mill, the property tax increase, it was going to the legislature and asking for a property tax increase without going to a vote of the people for a vote. And so, when it came to House Bill 1072, outcry in the business community, he did a veto. And so, again, I think the process of, completely depends on what is up to and good for Bill Ritter.

[...]

CALDARA: This was a surprise movement. Yes, you're right, I am upset that certain folks, certain folks, certain special interest groups who give almost exclusively to Democrats were working hand-in-hand with our chief executive officer. I'm very upset that those people were on the inside track, but the rest of us were on the outside track.

SIROTA: And I expect that you, I --

CALDARA: And if George Bush did that, I imagine you would be spitting fire.

SIROTA: And I expect, I guess that you were that upset when Bill Owens administered the state work force through executive order, as he did. I guess you were --

CALDARA: He did?

SIROTA: --upset with that. I guess you were upset with the Republican leadership --

CALDARA: What change?

SIROTA: -- the conservative leadership --

CALDARA: What change?

GARDNER: Democrats have been in power for four years.

SIROTA: -- who have dealt almost exclusively with corporations to make all the laws that they have made.

CALDARA: All right, you're doing the liberal two-step.

SIROTA: I'm not doing the liberal two-step.

CALDARA: Let's focus right here.