Today is the last day for Colorado Governor Bill Ritter to veto bills from the 2009 legislative session, and he has vetoed a labor supported bill related to firefighters unions. This is yet another of a string of controversial vetos by Ritter, once again, after he failed to send a clear message regarding the bill when it was being considered by the legislature, with a justification that seems to acknowledge the merits of the bill while raising process concerns (in this case, local control issues).
Either Ritter, or his key political advisors, are idiots. At this point, I'd put the odds of a credible primary challenge for Ritter in 2010 at about 33%, and his odds of re-election at an all time low (although still more likely than not, as none of the current Republican challengers seem capable of mounting a really strong campaign against him). Ritter's campaign donations and volunteer support are almost certain to be down. The base is absolutely livid. And, with or without anti-labor vetoes, big business is still not going to support him in 2010 over a Republican opponent.
Normally I saw that government should neither encourage nor discourage unions. But in the case of government employees, unions should not be allowed since they are asking for taxpayer money for their salaries.
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