February 12, 2013 08:26 AM UTC

Thou Doth Protest Too Much, Dean Singleton

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• by: Colorado Pols

Yesterday, we discussed an editorial fro the Denver Post from this past weekend that bore telltale signs of editorial intervention from the Post's publisher, the notoriously anti-labor Dean Singleton. Singleton, as we briefly recounted, has a long history of suddenly inserting his boorish writing style and penchant for hyperbole bordering on the silly whenever the subject of organized labor comes up in Colorado. The Post's infamous 2007 front-page editorial ludicrously comparing then-Gov. Bill Ritter to Jimmy Hoffa is the most-cited example of this, though this weekend's wild-eyed screed against a bill making it easier for firefighters in Colorado to organize is sure to add to the legend of our local would-be Citizen Kane.

And folks, as it turns out, there's possibly a very good reason why Singleton and/or the Post's editorial board felt it necessary to go totally over the top against this legislation making it easier for firefighters to unionize–shrilly denouncing the bill as "ill-conceived," "onerous," "deplorable," a "disaster," and "fundamental nonsense." This is harsher language than the Post has used against much more clearly bad things. We suppose they could have adding something about Senate Bill 13-025 "pulling the plug on Grandma," but there are length considerations.

But back to why the Post went so over the top on this bill. Basically, nobody agrees with them.

Results from a statewide survey released today by Myers Research reveals strong voter support (86%) for ensuring collective bargaining rights for Colorado fire fighters. The timely results of this survey are arriving just as a firefighter collective bargaining bill, Senate Bill 13-025, passed the Senate on Tuesday, February 6, 2013, and moves to the House.

“This survey demonstrates overwhelming support for fire fighters and to ensure that we have a seat at the table to negotiate as a group,” said Mike Rogers, President of the Colorado chapter of the International Association of Fire Fighters. “86% of voters supporting collective bargaining rights for firefighters sends a strong message to our elected officials at all level about the priorities of voters.”

Andrew Myers, president of Myers Research | Strategic Services, said, “It is rare to see such a high level of support for an issue like this.  Public sentiment is clearly with firefighters on collective bargaining rights and legislators should be wary of being on the wrong side of this issue.”

That's out of a press release yesterday from the Colorado Professional Fire Fighters union: according to this poll from Myers Research, a whopping 86% of voters responded affirmatively to this simple question:

And as it relates to firefighters in Colorado, do you favor or oppose allowing firefighters to negotiate with local governments over issues like better safety equipment, ensuring safe staffing levels, and health care and survivorship benefits if they are killed in the line of duty?

Seriously, folks, who is going to say "no" to that question except for a tiny fraction of ideologically-stilted union bashers–and apparently, the Denver Post editorial board? The answer, of course, is nobody. Regular people just don't look at firefighters and see greedy union moochers. In fact, a 2009 Gfk poll found that firefighters are the most trusted profession in the eyes of the public. We haven't seen a poll on the trustworthiness of newspaper editors, but we seriously doubt they poll at 92% like the firefighters did.

To conclude, what we have here is a bill that takes an action supported by fully 86% of voters, in support of public safety professionals who over 90% of the public considers trustworthy. It's the public-opinion equivalent of building Mother Teresa a new orphanage. Framed the right way, this should be a no-brainer.

Instead, the generally liberal editorial board of the state's newspaper of record has a sophomoric meltdown.

If you don't know the history behind it all, like Dean Singleton's pathological hatred of unions and telltale employment of middle-school grade hyperbole when he seizes the editorial board mic Kanye West-style–that's what we imagine happening anyway–you might begin to think the Post's schizophrenic Obamacare-loving union-bashing viewpoint makes sense. We're here to inform the community that it's actually not supposed to.