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September 15, 2005 08:00 AM UTC

Bill Ritter Gets Big Labor Union Endorsement

  • 41 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

Bill Ritter’s campaign announced today that he has received the endorsement of the UFCW labor union (grocery workers), which is one of the largest and most powerful unions in Colorado. We first reported last week that Ritter was on the verge of picking off some union endorsements, and he got a big one today.

This is big news because State Senator Joan Fitz-Gerald had been touted by Colorado AFL-CIO President Steve Adams as his favorite candidate for governor, and without the unanimous support of labor Fitz-Gerald loses one of her big chips.

Click below for the full press release…

UFCW Local 7 Endorses Bill Ritter for Governor

United Food & Commercial Workers Local 7, which represents more than 22,500 union workers in Colorado, has endorsed Bill Ritter’s candidacy for governor.

Local 7’s executive committee voted to endorse and donate the maximum contribution of $5,000 to Ritter earlier this week.

“Bill is a great friend to the working people of Colorado,” said Local 7 President Ernest L. Duran Jr. “This is a resounding endorsement. Bill’s personal history and political beliefs are 100 percent in keeping with our primary mission of improving the wages, benefits and working conditions across the state. We are excited to get out there and help get him elected him as Colorado’s next governor.

Ritter, 49, is the son of a union member and a former union member himself. His father was a dry-land wheat farmer who also belonged to the Operating Engineers union. Ritter became a member of Local 720 when he was a pipe layer working his way through college at Colorado State University and law school at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

“I’m grateful to Local 7 for their endorsement,” Ritter said. “It is a tremendous honor since I know they share my goal of strengthening Colorado’s economy. Too many Coloradans have lost ground recently on quality job opportunities and health coverage, and we can’t continue to fall behind.”

Ritter is scheduled to deliver a key luncheon address on Friday to the annual Colorado AFL-CIO convention in Steamboat Springs. He also addressed the Colorado Professional Firefighters Association in Vail on Monday and has met with other Colorado labor leaders since announcing his candidacy for governor.

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41 thoughts on “Bill Ritter Gets Big Labor Union Endorsement”

  1. Bye Bye Andrew
    Bye Bye Joanie
    If they do not decide soon Big Bill will have an insurmountable lead. Bill Ritter ought to send  Romanoff’s and Fitz-Gerald’s advisers a huge Christmas gift as their weak kneed advice has probably cost their bosses a chance at going to the next level.

  2. Give the president of the Senate and the Speaker of the House credit for putting Colorado’s future ahead of their personal ambitions.  If C and D fails, the next governor would be forced to dismantle our higher education system and let our highways rot.  I admire them for fighting the battle that counts now.  And there’s still a full year between this off-year election and the gubernatorial race.  Plenty of time for either to get in if they wanted.  Only on boards like this do political junkies play politics 24/7 non-stop for two years while ignoring governance.

  3. Despite the postings on this website, it is the assembly-going members of the party who decide who is one the ballot, and the registered electors who decide the elections. The voters who typically vote in party primaries are those who have more of a concern who represents their party which keeps the voter turnout for primaries pretty low. Of course there is always the chance that something very strange will happen between now and August causing higher turnout for the primary, but I am not holding my breath.

    If one was to judge the standings of primary contestants by this site alone, they would be very mislead.

    For example, Marc Holtzman is touted as a real contender on here very often and is even listed in the lead in the “Big Line”. However, from Dem point of view, we hardly every talk about the 06 Gov’s race in terms of beating Holtzman, but nearly always in terms of beatng Beauprez. Holtzman is clearly being viewed already as an “also ran” by potential opponents.

    On the Dem side of that race, it is looking more and more likely that Joan Fitz-Gerald will be joining the race, probably in Nov. I don’t base this on any inside knowledge, just merely my assessment of the tone of public comments and events over the past month. It is pretty clear to see that Joan will have an advantage over Ritter from Day 1 because she better represents the goals and ideals of the Dem. party than Ritter does.

    Bill Ritter is his own man, and a likeable fellow, but his politics simply will not appeal to a majority of Dems at the State Assembly. Will he get his 30% to get on the ballot? Probably. Will he win the primary? Probably not.

    As far as the general election goes, a Fitz-Gerald vs. Beauprez match-up will be an interesting battle. Both have those who love them and those who hate them, but all of those numbers are a very small percentage of the over all vote. The vast majority of the vote (particularly the all-valuable unafiliated 1/3 of the voters) are still to be won over one way or the other.

    My $.02 (backed up by 15 years in Colorado politics).

  5. I also seem to recall Dan saying that labor unions were going to wait until November because they knew to wait on the other candidates. That’s not how it works, Dan.

  6. Correction: What I said was that labor unions that endorse prior to Novemeber would be ones that had no intention of ever supporting anyone besides Ritter to begin with. I also pointed out the fact they know the scoop just like anyone else: there will be another candidate in Gov’s race for the Dems.

  7. If Dan can offer two cents based on his 15 years in politics, here’s my nickel’s worth based on 40 years in the trenches.  Democrats can only dream about facing Holtzman who, if he does win the nomination, would leave a savagely divided party in his wake, based on his venomous attacks against Gov. Owens and the 19 Republican legislators who put Refs C and D on the ballot.  Beauprez is the GOP’s best shot and would probably take out Fitz-Gerald.  But a moderate Democrat like Ritter vs. Beauprez would be too close to call.  But Dan is wrong in assuming that if Ritter does get 30 percent at the convention he would lose the primary.  Democrat conventions are way left, witness the top line for Mike Miles. Democratic primaries are won by centrists like Salazar. Fitz-Gerald is no Miles, but a key union endorsement for Ritter unquestionably helps him woo the moderate and decisive Democratic base.
    That’s the way this Republican sees the loyal opposition, anyway.

  9. I’m kinda with Dan on this one… Isn’t this the same Union that has tried and failed to pull off several strikes in the last two years?

    I just have a hard time being intimidated by a Union collecting dues mostly from minimum wage pay checks. Sure it’s another feather in Ritter’s cap, but I just don’t buy the weight teddet thinks it carries. There is still room for someone further left than Ritter… It’s just that no one can find a willing candidate.

  10. Most grocery workers who are full time are far above minimum wage.  You must go to the store in the evening when the part-time high school kids work.  UFCW has 1.5 million member nation-wide, and there are actually a lot more industries involved besides grocery workers.

    Don’t be so fast to dismiss this endoresement.

  11. Cool, cool…
    I admit I don’t know the Union well. I’m going off my perception here.

    But isn’t perception that half of it?

    Even if my statement was incorrect (and I am willing to concede it is insofar as the wages of the Union members), my perception was that this is a Union of unskilled, min. wage workers and the Union leaders have chronic problems pulling off labor disputes.

    I am as uninformed about the inner working of Colorado Unions as AVG seems to be of politics… If I didn’t think this endorsement was that big a deal, how far is the endorsement going to go with the guy in the street?

    I still say the net effect of the endorsement is nothing.

  14. Labor enorsements do carry a small amount of weight in dem primaries. Over the past several years, the weight of that influence has diminished. One thing a labor endorsement does bring is another funding resource through the small-donor group concept.

    Having said that, I have little doubt that Joan (assuming she does run) will have her own funding sources already lined up.

    All of the funding issues at hand at this point are pre-primary sources. Under our campaign finance laws, post-primary funding is a new game and players will all start over. Most people/groups who funded any Dem prior to a primary are highly likely to also fund the Dem still standing after the primary, even if it is not the group’s first choice.

  16. Let Ritter have the grocery clerks union (of which I once was a member in high school and college); Beauprez will win with the WalMart voters.  Sure Ritter — or any Dem — also will get the teachers’ union endorsement — the CEA, the bastion of improving educational outcomes for children — har har har.  At this point in American there is little difference between the ACLU and the NEA and its affiliates.  Values voters have had enough of that “get God out of the pledge and turning Christmas into a Winter Holiday” stuff.

  17. Dan,

    OK, I may not have as much political experience as the rest of the people on this site.  However, I may come to having some the deepest roots in Colorado.  My family has been here four generations working on five.  I have spent equal time in rural Colorado as well as the Metro area.  Dan, if all of your assumptions were correct, Miles and Strickland would be our senators, Heath would be our governor and Gore might be our President. 

    Colorado is known as a swing state for what reason?  Colorado is full of moderates!  These moderates tend to lean slightly right.  If you talk to any Republican politicians they fear Ritter more than they do Fitz.  Ritter has a farming background, he is known for his stance on crime and he has some religious values not manufactured like some candidates.  Does this sound like a Democrat; not really until you look underneath the layers of the onion.  Ritter belonged to the union.  He values Public Education.  He has significant credibility in the minority community.  He was elected in Denver!  Does this sound like a Republican?  This sure sounds like a Democrat.

    I will admit it is hard to get past ideology; in politics it is a religion.  However at the end of the day; victories count!  Any candidate from either of the two political parties will get at least 33% in a state wide race.  However, the credibility of a candidate is how they will get that extra 17.1%?  What cross appeal will they have to get these voters?  A candidate must be able to reach those in the middle who might be slightly on the other side.  That means they must have some of those values that cross party lines.  I will name you two Democrats that have/had this ability.  Romer and Salazar; where they from Holly and The San Luis Valley!  I have seen a lot of changes in Colorado; however one thing is constant that this is a swing state.

    I wonder how the division at National AFL/CIO might play into pictures of who get endorsed.  The unions to keep things together might hesitate in creating more division.  This would play into Ritter?s camp and give him a boost.

  18. Andrew Romanoff and Joan Fitz-Gerald need to stop playing Hamlet. Their narcissism is revolting. They love the attention of people like Steve Adams encouraging them but lack the guts to make a decision. Putting the interests of the state first my ass. Giving speeches to twenty people is not doing one thing to pass anything. Pure and simple Bill Ritter had the guts to run Romanoff and Fitz-Gerald lack the guts to run but want to play the big shot. Instead of the first name of Governor their first names come January 2007 will be Former as in Former Speaker and Former Senator. Gutless wonders is what they are, purely and simply

  20. “Dan, if all of your assumptions were correct, Miles and Strickland would be our senators, Heath would be our governor and Gore might be our President.”

    Not sure how my comments were transformed into the above. Miles and strickland would seem to be opposite examples. Miles was blown out of the water in his primary, while Strickland came pretty close to winning in the General. Heath, nor any other Dem, didn’t really stand a chance against a popular incumbent (which Owens was at the time).

    As far as Romer and Salazar go, they had statewide appeal, and also had held statewide office before running for Gov. and Senator respectively.

    You’re right, Colorado is a swing state, and even though it took a fairly hard GOP turn through much of the 90’s, it is coming back to center/swing again. That’s why I say the Fitz-Gerald/Beauprez match-up will be very interesting. They will be truly battling for the vast center of the electoral spectrum, each one representing somewhat equal distances to the left and right.

    If it were to be a Ritter/Beauprez match-up, I am afraid the candidates would seem too similar to most voters and Beauprez would have the edge simply because he has the most state-wide name recognition.

  22. Actually, Dan is not a Tool, he’s a democrat.
    Former state Rep. Steve Tool is a Republican, as was his father, the legendary Jean Tool, who brought us John Love as governor, among other things.  Steve Tool was made director of the Division of Motor Vehicles by Owens, then xecutive director of the Department of Health
    Care Policy and Financing, after Karen Reinertson left.  One more time: Tools, Republican.  Dan Willis, Democrat.

  25. Vote for the Narcissist of the Year:
    Angie Paccione — I will run for Congress is you agree to give me $2 million
    Andrew Romanoff
    Joan Fitz-Gerald — our support for C & D is so essential that we cannot make up our minds until this great election is over. Where would C & D be without our great help?
    Ken Gordon
    I am like Martin Luther King walking across the State. How come no one is walking with me? How come no one is at my rallies? How come the press is ignoring me?

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