Blake: Can passing bad bills help GOP?

Published March 10, 2007 at midnight

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Playing political games is what the minority party does at the legislature. What other fun is there, especially now that Amendment 41 has cut off the food supply?

But the games can be dangerous. If you help move along a bill you don't believe in just to embarrass the opposition, you can't be sure someone down the line is going to bail you out.

Consider House Bill 1008, a singularly cynical proposal the firefighters union decided to push once the Democrats took over the entire Statehouse. In order to get more cancer cases covered by workers comp, they're trying to reverse the burden of proof.

Under current law, workers comp will cover the cost of cancer treatment, but only if the employee can demonstrate that the cause is work-related. That's reasonable. Nobody really knows what causes cancer and the only studies linking cancer to firefighting are funded by the firefighters.

But HB 1008 says that most cancers afflicting firefighters after five years on the job "shall be presumed to result" from their employment.

Their employers would have to show "by clear and convincing medical evidence" that the cancer was not job-related.

Of course the bill is roundly detested by those who would have to pay higher workers comp premiums, namely the municipalities and special districts that employ firefighters. Even those in volunteer departments would be covered.

The bill was up Thursday in the House Business Affairs and Labor Committee, where the Democrats have a 7-4 edge. But lobbyists for Pinnacol Assurance (the main workers comp insurer) and the Colorado Municipal League had persuaded two moderate Democrats, Speaker Pro Tem Cheri Jahn of Wheat Ridge and rookie Joe Rice of Littleton, to vote against the bill.

So it loses 6-5, right? After all, Republicans are reliable "no" votes.

Not quite. Assistant Minority Leader David Balmer, R-Centennial, voted with the Democrats and pushed the bill over the top. Yes, the same David Balmer who has consistently voted the conservative line.

Was he having a senior moment? Had he been bought off by the unions? Lobbyists were kicking themselves Friday for not having bothered to extract the promise of a "no" vote from the usually reliable Balmer.

Bill sponsor Mike Cerbo, D-Denver, claimed not to be surprised by Balmer's vote. "I think he just likes the bill," Cerbo said with a straight face. "It's not really a Democratic bill. Firefighters and cancer - it's a nonpartisan subject."

Balmer, who looked a bit embarrassed when questioned, and Minority Leader Mike May, R-Parker, didn't want to talk about their strategy.

But there are a couple of plausible theories. First, they wanted to get the bill to the floor so they could get as many Democratic House members as possible on the record as supporting a blatantly pro-union bill. Then the GOP could use the votes against them in the 2008 campaigns. Perhaps they are hoping the bill will be killed in the Senate, even though the Democratic margin there is 20-15.

Or the Republicans may even want the bill passed in the Senate as well, putting Gov. Bill Ritter in a bind once again. If he decides to sign the bill, he will please his labor buddies for a change - but he will antagonize local governments in Colorado, a very strong political force.

But he could easily get away with signing it. It may well be a forgotten issue in the 2008 legislative elections, and even less of an issue in the 2010 gubernatorial campaign. Then the Republicans will be responsible for putting a bad law on the books that they could have easily stopped.

What's more, the GOP might lose future support from moderate Democrats like Jahn and Rice. Why should they take the political risk of bucking their own party if the Republicans are going to sabotage them just for the sake of political games?

The Republicans will have enough issues to campaign on in 2008 without helping pass bad bills like HB 1008.

blakep@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5119.

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