SPEAKOUT: Ritter playing his own game of chicken
By Mason Tvert
Published May 1, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.
What do chickens and citizen initiatives have in common?
Apparently, Gov. Bill Ritter does not want to see either on the state's ballot this year.
The Humane Society of the United States was on its way to Colorado voters with an initiative that would have phased out cruel caging practices that confine chickens, cows and pigs to severely cramped cages - so cramped they restrict the animals from standing up, lying down or turning around. The cause was just, the ballot title was set and polling showed the measure was likely to be approved come November.
Then the governor stepped in.
According to proponents and opponents of that initiative, the state's chief executive made it clear he did not want this measure on the 2008 ballot. To that end, his office and Colorado Agriculture Commissioner John R. Stulp coordinated meetings between the Humane Society, farming industry leaders and agricultural officials, at which a compromise was reached.
The chairs of the House and Senate Agriculture, Natural Resources and Energy committees then pushed a bill through the legislature (Senate Bill 201) that will phase out inhumane caging practices for pigs and cows. Chickens, however, would not be included in order to appease the state's powerful egg-producing industry. A large public showdown between animal protection advocates and agribusiness interests was averted, and Colorado's ballot will be that much lighter come November.
You can't blame the Humane Society for taking the deal. It accomplished two-thirds of its legislative goals and avoided a costly campaign that would have been met with serious opposition from Colorado's egg producers. The Humane Society made it clear, however, that it will continue to fight for change in the egg industry.
One major drawback of the decision to forgo a noisy statewide initiative campaign in exchange for a quiet legislative compromise is the loss of a great opportunity to draw public attention to these heinous, yet commonplace farming practices.
But like Big Oil, Big Egg does not appear interested in changing its practices anytime soon, and it would have come out fighting in Colorado.
In fact, the United Egg Producers have already begun raising funds and pecking away at a similar ballot measure moving forward in California.
The egg industry was also thrilled to see this initiative taken off the table and replaced with a bill in the legislature. Especially this bill, which only addresses pig and cow caging and does not require them to change a thing.
Whereas the motivations driving the Humane Society and egg producers to compromise are clear, Ritter's motive for orchestrating the deal and preventing the initiative from reaching the ballot is not. For the record, his office failed to reply to repeated attempts to get a comment regarding this issue.
According to the Colorado Egg Producers Association, the governor was simply protecting agriculture, the state's third-largest industry. The Humane Society seemed less certain why he suddenly got the urge to delve into farm-caging policy.
Perhaps Ritter simply wanted to avoid a very public initiative campaign that might have required him to take a side. After all, that's what ballot initiatives are: yes-or-no questions that pit one side against the other. In this case, he would have had to choose between ending the torture of animals or supporting the farming and business communities, hardly an easy decision.
Now he finds himself in an equally if not more compromising position with the various labor-related ballot measures hurtling toward this year's ballot in a massive game of legislative chicken. As with the animal-caging issue, Ritter probably wants to avoid highly publicized initiative campaigns that might require him to choose sides. So once again he has set out to bring the opposing sides to the table to reach a compromise. Should the governor get his way on this issue, another deal will be reached, the initiatives will be withdrawn, and once again all parties will be satisfied.
All parties except for the chickens, of course.
Mason Tvert is the executive director of Safer Alternative For Enjoyable Recreation (SAFER). He is a resident of Denver.
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May 1, 2008
7:57 a.m.
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Mike_In_Hartsel writes:
Mason, Mason, Mason. Humans are the top of the food chain. What you and you bleeding heart liberals want to do is impose your ideas upon society, a society that has grown and propspered for thousands of years without your input. How did we ever survive without your input? Heavens to Betsy.
Next, you and your group will want all cows moved to a warmer climate in the winter because they suffer in the extreme cold weather. While we're at it, let's inoculate all prairie dogs so none will ever die of the plauge again. Oh, don't forget the bison. They get cold also. Let's liberate the animals in the zoo as well.
May 1, 2008
8:14 a.m.
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jacka writes:
Vote YES on Amendment 47, shouldn't all Coloradans have the right to choose union membership.
Right-to-Work is good enough for our state workers, why are so many union skulls against your right to choose?
May 1, 2008
8:16 a.m.
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davies writes:
Upon hearing word of Governor Ritter's betrayal, a single tear falls from the eye of each of Colorado captive chickens...
May 1, 2008
10:08 a.m.
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dukerww writes:
I hear chicken tastes like dolphin. It's supposed to be pretty good.
May 2, 2008
11:02 a.m.
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Holly writes:
Great Article Mason! The bill to phase out confinement systems so restrictive the animals can't even turn around or spread their limbs is a modest but important reform measure. Even animals raised for food deserve humane treatment!