The Ludlow ceremony

I was in Ludlow yesterday for the dedication ceremony. It's a beautiful marker and the story boards around the monument are very well done. I've become a bit of a Ludlow buff in the last year or so and have actually done a small group presentation on the topic. Labor history in Colorado is endlessly fascinating to me and luckily there's no shortage of good books on the topic.

I had wanted to attend the annual Ludlow Memorial this year but hesitated when I found out the governor was going. I wanted to be there to remember those who died in the massacre, not to particpate in the governor's Kabuki with labor interests. I thought better of it and went anyway, my first trip to the memorial.

We arrived a touch late due to a detour off of I-25 that took us through Walsenburg (another historic town that I'm glad to say I got to see a bit of). When we walked up the speaker was introducing state Representative Buffy McFadden who delivered a long speech that ranged from touching to rambling but was mostly well recieved. McFadden was just the second speaker listed on the official program (after Colorado AFL-CIO head Mike Cerbo) and it was at this time I noticed that the governor wasn't on the speakers list. Indeed the governor had a seat in the second (read, back) row of bench seating on the stage and on the end - hardly the seat of honor. He was seated next to Cerbo and directly behind where McFadden had been sitting.

Throughout all of the speeches I only heard Ritter mentioned by name once. McFadden thanked him for his support of the Pinon Canyon bill and the governor's name was greeted to subdued applause. No doubt the governor appreciated McFadden lobbing that softball out to the crowd, even though Pinon isn't in anyway related to labor or Ludlow. There were several other mentions of the UFCW and the grocery workers from various other speakers but I didn't hear any direct mention of the governor's veto.

I did notice something quite interesting as the day wound on though. The governor's Executive Director of the Department of Labor and Employment, Don Mares, was walking around the perimeter of the crowd. Mares was approached by more than a few people and they exchanged pleasantries just like any other politician out glad-handing amongst the public. Not long after that Ritter stood up and walked off of the podium to use the restroom. During his entire unescorted walk to and from the port-a-potty's (and along the same path that Mares had just walked) not a single person said hello, waved, stuck out their hand, smiled or in anyway acknowledged the governor. And believe me, it's not that people didn't notice him walking by. It was really quite a site to see Ritter shuffling along and being totally ignored by the attendees.

We stayed for as long as possible but apparently we left just a minute too soon as the governor finally did speak towards the end of the program and was given a decidely cool welcome. I'm sorry I missed that.