Relatives of 1940s Republican Colorado Governor Ralph Carr have asked that his name be removed from a legislative proposal that has generated political heat at the Capitol from even before it was introduced.

State Rep. Joe Salazar, a Democrat from Thornton and the sponsor of the “Ralph Carr Freedom Defense Act,” said he was happy to comply with the wishes of family members and plans to remove the governor’s name from the bill when it next comes to the floor for action – likely next week.

Salazar said he spoke to Steven Carr Wednesday night.

“We’ll certainly do it as a courtesy and out of respect,” Salazar said. “We talked, and I explained what the bill was about and he told me that the family isn’t taking a position on the bill, that it’s just that the bill has become so politicized that they’d rather have the name left off.”

Salazar, a civil rights lawyer, drafted his bill in response to Trump campaign rhetoric that targeted immigrants and ethnic and religious minorities. Salazar said that talk of government registries and deportations and even internment spurred him to act.

His House Bill 1230 would prohibit state and local officials from participating in any illegal or unconstitutional federal policies that target for monitoring or detention Colorado residents based on race, ethnicity, national origin, immigration status, or religious affiliation.

Salazar named his bill after Carr as a reference to the governor’s principled opposition to the round-up and internment of Japanese people in the United States, including Japanese citizens, after the World War II attack on Pearl Harbor.

On Wednesday House members engaged in a “floor fight” over the bill, during which Republicans repeatedly called into question the bold reference to Gov. Carr in the title of the bill and asked whether the Carr family had authorized the use of the late governor’s name.

Salazar explained that he has been in communication with one of Carr’s nephews and that the nephew wrote in support of the bill in an email.

But Republican lawmakers said they were in contact with others of the family and were less sure that Salazar was right to have attached the Ralph Carr name to the bill.

Rep. Yeulin Willett, a Republican from Grand Junction, proposed an amendment asking that Salazar remove the name. Salazar waved off the amendment.

“I heard the bill earlier as a member of the Judiciary Committee,” Willett told the Colorado Statesman. “I kept waiting for one of the family to get up and speak for the bill, but no one ever did. So I asked about it, and Representative Salazar said he had an email from a nephew. Well that didn’t seem to me like the kind of authority you would need in order to use the name.

“So I thought Salazar would elaborate on the issue during floor debate. By that time, I knew that some of the family members weren’t comfortable with it – four family members.”

Willett said that Rep. Justin Everett, a Littleton Republican, had been in touch with the Carr family members and asked if they would write Salazar about the matter and that they agreed.

The issue for the four family members was not about the content of the bill but the fact that it had become “politically polarizing,” Willett said.

“Salazar came to me this morning at 9:00 a.m. and told me he would remove the name. He made that commitment,” said Willett.

Salazar said the bill isn’t scheduled to come to the floor again for days because it is going to be sent to the Senate and the Senate will be busy all week debating this year’s budget bill.

– john@coloradostatesman.com