Columbus Day has an honored history in Pueblo and the United States as a commemoration of the Italian explorer who on behalf of the Spanish monarch was instrumental in opening the New World to Europe and beyond.

Pueblo has celebrated Columbus Day since 1897 – going on more than 120 years now – and erected the first Christopher Columbus statue west of the Mississippi River in 1905. At the behest of the Pueblo Italian community, Colorado became the first state to commemorate Columbus Day in 1907. It became a federal holiday in 1934 in recognition of Italian Americans’ pride in their heritage.

That’s why it would be a shame if the Colorado Legislature were to pass House Bill 1231, the latest attempt to eliminate the Columbus Day holiday to satisfy some misguided notion of political correctness. As a sop to public employees and some in the private sector who get the extra day off in the fall, the legal holiday would be shifted to Election Day. There’s no other connection.