If Gov. Jared Polis wants to lose big, he should leave room for his party to force collective bargaining on local governments and school boards. If he caves -if he does anything less than veto any bill that advances this goal – voters will have good reason to boot him on Nov. 8.

If Polis stands his ground, he will defend local sovereignty and align himself with former Democratic President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

“All Government employees should realize that the process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service,” FDR wrote in a letter to the president of the National Federation of Federal Employees in 1937.

“… The very nature and purposes of Government make it impossible for administrative officials to represent fully or to bind the employer in mutual discussions with Government employee organizations.”

Polis, who sadly approved collective bargaining for state employees, would align himself with former AFL-CIO leader George Meany by promising a no-exceptions veto. Meany remains the “granddaddy” of the modern labor movement.

“It is impossible to bargain collectively with the government,” Meany told the New York Times magazine in 1955, explaining it would jeopardize the “public welfare.”

Whether addressing mask mandates or oil and gas rules, Polis champions “local control.” He told The Gazette’s editorial board he defaults to local control except for laws that extend civil rights protections. He would never accept Jim Crow laws in Boonieville but promotes local control over provincial matters – such as the compensation of community employees.

The governor’s local-control default mode has been inconsistent. That’s understandable, as the lines among state, local and federal authority are blurred by the 10th and 14th amendments, the federal Supremacy Clause, conflicts between state and federal laws, a pandemic, and conflicting state, federal and local court rulings.

In this conflict, there is no blur. The Colorado Constitution grants locals – especially in the state’s 96 Home Rule cities and towns – the power to decide whether their governments collectively bargain with employees. Colorado communities large and small are unique in their economies and cultures.

The proposed bill by Democratic legislative leaders would effectively force collective bargaining in communities as unique as Aspen, Denver, Colorado Springs and Limon.

It would force bargaining wherever public employees organize and demand it, which will become everywhere. Primary sponsors are House Majority Leader Daneya Esgar, D-Pueblo, and House Majority Leader Steve Fenberg, D-Boulder.

Imagine the state telling Lamar it must bargain with the leadership of unionized employees. In a low-income and shrinking community of 7,000 residents, public employees could organize as a special interest to sway elections in favor of union-friendly candidates. They could elect the people they most want to bargain with for benefits and pay.

Suppose the employees and their hand-picked leaders negotiate benefits based on those of their professional peers in Boulder, the mostly white and wealthy home of Fenberg and Polis. Lamar would suffocate so a handful of public employees could live as a privileged class.

The median household income in Boulder is $83,019, compared with Lamar’s $37,554. As Boulder’s median home value approaches $1 million, Lamar’s lingers at $118,000. For these reasons and more, cities and towns – not union bosses – determine what they pay their firefighters, cops, teachers, and snowplow drivers.

“The door is open to a much narrower legislation to expand collective bargaining, and the governor hopes the advocates engage local governments more earlier in this process,” a Polis spokesman saiod.

The door should be closed, without the governor’s blue sneaker holding it open in the least. No capitulation. Polis should tell his party to kill this idea before any bill insidiously commandeers local autonomy and gives it to the state, further burdening Colorado’s endangered rural communities.

Colorado Springs Gazette editorial board