NEW: Gardner Hosting In-Person Fundraiser With “One of Colorado’s Largest Oil and Gas Firms”

Gardner raked in second-most Big Oil cash in the past two years, $481,223, has been a reliable ally for the industry in Congress 

Denver, CO - A Colorado Newsline report reveals that Senator Cory Gardner is continuing to haul in Big Oil cash, hosting an in-person fundraiser this weekend with a “top executive at one of Colorado’s largest oil and gas firms” in “one of the Denver area’s wealthiest neighborhoods.” Gardner has raked in near-record cash from Big Oil, taking nearly $500,000 — and counting — in the past two years and has been a reliable ally for them in Congress, voting to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling, blocking limits on methane emissions, refusing to support the CORE Act, and standing by President Trump as he reversed more than 100 protections and gave an open license to polluters in the pandemic.

Newsline notes that the in-person fundraiser comes as Gardner was working alongside members of Congress who have tested positive for COVID in the past week and cases in Colorado are on the rise. 

Yesterday, HuffPost published new audio of Gardner repeatedly refusing to say if humans cause climate change, calling the climate conversation “a loaded political debate” and “leaning into conspiratorial thinking.” Listen HERE.

Read highlights below or the full article HERE.

Colorado Newsline: Oil and gas CEO to co-host Gardner fundraiser in Cherry Hills Village
By Chase Woodruff | October 8, 2020

• Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner will get a boost in his uphill battle for reelection at a high-dollar Cherry Hills Village fundraiser this weekend, courtesy of a top executive at one of Colorado’s largest oil and gas firms, according to an invitation obtained by Newsline.

• Steve Struna, CEO of Bayswater, a Denver-based oil and gas producer, is listed as a co-host for the fundraiser for the Gardner campaign, scheduled for the evening of Saturday, Oct. 10, in one of the Denver area’s wealthiest neighborhoods. “Suggested contribution levels” for the event range from a minimum of $250 per attendee to the maximum $2,800 allowed by federal law.

• Despite working alongside several Senate colleagues who have tested positive for COVID-19 in recent weeks, Gardner’s campaign said prior to a previous debate with Hickenlooper last week that the senator had tested negative.

• Gardner has been one of the U.S. Senate’s top recipients of contributions from the oil and gas industry during the 2020 election cycle, according to campaign-finance database OpenSecrets. The $481,223 he has accepted from fossil-fuel interests in the last two years is second only to the amount received by Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn in his own 2020 reelection bid.

• Gardner has long been a target of criticism from Democrats over his record on environmental and climate-change issues, including for his opposition to the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan and his vote against a 2015 Senate amendment affirming that global warming “is real and not a hoax.”

• Earlier this week, HuffPost published audio of a Yuma columnist’s 2017 phone interview with Gardner, in which the senator repeatedly refused to answer directly when asked whether humans are causing climate change, while speculating that efforts to reduce emissions are driven by “people who want to control the economy as a result of their belief about the environment.”