BREAKING: Gardner Ally Caught Abusing Taxpayer Dollars to Start Fake Environmental Group Featured in TV Ad

“Killey was performing political tasks — setting up the so-called shell LLC used in Gardner's ad — while being paid by taxpayers to serve as Lundeen's aide”

Denver, CO - The Colorado Springs Independent is out with an explosive new report revealing that an aide to Senator Cory Gardner’s Big Oil ally abused taxpayer dollars to start the fake environmental group featured in Gardner’s deceptive campaign ad.

Allie Killey, who claims to be a conservationist in the ad, actually works for environmental foe State Senator Paul Lundeen. New documents reveal that Killey was working on state time when she filed paperwork with the Secretary of State to start the group, which popped up the same day that Gardner introduced the legislation touted in his ad.

The Indy reports that “potential penalties for doing political work at taxpayer expense include criminal liability and termination.”

Gardner’s deceptive ad “Both Parties” has already come under scrutiny for using two registered Republicans, a scandal-riddled former Colorado Division of Parks head who was ousted from the agency after a corruption scandal, and a “hollow shell” sham organization that real environmental organizations have “never heard of.”

Read highlights below of the full story HERE.

Colorado Springs Independent: Sen. Cory Gardner campaign ad under fire, legislative aide in crosshairs
By Pam Zubeck | September 9, 2020

By now, it's well known that a TV ad by the campaign of Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colorado called "Both Parties" is somewhat misleading in that two speakers the ad suggests represent Democrats and Republicans are both Republicans.
...

Wild for Colorado's Facebook page has three followers and is listed as a personal blog. But recent comments on that FB page take issue. One said, "This is a fake organization and fake site. The girl that created it is an aide for a state Republican legislature. She has NO environmental education or experience. She has not worked anything environmental at anytime. Google her LinkedIn resume. The organization name was created for a fake Cory Gardner political ad."
...

The campaign submitted a records request for Killey's time sheets during her time with Lundeen's office and found she apparently filed initial paperwork for Wild for Colorado LLC during work hours.

The document was filed at 11:11 a.m. March 9. A legislative aide time sheet shows Alexandra Killey, the name listed on the Secretary of State filing, claims to have been on the clock for Lundeen at that very time. That raises questions about whether Killey was performing political tasks — setting up the so-called shell LLC used in Gardner's ad — while being paid by taxpayers to serve as Lundeen's aide.

Here's the pertinent part of the time sheets. 

It's worth noting that Lundeen signed off on the time sheets, and Killey had previously attested she'd read the handbook for aides and agreed to follow its policies. Potential penalties for doing political work at taxpayer expense include criminal liability and termination. 
...

Hickenlooper's spokesperson Alyssa Roberts had this to say:

"First Senator Gardner used a phony environmental group to cover up his toxic record of voting against Colorado's clean air and water, and now we've learned that an employee of one of Big Oil's top allies started the fake group on taxpayer time -- abusing taxpayer dollars in a shady political scheme that helped Cory Gardner deceive Coloradans. Meanwhile, John Hickenlooper is proud to have earned endorsements from the League of Conservation Voters, the Sierra Club, and other leading (and not fictitious) environmental organizations who know he's the only candidate who will protect our public lands and fight climate change."

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BREAKING: Trump Knew COVID Was “Deadly,” Then Held Campaign Rally With Gardner While Ignoring Pandemic

CNN Headline: “'Play it down': Trump admits to concealing the true threat of coronavirus in new Woodward book”

Gardner in March: “The president took unprecedented action at the very front end of coronavirus”

Denver, CO -  A breaking CNN report on Bob Woodward’s new book reveals that President Trump admitted that he knew that COVID was "deadly” in early February, but still held an in-person rally two weeks later with Senator Cory Gardner, at which he exclaimed the Gardner has been with him “100%.” While the virus was already spreading across the country, Trump admitted on tape he wanted to “play it down” and conceal information from the public likely for political reasons. 

To no surprise, Coloradans have yet to hear a peep from No Comment Cory on the damning report on the president he endorsed for re-election.

Despite widespread reporting that the Trump administration failed to take early action against COVID, in March Gardner said “the president took unprecedented action at the very front end of coronavirus.” While it is widely known that the Trump Administration “openly disdain[s]” science and is working to “distort reality” for political purposes, Gardner has refused to answer questions on Trump’s handling of the coronavirus, even snapping at a reporter, abruptly ending a call with constituents, and running away from a scientist who tried to ask him about the pandemic just last week. 

Despite infamously saying he would speak out when his party is wrong, Gardner has refused to call out the president’s dangerous mismanagement of this crisis at every turn. 

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🚨RATING CHANGE🚨: Politico Moves Colorado Senate Race Toward Hickenlooper

“Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, the Democratic nominee, is consistently ahead of first-term GOP Sen. Cory Gardner”

Denver, CO - This morning Politico moved the Colorado senate race to “Lean Democrat” in favor of John Hickenlooper, saying that the former governor is “consistently ahead” of Senator Cory Gardner. 

The rating change comes a week after a new poll showed Gardner down 29 percent with unaffiliated voters, who make up more than 40% of the state’s electorate. Gardner’s support has consistently been underwater with Colorado voters and Hickenlooper has held a consistent lead in head to head polling. Even Gardner’s home field network Fox News said yesterday that the race “do[esn’t] look savable” for Republicans.  

While Gardner has inextricably linked himself to President Trump, his weaknesses go far beyond the unpopular president: Gardner is winning even fewer votes than Trump himself  -- who has basically written off Colorado as a winnable state.  Despite Coloradans giving Gardner failing marks, the Colorado Democratic Party is taking nothing for granted and has launched a robust statewide campaign.

For more on how Gardner has failed Coloradans -- which explains his abysmal support in the state -- check out CoryFailedColorado.com.

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DENVER POST: Coloradans “Crushed Under the Weight” of COVID, Facing “Unprecedented” Hard Times After Gardner & Senate GOP Failed to Deliver Relief

Unemployed Coloradan: “I can’t afford rent, that’s the biggest thing right now”

“South Metro Fire Rescue...is looking at a possible shortfall of $3 million to $16 million”

Denver, CO - A Denver Post front page story shows the real-life “unprecedented” challenges that Coloradans are facing after Senator Cory Gardner left Washington without delivering urgently-needed COVID relief. While the House passed sweeping legislation to fully restore emergency unemployment and provide resources for our local governments, small businesses, schools, and the USPS nearly four months ago, Gardner and Mitch McConnell refused to act -- leaving Coloradans to be “crushed under the weight” of the pandemic.

John Hickenlooper took Gardner to task for failing Colorado and taking “‘a vacation’ in August without passing relief for unemployed workers and small businesses, or expanding COVID testing.”

After a month-long recess and 111 days since Gardner said it would be “unfathomable” to go on recess without passing additional pandemic aid, the vulnerable senator finally returned to Washington today but with no comprehensive plan to help struggling Coloradans. 

See highlights of the article below or full story HERE.

Denver Post: “It’s unprecedented”: Congress returns as Coloradans seek help with housing, unemployment
Lawmakers under pressure to assist the unemployed and small businesses
By Justin Wingerter | September 8, 2020

The 38-year-old was kept afloat for a time by an unemployment payment from the federal government, which sent her $600 per week on top of the $96 per week she was receiving through unemployment insurance. But since that federal payment ended July 31, Sorice has been left to pay her bills and eat on $96 per week, an impossibility in the Denver area.

“I can’t afford rent, that’s the biggest thing right now,” she said from her apartment in Edgewater.

Sorice’s story is not uncommon. Colorado, like the country, is hurting. Landlords are not being paid, businesses are shutting their doors for good, children are missing meals, unemployment remains high, municipal budgets have been decimated, and coronavirus testing needs remain unmet in some areas.

This is the predicament Congress returns to Tuesday. Crushed under the weight of economic shutdowns, many Coloradans expect the federal government to ease the financial burdens this pandemic has caused. For the past several months, their weary eyes have seen nothing but congressional stalemates and inaction.

“If we’re not keeping people in their homes, if we’re not keeping people from going bankrupt, then our health crisis is going to continue to spin out of control and we’re going to look at a decade-plus-long recovery,” said Rep. Jason Crow, an Aurora Democrat. “People are losing their homes; they’re losing their life savings. That’s a long-term economic hit.”

As part of a $3 trillion bill, the Democrat-controlled U.S. The House voted in May to extend the $600-per-week enhanced unemployment benefit, but a majority in the Republican-controlled Senate, along with Trump, are opposed to doing so.

Since mid-March, 542,619 unemployment claims have been filed in Colorado, according to state labor data released Thursday, and $4.8 billion in benefits has been distributed. During the last week in August, 5,837 claims were filed, which is both the lowest weekly total since mid-March and higher than the average number of weekly claims during the depths of the Great Recession in 2009 and 2010.

“It’s unprecedented,” said Kim Da Silva, executive director of Community Food Share, a food bank that serves Boulder and Broomfield counties. “Unlike the Great Recession, we’re in a health and economic stress that we’ve never seen before. The scariest part for us — for food bankers, for people in the basic needs industry — is that we don’t know when we’re going to come out of this.”

The HEROES Act, the massive coronavirus relief bill passed by the House in May, would send more than $1 trillion to state and local governments across the country, refilling government coffers that have been drained by declines in tax revenue since March. 

South Metro Fire Rescue, which is primarily funded by property tax revenue, is looking at a possible shortfall of $3 million to $16 million in the next few years, according to spokesperson Kristin Eckmann.

“That’s a fire district that has 85% of its money spent on personnel,” said Crow, the congressman who represents some of the fire department’s jurisdiction. “… That means they’re cutting firefighter jobs. We just cannot allow that to happen right now.”

Scott Robson is the town manager in Vail, which derives 40% of its annual revenue from sales taxes. He expects his town coffers will lose about $19 million in revenue this year, forcing deferrals of capital projects, millions of dollars in cuts to operating expenses, and a handful of layoffs for seasonal staff.

“What we’ve heard from our business community here is that the next few months are going to be some of the toughest rent checks that they write in their professional careers,” Robson said.

In Colorado, this will weigh most heavily on Sen. Cory Gardner, the vulnerable Yuma Republican who is asking voters for six more years in the Senate.

Meanwhile, his Democratic opponent, John Hickenlooper, has used his latest ad to accuse Gardner of taking “a vacation” in August without passing relief for unemployed workers and small businesses, or expanding COVID testing.

While the Senate’s August break routinely occurs each year, Democrats are quick to note it was Gardner who said May 20 that it would be “unfathomable” for the Senate to adjourn without passing a relief bill. It did adjourn, and Hickenlooper has let him hear about it ever since.

“I would have thought that with the fall elections approaching, and with so many vulnerable Republican senators, like Cory Gardner, that (Senate Majority Leader) Mitch McConnell would have made a good-faith effort to help people,” said Rep. Diana DeGette, a Denver Democrat. “I have no idea what he is thinking.”

No Republican House members responded to a request for comment last week about their relief priorities. 

“What is lacking in Congress right now is the political will to ultimately get something done for the American people,” Neguse said. “It’s hard to predict. It’s an open question.”

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QUESTIONS FOR GARDNER: Gardner & McConnell to Confirm More Rigid Anti-Choice Judges Instead of Passing Urgent COVID Relief for Colorado

Denver, CO - After allowing emergency unemployment relief to expire and taking a month-long vacation to campaign, the U.S. Senate is finally headed back to Washington today.  But instead of working to pass COVID relief, the first thing on Mitch McConnell and Senator Cory Gardner’s agenda is jamming through *more* rigid anti-choice judges.

Here are five questions Gardner needs to answer as he finally heads back to Washington:

1. Why have Gardner and the Senate GOP prioritized confirming rigid anti-choice judges ahead of delivering COVID relief for unemployed Coloradans, our local governments, hospitals and schools?
   
2. 111 days ago, Gardner claimed it would be “unfathomable” for the Senate to go on recess without passing additional pandemic relief. What changed?
   
3. Will Gardner stand up for Colorado’s brave service men and women and denounce Trump’s vile attacks on our veterans or continue to defend Trump’s disparaging comments?
   
4. Since Gardner’s sham health care bill has been debunked six ways from Sunday, what is his plan for the 2.4 million Coloradans who could lose protections for their pre-existing conditions if the lawsuit he backs to repeal the ACA succeeds?
   
5. After more evidence of corruption emerges, will Gardner finally call on Postmaster General DeJoy to step down, stand up for the integrity of our elections and protect USPS?
   

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Gardner Dodges Questions, Then Defends Trump’s Atrocious Attacks On Veterans & Fallen Soldiers on Fox News

“A spokeswoman for Gardner didn't respond to a request for comment from Gardner”

Gardner: “Well, look, I'm not going to comment on anonymous sources, of the veracity of those sources”

Denver, CO - After multiple news outlets confirmed President Trump’s atrocious attacks on our veterans and fallen troops -- disparaging those lost in combat as “losers” and “suckers,” continuing attacks on the late Senator John McCain, and refusing to visit a military cemetery because he did not believe it was important to honor our fallen heroes -- Senator Cory Gardner refused to comment when asked by Colorado Politics and then went on Trump’s favorite network Fox News to attack the media and defend the president’s vile remarks. 

In stark contrast, Former Army Ranger Congressman Jason Crow, Marine veteran Senate President Leroy Garcia, and John Hickenlooper all swiftly condemned the atrocious attacks on our brave veterans. Hickenlooper called out Gardner’s silence, saying, “Colorado is home to nearly 50,000 military families, yet time and time again Senator Cory Gardner has stood idly by while Trump denigrates our military. He said nothing when Trump raided Peterson Air Force Base for his border wall. And he’s silent now. Cory Gardner’s cowardly silence is deafening.”

Gardner is already in hot water with our brave service men and women. Last month veterans protested outside his office demanding he get back to work and restore emergency unemployment insurance and fund state and local governments. 

Now he’s choosing to side with Trump over our troops.

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CO Dems Statement on August Jobs Report

Today, the Colorado Democratic Party released the following statement in response to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) unemployment numbers, which reveals that more than 13 million Americans are still out of work:

Colorado Democratic Party Spokesman David Pourshoushtari:

“Like everything else he inherits, Donald Trump took a strong economy with 75 straight months of job growth and drove it into a ditch. Trump talks a big game, but nothing he says will change that he will go down in history as the worst jobs president on record -- and nothing Trump says can spin the devastating toll his failed pandemic response has taken on workers and small businesses across Colorado.

“Working families in America and across Colorado are continuing to pay the price for Trump’s failure. Thanks to Trump, Colorado communities are facing soaring unemployment, a cratering economy, and a once in a generation public health crisis. We need leaders in the White House who will put public health ahead of politics and help our country build back better -- that’s exactly why Coloradans will elect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris this fall.” 

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EDITORIAL: Gardner Failed to Deliver COVID Aid, Coloradans “Need Federal Help and They Need It Now”

“When Gardner says he’s bipartisan, it’s better to look at his voting record that shows he’s voted with President Trump 89% of the time”

Gardner would “rather you have you believe what’s being said in his campaign ads and campaign at supporter-friendly events instead of answering for his actions”

Denver, CO - The Vail Daily is out with a scathing editorial calling out Senator Cory Gardner for failing to deliver pandemic aid when Coloradans “need federal help, and they need it now.” Despite the fact that Gardner “actually has the ability to deliver Coloradans the relief they need” and “break from his party to stand up for issues that matter to his constituents,” the Vail Daily writes that “it has been more than a month since unemployed locals who were surviving on the $600 weekly checks authorized by Congress under the CARES Act saw that program expire.” 

The editorial also slams Gardner’s abysmal environmental record, telling readers, “don’t buy the greenwashing that Gardner’s campaign has done to make him look like a champion of public lands.” Despite the House-passed CORE Act having “the support of every county it directly impacts” and “broad bipartisan support,” Gardner is still refusing to support the decade in the making public lands bill, and made up a fake environmental group for his deceptive campaign ads instead.

The editorial board lays out Gardner’s failing election strategy simply: “Actions speak louder than words… he’d rather you have you believe what’s being said in his campaign ads and campaign at supporter-friendly events instead of answering for his actions.”

Read HERE or highlights below.

Vail Daily: EDITORIAL: In need of real relief, not politics
By Vail Daily Editorial | September 3, 2020

As you try to cut through the noise as a voter, just remember this old saw: Actions speak louder than words.

So when Gardner says he’s bipartisan, it’s better to look at his voting record that shows he’s voted with President Trump 89% of the time, according to Nate Silver’s nonpartisan FiveThirtyEight website. 

Or when Gardner claims he backed forgivable loans so small businesses and their employees could get the help they needed to survive COVID-19 closures, don’t forget that he tweeted, in May, that it would be “unfathomable” for the U.S. Senate to recess before the Memorial Day break without delivering on another federal stimulus package. Now it’s almost Labor Day and Congress is still locked in gridlock because the Republican-led Senate refuses to budge after the House passed a $3 trillion aid bill back on May 15.

It has been more than a month since unemployed locals who were surviving on the $600 weekly checks authorized by Congress under the CARES Act saw that program expire.

Eagle County residents need federal help, and they need it now. In July, our county had the fourth-highest unemployment rate in the state at 9.4%, according to data from the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment. 

Yet when he was here a week ago to sit on a panel at the Freedom Conference and Festival at Beaver Creek, Gardner didn’t have to answer to any of those out-of-work locals who have been battered by the coronavirus pandemic.

Instead, he found a favorable, largely mask-free indoor crowd who listened to him crack jokes and talk about progress on a vaccine.

Also, don’t buy the greenwashing that Gardner’s campaign has done to make him look like a champion of public lands.

Gardner hasn’t gotten behind the Colorado Outdoor Recreation and Economy Act that passed the House last fall, despite its broad bipartisan support.

The act would preserve roughly 100,000 acres of wilderness, recreation and conservation areas in the White River National Forest along the Continental Divide and would also designate the land around Camp Hale near Leadville as a first National Historic Landscape.

Camp Hale, of course, is sacred ground to Eagle County residents, given that some of the 10th Mountain Division troops who trained there came back from World War II to found America’s great ski resorts, including Vail.

The CORE Act has the support of every county it directly impacts. But instead of living up to his bipartisan pledge, Gardner and his campaign instead commissioned an ad, titled “Both Parties,” that gives the impression his environmental work has the support of both Republicans and Democrats.

But the truth? Both speakers in the ad, according to reporting by the Denver Post, are registered Republicans and the woman, who is cited as an environmental advocate, founded a group five months ago that has no history of environmental work. 

Gardner actually has the ability to deliver Coloradans the relief they need when it comes to another stimulus package in the Senate. He has the ability to push for hearings on the CORE Act. He has the ability to break from his party to stand up for issues that matter to his constituents. 

Instead, he’d rather you have you believe what’s being said in his campaign ads and campaign at supporter-friendly events instead of answering for his actions.

He’s still got eight more weeks to do the important work Coloradans need him to do in the Senate to find solutions to serious problems.

If he wants to keep his job, we suggest he get busy.

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NEW POLL: Gardner Trailing Hickenlooper Among Unaffiliated Voters by 29%, Even Behind Trump

GOP strategist says “unaffiliated voters are all that matter,” but Gardner “flatly outnumbered” by independent voters

Denver, CO - Morning Consult released a new poll today that shows Senator Cory Gardner trailing 29 points to former Governor Hickenlooper with unaffiliated voters, who make up more than 40% of the state’s electorate. Gardner, whose support is at a failing 39 percent with Colorado voters, is winning even fewer votes than President Trump -- who lost Colorado in 2016 by five points and has essentially written off Colorado as a winnable state.

Gardner has consistently been underwater in this election, and his support among key unaffiliated voters is 10 points lower than his favorability with the same group last month. Republican strategists know that “unaffiliated voters are all that matter,” but see the writing on the wall and admit that it could be “impossible for Cory to win.”

The fact that Gardner trails Trump shows that his weaknesses go beyond his tight-knit relationship with the president. Today the Colorado Democratic Party launched a new website to show Coloradans how Gardner has failed them, from trying to rip their health care away to selling out our public lands: CoryFailedColorado.com.

Read highlights of the poll below or the full article HERE.

Morning Consult: Gardner ‘Flatly Outnumbered’ by Independents as He Seeks Re-Election in Colorado Senate Race
Hickenlooper holds 29-point lead over GOP incumbent with unaffiliated voters, who make up more than 40% of the state’s electorate
By Eli Yokley | September 3, 2020

Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner has a math problem. 

The most vulnerable Republican up for re-election this fall boasts stronger support among the party’s base than most of the other GOP Senate contenders this year, but he is being lapped by Democratic rival and former Gov. John Hickenlooper among independents, who make up the lion’s share of the state’s active voter rolls. 

“The unaffiliated voters are all that matter, especially in a hyperpolarized environment where you can count on your base to show up,” said Ryan Winger, director of data analysis and research projects at Magellan Strategies, a Republican polling firm. 

August data compiled by Colorado’s secretary of state shows roughly 42 percent of the state’s electorate does not identify with either of the two major political parties. Morning Consult’s daily tracking among likely voters from Aug. 21-30 shows Hickenlooper leading Gardner by 29 percentage points, 54 percent to 25 percent, among independents — roughly in line with his average standing with the sizable group since the tracking began more than two months ago. 

Overall, the polling of 638 likely voters found Gardner trailing Hickenlooper in the Centennial State by 9 points, 39 percent to 48 percent, which tracks with his average deficit over the past month and mirrors the top-of-the-ticket contest between President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.

Laura Chapin, a Colorado-based Democratic strategist, said that despite Gardner’s strength among Republicans, the composition of the state’s electorate makes him “flatly outnumbered.”

“Cory Gardner sealed his fate when he endorsed Trump, and there’s not going to be a whole lot else beyond that,” she said. “His only hope is holding onto his base and picking up unaffiliated voters magically. It’d take a lot of split tickets, and that ain’t happening.” 

Gardner, who was one of many elected Republicans to call for Trump to drop his presidential bid in October 2016 following the Access Hollywood tape release, has since aligned himself with the president, endorsing his re-election bid in January and appearing with him at a February campaign rally in Colorado Springs.

But his message on television for the general election has been largely devoid of the president and partisan politics, a sign of the president’s toxicity with the state’s overall electorate.

Like many other Democratic candidates for Senate this cycle, Hickenlooper has largely focused on health care — specifically, Gardner’s votes to repeal the Affordable Care Act and its protections for pre-existing conditions. A Democratic-aligned Senate Majority PAC ad currently running in the state refutes Gardner’s bipartisan bonafides: “They say actions speak louder than words, and when it comes to Cory Gardner, they’re right.” (In an apparent effort to mitigate the line of attacks, Gardner filed a bill before the Senate left town for its August recess entitled the “Pre-Existing Conditions Protection Act of 2020.”

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Two Months From Election Day, Colorado Democrats Launch CoryFailedColorado.Com to Highlight Gardner’s Record of Failing Coloradans

Denver, CO - Two months from Election Day, the Colorado Democratic Party launched CoryFailedColorado.com as a tool for Coloradans to see Senator Cory Gardner’s record of failing Colorado. Gardner pledged to be an independent voice in Washington who would stand up to his party, but instead has stood with President Trump “100%” and put the wealthy and corporate special interests ahead of Coloradans. As Gardner clogs the airwaves with deceiving ads, Coloradans now have a place to get the facts about his real record of selling out Colorado. 

The new website gives voters the facts about Gardner’s record of failing Colorado on health care, coronavirus, standing up to Trump and Mitch McConnell, public lands, reproductive rights, economy, foreign policy, gun safety, education, immigration, seniors and prescription drugs, and climate change. 

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COLORADO SUN: “Cory Gardner Wants to Get Rid of Obamacare. But It’s Not Clear What He Plans to Replace It With.”

Health care expert: Gardner’s sham health care bill “a political document, and it looks like all it’s designed to do is give Sen. Gardner a convenient talking point”

Denver, CO - In two new reports from the Colorado Sun, Senator Cory Gardner fails to defend his record of crusading against the Affordable Care Act (ACA) without a replacement and introducing an 11th-hour hollow bill that would not cover people with pre-existing conditions.

The Colorado Sun’s Jesse Paul reports that Gardner still “wants to get rid of Obamacare,” but he “doesn’t have an overarching bill outlining a plan to replace” the law -- likely leaving hundreds of thousands of Coloradans without health care coverage and threatening millions more with pre-existing conditions. 

Health care reporter John Ingold also takes a deep look at the stunt one-sentence pre-existing conditions bill Gardner introduced last month. Experts slam that bill as a mere “political document” and a “convenient talking point” that does not actually protect people with pre-existing conditions. Gardner’s stunt bill was already shredded by 9News as “horse excrement,” former Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius as “nonsense,” and a variety of health care experts and advocates.  

Gardner has voted at least 13 times to repeal, block, or defund the ACA and supports the GOP lawsuit that could eliminate protections for 2.4 million Coloradans with pre-existing conditions in the middle of a pandemic.

Read the highlights below or full articles HERE and HERE.

Cory Gardner wants to get rid of Obamacare. But it’s not clear what he plans to replace it with
The Republican senator from Colorado talks more often about what he doesn’t want -- Obamacare, a public option, Medicare For All -- than his ideas on how to achieve his goals of driving down costs and improving care
By Jesse Paul | September 2, 2020

Cory Gardner doesn’t like Obamacare.

Ask Gardner for his plans to replace the law, however, and his response will probably be more about what he’s against — Democratic proposals for a public health insurance option or “Medicare for All” — than what he’s working toward.

But if Gardner and congressional Republicans have a better idea, they haven’t shared it.

“Cory Gardner said he would be an independent voice for Colorado,” Hickenlooper said in a campaign video. “He said he would protect preexisting conditions. He says a lot of things. Then he goes to Washington.”

“Each time the Republicans promised that they would have a better plan, a different plan, a replacement plan —  the Republicans have no health care plan,” said Kathleen Sebelius, who served as Secretary of Health and Human Services in the Obama administration, in a recent interview with The Colorado Sun.

Adding to the difficult politics around the health care law, polling shows Americans increasingly like Obamacare, meaning that calling for its demise may no longer be so advantageous. 

Gardner’s campaign argues that...the senator doesn’t have an overarching bill outlining a plan to replace Obamacare...

Democrats argue that without a comprehensive replacement to the Affordable Care Act, repealing it would be disastrous. 

Meanwhile, the U.S. Supreme Court is slated to rule after the November election on a Republican challenge, backed by the Trump administration, to the constitutionality of the law. Gardner has refused to say if he supports the legal action, which threatens to invalidate Obamacare, but Democrats contend his silence is proof that he’s either ambivalent or supportive of the effort to unwind the policy in the nation’s highest court. 

Democrats say the Affordable Care Act needs to be expanded because premium costs are too high, particularly for those who seek plans on the individual market in rural areas, like Colorado’s Eastern Plains or Western Slope, where prices can be astronomical. 

Hickenlooper is advocating for the addition of a public health insurance option on top of Obamacare, which he hopes will increase competition and drive down costs.

But so far, with Election Day fast approaching, Republicans have not introduced a comprehensive plan and the Affordable Care Act’s future remains uncertain.

Colorado Sun: Here’s how Cory Gardner’s bill would and wouldn’t protect people with preexisting conditions
The Affordable Care Act already safeguards people from being charged more for health insurance based on medical history, and Gardner’s bill contains none of the usual features of legislation
By John Ingold | September 2, 2020

This, in a tortured-metaphor kind of way, explains why health policy experts say that Colorado U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner’s Pre-Existing Conditions Protection Act of 2020 wouldn’t entirely do what its title promises...It doesn’t contain many other provisions that supporters of the current law say are needed to keep the rest of the health insurance policy apparatus from cracking apart like so much fallen china. On top of that, the bill doesn’t contain any of the usual features of legislation that are needed for implementation.

The ACA is still the law of the land, at least for the time being. And, while it may be most famous for providing protections for preexisting conditions, the law contains a number of other mechanisms designed to make insurance affordable, accessible and fair to all people. Here’s a rundown:

Nicholas Bagley, a law professor at the University of Michigan who is a national expert in health law, said the bill would mean insurers “could altogether refuse to sell coverage to that person. I don’t care what Senator Gardner’s office thinks the bill says. That’s in fact what it says.”

Gardner’s bill does not contain a guarantee of specific coverage benefits. Without such a provision, an insurer could decide it wouldn’t cover treatment for certain chronic diseases for anyone, regardless of when they develop the disease, making a promise to protect that preexisting condition meaningless, health policy experts say.

Gardner’s bill contains no subsidy provisions.

“If you guarantee coverage for preexisting conditions and didn’t do anything to attract healthy people to the market, the premiums would just explode,” said Larry Levitt, the executive vice president for health policy at the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation and a former policy advisor to the Clinton administration. “There’s nothing in Sen. Gardner’s bill to preserve the premium subsidies that are in the Affordable Care Act if it were overturned.”

So, for the most part, everything that’s in Gardner’s bill is already in current law.

Currently, about 115,000 people in Colorado purchase insurance with the help of federal subsidies, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Combine that with the more than 420,000 people who have gained coverage under the ACA’s Medicaid expansion in Colorado, and you have more than a half-million people in the state who would suddenly lose or struggle to afford health insurance if the ACA went away. That’s nearly 10% of the state’s population.

Typically, bills contain definitions of the terms used in them and citations of existing law that the bill would either amend or be added to. That allows regulators to implement them in the way they were intended and gives judges the chance to read the new provisions in the context of the surrounding laws when interpreting them.

Gardner’s bill doesn’t have that, which is unusual, Bagley said.

“It’s unusual to have a federal law that doesn’t indicate which U.S. code section it would go in,” he wrote in an email. “That’s especially so in the health-care space, since there’s already so much law on the books.”

The lack of specificity in Gardner’s health bill leads Bagley to conclude that the proposal “isn’t a genuine effort to address the deep problems in a complex health care system. It’s a political document, and it looks like all it’s designed to do is give Sen. Gardner a convenient talking point.”

But Levitt said protecting preexisting conditions is simply more complicated than it appears. 

“You can’t just waive a magic wand and make it happen,” Levitt said. “It’s a whole kind of interlocking set of protections in the Affordable Care Act that helps people with pre-existing conditions.”

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FACT CHECK: Gardner Pushed To Give Big Corporations Relief Funds Meant For Small Businesses

Gardner allowed relief program to be “slush fund for the president,” gave millions to giant corporations as Colorado’s unemployment rate skyrocketed

Denver, CO - Senator Cory Gardner is out with another deceiving ad on his failed COVID response that leaves out the fact that he pushed to allow Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) funds to benefit large corporations, leaving less money for small and minority-owned businesses who were left behind. The Colorado Springs Business Journal wrote that Gardner refused to demand oversight over what became a "slush fund for the president, his political allies and corporate friends.” Meanwhile, Colorado’s unemployment rate skyrocketed and Senate Republicans allowed emergency unemployment insurance to expire and have blocked efforts to renew it.

“Instead of helping Colorado small businesses and unemployed workers, Senator Gardner pushed to open up the PPP program to large corporations and failed to demand oversight -- letting the Trump Administration dole out relief fund as they please,” said Colorado Democratic Party spokesperson Eli Rosen. “Senator Gardner has taken $5.7 million from corporate PACs -- the most in Colorado Senate history -- and does their bidding while leaving Colorado’s struggling small businesses behind.”

While Gardner filmed the ad during his month-long vacation, local leaders, workers, and veterans are decrying his failure to deliver emergency unemployment relief and funding for testing, schools, and local governments.

Here are the facts on how Gardner has failed Colorado small businesses:

GARDNER PUSHED FOR PPP LOANS TO GO TO BIG CORPORATIONS

• Gardner has taken $5.7 million from corporate PACs throughout his career -- the most in Colorado Senate History.

• Gardner pushed the Trump Administration to amend the program intended for small businesses to allow big corporate chains and franchises to receive loans, while many mom-and-pop businesses were left out.

• Millions of dollars from the PPP flowed to America’s biggest economic rival, China, while leaving out many small Colorado businesses. 

• CPR reported that the data on the number of jobs impacted by the PPP “don’t necessarily show what they appear to at first glance.”

• The PPP “left minority business owners behind,” with many Latinx, woman, and veteran-owned businesses not receiving the support they need to stay afloat.
  
• Gardner has been a reliable ally for big corporations, standing with President Trump “100%” to push through a $2 trillion tax giveaway to the wealthy and big corporations.

GARDNER ALLOWED COVID RELIEF TO BECOME “SLUSH FUND FOR PRESIDENT”

• Gardner refused to demand accountability on the $2 trillion coronavirus relief package and let it become “a slush fund for the president, his political allies and corporate friends.”
  
• The Colorado Springs Business Journal editorial board wrote that Gardner “seems to have the president’s ear — at least for now — [so] he should step up and demand the White House adhere to the principles of accountability and fiscal responsibility that Republicans claim to espouse.”
  
• Gardner has been a rubber stamp for “Mr. Trump’s war on accountability” and remained deafeningly silent after the president fired four inspector generals since April, which a fellow Republican called a “threat to accountable democracy.”

GARDNER TOOK A MONTH-LONG VACATION, FAILED TO DELIVER COVID RELIEF

• Gardner left Washington for a month-long recess without passing COVID relief. It has been 104 days since Gardner said recess would be “unfathomable,” yet he folded to Mitch McConnell and left town without getting additional relief for Colorado.

• Gardner is “fac[ing] pressure” from local leaders, workers, and veterans to extend emergency unemployment insurance and provide funding for local governments, schools, and the USPS.
  
• Gardner broke his promise that the Senate wouldn’t “drop the ball” and let emergency unemployment insurance expire, leaving over 300,000 Coloradans in a “terrifying” position.
  
• Gardner threw his support behind Trump’s executive actions to give the wealthy a tax cut that could “permanently deplete” Social Security funding by 2023, leaving our aging Coloradans out to dry.

• While Colorado was facing a surge in coronavirus cases, Gardner and Trump were caught “playing political games with lives” as Colorado tried to secure much-needed supplies.
  
• Even during the pandemic, Gardner is continuing to crusade against the Affordable Care Act, which has been a lifeline during the fight against COVID. But if Gardner and the GOP’s lawsuit to repeal the law is successful, 400,000+ Coloradans could lose Medicaid coverage and rural hospitals could shut down.

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One Month Since Gardner Let Emergency Unemployment Expire & He’s On Vacation Campaigning With Controversial Right-Wing Agitators

This weekend Gardner campaigned with “racist” Kamala Harris birther theorist, QAnon supporter Lauren Boebert, Trump advisor pushing for “herd immunity” & Charlie Kirk

Denver, CO - It’s been a month since Senator Cory Gardner and Mitch McConnell let emergency unemployment benefits expire for more than 300,000 Coloradans relying on the lifeline to put food on the table and pay rent. Instead of extending unemployment relief and funding schools, COVID testing and local governments, Gardner took off for a month-long vacation and has been campaigning with a variety of controversial GOP agitators. 

This weekend, Gardner was spotted campaigning in front of hundreds of maskless people at a gun rally with QAnon conspiracy theorist Lauren Boebert and GOP Chair Ken Buck, who was wearing a “Kill ‘Em All, Let God Sort It Out” t-shirt. 

Gardner also spoke to hundreds of people indoors at a conservative summit alongside the “racist” Kamala Harris birther advocate John Eastman, a Trump advisor who is pushing the controversial “herd immunity” strategy -- which would lead to more than 2 million American deaths -- and notorious right-wing agitator Charlie Kirk.

Gardner reportedly questioned public health orders and attacked scientists in his remarks.

Colorado Democratic spokesperson Eli Rosen:

“It was ‘unfathomable’ that Senator Gardner failed to extend emergency unemployment benefits and took a month long vacation, and now he’s continuing to fail Colorado by attacking science and campaigning with racist right-wing agitators. Instead of fighting for Coloradans, Senator Gardner is on the campaign trail fanning the flames of division and boosting unfounded, racist conspiracies.”

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NEW: Chemical Industry Boosts Gardner's Campaign As He's Set to Vote On Chemical Lobbyist to Head Consumer Safety

Gardner silent on another case of the fox guarding the henhouse 

Denver, CO - The Colorado Sun reports that as Senator Cory Gardner is slated to vote on a former lobbyist from American Chemistry Council to be the top consumer safety watchdog in the country, the industry group went on air with a misleading ad boosting Gardner’s campaign. The suspiciously-timed ad comes as Gardner will likely be the deciding vote on the chemical lobbyist’s confirmation in the Senate Commerce Committee. Two other “Republican senators said they would oppose her nomination” because of her record on PFAS, but No Comment Cory “did not respond” to questions on the controversial nomination.

More from the Sun:

Another group running an ad on Cory Gardner’s behalf is the American Chemistry Council, which is celebrating the senator’s work to respond to the coronavirus crisis. The spot comes as a former top employee of the lobbying firm, Nancy Beck, goes before the Senate for consideration of her nomination to lead the Trump administration's Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Gardner, who sits on the committee spearheading the nomination hearing process, has not said whether he supports Beck’s controversial nomination. U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colorado, has demanded that Beck’s nomination be withdrawn because of her positions on regulations around so-called forever chemicals -- per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, also known as PFAS.

The lobbyist, Nancy Beck, has come under bipartisan scrutiny for her potential conflict of interest, record of “thwarting” consumer protections on toxic materials, and rolling back safety standards on harmful forever chemicals like PFAS. While Gardner has refused to speak out on Beck, Senator Bennet strongly condemned her nomination, saying she “put the health and safety of the American people at risk.”

Gardner has been a rubber stamp on nearly all of President Trump’s controversial nominees, including voting several times to let former corporate lobbyists regulate their own industries. Gardner voted to confirm a coal lobbyist Andrew Wheeler to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, refused to oppose anti-public lands zealot William Perry Pendley to lead the Bureau of Land Management, and voted for notorious school privatizer Betsy DeVos to oversee our public schools.

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100 Days After Gardner Said Recess Was “Unfathomable,” Here’s What Gardner Has Accomplished Since

Denver, CO - It has been 100 days since Senator Cory Gardner said recess would be “unfathomable” without further COVID relief, but since caving to Mitch McConnell, he has taken several long weekends, spent weeks bickering, and is now on a month-long vacation. Gardner is up with TV ads bragging he “gets things done,” so the Colorado Democrats are here to help with a comprehensive list of things Gardner has done to help struggling businesses, unemployed Coloradans, and underprepared schools.

Things Gardner Has Done for COVID Relief Since Saying Going on Recess Was “Unfathomable”:

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CO Dems Statement on Trump Campaign’s Colorado Bus Tour

Denver, CO - Today, the Colorado Democratic Party released the following statement in response to the announcement that the Trump campaign is launching a bus tour in Colorado: 

Chair of the Colorado Democratic Party Morgan Carroll: 

“What we’ve seen over the past few days at the Republican Convention is a mirror image of the past four years under Donald Trump: a president who is totally out-of-touch with reality, and an administration who prioritizes the needs of their wealthy donors over working families. Any noise made during this bus tour can’t erase Trump’s botched response to COVID-19, which has led to our economy cratering, countless small businesses closing permanently, and record-high unemployment. Nor will it distract Coloradans from Trump’s relentless crusade to rip health care coverage away from hundreds of thousands of Coloradans right when they need it the most. Coloradans are paying the price for Trump’s chaos and incompetence, and we cannot afford another four years of his failed leadership. 

“Colorado families need leaders who will fight to protect people with pre-existing conditions, and who help us build back better from Trump’s broken economy -- not a bus tour that will recklessly endanger public health in the middle of a pandemic. That’s why come November, Coloradans will reject Trump’s empty promises again and elect Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and Democrats up and down the ballot.” 

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Former HHS Secretary Slams Gardner for Lying on Health Care, Calls Sham Bill “Nonsense”

Secretary Sebelius: Trump and “Gardner will continue to lie about what it is they believe” … Gardner “knows what he’s put forward would not protect people” with pre-existing conditions

Denver, CO - After Senator Cory Gardner’s sham health care bill was shredded by 9News as “horse excrement,” yesterday former Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius slammed the stunt bill as “nonsense,” saying Gardner “knows what he’s put forward would not protect people” with pre-existing conditions but will continue to lie about it. The Secretary laid it out simply: Trump and Gardner “will say they support protecting people with pre-existing conditions -- absolutely not true.”

Nonpartisan experts at the Kaiser Family Foundation agreed that the bill from Gardner “falls well short of providing comprehensive protections for people with pre-existing conditions.” Health care experts and advocates decried Gardner’s 117-word bill as a desperate election-year attempt to hide his record of crusading against the Affordable Care Act (ACA) -- including voting at least 13 times to repeal, block, or defund the ACA and supporting the GOP lawsuit that could eliminate protections for 2.4 million Coloradans with pre-existing conditions.

Watch Secretary Sebelius slam Gardner’s sham bill:

Former HHS Secretary Sebelius: “The central organizing principle of the Republican party for at least ten years has been opposition to moving forward on health care.
...
“Each time the Republicans promised that they would have a better plan, a different plan, a replacement plan, the Republicans have no health care plan. But what we will see again, I can guarantee you, is both President Trump and Vice President Pence, and your Senator Cory Gardner will continue to lie about what it is they believe. They will say they support protecting people with pre-existing conditions, absolutely not true.
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“In all due deference to Senator Gardner, he knows what he’s put forward would not protect people. He knows there is no mandate that you could have that writes a three-line bill and makes every insurance company in this country cover people with pre-existing conditions, it’s nonsense.” 

NEW: Gardner’s Phony Enviro Ad Features GOP Parks Head Ousted in Corruption Scandal

Second star of Gardner’s ad “mismanaged $9.4 million” in taxpayer money, per State Audit Committee

Denver, CO - Days after Senator Cory Gardner was exposed for using a fake environmental group in a TV ad, new reporting from Colorado Politics reveals that the second star of Gardner’s ad is a scandal-riddled former Colorado Division of Parks head who was ousted from the agency after a corruption scandal “found the division had mismanaged millions of dollars, which included the use of state dollars for personal perks for employees.”

Larry Kramer served as Deputy Director during the corruption scandal. The state legislative audit committee “found the department mismanaged $9.4 million” in taxpayer money on Kramer’s watch. “Lawmakers were outraged” and Kramer was ousted as “part of a house-cleaning of the division in the wake of that 2008 audit.”

The second registered Republican in Gardner’s deceptively-titled ad “Both Parties” is a staffer for Big Oil ally Senator Paul Lundeen who founded a “hollow shell” sham organization just five months ago. Environmentalists who have advocated in the state for decades say they’ve “never heard of it.” Colorado Politics reveals that the group “wasn’t among” the organizations to support Gardner’s bill, suggesting that his own Senate office didn’t even consider them legitimate.

See highlights below or the full article HERE.

Colorado Politics: Sen. Cory Gardner's "Both Parties" ad shows supporters from just one party
By Marianne Goodland | August 26, 2020

The ad doesn't identify the parties of the two who endorse Gardner in the ad but implies it, both in the ad's title and by using the color red with one person and blue for the other. Both people featured in the ad are not only registered Republicans but tied to prominent GOP politicians and organizations: Alexandra "Allie" Killey is a legislative aide to Monument Republican Sen. Paul Lundeen, and the other is Larry Kramer, a former president of the Foothills Republicans in Jefferson County.

Killey, in the ad, that she recently formed Wild for Colorado, which was registered with the Secretary of State's Office on March 9. 

The website does not yet show any research or conservation outreach efforts. There are three short promotions of businesses in the "Friends" section, but another page on environmental and wildlife research lists none.

Killey's LinkedIn profile says she is still employed as a legislative aide. According to an open records request, she worked for Lundeen full-time — in many instances, working 10-hour days — between Dec. 2 and June 18.

Wild for Colorado’s Facebook page — listed as a personal blog, not a non-profit or other type of organizations — has four fans as of Aug. 25, and one post that welcomes people to the page.

Reached by phone, Killey declined an opportunity to comment. 

Gardner touted a May 11 letter addressed to the leadership of the U.S. House and Senate that 800 regional and national environmental groups supported the Great American Outdoors Act, which was signed into law last month by President Trump. Wild for Colorado, which was started two months earlier, wasn’t among them. 

The other Republican, Kramer, is the former deputy director of the Colorado Division of Parks and Outdoor Recreation (now the Division of Parks and Wildlife). He retired from the division in the wake of a scathing state audit during the Bill Ritter administration that found the division had mismanaged millions of dollars, which included the use of state dollars for personal perks for employees.

The June 2008 state audit, which was triggered by concerns raised by Great Outdoors Colorado (which now goes by GOCO), found the department mismanaged $9.4 million. GOCO, which provides lottery proceeds for parks use, denied the parks division lottery funds until the financial irregularities were straightened out.

“This situation is unacceptable,” the audit said. According to The Denver Post, lawmakers were outraged by the discrepancies. 

According to multiple sources who spoke to Colorado Politics on background, Kramer, along with several other administrators in upper management at parks and wildlife, was part of a house-cleaning of the division in the wake of that 2008 audit. He did not respond to a request for comment.

Hickenlooper spokeswoman Alyssa Roberts said "while Senator Gardner needs to astroturf a fake environmental group to deceive Coloradans about his toxic pro-polluter record, John Hickenlooper is proud to have earned endorsements from the League of Conservation Voters, the Sierra Club, and other leading environmental organizations who know he's the only candidate who will protect our public lands and fight climate change."

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ICYMI: Environmental Groups Slam Gardner & Trump For “Exploit[ing] a Pandemic” to Give Big Polluters Free Pass, Greenwashing on Public Lands

LCV: Gardner’s “standing by as the Trump administration exploits a pandemic to let polluters spew toxins into our air and water”

Grand Junction Daily Sentinel Op-Ed: “Gardner and Trump have become a toxic duo”

Denver, CO - Senator Cory Gardner is facing scrutiny from prominent environmental organizations and Coloradans for his toxic environmental record and failure to protect public lands. After the AP revealed the Trump administration let Big Oil “bypass rules intended to protect health and the environment” during the pandemic, environmental advocates slammed Gardner’s allegiance to corporate polluters:

League of Conservation Voters Action Fund:

“Senator Gardner voted to put a coal lobbyist in charge of the EPA, and now he’s standing by as the Trump administration exploits a pandemic to let polluters spew toxins into our air and water. Clearly the only thing that will stop Trump and Gardner’s anti-environmental crusade is voting them out of office this November and electing John Hickenlooper, an environmental leader who will always put Colorado first.”

Climate Power 2020:

“Cory Gardner’s silence in the face of the Trump administration’s free pass for polluters exposes just how ridiculous his self-proclaimed title as an environmentalist is. Gardner has enabled Trump’s toxic agenda at every turn by making life easier for polluters and ignoring Coloradans.”

Coloradans have broadly decried Gardner’s abysmal environmental record and failed coronavirus response. In a Grand Junction Daily Sentinel op-ed, Mesa County Commissioners candidate Kathryn Bedell roasted Gardner for his desperate attempt to greenwash his record, being “a puppet for big polluters,” and “fail[ing] to support our state, our frontline workers, and our schools.” 

Read why “Gardner and Trump have become a toxic duo” below:

Grand Junction Daily Sentinel: Gardner's receipts show he's no champion of western Colorado
By Kathryn Bedell | August 25, 2020

In a desperate attempt to boost his conservation and crisis response credentials, Sen. Cory Gardner is feverishly penning op-eds and bopping around to Colorado’s scenic outdoors for photo ops. While the glossy campaign mailers and commercials may look nice on the surface, nothing will be able to cover up Gardner’s actual ugly record.

Make no mistake, Gardner is no environmental champion, nor a leader in combating this pandemic. And we have the receipts to show it.

Gardner’s lackluster environmental record has earned him a dismal 11% lifetime score from one of the nation’s most prominent conservation groups, the League of Conservation Voters. And it was well-earned: He has pushed to loosen regulations on air pollution, refused to let science drive our national environmental policies, and supported efforts to remove the U.S. from the Paris Climate Accord.

But that hasn’t stopped him from posing as a conservation warrior. The legislation that Gardner is now doing a victory lap on — to fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund — is a new endeavor of Gardner’s, as he voted in other years to slash that very funding and even almost eliminate it.

While posing for photos and only taking interviews from selective media outlets, Gardner conspicuously omits that he has failed to designate any new Colorado wilderness, a longstanding tradition of Colorado’s Senate delegation.

And it wasn’t for lack of opportunity. Gardner has refused to join Sen. Michael Bennet in supporting the bipartisan Colorado Outdoor Recreation and Economy (CORE) Act, the decade-in-the-making bill with widespread grassroots support to conserve 400,000 acres of public land in Colorado that has already made its way through the House with bipartisan support.

The CORE Act would protect Thompson Divide from oil and gas drilling, something that communities across the Western Slope have been advocating for years.

Instead of protecting our environment, Gardner’s been a puppet for big polluters.

Gardner’s anti-environmental crusade reached new heights with President Trump in office, as he has been a rubber stamp on the president’s toxic agenda that has contaminated our air and water, overseen the largest rollback of protected public lands in U.S. history, and given polluters free rein during the pandemic.

Gardner and Trump have become a toxic duo.

Fortunately, we have a champion for our outdoor recreation economy and environment on the ballot. Whether it be creating the Colorado Outdoor Recreation Office or creating the “gold standard” and national model for methane regulations, time and again, John Hickenlooper shows he is a true and tested ally of our environment and outdoor economy.

And his support is not at the convenience of political winds or a hollow shell of an accomplishment like the move of the Bureau of Land Management to the Western Slope.

Don’t get me wrong, Trump’s move to relocate the BLM is welcomed with open arms, but not all that glitters is gold. We are getting a fraction of the jobs initially promised, an organization in disarray, and a leader, William Perry Pendley, who has even advocated for selling the very lands he is supposed to protect — in addition to racially tone-deaf stances.

Gardner’s refusal to oppose this anti-public lands bigot shows you everything you need to know about where his allegiance lies: with big polluters and Trump, not Colorado and our outdoor recreation economy.

But Gardner did get something right: Our great outdoors is a key to our economic recovery from this devastating pandemic. But what he fails to acknowledge is that the disaster would have been milder and recovery would have been far easier if Gardner himself hadn’t enabled this economic and public health crisis.

As we all can see clearly now, the coronavirus pandemic really didn’t have to be this bad.

Gardner has been at Trump’s side — literally, they were campaigning together as the virus was already spreading through Colorado — as the president downplayed the pandemic, failed to implement a national testing strategy, and failed to support our state, our frontline workers, and our schools.

And as Grand Junction is facing record unemployment, with thousands in need of emergency unemployment benefits, and schools lacking the resources to serve our kids in the fall, we are in dire need of real leadership in the Senate to push partisan squabbling aside and deliver for Colorado.

Unfortunately, Gardner has not been that leader. Gardner shows up for the photo ops, but fails to deliver when Coloradans need him most.

Trailing out of his pocket is a long receipt of anti-conservation actions and pandemic inaction. Sen. Gardner is making sure that his time in the Senate will be short.

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REALITY CHECK: Gardner Failed Colorado on COVID, But New Ad Brags About “Get[ting] Things Done”

Gardner is on a month-long vacation after failing to extend emergency unemployment insurance & pass urgent funding for schools, local governments & USPS

Denver, CO - Senator Cory Gardner has the audacity to brag that he “gets things done” in his latest campaign ad despite the fact that he left Washington empty-handed, failing to deliver emergency unemployment insurance and funding for our underprepared schools, hamstrung local governments, and USPS. Once again, Gardner’s new TV ad deceives Coloradans about his real record, suspiciously omitting his failure to stand up to President Trump and Mitch McConnell as they botch the nation’s response to COVID-19. 

“It’s unfathomable to see Senator Gardner take a victory lap after failing to deliver COVID relief and going on a month-long vacation while Coloradans struggle,” said Colorado Democratic Party spokesperson Eli Rosen. “Instead of fighting for Coloradans, Senator Gardner sold us out for President Trump and corporate special interests. We all know that Senator Gardner prefers $1,000 bottles of champagne over Colorado’s craft beer -- but if he wants to talk beer, it’s clear Gardner is nothing but foam.”

Gardner is currently in hot water after the Denver Post revealed his previous ad attempting to show bipartisanship and greenwash his abysmal environmental record features two Republican operatives and a “hollow shell” sham environmental group that no real environmental organizations had “ever heard of.” 

Here are the facts on how Gardner has failed Colorado:

GARDNER FAILED TO DELIVER COVID RELIEF

• Gardner left Washington for a month-long recess without passing COVID relief. It has been 98 days since Gardner said recess would be “unfathomable,” yet he folded to Mitch McConnell and left town anyway.

• Gardner is “fac[ing] pressure” from local leaders, workers, and veterans to extend emergency unemployment insurance and provide funding for local governments, schools, and the USPS.
  
• Gardner broke his promise that the Senate wouldn’t “drop the ball” and let emergency unemployment insurance expire, leaving 300,000 Coloradans in a “terrifying” position.
  
• Gardner threw his support behind Trump’s executive actions to give the wealthy a tax cut that could “permanently deplete” Social Security funding by 2023, leaving our aging Coloradans out to dry.

• While Colorado was facing a surge in coronavirus cases, Gardner and Trump were caught “playing political games with lives” as Colorado tried to secure much-needed supplies
  
• Even during the pandemic, Gardner is continuing to crusade against the Affordable Care Act, which has been a lifeline during the fight against COVID. But if Gardner and the GOP’s lawsuit to repeal the law is successful, 400,000+ Coloradans could lose Medicaid coverage and rural hospitals could shut down.

GARDNER IS “ONE OF THE MOST PARTISAN MEMBERS OF CONGRESS”

• Despite promising Coloradans he’d stand up to his party, as coronavirus spread earlier this year, Trump said Gardner has been “with us 100 percent ... no waver.” CQ found that Gardner votes with Trump 98% of the time.
  
• Gardner has confirmed nearly every one of Trump and McConnell’s right-wing appointees, supported partisan legislative tactics and political activity, and was labeled “one of the most partisan members of Congress.”

• Gardner’s definition of “bipartisanship” ignores his own votes. Last year Gardner even discredited his own metric, telling constituents that he won’t just put his “name on something” that won’t pass while using that same misleading measure to call himself bipartisan.
  
• Gardner is “Mitch McConnell’s right-hand man” -- voting with his party boss 95 percent of the time, running McConnell’s Senate Republican campaign arm, and folding like a cheap suit to McConnell after a failed political stunt that left Coloradans waiting for urgent relief from COVID-19.

• During Trump’s impeachment trial, Gardner stood by Trump every step of the way. 9News confirmed that “it is TRUE Gardner isn’t straying from President Trump and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.” 

• The Denver Post revoked their 2014 Gardner endorsement, stating that the endorsement was a “mistake” and that Gardner has become “precisely what we said in our endorsement he would not be: ‘a political time-server interested only in professional security.’”

GARDNER PREFERS $1000 BOTTLE CHAMPAGNE, NOT COLORADO BEER

• Gardner appears to have violated campaign finance laws and Senate Ethics rules when he attended a “Palm Beach soirée” featuring “luxuriant bubbles, delectable foods and thoughtful performances” -- $1,000 bottles of champagne, a four-course dinner, and live musical performances designed to “pair sound with Champagne.”
  
• Gardner is also facing another FEC complaint for allegedly receiving illegal campaign contributions from Mitch McConnell’s super PAC, Senate Leadership Fund, and a second Senate Ethics complaint for including congressional footage in a campaign ad. 

• Gardner “turned his back” on survivors of sexual assault and was a deciding vote to confirm Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh -- who also likes beer.

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