JBS Employees Denied Workers Compensation for COVID Deaths After Gardner & Pence Broke Promise on Tests

Workers benefits denied  while a recent report revealed Gardner took major PAC cash from JBS Meatpacking & stayed “conspicuously silent” on their coronavirus outbreak

Denver, CO -  A new Reuters report reveals that families of JBS Greeley employees who passed away from COVID were denied workers compensation after Senator Cory Gardner and Vice President Pence broke their promise on testing for employees. This news comes just a week after Business Insider reported that Gardner has taken more corporate PAC money — nearly $25,000 — from JBS meatpacking than nearly any member of Congress this cycle and was “conspicuously silent” on the Greeley plant’s outbreak. 

Employees of the plant slammed JBS’ benefit denial as “disgusting” and said that the “claim that the employee’s COVID-19 infections were not work-related is a downright lie” as the plant had a “dangerous ‘work while sick’ culture.” The union criticized Gardner for “bragging” about a broken promise, saying, “it’s time Senator Gardner protects his constituents and not the companies that are putting profits ahead of our people’s lives.”

To no surprise, No Comment Cory has refused to comment on his near-record PAC donations from JBS and the denied workers compensation.

See highlights of the Reuters report below or the full article HERE.

Reuters: Meatpackers deny workers benefits for COVID-19 deaths, illnesses
By Tom Hals, Tom Polansek | September 29, 2020

• JBS, the world’s largest meatpacker, denied the family’s application for workers’ compensation benefits, along with those filed by the families of two other Greeley workers who died of COVID-19, said lawyers handling the three claims. Families of the three other Greeley workers who died also sought compensation, a union representative said, but Reuters could not determine the status of their claims.

• The meatpacking industry has suffered severe coronavirus outbreaks, in part because production-line workers often work side-by-side for long shifts. The White House declined to comment on the industry's rejections of workers' claims. The U.S. Department of Labor did not respond to a request for comment.
  
• Although the state does not break down the denials by industry, a JBS spokesman told Reuters the company is rejecting claims in Colorado and that it uses the same claim-review procedures nationwide.

• At the JBS plant in Greeley, where Sanchez worked before he died, at least 291 of about 6,000 workers were infected, according to state data. The company, in its written response to the family’s claim, said that his infection was “not work-related,” without spelling out its reasoning. The two sides are now litigating the matter in Colorado’s workers’ compensation system.

• “They don’t care,” Rangel said of JBS. “They are all about the big profits, and they are not going to give any money out.”

• The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) said on Sept. 11 that it had cited JBS for failing to protect workers at the Greeley plant from the virus.

• In Colorado, Sylvia Martinez runs a group called Latinos Unidos of Greeley and said she knows of more than 20 JBS workers who applied for workers compensation and were denied. Many plant workers are not native English speakers and sought out her group for guidance, she said, adding that many don’t understand their rights and fear being fired. The company’s rejections have discouraged more claims, Martinez said.

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Colorado Dems React to Debate: “None of the Noise Trump Made Can Change His Record of Failure and Corruption.”

Denver, CO - Tonight, the Colorado Democratic Party released the following statement in response to the first presidential debate:

Chair of the Colorado Democratic Party Morgan Carroll: 

“I commend Vice President Joe Biden for keeping his cool and being the functioning adult in the room amidst an hour and a half of Donald Trump flailing, whining, interrupting, and lying. Donald Trump knows he can’t defend his record of 200,000 Americans dead from COVID-19 and a broken economy of his own making. What’s worse is that, when given the simplest question to denounce white supremacists, Trump took a pass. Colorado voters, and voters across this country, are tired of the lies and constant assault on our health care and freedoms by Donald Trump. Vice President Biden showed that he is the calm leader with a plan who will work to unite us. None of the noise Trump made can change his record of failure and corruption.”

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BREAKING: "Sen. Cory Gardner Says He Plans to Confirm Trump’s U.S. Supreme Court Nominee"

Gardner caves to Trump’s pressure & “flip-flopped” on his own 2016 standard to give McConnell the “key vote” for anti-ACA, anti-choice nominee

Denver, CO - The Durango Herald reports what Coloradans expected: Senator Cory Gardner plans to confirm President Trump’s anti-ACA and anti-choice U.S. Supreme Court nominee, Amy Coney Barrett. Gardner’s support comes one week after he caved to pressure from President Trump and “flip-flopped” on his own 2016 commitment to give his party bosses the “key vote” needed to ram through a lifetime appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court, threatening both Roe v. Wade and the Affordable Care Act.

“Senator Cory Gardner didn’t even need a day to think about it: instead of listening to Coloradans who want the President elected in November to pick the next Supreme Court Justice, he broke his own word and is plowing ahead with a nominee who could overturn the Affordable Care Act and put Roe v. Wade in jeopardy,” said Colorado Democratic Party spokesperson Eli Rosen. “Gardner is nothing more than a lackey for Trump, McConnell, and their corporate special interest allies and over the next 35 days, voters will continue to hold him accountable.”

See highlight below or the full article HERE:

Durango Herald: Sen. Cory Gardner says he plans to confirm Trump’s U.S. Supreme Court nominee
‘I voted for Judge Barrett in 2017. I would imagine voting for her again
By John Purcell | September 29, 2020

• U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner said Tuesday morning he plans to vote to confirm Amy Coney Barrett, President Donald Trump’s nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court.
  
• “Right now ... I plan to vote for her,” Gardner said Tuesday morning.
  
• “I voted for Judge Barrett in 2017. I would imagine voting for her again.”
  
• Gardner, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and several others were opposed in early 2016 to filling a Supreme Court seat during an election year.
  
• “Donald Trump and Cory Gardner are jamming through a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court as people are already voting instead of allowing the voters to make our voices heard,” Hickenlooper said in a news release.
  
• Bennet and other Democrats have echoed Hickenlooper’s sentiment, frequently referencing the McConnell-led effort to block then-President Barack Obama’s 2016 appointment of Judge Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court.
  
• With Gardner’s support, along with the support of other vulnerable senators like Martha McSally, R-Ariz., it appears that Barrett will have enough votes to be confirmed.

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LOYAL SOLDIER: Gardner Regurgitates Trump’s Debate Talking Points Almost Verbatim

Trump Campaign: “DO NOT underestimate [Biden’s] abilities in a debate” as “Biden has 47 years of practice” 

Gardner: Joe Biden is “very capable and able” with “47 years of experience”

Denver, CO -  As Senator Cory Gardner goes to bat for President Trump before the first Presidential debate tonight, a leaked Trump campaign memo reveals that Gardner is regurgitating their talking points almost verbatim. While Gardner refused to utter the president’s name — per usual — he did carefully use Trump’s talking points to set the stage for the first presidential debate, even using a specific point from the Trump memo referencing a debate with Rep. Paul Ryan from nearly a decade ago.

Gardner: Well, look, I think, if you listen to what the President has been talking about, he's talking about 47 months of experience as president versus 47 years of experience for Joe Biden in politics. Joe Biden is a very capable and able debate person figure. If you look at the Paul Ryan debate four years ago, he did a very good job against a very capable Paul Ryan. And so, I anticipate this being a pretty lively, good, even handed debate.

Gardner defending Trump ahead of tonight’s debate should come as no surprise as Gardner is with Trump “100%” — voting with him 98% according to Congressional Quarterly and falling in line with Mitch McConnell to give the president the “key vote” to get their right-wing anti-ACA and anti-choice Supreme Court nominee across the finish line just days before Coloradans start voting. 

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TODAY: Gardner Meets With Trump’s Anti-ACA & Anti-Choice SCOTUS Nominee, Gets Rubber Stamp Inked & Ready

Gardner has voted for 98% of Trump’s judicial nominees — including several deemed “not qualified” by the American Bar Association 

Denver, CO - Senator Cory Gardner is readying his rubber stamp as one of the first senators to meet with President Trump’s anti-Affordable Care Act and anti-choice Supreme Court nominee, Amy Coney Barrett, and rush her appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court days before Coloradans start voting. Gardner — who voted to confirm Barrett in 2017 to a lower court — has been a “consistent ally of President Donald Trump when it comes to judicial picks,” voting for 98% of the president's nominees, even those deemed “not qualified” by the nonpartisan American Bar Association.

Gardner refused to meet with President Obama’s 2016 Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland, nine months from the election, but Gardner was first in line to meet with Trump’s pick less than two weeks before Coloradans get ballots. The meeting comes after Gardner “flip-flopped” on his own 2016 commitment and gave his party bosses the “key vote” needed to ram through a lifetime appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Colorado Democratic Party spokesperson Eli Rosen:

“Senator Cory Gardner’s meeting with Amy Coney Barrett is nothing more than a dog and pony show, as we all know Senator Gardner is a reliable rubber stamp for Trump’s rigid right-wing nominees. Senator Gardner and Coney Barrett are in lockstep in their attacks on the Affordable Care Act — with its protections for people with pre-existing conditions — and reproductive freedoms.”

Get the facts on Gardner and Coney Barrett’s shared vision on the Affordable Care Act and women’s reproductive freedom: 

	GARDNER	CONEY BARRETT
Anti-ACA	✅  Gardner has voted 13 times to defund, dismantle, or repeal the ACA without a real replacement for people with pre-existing conditions and supports the Trump-backed lawsuit to repeal the health care law slated to be heard a week after the election.	✅ Coney Barrett attacked the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the ACA, which expanded health care to 500,000 Coloradans and instituted protections for 2.4 million Coloradans with pre-existing conditions.
Anti-Choice	✅ Gardner believes that states should be able to ban abortion — even without exceptions for rape or incest and has confirmed all of Trump’s rigid anti-choice judicial nominees	✅ Coney Barrett’s nomination “could be a step toward the end of Roe v. Wade” and reproductive rights groups said Coney Barrett would “put reproductive freedom in danger.”

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Gardner **Still** Silent On Anti-Public Lands Zealot Pendley, Even After Judge Rules He Illegally Ran BLM

CPR: “Sen. Cory Gardner, a Colorado Republican, did not publicly respond to the judge's ruling”

Grand Junction Daily Sentinel Editorial: “A win for the Constitution”

Denver, CO - Senator Cory Gardner “did not publicly respond” after a federal judge ruled that anti-public lands zealot William Perry Pendley was serving illegally in his post at the Bureau of Land Management and ordered his removal. Pendley has come under extreme scrutiny for his anti-conservation views — like writing that the “Founding Fathers intended all lands owned by the federal government to be sold” and denying climate science — causing environmental advocates to say “there’s really no one less qualified to lead the BLM.” 

Despite environmental groups and the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel decrying Pendley’s disqualifying views and Coloradans overwhelmingly disapproving of Pendley, Gardner has refused to speak out on Trump’s pick, repeatedly dodging questions.

Even after the White House withdrew Pendley’s formal nomination — saving Gardner from an unpopular vote — Gardner has stayed mum as the Trump administration continued its assault on our environment and public lands. 

Now that a judge has said Pendley’s been illegally overseeing this agency managing our public lands for over a year, will greenwashing Gardner finally speak out?

Coloradans have unfortunately come to expect crickets from Gardner when it comes to Trump’s assault on our public lands, air, and water.

Colorado Democratic Party spokesperson Eli Rosen:

“If Senator Cory Gardner truly cared about ethics or public lands, he’d speak out against the anti-public lands zealot that Trump has let illegally run an agency managing our public lands for over a year. But Coloradans know that Gardner sold us out for Trump and corporate polluters, so all we get is silence.”

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CDP Statement On Trump’s SCOTUS Nominee & Gardner’s“Key Vote” to Repeal ACA & Overturn Roe v. Wade

Denver, CO - Senator Cory Gardner “flip-flopped” on his own 2016 commitment and gave President Trump and Mitch McConnell the “key vote” needed to ram through a lifetime appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Colorado Democratic Party chair Morgan Carroll released the following statement on President Trump’s anti-choice and anti-Affordable Care Act Supreme Court nominee:

“Senator Cory Gardner cowardly caved to Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell and gave his party bosses the greenlight to rush a Supreme Court justice through that could overturn the Affordable Care Act — gutting protections for people with pre-existing conditions — and put Roe v. Wade on the chopping block. Plain and simple, Senator Gardner sold Coloradans out.”

Gardner voted to confirm Barrett in 2017 while Senator Michael Bennet opposed.

Get the facts on Trump’s SCOTUS nominee, Amy Coney Barrett, and her extensive record of crusading against the Affordable and women’s reproductive freedom: 

Coney Barrett Has Attacked SCOTUS for Upholding the ACA

• Coney Barret attacked the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the ACA, which expanded health care to more than 400,000 Coloradans and instituted protections for more than 2.4 million Coloradans with pre-existing conditions. Barrett wrote that Chief Justice Roberts “pushed the Affordable Care Act beyond its plausible meaning to save the statute.”
  
• Coney Barret suggested that she would have struck down the ACA’s subsidies that help low-income Coloradans pay for health care insurance.

• The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear another lawsuit to overturn the ACA on November 10th.

Barrett is a Threat to Reproductive Freedom

• 17 reproductive rights groups have already sounded the alarm on Coney Barrett’s rigid views on reproductive freedoms, saying in a 2017 letter opposing Coney Barrett’s nomination to the Seventh Circuit that she would “put reproductive freedom in danger.”
  
• Coney Barrett has criticized Roe v. Wade and said that she does not think that cases like Roe are actually settled law, but rather there is “space” for “reargument.” Coney Barrett argues that the Supreme Court should consider overturning its own precedents, including Roe.
  
• Coney Barrett criticized the ACA’s expansion of contraception access under the guise that it is an “assault on religious freedom” and falsely criticized the Obama administration for providing “abortion-inducing drugs, contraception, and sterilization.”
  

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REALITY CHECK: Gardner Stands With Trump “100%” & Is Mitch McConnell’s “Right Hand Man”

Gardner has voted with Trump 98% of the time, making him “one of the most partisan members of Congress”

Denver, CO - Senator Cory Gardner is once again up with a deceiving ad that hides his real record of standing with President Trump “100%” and being “Mitch McConnell’s right-hand man,” even providing them the “key vote” to ram through a likely anti-ACA and anti-choice Supreme Court appointee, making the Trump-backed lawsuit to overturn the health care law more likely to succeed.

“Senator Gardner has been a reliable ally to President Trump and Mitch McConnell, working in lockstep to try to repeal the Affordable Care Act and sell out our public lands while failing to deliver needed COVID relief for Colorado families,” said Colorado Democratic Party spokesperson Eli Rosen. “Instead of fighting for Coloradans, Senator Gardner sold us out for his party bosses and corporate special interests -- his deceiving ads won’t hide the truth.” 

Here are the facts on how Gardner has been a partisan warrior:

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 has voted for 98% of Trump’s judicial picks — rubber-stamping all but 4 of Trump’s 214 judicial nominees — and even voted for several judicial nominees deemed “not qualified” by the nonpartisan American Bar Association.
  
• Gardner gave McConnell the “key vote” to rush a likely anti-Obamacare and anti-choice nominee onto the U.S. Supreme Court, making the Trump-backed lawsuit to overturn the health care law more likely to succeed. 

• 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 SOLD OUT OUR PUBLIC LANDS

• A rubber stamp for Trump’s toxic environmental agenda, Gardner has a failing 11% lifetime score from the League of Conservation Voters, earning him a spot on their notorious “Dirty Dozen” list.
  
• Gardner refuses to support the bipartisan House-passed Colorado Outdoor Recreation and Economy (CORE) Act, a decade-in-the-making collaborative wilderness bill to protect 400,000 acres of public land like Thompson Divide and Camp Hale. Gardner is stonewalling the bill and even decried the legislation as “a partisan, political tool,” despite widespread grassroots support. 
  
• Despite a judge removing William Perry Pendley from the Bureau of Land Management for unlawfully serving, Gardner has refused to speak out against the illegal appointee and his support for selling off public lands and his long history of climate science denial and xenophobia.
  
• Gardner voted to virtually eliminate funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund and supported Trump’s attempt to cut $16 million from the public lands program in 2018.
  
• Gardner has a long record of voting against Colorado’s public lands, even voting to block a measure to increase local input on land management.

CHOSE TRUMP OVER COLORADO’S MILITARY COMMUNITY

• In March, CPR reported the Trump administration “said it was completely restarting the search for a permanent home for Space Command” and no decision will be made on the permanent home until after the election.

• Gardner voted three times to let Trump raid military construction funding for his border wall and broke his promise to protect funding for Colorado’s bases as Peterson Air Force Base lost $8 million. Gardner apparently didn’t lift a finger to restore the funding.

• Twelve Republican senators broke with their party to oppose Trump’s sham border wall national emergency that cost Colorado funding — but not Gardner.
  

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TWINS: Gardner & Trump Following Same Playbook on Pre-Existing Conditions Stunts, But “Gardner Mum on Trump's” Hollow Executive Order

Trump’s order “does not create a policy or a law” to protect people with pre-existing conditions

 Gardner’s stunt bill “expressly allow[s] insurance companies to deny people coverage” 

Denver, CO - Taking a page from the same playbook as Senator Cory Gardner, yesterday President Trump unveiled a hollow executive order that will not protect people with pre-existing conditions -- but instead of accepting the flattery, Gardner is “mum” on the president's stunt. 

Like Trump, Gardner also released an 11th-hour “political document” that is designed to distract from his decade-long record of voting to gut coverage for people with pre-existing conditions. President Trump’s election-year stunt has already been shredded by independent experts — and his own administration officials — for “fall[ing] far short of a comprehensive proposal” that “does not create a policy or a law” to protect people with pre-existing conditions — just like Gardner’s.

Gardner’s fake health care bill has been debunked by multiple independent fact-checkers and health care experts for being nothing more than a “horse excrement” bill that “expressly allow[s] insurance companies to deny people” with pre-existing conditions coverage.

The timely stunts come as Gardner gave Mitch McConnell the “key vote” to rush a likely anti-ACA nominee onto the U.S. Supreme Court, making the Trump-backed lawsuit to overturn the health care law more likely to succeed. While Gardner was caught desperately trying to dodge questions on the lawsuit, he threw his support behind the GOP effort to repeal the ACA, calling the law “unconstitutional.”

Gardner — who has his own toxic health care record of opposing protections for people with pre-existing conditions and voting at least 13 times to repeal, gut, or defund the ACA — has also been a rubber stamp for Trump’s anti-health care judicial nominees who have called SCOTUS’ opinion upholding the ACA “indefensible” and “catastrophic.

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GARDNER’S WEEK OF FAILURE: Five Years Ago, Gardner Effectively Voted to Shut Down the Government In An Attempt to Defund Planned Parenthood

Denver, CO -  Five years ago today, Senator Cory Gardner effectively voted to shut down the federal government in his attempt to defund Planned Parenthood. Gardner deceived Coloradans in his 2014 Senate campaign that he would not be a threat to reproductive freedom, but he has consistently attacked a woman’s right to choose and reproductive health care -- voting at least 10 times to defund Planned Parenthood and gut Coloradans access to essential care like cancer screenings and contraception.

This week, Gardner even gave Mitch McConnell the “key vote” to rush President Trump’s U.S. Supreme Court nominee “across the finish line,” vowing to confirm a nominee who Trump has already pledged would overturn Roe v. Wade.

Gardner’s rigid anti-choice views -- like believing states should be able to ban abortion without exceptions for rape or incest and him having supported “personhood” measures and jailing doctors -- are not in line with Coloradans. Voters have rejected multiple attempts to restrict reproductive rights at the ballot box. And with yet another attempt to put politicians between doctors and patients on the ballot this year, Gardner is refusing to say where he stands.

To see more on how Gardner has failed Coloradans, visit CoryFailedColorado.com.

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BUSINESS INSIDER: Gardner Takes in Near-Record PAC Money from JBS Meatpacking, “Conspicuously Silent” on “Their Record-Setting Coronavirus Outbreak”

JBS Meatpacking Plant Employees: “It’s time Senator Gardner protects his constituents and not the companies that are putting profits ahead of our people’s lives”

Denver, CO - A new Business Insider report reveals that Senator Cory Gardner has taken more corporate PAC money from JBS meatpacking than nearly any member of Congress this cycle, and when the JBS plant in Greeley faced a “record-setting coronavirus outbreak,” Gardner was “conspicuously silent.” Despite “bragging” about it on the campaign trail, Gardner and Vice President Mike Pence broke their promise that all employees would be tested after the JBS plant in Greeley suffered one of the largest COVID outbreaks in Colorado, experiencing 291 cases and 8 deaths to date. 

The employees of the plant decried Gardner’s “broken promises” saying, “it’s time Senator Gardner protects his constituents and not the companies that are putting profits ahead of our people’s lives,” showing once again he prioritizes wealthy special interests before Coloradans. 

Gardner is no stranger to corporate PAC cash, hauling in more corporate PAC cash than any other candidate in Colorado Senate history -- nearly $6 million and counting. 

To no surprise, “Gardner's office and campaign refused to comment” about the donations.

See highlights of the Business Insider article below or the full article HERE.

Business Insider: Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner received $24,000 in PAC donations from a meatpacking corporation. He's largely remained quiet about the company's record-setting coronavirus outbreak.

By Jake Lahut | September 24, 2020

• Meatpacking plants have been among the most devastated workplaces during the coronavirus pandemic, with the cramped working conditions and lack of consequential federal oversight leading to scores of COVID-19 infections and deaths.

• But some Republican officials have remained surprisingly tight-lipped about the industry's poor COVID record — including Republican Sen. Cory Gardner of Colorado, who has been one of the top recipients in Congress of PAC money from JBS meatpacking —  over the past decade. 

• Gardner's office and campaign refused to comment about the donation on the record.
  
• In a local talk radio interview, Gardner was hesitant to say anything overly negative about JBS...

• Every time Gardner has been up for reelection since 2012, he has been in the top two for donations from members of the company and its affiliated PAC. His haul from the company now totals $24,000.

• However, the 5,000 tests promised by Pence never arrived, and the plant reopened without testing all employees.

• In the interview, Gardner called essential workers "the real heroes" of the pandemic, but when asked about the concerns from employees about the lack of testing and safety measures, the senator made sure not to come down too heavily on company brass.
  
• "We have come to expect this rhetoric from JBS, but we expect more from our elected leaders," she added. "Senator Gardner talks big but acts small — and where workers are concerned — doesn't act at all."

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MCCONNELL: Cory Gardner is “Key Vote” to Ram SCOTUS Nominee “Across the Finish”

Gardner caves to McConnell & breaks his 2016 commitment, putting protections for people with pre-existing conditions & reproductive rights at risk

Denver, CO - In a leaked fundraising email, Mitch McConnell boasted that Senator Cory Gardner was the “key vote” to ram President Trump’s U.S. Supreme Court nominee “across the finish line.” Gardner -- who was one of just two Republican holdouts who could have kept McConnell from having enough votes to rush a Trump nominee -- initially followed McConnell’s playbook and dodged questions about the Court vacancy before he “flip-flopped” on his own 2016 commitment and caved to President Trump’s pressure. Gardner’s decision gets Trump just enough votes to rush through a likely right-wing justice.

Thanks to Gardner, protections for people with pre-existing conditions, reproductive rights, and so many other important issues are on the chopping block.

Gardner is pushing misleading claims on his partisan record on air despite the receipts showing he’s “one of the most partisan members of Congress,” voting with Trump 98% and McConnell 95% of the time. 

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In New Ad, Gardner Says What Coloradans Already Know: “You and I May Not Always Agree”

Gardner is on the wrong side of the issues with Coloradans, from his attempts to repeal the ACA & gut protections for people with pre-existing conditions to his support for big polluters & selling out our public lands

Denver, CO - In Senator Cory Gardner’s new cringe-worthy ad, he says what the majority of Coloradans already know to be true: “you and I may not always agree.” Gardner is right -- the majority of Coloradans don’t agree with Gardner and his out of touch views, with poll after poll showing his support underwater and voters believing he prioritizes his party bosses ahead of our state.

From Gardner’s unrelenting crusade to repeal the Affordable Care Act and gut protections for people with pre-existing conditions, to his pro-Big Polluter agenda to spew toxins into our air, land, and water, Gardner’s views are not in line with Coloradans. 

Here is a list of just a few of the issues that Gardner is at odds with Coloradans on:

• Health Care & Pre-Existing Conditions: Gardner has crusaded against the Affordable Care Act and protections for people with pre-existing conditions, voting at least 13 times to repeal, gut, or defund the health care law without a real plan to protect the 2.4 million Coloradans with pre-existing conditions. Gardner has recklessly put the invaluable protections “in greater danger than ever” with his support for jamming through a SCOTUS nominee before the election. The Supreme Court is slated to decide the fate of Obamacare on November 10th.
  
• Environment & Public Lands: Gardner has been a rubber stamp for Trump’s toxic environmental agenda, earning a failing 11% lifetime score from the League of Conservation Voters and a spot on their notorious “Dirty Dozen” list, again. While the decade-in-the-making CORE Act to protect 400,000 acres of Colorado public land has widespread grassroots support, Gardner is “blocking” the bill’s passage in the Senate.
  
• Reproductive Rights: Despite Coloradans overwhelmingly supporting reproductive freedom, Gardner believes states should be able to ban abortion, has relentlessly attacked reproductive rights -- voting for two anti-choice bills to ban abortion this year and supporting all of Trump’s rigid anti-choice judicial nominees -- and now is poised to confirm another likely anti-choice justice who could overturn Roe v. Wade.

• Coronavirus Relief: While Coloradans are in desperate need of economic relief and affordable health care, Gardner failed to extend emergency unemployment aid  -- even after his infamous “unfathomable” stunt -- and stands by Trump as he refuses to reopen Affordable Care Act enrollment as unemployment and uninsured rates skyrocket.
  
• Gun Safety: Coloradans support common-sense gun safety measures but Gardner has voted in lockstep with the NRA, opposes expanding background checks, and refused to support red-flag laws or take real action to protect Colorado communities from the gun violence epidemic.

While Gardner clogs the airwaves with misleading ads, Coloradans know that he actually stands with President Trump “100%” and puts wealthy corporate special interests ahead of Colorado.

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🚨RATING CHANGE🚨: Cook Political Report Moves Colorado Senate Race Toward Hickenlooper

Gardner’s “flip flop” on SCOTUS seat -- breaking his own standard -- will “surely be at odds with many Colorado voters”

Even Gardner’s GOP colleagues say pushing a SCOTUS vote “probably isn’t good” for him

Denver, CO - This morning the Cook Political Report moved the Colorado Senate race to “Lean Democrat,” saying that Senator Cory Gardner’s decision to break his own 2016 standard and cave to President Trump’s pressure to ram through a Supreme Court nominee will “surely be at odds with many Colorado voters.”

Even Gardner’s GOP Senate colleagues and major GOP donors admit that his broken commitment to Coloradans on rushing a SCOTUS nominee through will “hurt” him and “probably isn’t good” for his already slim reelection chances. 

This is the second nonpartisan rating change in September, with Politico moving Colorado’s senate race to “Lean Democrat” two weeks ago, writing that Hickenlooper “is consistently ahead of first-term GOP Sen. Cory Gardner.” The rating change comes just a week after a new poll that has Hickenlooper 10 points ahead of Gardner, whom Coloradans overwhelmingly believe is deceptive and prioritizes his loyalty to President Trump and his special interest donors ahead of standing up for our state. 

For more on how Gardner has failed Coloradans check out CoryFailedColorado.com.

Colorado Democratic Party spokesperson Eli Rosen: 

“Senator Cory Gardner sold out Colorado yet again by breaking his own commitment to let voters have a say in the next Supreme Court Justice -- who could overturn both Roe v. Wade and the Affordable Care Act. The stakes of this election could not be higher, and Coloradans are eager to vote Gardner out.”

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As SCOTUS Nomination Looms, Gardner Has Been “Consistent Ally of President Donald Trump when it Comes to Judicial Picks”

Gardner has voted for 98% of Trump’s nominees, including those deemed “not qualified” by the nonpartisan American Bar Association 

Denver, CO - After Senator Cory Gardner “flip-flopped” on his 2016 commitment and now claims he will vote for a so-called “qualified” Supreme Court nominee even just weeks before the election, his record shows that he has been a “consistent ally of President Donald Trump when it comes to judicial picks” -- even voting for several judicial nominees deemed “not qualified” by the nonpartisan American Bar Association. 

Gardner’s record of voting for 98% of Trump’s judicial picks -- voting to confirm all but 4 of Trump’s 214 judicial nominees -- comes under laser focus after he gave the president the “pivotal” vote he needed to ram through a lifetime appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court. 

Here are some of the “not qualified” nominees that Gardner has already rubber stamped for Trump and McConnell:

• Justin Walker - Dubbed Mitch McConnell’s “protégé,” Walker lacked “any significant trial experience,” and called the Supreme Court’s opinion upholding the ACA “indefensible” and “catastrophic,” attacking the lifesaving law. Gardner first voted to confirm Walker to a district court last fall -- then after less than a year, Gardner voted to promote him.
  
• Jonathan Kobes - The ABA found that Kobes didn’t have “the requisite experience” or “ability to fulfill the scholarly writing required of a United States Circuit Court Judge.”
  
• Steven Grasz - Grasz earned an astounding unanimous “not qualified” rating from the ABA while his anti-LGBT and rigid anti-choice agenda -- including opposition to Roe v. Wade -- was exposed.
  
• Charles Goodwin - The ABA found that Goodwin was frequently absent from the courtroom during his duties, earning him a “not qualified” rating.
  

• Sarah Pitlyk - Pitlyk is in lockstep with Gardner and McConnell in their crusade against the Affordable Care Act and also supports their efforts to restrict reproductive freedom. 
  
• Lawrence VanDyke - The ABA deemed him “not qualified” as an “an ideologue” that would not affirmatively commit to treating LQBTQ matters fairly, and for lacking the “knowledge of the day-to-day practice.”

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Cory Gardner Gave Trump “Pivotal” Vote To Ram Through SCOTUS Nominee

Gardner caves to Trump & McConnell & breaks his 2016 commitment for partisan gain, putting ACA & reproductive rights on the chopping block

Denver, CO - Senator Cory Gardner gave the president the “pivotal” vote he needed to ram through a lifetime appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court nominee just 17 days before ballots are mailed to Coloradans. Less than 12 hours after President Trump pressured Gardner to stay loyal on Fox News, he sold out Colorado and broke his own 2016 standard. Before he caved, Gardner was one of just two Republican holdouts who could keep McConnell from having enough votes to ram through Trump’s nominee this year.

Gardner has recklessly put protections for people with pre-existing conditions “in greater danger than ever,” with the Supreme Court slated to hear a case to repeal the Affordable Care Act just a week after the November election. Now that Trump has secured his votes for another likely anti-choice justice, Roe v. Wade and Coloradans’ reproductive rights are on the line like never before. 

In caving to McConnell, Gardner ignored the wishes of Coloradans to stand by his 2016 commitment, with the Denver Post penning an editorial demanding Gardner uphold his own precedent of letting voters have a say in the nominee and Coloradans, elected officials, and health care advocates protesting outside Gardner’s office demanding he stand up to Trump and McConnell for once.

Colorado Democratic Party spokesperson Eli Rosen:

“Make no mistake, Senator Cory Gardner’s cave to his party bosses gave Trump the greenlight to put forth a nominee who could gut protections for people with pre-existing conditions, rip health care away from hundreds of thousands of Coloradans, and put reproductive freedoms on the chopping block. Like usual, Gardner has chosen to put his party bosses ahead of Coloradans, failing to represent his constituents.”

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BREAKING: Gardner Cowardly Caves To Trump & McConnell, Again, Breaking His 2016 Commitment for Partisan Political Gain

With Gardner’s announcement, Trump likely has votes to ram through SCOTUS nominee

Denver, CO - Senator Cory Gardner cowardly succumbed to the pressure of President Trump and Mitch McConnell and broke his own 2016 commitment that the “the president who is elected in November should be the one who makes this decision” on the next Supreme Court Justice. 

Colorado Democratic Party chair Morgan Carroll:

“Senator Cory Gardner caved to his party bosses and broke his own standard -- all in the name of partisan gain. Like always, Senator Gardner put President Trump ahead of Colorado, breaking his own standard from just four years ago. Come November, Coloradans will show Senator Gardner we prioritize a real independent leader in Washington -- not one who is a puppet for their party bosses -- and send Gardner packing.”

After refusing to comment repeatedly, refusing to answer questions, and “darting” from reporters, Gardner showed his true colors: he is just like Mitch McConnell, a man “without conviction” as the Denver Post editorial board wrote today. 

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DENVER POST EDITORIAL: “Will Sen. Cory Gardner Apply His Precedent of Letting Voters Have Say Equally” With SCOTUS?

“Gardner has not answered questions about whether he’ll refuse to fill a vacancy weeks before a presidential election and keep voters from having a say”

Denver, CO - The Denver Post is out with a new editorial calling on Senator Cory Gardner to stand by his 2016 commitment that “the president who is elected in November should be the one who makes this decision” and fills the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Supreme Court seat. If Gardner succumbs to political pressure from Mitch McConnell and President Trump, the editorial board writes that he will also be a “man who stands for nothing except playing and winning the political game and the illness is political power.”

Despite Trump pressuring Gardner -- saying he is “very, very loyal to the party” -- Gardner has taken McConnell’s direction and kept his “powder dry,” dodging at least eight times questions on the lifetime Supreme Court appointment that will decide the fate of the Affordable Care Act. 

Last year, the Denver Post editorial board rescinded their 2014 Gardner endorsement writing that he “has become precisely what we said in our endorsement he would not be: ‘a political time-server interested only in professional security.’”

Read highlights below or the full editorial HERE.

Denver Post Editorial: Ginsburg applied the law equally; will Sen. Cory Gardner apply his precedent of letting voters have say equally?
By Denver Post Editorial Board | September 21, 2020

Ruth Bader Ginsburg was a champion against sex discrimination, but what made her application of the law so compelling was her equal application — if there could be no government-funded military school for only men, then there could be no government-funded nursing school for only women. Some of the early cases she won as an ACLU attorney before the U.S. Supreme Court determined that if a woman should get widower benefits for a working spouse, then a man should too; and if a woman was eligible for housing as a spouse in the military then a husband must be eligible too.
. . . 

And now, tragically, it is time to fill her seat on the bench. Ginsburg died last week at the age of 87. President Donald Trump has the power to nominate someone immediately; there’s no law or rule preventing him from rushing his pick to the U.S. Senate for confirmation in the six weeks before the Nov. 3 election.

There is, however, the precedent Republicans in the Senate voluntarily set in 2016, about whether lawmakers should even consider such a hasty nomination.

“That is why the next president of the United States should have the opportunity to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court,” U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colorado, explained in a press release on March 16, 2016, a full seven months before the election. “In 1992, even then-Senator Joe Biden stated the Senate should not hold confirmation hearings for a Supreme Court nominee until after that year’s presidential election. Our next election is too soon and the stakes are too high; the American people deserve a role in this process as the next Supreme Court Justice will influence the direction of this country for years to come.”

We argued at the time that no such precedent existed, and that while the Senate was free to consider and deny Merrick Garland’s nomination for the Supreme Court, the legislative body should fulfill its duty and vote.

But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, like Gardner, was resolute: “The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court Justice. Therefore, this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president.”

We of course disagreed with McConnell then, and we’d disagree with him today, if he weren’t proving himself to be a man without conviction (Gardner has not answered questions about whether he’ll refuse to fill a vacancy weeks before a presidential election and keep voters from having a say).

Less than 24 hours after Ginsburg’s death, McConnell announced (at the end of an email honoring Ginsburg’s service) that the Senate would consider Trump’s nomination. In fact, McConnell’s unabashed willingness to so quickly dispense with his “voters-should- decide” insistence is astounding. It’s the symptom of a man who stands for nothing except playing and winning the political game and the illness is political power. Are the spoils of power in this country so great as to corrupt so absolutely?
. . .

But we’ve never argued that such a decision should be in the hands of American voters when it was politically expedient, only to cast voters aside so easily when it’s a political liability.

Such inconsistencies dishonor the legacy of Ginsburg’s equal application of the law.

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GARDNER’S WEEK OF FAILURE: Eight Years Ago, Gardner Voted To Bar the EPA from Fighting Climate Change

Denver, CO - Eight years ago today, then-Representative Cory Gardner voted to bar the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating climate-changing emissions  and implementing new rules on coal mining, one in a long list of positions Gardner has taken against our environment. Throughout his career, Gardner has been a consistent ally of Big Polluters, voting to roll back protections for clean air and water and give polluters free rein. 

Gardner voted for Trump’s toxic EPA appointees, like climate change denier Scott Pruitt and coal lobbyist Andrew Wheeler. Gardner has voted to repeal methane emissions limits modeled off of Colorado’s own “gold standard”, voted against recognizing human-caused climate change, and supported opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling for the first time ever. Even during the global pandemic, Gardner stood willingly by as Trump’s EPA gave an open license to polluters and waived environmental rules protecting clean air.

Gardner’s anti-environmental votes earned him a staggering lifetime score of 11% from the League of Conservation Voters and a spot on their “Dirty Dozen,” again.

To see more on how Gardner has failed Coloradans, visit CoryFailedColorado.com.

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FOX NEWS: Trump Says Gardner is “Very, Very Loyal to The Party,” As Gardner Takes McConnell’s Advice to “Keep Your Powder Dry” on SCOTUS

While Gardner stays mum on SCOTUS, he hosts a private fundraiser with known racist & potential SCOTUS pick Senator Tom Cotton

Denver, CO -  This morning on Fox News, President Trump said what Coloradans have come to know about Senator Cory Gardner — he is “very, very loyal to the party,” pressuring Gardner to ultimately go along with what Trump and Mitch McConnell want as Senate Republicans rush to fill the late Justice Ginsburg’s U.S. Supreme Court seat. But Gardner himself is refusing to say whether he will uphold his 2016 standard that “the president who is elected in November [to] be the one who makes this decision” about a lifetime Supreme Court appointment, following McConnell’s orders to his caucus to “keep your powder dry.” Incredibly, Trump even suggested that the Supreme Court vacancy would somehow “help” Gardner’s campaign.

Instead of answering questions on the consequential SCOTUS vacancy that will decide the fate of the Affordable Care Act and protections for people with pre-existing conditions, today Gardner is hosting a private fundraiser with known racist and anti-choice potential SCOTUS pick, Senator Tom Cotton:

After the vice chair of the Black Legislative Caucus asked Gardner to cancel the fundraiser and condemn Cotton’s racist rhetoric, the vulnerable Senator -- predictably -- “didn’t respond” to questions about the event. 

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