{"id":2447543,"date":"2019-08-14T09:48:54","date_gmt":"2019-08-14T15:48:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=311165"},"modified":"2019-08-14T09:48:54","modified_gmt":"2019-08-14T15:48:54","slug":"cory-gardner-spars-with-democrats-in-campaign-stop-at-minturn-saloon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/cory-gardner-spars-with-democrats-in-campaign-stop-at-minturn-saloon\/","title":{"rendered":"Cory Gardner spars with Democrats in campaign stop at Minturn Saloon"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
U.S. Senator Cory Gardner of Colorado speaks to a packed room during a campaign event Tuesday at the Minturn Saloon.<\/strong>
Justin McCarty\/Special to the Vail Daily<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

MINTURN \u2014 Sen. Cory Gardner touted his bipartisan record on Tuesday night at the Minturn Saloon in a campaign stop that drew supporters and a sizeable Democratic contingent. <\/p>\n

Gardner, speaking to a crowd of about 60 that included local Democratic state lawmakers, Sen. Kerry Donovan of Vail and Rep. Dylan Roberts, faced a number of pointed questions from Eagle County residents, particularly on the Colorado Outdoor Recreation & Economy Act and his stance on climate change. <\/p>\n

Joy Harrison, the former chair of the Eagle County Democrats, pleaded with Gardner to support the CORE Act in a seven-minute back-and-forth exchange.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an incredibly important bill that would preserve these incredible public lands for our kids and our kids\u2019 kids,\u201d Harrison said. \u201cYour vote and your support is absolutely critical because Republican Senators, your colleagues, are looking to you to see what you will signal.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\n

\u201cHere\u2019s what I\u2019m concerned about \u2014 regulations that people will testify will kill thousands and thousands of jobs. I\u2019m not willing to destroy our economy.\u201d Sen. Cory Gardner<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n

\u201cThe CORE Act has supporters and it has people who don\u2019t like it,\u201d Gardner said. \u201cI think what\u2019s important in Colorado is that we find that way to find something that people can support. I think that\u2019s incredibly important.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re dismissing so much work and so much coalition-building that has gone into this,\u201d Harrison said.  <\/p>\n

\u201cAll I said is we\u2019ve got to find a way to find something that works,\u201d Gardner responded. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe work is already done,\u201d Harrison said. <\/p>\n

Gardner then responded that he has heard concerns from the Forest Service and the Department of Defense on the bill, which would preserve 400,000 acres of public lands in Colorado. <\/p>\n

\u201cTo be clear, I do not oppose this bill,\u201d Gardner said.  <\/p>\n

\u201cWill you come out and support it for all of us in the room?\u201d Harrison asked. <\/p>\n

\u201cJoy, give me a second,\u201d Gardner said. \u201cWhat I hear from people in the Defense Department, when they have concerns with it, I take them at their word. So we know there are issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gail Flesher also grilled Gardner on whether he supports the lawsuit that Colorado recently joined suing the Environmental Protection Agency over a new rule that would replace the 2015 Clean Power Plan.<\/p>\n

\u201cI voted that climate change is real. I think it\u2019s very important that we work to address climate concerns.\u201d Gardner said. \u201cHere\u2019s what I\u2019m concerned about \u2014 regulations that people will testify will kill thousands and thousands of jobs. I\u2019m not willing to destroy our economy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Touting his record<\/h2>\n

Gardner, before taking questions, said he\u2019s proud of the work he\u2019s done in the Senate. Among those accomplishments: Getting the Bureau of Land Management moved to Grand Junction from Washington, D.C., passing a law that aims to protect wildland firefighters by requiring agencies to outfit crews with GPS locators and deploy drones to scout and map blazes, and bringing broadband to rural communities. <\/p>\n

He also talked about getting sanctions passed against North Korea, joking that one of his proudest moments as a senator was calling Kim Jong Un \u201ca whack job\u201d in an MSNBC interview, and then having the North Korean leader respond to that quote by calling him a man \u201cmixed in with human dirt, who has lost basic judgment and body hair.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gardner said he\u2019s still got the quote framed on his wall. <\/p>\n

Of the BLM move, Gardner said: \u201cI believe that we\u2019ll have better decisions, we\u2019ll have a better result when the BLM management is nearest the people and the land that they impact.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cEvery single one of those things I talked about, it wasn\u2019t done by a Republican or Democrat. It was done by Republicans and Democrats coming together. Because that\u2019s how we solve problems in this country and that\u2019s what I\u2019m excited about and continue to stand for.\u201d<\/p>\n

Different takes<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Donovan zinged Gardner on Twitter last month after the reinsurance bill she cosponsored to lower premiums for Coloradans was given a federal waiver. <\/p>\n

Gardner, in a video, touted his work on helping move the bill along, which Donovan took serious issue with.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

Zero calls from @SenCoryGardner<\/a>\u2019s office and zero support from him over the years we\u2019ve been working on this. Instead, he\u2019s been in DC trying to repeal Obamacare \u2014 the very foundation of reinsurance to begin with. But, sure, take credit\u2026 #copolitics<\/a> https:\/\/t.co\/UMoB3T9ko3<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Kerry Donovan (@KerryDonovanSD5) July 31, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

\u201cI think what was most frustrating about him filming a video, putting it up, and claiming credit for something that he\u2019s actively trying to undermine and eliminate was the point of frustration,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re from different parties, we have different values, we can disagree and have different priorities. But don\u2019t post on social claiming credit to do something. He clearly claims credit for reinsurance and he is trying to dismantle the ACA on which reinsurance depends on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kaye Ferry, the chair of the Eagle County Republicans, who hosted the event, said Gardner\u2019s message was positive and that he listened to his critics on Tuesday and tried to give honest answers. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s never really changed. He\u2019s always been the same Cory all the way through,\u201d she said. \u201cSo I think he listens and I think he responds and I think he tries to make the best of the situation, which he did tonight. Unfortunately, we have parts of the community that just aren\u2019t satisfied with any answer you give them.\u201d<\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

U.S. Senator Cory Gardner of Colorado speaks to a packed room during a campaign event Tuesday at the Minturn Saloon.Justin McCarty\/Special to the Vail Daily MINTURN \u2014 Sen. Cory Gardner touted his bipartisan record on Tuesday night at the Minturn Saloon in a campaign stop that drew supporters and a sizeable Democratic contingent.  Gardner, speaking […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2447543","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-25 00:22:04","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2447543","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2447543"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2447543\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2447543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2447543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2447543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}