“Put simply, Hickenlooper will be the senator that Cory Gardner promised to be — the guy who’ll break from his party and be an independent voice when it’s the right thing to do for his constituents”
Today, the Vail Daily editorial board announced its endorsement of John Hickenlooper, pairing with it a stinging rebuke of Senator Cory Gardner: “If you’re tired of the fake ads, the fake bills, the empty promises and zero-sum politics, then the choice is clear: Vote for John Hickenlooper.”
The editorial highlights Hickenlooper’s “willingness to listen to find solutions to the big problems facing our state and our country” and notes his work growing Colorado’s economy to the #1 in the nation. In sharp contrast, Gardner who “[turned] down repeated requests for an interview with the Vail Daily,” has voted 9 times to gut health care protections for the 2.4 million Coloradans with pre-existing conditions and refuses to support the CORE Act, which would protect 400,000 acres of public land and designate Camp Hale a National Historic Landscape.
Vail Daily is the latest in a string of endorsements and support for John Hickenlooper. Other recent endorsements include: The Denver Post, The Colorado Sentinel, The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, El Semanario, Colorado Springs Indy, and Boulder Weekly.
Read the Vail Daily’s endorsement here or see excerpts below:
EDITORIAL: Our View: John Hickenlooper for US Senate
In a recent interview with the Vail Daily’s editorial board, John Hickenlooper said something that should resonate with anyone who’s tired of partisan gridlock in Washington.
“It sounds crazy, but I want to go back and be part of the group of people that actually addresses the dysfunction and the lack of a willingness to listen,” he said. “We’ve got to take the time to listen to the other side and then begin framing discussions so that you can get to an alignment of self-interest and actually begin to solve some of these problems like universal health care, like climate change. There’s been no progress in four years on any of these issues, except in the wrong direction.”
That willingness to listen to find solutions to the big problems facing our state and our country is exactly the reason we’re endorsing Hickenlooper for the United States Senate. After eight years as the mayor of Denver and eight more as our state’s governor, Coloradans know who Hickenlooper is and what he’s all about. He’s still the same quirky guy who started a successful small business in a forgotten part of downtown Denver and who got into politics as an outsider because he truly believed he could bring people together to make their lives better.
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While Gardner continually touts that he’s one of the most bipartisan senators in Washington, his record shows he’s voted with President Trump 89% of the time, according to Nate Silver’s nonpartisan FiveThirtyEight website.
And when Gardner says he authored legislation “to guarantee coverage to people with pre-existing conditions — no matter what happens to Obamacare,” the record shows he’s repeatedly voted to get rid of those protections while supporting President Trump’s lawsuit against the Affordable Care Act. It has also been exposed that his 117-word “Pre-Existing Conditions Protection Act” was a sham of a bill simply meant to give him political cover that falls far short of what’s necessary to back up his guarantee, according to a raft of independent fact-checkers.
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It’s hard to argue that point. And Gardner’s campaign didn’t even try to refute it, turning down repeated requests for an interview with the Vail Daily. That’s not shocking, considering Gardner has earned a reputation for not bothering to hold town halls to hear from his constituents, instead opting for private events with hand-picked guests.
It’s the kind of political gamesmanship that’s made average citizens distrust Washington politicians, and it’s exactly what we don’t need right here, right now, at this critical moment for our nation.
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Gardner also wants you believe that he’s a champion of public lands, but the truth is that he hasn’t gotten behind the Colorado Outdoor Recreation and Economy Act that passed the House last fall, despite its broad bipartisan support.
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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 a phony ad, titled “Both Parties,” that gives the impression that his environmental work has the support of both Republicans and Democrats.
In fact, both speakers in the ad are Republicans, and the woman who is cited as an environmental advocate founded a group six months ago that has no history of environmental work.
If you’re tired of the fake ads, the fake bills, the empty promises and zero-sum politics, then the choice is clear: Vote for John Hickenlooper.
