Hickenlooper for Colorado Communications Director Melissa Miller released the following statement on a misleading attack ad launched by Unite for Colorado, a dark money group with ties to Washington Republicans.
“It’s disgusting that Senator Gardner’s allies would falsely exploit national tragedies in their attacks; these funds have nothing to do with 9/11 or Coronavirus recovery. It’s clear this dark money group is desperate to spread lies about John because they can’t defend Gardner’s complete and utter failure to stand up to Trump as he bungles our nation’s response to this devastating pandemic.”
While the ad by Gardner’s allies falsely attacks Hickenlooper, Senator Cory Gardner actually supported a $500 billion, taxpayer funded, corporate “slush fund” that had “weak restrictions on restricting corporate buybacks” and in which businesses “could take the money, then fire their workers anyway.”
And after Trump fired the watchdog responsible for overseeing the COVID relief funds, removing a crucial safeguard to ensure taxpayer funded relief would go to those in need, The Colorado Springs Business Journal editorial board called for Gardner to “step up and demand the White House adhere to the principles of accountability and fiscal responsibility that Republicans claim to espouse.” But Gardner remained silent instead.
Please see below to get the facts about this misleading smear.
FACT: The truth is there is no 9/11 fund – that’s a lie by Republican operatives. The federal fund that paid for former Governor Hickenlooper’s legal representation is leftover ‘state fiscal relief’ from a 2003 federal law. This fund has been used by every Governor since then, Republican and Democrat, on state expenses.
- The ‘Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003’ “Provides $10 billion for State and local government assistance and $10 billion for Medicaid assistance through September 30, 2004. Amends the Social Security Act to add a new title, Temporary State Fiscal Relief” – Congress.gov
- “These funds were intended to provide antirecession fiscal stimulus to the national economy and to help close state budget shortfalls due to the recession that began in March 2001.” – U.S. Government Accountability Office
- President Bush did not mention 9/11 in his remarks at the signing ceremony of the “Jobs And Growth Tax Reconciliation Act.” – George Bush White House Archive
- “’Post-9/11 Recovery Funds?’ You Mean the ‘Bush Tax Cuts?’” – Colorado Pols
- “For the past dozen years, the fund has been treated as a highly discretionary tool in the budgetary tool belts of Colorado’s governors, granting them wide flexibility over how its money was spent.” – Denver Post
FACT: It is “common practice” for the state to appoint legal counsel to defend officials named in complaints.
- “Because the ethics violations occurred while Hickenlooper was governor, his defense was paid for by the government — common practice in Colorado.” –Denver Post
- “In the past two years, the state has also covered the legal costs for an outside attorney representing state Sen. Vicki Marble of Fort Collins” – Colorado Politics
FACT: Hickenlooper revamped Colorado’s transparency portal which shows funding sources and expenditures across Colorado government.
- “On July 1, 2014, the State implemented a new ERP system, CORE. A new transparency web site was launched on January 1, 2015 containing information from the new system. The old transparency site will be available for access to data prior to July 1, 2014.” – Transparency Online Project
FACT: In a recent editorial, the Denver Post called Hickenlooper “an ethical public servant” who “tried to comply with the spirit and letter of the law.”
- A Denver Post editorial said, “we don’t believe Hickenlooper was trying to undermine the system, or disrespect the commission, or avoid accountability. In fact, the governor has been extremely transparent.”
- They also noted “there is ample evidence that he tried to comply with the spirit and letter of the law,” and “we consider both of those infractions to be relatively minor violations of the ethics laws.”
- They further noted, Hickenlooper was “an ethical public servant” who made “an honest mistake.”
FACT: Republicans are attacking Hickenlooper for his trips to bring business to Colorado. The state went from 40th in job creation to the top economy in the country while he was Governor.
- A national Republican group with ties to Mitch McConnell is behind the attacks: “A vice president for America Rising began filing open records requests in March 2018, when Hickenlooper was still in office, to obtain his travel records. The results of those open records requests formed the basis for the ethics complaint, filed by the Public Trust Institute, which was formed two days before the complaints were filed by former Republican Speaker of the House Frank McNulty.” – Colorado Politics
- There are allowances to the gift ban that include: “Travel to conventions or meetings when the offer is made ex officio, is related to the person’s official duties, is of benefit to the state, the individual is representing the state, or the state pays dues to the sponsoring organization (other exceptions may apply depending on circumstances); Gifts from relatives and friends.”-Colorado Independent Ethics Commission
- “Take Colorado, which ranks No. 1 in the ‘economy’ category for the second year in a row. When Democrat John Hickenlooper first took office in 2011, Colorado ranked 26th in unemployment and 40th in job growth.” – U.S. News and World Report
