Group Gardner Ran in 2018 Responsible for “Horrifying” Ad That Exploited Colorado Tragedy Airs More Desperate Smears to Aid Trump Rubber-Stamp
Senator Cory Gardner’s allies have launched another false attack just days after lying that their widely-condemned “horrifying” ad had been removed from TV. The organization – which Gardner ran in 2018 – was rebuked for that false ad and is now behind a new smear to help elect Trump rubber-stamp Gardner.
The same Washington Republicans whose last attack ad was widely decried as “horrifying” and “smell[ing] like sh*t,” are back at it again with another false attack ad. This time, they’re falsely attacking Hickenlooper for a conservation donation from two decades ago.
Get the facts below.
FACT: Hickenlooper donated land to The Nature Conservancy and paid an adjustment when its appraised value increased.
- The Nature Conservancy’s Colorado Director said, “Hickenlooper’s easements helped preserve ‘valuable forest land and wildlife habitat in a critically important watershed.’” – The Denver Post
- “Hickenlooper’s payment to the IRS was an adjustment to the property valuation of conservation easements.” – AP
- A Colorado Conservation Easement Oversight Commission member who appraised Hickenlooper’s land at the time said of the donation, “There have been abuses of this program. This is not one of them.”
- The Denver Post Editorial Board looked into this in 2010 and said, “details of his tax rates strike us as legitimate.”
FACT: Businesses and nonprofits made contributions for specific public private partnerships that are all searchable on the online transparency portal which Hickenlooper revamped.
- “A new transparency web site was launched on January 1, 2015 containing information from the new system.” – Transparency Online Project
- “The donations were not secret.” – 9 News
- “The donations, however, were not “secret,” as the ad claims.” – FactCheck.org
FACT: In a recent editorial, the Denver Post called Hickenlooper “an ethical public servant” who made “an honest mistake.”
- 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 said “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.”
