Hickenlooper for Colorado press secretary Ammar Moussa released the following statement regarding Mitch McConnell’s super PAC airing a blatantly false ad:
“Senator Cory Gardner’s Republican allies are so desperate to save his losing campaign they’ve resorted to laughably false claims about John Hickenlooper. Here’s the truth: Coloradans have watched Senator Gardner sell them out time and time again for his special interest donors and, as we saw yesterday, for Donald Trump. No amount of ridiculously desperate attacks from Mitch McConnell and his buddies will hide Senator Gardner’s record of siding with Trump over Colorado 100% of the time.”
See below for the facts about this false ad.
FACT: Hickenlooper does not support defunding the police; he supports reform.
- ‘I don’t think we should defund the police, but I do believe we need to reform the police.”- Hickenlooper, 6/9/20
- Hickenlooper has repeatedly called for banning police chokeholds, requiring body cameras, and addressing the systemic inequities in our criminal justice system.
FACT: As Governor, Hickenlooper expanded health care to over half a million Coloradans, and will fight in the Senate to protect and expand health care.
- As Hickenlooper has said dozens of times, he supports establishing a national public option to allow people to buy into an affordable health care system. – Hickenlooper
- Unlike Hickenlooper, Cory Gardner voted to repeal and defund the Affordable Care Act, putting protections for 2.4 million Coloradans with pre-existing conditions at risk.
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: 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
