Politics

Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner talks Flynn resignation, new administration, ‘paid’ protests in interview

DENVER – Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner has been among the most-scrutinized politicians in Washington in recent months.

Gardner is a Republican in a state won by Hillary Clinton, but which has strong Republican and independent factions as well. But he has drawn the ire of many Coloradans after voting in favor of President Donald Trump’s nominees and measures every chance he’s had so far, and caused a stir with a comment about protesters at his offices in Colorado being paid.

Gardner on Tuesday sat for an interview with Denver7 to explain his voting record with the new administration, his thoughts on the protests and the fallout from National Security Adviser Michael Flynn’s resignation Monday night.

Watch the full interview in the player embedded below.

GARDNER ON FLYNN’S RESIGNATION

Gardner had not previously commented publicly on swirling allegations that Flynn had discussed sanctions on Russia with its ambassador to Washington, Sergey Kislyak.

But on Tuesday, in the wake of Flynn’s Monday resignation, Gardner said it was right for Flynn to step aside.

“The right thing happened with General Flynn stepping down. That’s the right decision he made and right for the country,” Gardner said. “But I also think it’s important to recognize that the intelligence committee, which is already carrying out an investigation into Russian hacking and other activities with Russia, is going to be looking into the matter of General Flynn.”

He said that he would wait for the FBI to determine the route of any possible further investigations into Flynn. That came as several other high-ranking Republican Senate members called for an investigation into ties between Trump and Russia and called for Flynn to testify.

“Every administration has the ability, the right, to choose their personnel – particularly their national security adviser,” Gardner told Denver7. “I disagreed with the [national security adviser] from time to time under the last administration. But I think what we have to do is find out the facts here, learn from the FBI what exactly happened, and make our decisions going forward.”

GARDNER ON HIS CONFIRMATION VOTES

Gardner maintains that Democrats on the Hill are causing much of the political divide by objecting to and delaying some of the new administration’s confirmations.

“This is unprecedented levels of political obstruction in the Senate,” Gardner told Denver7. “So far, all that we’ve been allowed to do, thanks to unprecedented levels of obstruction, is try to do the basic job of filling out a cabinet for this president.”

And though several Senate committees delayed committee votes on some of the cabinet picks and Democrats used Senate rules to hold the floor for nearly 24 hours in an effort to vote down Betsy DeVos as Education Secretary, the GOP line that there is “unprecedented obstruction,” which has also been used by many other Senate Republicans, does not completely hold water.

After Republicans won back the House and Senate, they in 2013 boycotted a committee vote on prospective EPA administrator Gina McCarthy and famously failed to meet with President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland.

But all of President Trump’s nominees have so far been confirmed, and that is likely to continue since Republicans hold majorities in both chambers of Congress.

Gardner says he has a positive outlook on the administration’s future.

“Regardless of what party people are, regardless of whether they voted for President Trump or voted for Hillary Clinton, we would always do our best to make sure our days ahead of us are better than the ones we just went through,” he said.

GARDNER ON OPPOSITION

Thousands of people displeased with Gardner’s votes and alignment with President Trump have flooded his phone lines and email inboxes voicing their lack of satisfaction. They have also taken to his offices in Colorado to protest.

“I want to hear from you. I continue to encourage my constituents to reach out to me to share their opinions – whether through meetings, phone calls, email, or social media,” Gardner said in a statement to Denver7 Monday.

On Tuesday, he addressed the insinuation he made last month that some people protesting him and calling his office were paid protesters. He clarified that he believes there are organizations that are working to connect politically-active people across the country with various lawmakers in Washington, citing a conversation his wife had with one organization.

“We have a number of Coloradans – a large percentage, if not a huge percentage of the people calling our office who are Coloradans. [They are] people who are concerned about nominations, people who are concerned about the price of their health care,” Gardner said.

“But we do have people from out of state calling the office. In fact, just the other day, my wife was contacted by an organized survey effort. She answered the survey and was immediately connected to my very own office.”

“She was not paid to do that, but somebody was paid to make that connection happen not knowing that was my wife,” Gardner said.

He says he and his staff appreciate the input from his constituents, and points to his and other Republicans’ urging of Trump to impose a strict policy toward Russia and increase cybersecurity.

“I’ve always said we need more Colorado in Washington and less Washington in Colorado. When somebody reaches out to the office, I take every one of those concerns seriously,” Gardner said. “Somebody may want you to vote ‘yes;’ somebody may want you to vote ‘no;’ and obviously if you vote ‘yes’ when somebody wants you to vote ‘no,’ that means someone feels like their voice wasn’t heard. But the bottom line is every single one of their voices matter.”

Gardner will next be up for re-election in 2020.

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Despite circulating petitions, US Constitution does not allow for recall of members of Congress

DENVER – No, you cannot recall a U.S. Congressman.

Despite the handfuls of petitions circulating online for the recall of Colorado Republican Sen. Cory Gardner over the past several weeks, the Constitution does not allow for the recall of any senator or representative.

Some Coloradans have been angry with Gardner over his support of some of the cabinet picks in the new Donald Trump administration, as well as his insinuation that some protesting his offices in recent weeks were paid to do so. Sixteen people were cited for their actions while protesting outside of his office in late January.

A handful of petitions on change.org and an editorial in the Boulder Daily Camera all called for constituents to recall the senator, and his office voicemails and email inboxes were flooded by tens of thousands of calls and letters.

But the U.S. Constitution allows for the removal of a senator or representative only by a two-thirds vote from either house, and usually only in the case of treason or a criminal conviction relating to that Congressperson’s official duties.

There was a provision considered while the Founding Fathers were writing the constitution in 1787 that would have allowed for the recall of members of Congress, but it was not included in the final version.

Some may have been confused, thinking that a Colorado law that allows for a petition to be agreed upon by a certain number of voters to recall a state senator or representative also applied to those elected to U.S. Congress.

But that petition process, which requires verified signatures from 25 percent of voters in the previous election, applies only to state officials.

Gardner will next be up for re-election in 2020; Colorado’s other senator, Democrat Michael Bennet, will be up for re-election in 2022, but has said he will likely retire. You can still reach them the old-fashioned way to voice your pleasure or lack thereof with their actions by writing them or calling their offices. The same goes for Colorado’s representatives in the House.

In the meantime, Gardner issued a statement to Denver7 Monday evening saying he welcomes continued efforts by constituents to reach him and his office:

“Like most Congressional offices, my office continues to receive a very high volume of phone calls and emails. Just this afternoon, the Senate Sergeant at Arms notified all senate offices that the Senate’s voicemail system was down for a significant period of time. This is unacceptable, and I know how frustrating it is. That is why I am working to find new and innovative ways for Coloradans to contact me directly. I want to hear from you. I continue to encourage my constituents to reach out to me to share their opinions – whether through meetings, phone calls, email, or social media.”

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Colorado Congressmen call for Flynn’s resignation if he misled administration over Russia call

UPDATE (9:15 p.m.): Gen. Michael Flynn resigned as President Donald Trump’s national security adviser Monday night, saying he “inadvertently briefed the Vice President Elect and others with incomplete information regarding my phone calls with the Russian Ambassador.”

The full text of his resignation letter is embedded below, via TIME’s Zeke Miller: Continue reading

Former top White House official under Reagan has harsh words for Trump, administration

DENVER – Linda Chavez, who was the highest-ranking woman in the Reagan White House as Director of Public Liaison, has harsh words for the Trump administration and the executive order on immigration still in limbo in federal court.

In a Friday interview with Denver7 for Politics Unplugged, Chavez slammed the haste in which the administration put together the order that has left visa holders from certain countries in limbo despite them being legally in the country.

“President Trump is shooting from the hip,” Chavez said in an interview with Anne Trujillo for Politics Unplugged. “When he drafted the order, it didn’t go through the normal process.”

Chavez lives in Boulder and is a Fellow in Immigration Policy and the Centennial Institute at Colorado Christian University.

“What he’s done is basically changed the rules in the middle of the game. That’s not the American way,” Chavez said Friday. “We don’t pass a law with certain conditions and then decide, ‘Oh, we’re going to rewrite that, and if you happen to be out of the country, even if you have a valid visa and are a permanent resident, we’re not going to let you back in.”

She also authored a story published in Townhall Friday in which she said she had never “felt as alienated from politics” as she does now, going into detail on her issues with the manner in which the Trump administration has handled its first few weeks in the white house.

“We live in a constitutional system,” she said. “You’re not free to throw out the rules and you’re certainly not free to ignore due process.”

Chavez talked at length Friday about the immigration order and several other aspects of the new administration and its differences from when she worked in the White House. The full interview between Chavez and Trujillo will air at 4 p.m. on Denver7’s Politics Unplugged.

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House committee kills 3 abortion bills, including one that would have made practitioners felons

DENVER – A Colorado bill that would have put practitioners who perform abortions in the same criminal category as first-degree murderers, child abusers who cause a child’s death and people charged with treason was among three abortion-related bills killed in a House committee Thursday.

The three bills, House Bills 1085, 1086 and 1108 all died with 6-5 party-line votes in the House Health, Insurance and Environment Committee.

The outcome was to be expected in the Democrat-majority committee chaired by Rep. Joann Ginal, Ph.D., a Fort Collins Democrat who is also a reproductive endocrinologist.

House Bill 1108 would have made it a class 1 felony for practitioners to perform an abortion unless it is intended to save the mother’s life or unless the unborn child dies as a result of medical treatment, such as chemotherapy – putting those practitioners in the same class as Colorado’s worst criminals.

Rep. Steve Humphrey, R-Eaton, said the Democrats’ vote meant they were “out of touch with the shifting public attitudes towards abortion.”

“In the four decades since the Roe v. Wade decision, scientific research has wholly disproved the long-held medical justifications for abortion,” he said in a statement.

The vice chair of the committee, Rep. Daneya Esgar, D-Pueblo, told Denver7 last month it was “a very dangerous idea to target doctors and health providers” with the bill.

“They are providing a medical service and should never be singled out. Abortion is not a crime, it’s a safe and legal procedure,” she told Denver7. “History has shown that banning abortion, or stopping access to safe abortions, is dangerous for women’s lives.”

Democrats on the committee also killed House Bill 1085, which would have required any clinics that provide abortions to register with the Colorado Attorney General’s Office. Under the bill, the AG’s Office would have had to inspect each registered clinic at least once a year to be sure the clinics were using sanitary equipment and adhering to special rules also outlined in the bill for abortions performed after 20 weeks of gestation.

House Bill 1086 also died by a 6-5 vote. It would have required practitioners to tell a woman about a process that can be used to reverse “abortion pills” 24 hours before giving a woman the pill, and would require the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to post information on its website about the process.

“Why would we legislate the care a doctor provides a patient?” asked Rep. Susan Lontine, D-Denver. “I believe doctors should do what they do best: stick with evidence based practices, and politicians should stay out of the doctor’s office.”

Many of the state’s counties do not have abortion clinics, but the state does require only licensed physicians perform abortions, parental consent for women under age 18 to obtain an abortion, and that taxpayer funding for abortions is only provided to preserve a woman’s life or in the case of rape or incest.

The peer-reviewed research group Guttmacher Institute, which researches sexual and reproductive health and rights, found the number of abortions declined by 14 percent between 2011 and 2014, but that there was also a 14 percent decline over that time period in the number of Colorado facilities that provided abortions.

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Colorado marijuana leader says dismantling of industry would cause a recession

DENVER – Despite new figures that show Colorado’s marijuana sales topped $1 billion for the first time ever last year, there is some concern in the state over what could happen to the burgeoning business under new U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

Sessions is on record in the past saying that “Good people don’t smoke marijuana” and that “marijuana is not the kind of thing that ought to be legalized” and that it is “a very real danger.” Continue reading

Bill that would repeal Colorado health insurance exchange clears first Senate committee

DENVER – The Colorado bill that would repeal the state health exchange that operates under the Affordable Care Act cleared its first hurdle Tuesday in a Senate committee.

The Senate Finance Committee voted 3-2 to pass Senate Bill 3 on a party-line vote. Democratic Sens. Lois Court and Lucia Guzman voted against passing the bill, while Republican Sens. Jack Tate, Owen Hill and Tim Neville voted to pass it.

The committee passage followed hours of discussion about the necessity of the bill while Congress is locked in a battle over whether or not to repeal, and possibly replace, the Affordable Care Act, better known as “Obamacare,” on a national level.

The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Jim Smallwood, argued Tuesday that the expenses of the state exchange, Connect for Health Colorado, outweigh its benefits and that several smaller Colorado counties are limited in their insurance options, according to The Associated Press.

Court argued that the state’s health insurance plans would have to be changed anyway should Congress be successful in repealing the ACA.

The bill would repeal the state exchange effective Jan. 1, 2018, though it would give lawmakers until the end of that year to “wind up” the exchange.

After that, the exchange would have to give any remaining money left over to the state treasurer, who would be directed to transfer the money to the state’s general fund.

Should it pass and be signed by the governor, however, a referendum petition could be filed to force a General Election vote on the matter in November 2018.

Smallwood told Denver7 last month that should his bill become law while the ACA is still in place that it would not affect people’s ability to get insurance on the federal marketplace.

“With my proposal, first of all we want people to know that by repealing the state exchange that in no way ends the ACA, it doesn’t end Obamacare in the state of Colorado,” he said at the time. “It allows our citizens to buy the same policies from the same insurance companies at the same rates, but on website healthcare.gov instead of connectforhealthco.com because healthcare.gov is being paid for with federal dollars because with connect for health we’re paying for it, again, with our state dollars.”

The bill heads to the Senate Appropriations Committee for its next hearing, which has yet to be scheduled. It would then head to the Senate floor, if passed, where Republicans hold control.

But it would face a steep uphill climb from there in the House, where Democrats have control – most of whom have vocally opposed efforts to repeal the ACA.

Beyond that, Gov. John Hickenlooper supports the state exchange and has vowed to fight the repeal of the ACA. Should it be repealed, he said during his State of the State address that he would fight for a replacement plan “that protects the people who are covered now and doesn’t take us backward.”

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Colorado bills aim to change abortion rules; one would make performing abortion a class 1 felony

DENVER – A handful of bills introduced in Colorado’s House of Representatives aim to affect abortion laws in the state, but they will first have to clear a House committee chaired by a doctor who specializes in reproduction.

ABORTION-RELATED BILLS FILED

One bill, House Bill 1108, would make it a class 1 felony for practitioners to perform an abortion unless it is intended to save the mother’s life or unless the unborn child dies as a result of medical treatment, such as chemotherapy.

That would put practitioners who perform abortions in the same category as first-degree murderers, child abusers who cause a child’s death and people charged with treason.

The bill is sponsored by Reps. Stephen Humphrey and Kim Ransom, as well as Sen. Tim Neville.

Another bill, House Bill 1086, would require practitioners to tell a woman about a process that can be used to reverse “abortion pills” 24 hours before giving a woman the pill, and would require the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to post information on its website about the process.

Though the process is not widely-used at this time, researchers at the University of California-San Diego published a paper on it in 2012. The bill says that as of May 2016, the process had been successfully utilized in 175 pregnancies.

But others have warned of dangers linked to the process.

The process works by using a hormone-based drug that utilizes progesterone, which is a necessary hormone in women’s bodies, to reverse the effects of the main compound in “abortion pills,” mifepristone.

The bill, sponsored by Reps. Justin Everett and Dan Nordberg and Sen. Vicki Marble, says it aims to “reduce ‘the risk that a woman may elect an abortion, only to discover later, with devastating psychological consequences, that her decision was not fully informed.’”

A third bill (House Bill 1085), titled the “Women’s Health Protection Act” and sponsored by Rep. Patrick Neville, a Douglas County Republican, would require any clinics that provide abortions to register with the Colorado Attorney General’s Office, which would have to inspect each registered clinic at least once a year to be sure it is using sanitary equipment and is adhering to special rules also outlined in the bill for abortions performed after 20 weeks of gestation.

But currently, first and second-trimester abortions (up to 26 weeks’ gestation) are allowed in Colorado, as are “late-term” abortions that are most often performed because a fetus as developed complications.

The bill would require clinics to report the number of abortions it performed and the trimester it was performed in, among many other things, in its registration with the attorney general.

CLEARING COMMITTEE AND HOUSE COULD PROVE DIFFICULT

The three bills face a difficult course in Colorado’s Legislature.

They are all scheduled for their first committee hearing Feb. 9 in the House Health, Insurance and Environment Committee, in which Democrats outnumber Republicans 6-5.

The committee is chaired by Rep. Joann Ginal, Ph.D., a Democrat from Fort Collins who is also a reproductive endocrinologist by trade. Its vice chair is Rep. Daneya Esgar, a Pueblo Democrat who is also the majority caucus chair.

Esgar told Denver7 in an interview this week that the three bills would get “a fair hearing,” but that she and her fellow Democrats would “stand up for all women’s rights.”

But she expressed concern over some of the aforementioned bills the committee is set to hear Feb. 9.

“We just passed the 44th anniversary of Roe v Wade, and I share the same frustrations that the millions of women exhibited on Saturday across the country [in the Women’s March events nationwide] – instead of being able to focus on how to make health care for everyone more affordable and more accessible, we are still fighting for basic reproductive rights,” she told Denver7.

Ginal told the Coloradoan that the bills wouldn’t pass the House, which is also controlled by Democrats, should they make it out of committee.

She said House Bill 1085 contained “impossible regulations,” according to the Coloradoan.

Esgar expressed concern over House Bill 1108, saying it was “a very dangerous idea to target doctors and health providers” by making them class 1 felons.

“They are providing a medical service and should never be singled out. Abortion is not a crime, it’s a safe and legal procedure,” she told Denver7. “History has shown that banning abortion, or stopping access to safe abortions, is dangerous for women’s lives.”

But she stopped short of saying such bills further divide the Legislature, in which Democrats control the House and Republicans control the Senate.

“There are definitely issues, like this one, that we do not agree on and that can cause tension at times. However, we do have more in common than divides us, and here in Colorado we actually work really well together,” Esgar said. “Our work is to come together and find out how to bring the state forward even with divergent ideas.”

Still, abortion remains among the most hot-button issues in Colorado politics, as Colorado Republicans have fought to restrict abortion access for years on both the state and federal levels and Democrats fight to keep women’s reproductive rights already on the law books in place.

Many of the state’s counties do not have abortion clinics, but the state does require only licensed physicians perform abortions, parental consent for women under age 18 to obtain an abortion, and that taxpayer funding for abortions is only provided to preserve a woman’s life or in the case of rape or incest.

The peer-reviewed research group Guttmacher Institute, which researches sexual and reproductive health and rights, found the number of abortions declined by 14 percent between 2011 and 2014, but that there was also a 14 percent decline over that time period in the number of Colorado facilities that provided abortions.

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Apparent hate crime in Peyton draws attention from national Muslim council, feds

PEYTON, Colo. – A possible hate crime in a small town northeast of Colorado Springs has drawn the attention of the FBI and the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights organization.

The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office confirmed to Denver7 Tuesday that the homeowners in Peyton woke up Sunday to find the outside of their home vandalized with eggs, dog feces, bath tissue and papers scrawled with messages regarding the homeowners’ racial background.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) on Tuesday condemned the incident.

“Our nation’s leaders – at the highest levels – need to address the growing bigotry we are witnessing around the country in the post-election period,” CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper said in a statement.

The FBI’s Denver branch confirmed it was investigating but gave no further details.

“The FBI does not comment on active, ongoing investigations of the FBI’s or other investigative agencies,” Denver branch spokeswoman Amy Sanders told Denver7.

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Praise and protests after Colorado’s senators split vote on successful DeVos confirmation

WASHINGTON – Colorado’s two senators split their votes, just as the rest of their Senate colleagues did, in Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’ confirmation hearing.

Vice President Mike Pence cast the deciding vote to confirm the controversial DeVos after the Senate’s vote ended in a 50-50 split. Continue reading