September 29, 2009 12:14 AM UTC

Cory Gardner Opposes Drunk Drivers*

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• by: Colorado Pols

From the Colorado Independent:

State Rep. Cory Gardner, R-Yuma, staked political ground in the far corner of the Republican-Libertarian right the last few years, voting against proposed tough state-wide drunk-driving laws, which he decried as part of a series of tax and fee-generating “nanny bills.” Now, though, as a candidate gunning for Democratic Rep. Betsy Markey’s Fourth District seat in Washington, Gardner is vowing to sponsor new nanny state-style legislation meant to impose consistent harsh penalties on drunk-drivers. What’s changed?

He did…speak to the Denver Post for a lengthy article on drunk driving published Sunday. Gardner was the only lawmaker quoted.

State Rep. Cory Gardner, R-Yuma, who plans to introduce legislation in January to make a repeat drunken driving arrest a felony, said some of the sentences [handed down] stunned him.

“We’ve got to address those areas where the law isn’t treating offenders as seriously as it needs to in order to prevent it from happening again,” Gardner said.

The Post also might have contacted Democratic State Rep. Jim Riesberg, D-Greeley, who sponsored HB-1171 in 2006, a bill that dealt with alcohol-related repeat driving offenses and one introduced in the last few years that passed into law. Gov. Bill Owens signed the bill in June of that year. The new law lowered legal blood-alcohol levels; required repeat offenders to install ignition-locking breathalyzers; instructed courts to include repeat offense convictions on driving records; and charged offenders fines to be used to pay for addiction treatment.

Gardner voted against Riesberg’s bill, which was introduced during Gardner’s first term in office…

*Except when it means siding with a “nanny state” Democrat. And what happens when we can’t afford to incarcerate all those new felons?

Once again, if the Post had asked just one more logically-following question, we might be reading a very different story. Perhaps we’re getting a little too “reality-based” here, let’s talk about something more relevant–birth certificates, anyone?