(Promoted by Colorado Pols)
Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner hasn’t held a town hall meeting with constituents in about a year and a half, choosing instead to meet with private groups and telling the public about such meetings after they occur.
But he may have held conference calls with constituents, possibly in Colorado Springs, last week without informing reporters or the wider public.
Gardner’s focus on Colorado Springs may be part of a strategic move to identify and energize voters in the conservative area, where high voter turnout would be essential to a Gardner victory in 2020, say political analysts.
Gardner appears to have briefly announced a conference call with constituents May 21, as evidenced by a May 21 screen grab of the senator’s website circulated on Twitter. But then the announcement mysteriously disappeared.
Also last week, a robo-call blocking service recorded multiple calls from Gardner inviting Co Springs-area citizens to join a call with Gardner.
Gardner’s recorded voice states, “Hi This is Senator Cory Gardner I’m calling to invite you to join our live telephone town hall taking place in just a few moments please stay on the line and you will be automatically connected if you have any questions about this event please call my office at 202-224-5941.”
The use of robo calls to invite constituents to his telephone event would raise eyebrows, given Gardner’s stance against such calls.
On his website, Gardner asks constituents who want to be invited to his conference calls to provide their phone numbers. So it’s possible the robo-call blocking service snagged those numbers by mistake.
Gardner’s office didn’t return a call seeking to know if he offered citizens in Colorado Springs the opportunity to talk to him last week on the phone, and, if so, whether some or all of those offers were made unsolicited via robo calls.
In the past, when questioned by reporters about not holding in-person town hall meetings, Gardner has argued that conference calls, which he refers to as tele-town halls, are a good way to interact with his constituents.
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He’s just following the example of Mark Udall.
You're a real fucking ray of sunshine today Dave.
But wasn't Gardner going to be better? You know they are robots when they don't have anything to offer except "Your side did it first!".
Gee David Dickhead, do you agree that elected officials should meet with their constituents or do you think that they should screen for only their tribe? Think about it prick. Is that the kind of representative democracy that you support? If you do then you a a bigger prick than your writing shows.
Gilpin Guy – if you looked back on what I posted on this about Udall you would see that I believe pre-announced open townhalls with open Q&A are a critical part of our democracy. That our elected reps should do this regularly.
I did not write the above to defend Gardner, but to point out that Udall was equally bad at this (and most everyone here gave Udall a pass on it – because he's a Dem).
But thank you & bullshit for lowering the conversation to profane name calling. That's so much nicer than discussing the subject at hand…
I hope he does next year. One term and he's done.
Maybe he's waiting for his new sidekick to ride into town?
Nikki Haley begins experiment in political life after Trump
and then, the money shot:
The contrast in courage between Gardner and Justin Amash regarding townhall meetings couldn't be clearer. Amash took an unpopular position and then went out in front of a town hall of constituents and took questions and explained his positions. Gardner is a Trump buttlicker who won't ever show up at a town hall that contains libs. What a difference in two Republicans doing their duty. Amash is no liberal but at least he is willing to face his constituents in the hear their concerns. Gardner is too busy sucking up big donor cash or just sucking.