U.S. Senate See Full Big Line

(D) J. Hickenlooper*

(R) Somebody

80%

20%

(D) Joe Neguse

(D) Phil Weiser

(D) Jena Griswold

60%

60%

40%↓

Att. General See Full Big Line

(D) M. Dougherty

(D) Alexis King

(D) Brian Mason

40%

40%

30%

Sec. of State See Full Big Line

(D) George Stern

(D) A. Gonzalez

(R) Sheri Davis

40%

40%

30%

State Treasurer See Full Big Line

(D) Brianna Titone

(R) Kevin Grantham

(D) Jerry DiTullio

60%

30%

20%

CO-01 (Denver) See Full Big Line

(D) Diana DeGette*

(R) Somebody

90%

2%

CO-02 (Boulder-ish) See Full Big Line

(D) Joe Neguse*

(R) Somebody

90%

2%

CO-03 (West & Southern CO) See Full Big Line

(R) Jeff Hurd*

(D) Somebody

80%

40%

CO-04 (Northeast-ish Colorado) See Full Big Line

(R) Lauren Boebert*

(D) Somebody

90%

10%

CO-05 (Colorado Springs) See Full Big Line

(R) Jeff Crank*

(D) Somebody

80%

20%

CO-06 (Aurora) See Full Big Line

(D) Jason Crow*

(R) Somebody

90%

10%

CO-07 (Jefferson County) See Full Big Line

(D) B. Pettersen*

(R) Somebody

90%

10%

CO-08 (Northern Colo.) See Full Big Line

(R) Gabe Evans*

(D) Yadira Caraveo

(D) Joe Salazar

50%

40%

40%

State Senate Majority See Full Big Line

DEMOCRATS

REPUBLICANS

80%

20%

State House Majority See Full Big Line

DEMOCRATS

REPUBLICANS

95%

5%

Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors
August 28, 2019 03:10 PM UTC

Gardner Allegedly Changes Tune On Pueblo Recall Within 60 Seconds

  • 8 Comments
  • by: Erik Maulbetsch

(That’s pretty fast even for “Con Man Cory!” – Promoted by Colorado Pols)

Tom Ready & Cory Gardner

According to the two people he spoke with, in the space of 60 seconds last Friday, U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner (R-CO) flipped from expressing sympathy for state Senate President Leroy Garcia and misgivings about the recall process to telling a recall booster, “I’ve never said I was against recalls.”

Former Pueblo GOP chair Tom Ready shared a paraphrased version of the exchange on Facebook last weekend:

The State Fair’s Legislative BBQ is neutral territory for politicians. Elected officials from both sides of the aisle, often wearing Western apparel with still-visible store creases, mingle over pulled pork and potato salad. Conversations are typically friendly and casual, but talking politics is never off-limits for this crowd, especially with an active recall taking place in the host city.

Garcia confirmed the exchange last Friday between Gardner and himself, saying that Gardner approached him and his wife. As Garcia tells it:

Gardner: “Hey how are things down here?” Garcia: “Well, obviously you know it’s a bit of a busy season right now.” Gardner: “Yeah I’m kind of sorry that this is happening and I don’t know that this should be the process in which this is the way things work.”

Garcia noted that Tom Ready was standing next to them and “was caught up in the exchange” while it occurred. Ready then engaged Gardner directly about the recalls after he and Garcia had finished speaking.

Ready, who says he and Gardner have been friends for a long time, confirmed he was nearby during Gardner and Garcia’s conversation and that he spoke with Gardner immediately afterward.

“I spoke with Sen. Gardner about a minute later,” he said.

Asked if Gardner told Ready that he supported the recall of Sen. Garcia, Ready answered, “Yes he does.”

“He said he’s been quoted that he’s against recalls and he said that’s not really true. It’s just that his words have been twisted around- that’s basically what he told me. I asked him if he was for or against recalls and he said:

‘I’ve never said I was against recalls.'”

Ready acknowledged that Gardner’s statement didn’t explicitly affirm his support of the recall but effort, but felt that the sentiment behind his words was clearly that of support.

A request for clarification from Gardner’s office was not immediately returned.

Ready went on to explain his shift from supporting Garcia to hosting the recall kickoff party:

I’m a veteran and so is Leroy and I was supportive of him. But when he went against his hometown in favor of whatever the Governor wanted him to do, he lost my support. I told him we’d never do this recall if you had supported your home community.”
Victor Head, Tom Ready and Ernest Mascarenas at the kickoff party to recall Sen. Garcia

Asked for specific reasons, Ready led with Garcia’s support of the oil & gas safety bill.

“We have a huge industry called EVRAZ down here and they were going to do a $400 million expansion and then they hear about these changes in the oil and gas industry and don’t know what’s going to happen and there’s a big tube mill that supports the oil and gas industry and they were even thinking about shutting the whole thing down, that’s like 6000 employees.

The EVRAZ expansion project is closer to $500 million and is proceeding as planned. The engineering phase is expected to be completed by the end of the year, according to the company’s August 19 earnings conference call. EVRAZ employs approximately 1,000 employees in Pueblo.

EVRAZ told the Colorado Times Recorder that it is not involved in the recalls and later tweeted a statement noting its frequent work with Senate President Garcia.

Recall supporters have until October 18 to gather 13,506 valid signatures from registered voters in Senate District 3.

Comments

8 thoughts on “Gardner Allegedly Changes Tune On Pueblo Recall Within 60 Seconds

  1. More Republicans that love the American Flag so much they'll butcher it, chop it up into little pieces, and wear it on their sweaty-ass bodies. They'll try to recall you regardless of what you do Sen. Garcia. Vote like a Dem. 

  2. I find it quite intriguing (???) that Tom Ready and his folks weren't READY for the November 2018 election.  The Pueblo Republicans didn't even offer a candidate in the race.  Garcia won with 74% of the vote against a Libertarian.

    READY:  If you wish to have a Republican at the statehouse for Pueblo, then you damn well ought to run someone.

    1. I don't remember the specifics but I recall you have some great Victor Head stories from once-upon-a-time? Is it just a stroke of luck that our little beauty queen with the soiled blue dress isn’t in the picture?

      1. Victor Head…everybody's favorite plumber turned politician.

        Well, there was that time he rooted through ballots at the post office to try to prove how fraudulent mail ballots could be….but it didn't help him to pass any bills – he still lost 3-0.

        And then there was the time he was the acting GOP party chair, and somehow lots of money turned up missing.

        He violated election finance law, while running to be the election clerk.

        He admitted lying to people to get them to sign his recall petitions.

        And then there was his campaign slogan, on his T shirts….wait, I kind of liked that.

        Other than that, he's a swell guy.

    2. …a birther and a beater. Wow – a twofer. Is that #CardBoardCory or the real thing standing and smiling next to this fine 'merikan patriot? I don't want to believe my lyin' eyes (looks like the real one).

  3. How in the world can you find meaning in the statement "I don’t know that this should be the process in which this is the way things work.”  ???? ???? ????

    A verbal hesitation "I don't know"

    An unclear referent "that this should be the process"

    I don't know what to call the phrase "in which this is the way things work."

    I certainly would not call it a rejection of recalls. Nor of this particular recall. 

    Once again, Cory has sounds coming out of his mouth which some people find meaning in. 

Leave a Comment

Recent Comments


Posts about

Donald Trump
SEE MORE

Posts about

Rep. Lauren Boebert
SEE MORE

Posts about

Rep. Yadira Caraveo
SEE MORE

Posts about

Colorado House
SEE MORE

Posts about

Colorado Senate
SEE MORE

48 readers online now

Newsletter

Subscribe to our monthly newsletter to stay in the loop with regular updates!