June 23, 2021 11:38 AM UTC

Of Course Cory Gardner is Now a Lobbyist

• 8 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

We’ll say this for former one-term Senator Cory Gardner: He’s nothing if not predictable.

As The Hill newspaper reports, the Yuma Republican has a new job that nobody everybody could have seen coming:

Former Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) will join the board of Michael Best Strategies, the lobbying firm announced Wednesday…

…Michael Best Strategies is run by Reince Priebus, who served as former President Trump’s White House chief of staff and as Republican National Committee chairman. The firm has expanded this year, naming former Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.) to its board of advisers in March…

…“Cory is an efficient communicator and leader and has an extraordinary track record of success in an array of policy and legislative matters,” Priebus said in a statement. “As another tenured former government representative joins our board, Cory’s addition will greatly benefit Michael Best Strategies as we continue to deepen our leadership and advisory positions with former lawmakers.”

But…but…wasn’t Senator Gardner a staunch supporter of efforts to PROHIBIT Members of Congress from moving straight from Congress into lobbying?

Well, yes. On more than once occasion, in fact.

Here’s what Gardner said on re-introducing the Close the Revolving Door Act in October 2019:

“By blocking Members of Congress from ever becoming lobbyists following their time in office, this legislation will bring the transparency and accountability to elected officials that Coloradans expect and deserve.”

Blah, blah, blahbity blah.

Gardner didn’t just become a complete bullshit artist after losing his re-election bid to Democrat John Hickenlooper by 9 points in 2020. Gardner was always full of crap — transparently so, in fact — and it’s a big reason why he fared so poorly with Colorado voters in the years following his 2014 election to the Senate.

There’s nothing more Cory Gardner than moving straight into lobbying after years of decrying the fact that so many former Members of Congress were becoming lobbyists.

As a Member of Congress, very little of what Gardner said turned out to actually matter. May his new career be just as pointless.