Station: KCOL
Show: 600 KCOL Mornings
Guest: Cory Gardner
Link: http://www.600kcol.com/main.html
Date: 3/17/2010
Topics: Self-Executing Rule, Markey’s Vote on Obamacare, Deal Making in Congress.

WEINMAN: Representative, welcome to Keith and Gale.

GARDNER: How are you guys this morning?

FALLEN: We are going well, how about you?

GARDNER: Very good thank you.

WEINMAN: With regards to the preference polls, it is said that there is more positive effect on the winner then there is negative effect on the losers. That is Floyd Cerulli talking to the press this morning. Your feelings?

GARDNER: I am very excited about what happened with the results last night. Our fiscal reform message of getting our country back on track, getting people back to work, and limiting spending is resonating. With the grassroots voters not only in Weld County but throughout the district. So I am excited about the results and I am excited to continue our hard work.

FALLEN: Cory, dumb question here. As a candidate, do you take part in the caucus process as well?

GARDNER: Yes, we do. I will actually be a delegate from Yuma County. We go through a different process than Larimer County does. But Yes, I go through the assembly and caucus process just like a delegate that a lot of people were elected to last night.

WEINMAN: The number one story, if you look at the House of Representatives right now, is a little thing called the “Self-Executing Rule,” which the Denver Post this morning could mean political suicide for the House of Representatives. If you were part of that group, what would you have to saw about what is going on right now?

GARDNER: This is just offensive. I think anybody in America right now that is looking at what is happening , to pass a bill that take over 20 percent of our economy by using parliamentary tricks and gimmicks. People should be ashamed about what is happening in Washington, D.C. I have said before that Republicans and Democrats alike have had their chances and they have screwed it up in both parties. But what is happening right now in Washington is offensive.

WEINMAN: The Denver Post this morning in the part they have been for the concept here but they are dead set about what is going on now. They are urging Democrats not to embark on a fools-errand. They are saying this is a bad bill. It is not worth Democrats jumping off the cliff.

GARDNER: This is not only Democrats jumping off a cliff. Remember what the represent. They are bringing the country with them. And I spoke to hundreds of people last night throughout Larimer and Weld County who are outraged at what is happening in Washington, who don’t like the bill in the first place. This violates everybody’s sense of fairness. The fact that they could try to push through a bill without even voting on it; it is unconstitutional, it is against everybody’s notion of what is right and wrong, and it is symbolizes everything that people dislike about what is happening on our nation’s capitol today.

FALLEN: Representative, let me pose the same question that earned us the cynical skeptical label this morning that I posed to Mr. Ken Buck, senatorial candidate. I think we are seeing a groundswell of political action and involvement in this nation, largely from people who have never been involved in the process as well. But I think one of the keys that precipitated this involvement is what we are seeing play out in Washington, D.C. these days. A certain amount of skepticism and cynicism, a jaded notion of the political process. The involvement is good but with it comes the flip side of that involvement and poses a challenge to candidates who are running and have a platform, who have an agenda, vocalizing their intent when they get into office, but I bet that you are faces, more often than not, with the question, how do we know what you are running on is actually what you will actualize when you get into office. How do you deal with that question?

GARDNER: That is the best question anybody can ask. And what I say is this: I was raised in Yuma, Colorado. Worked at a farm equipment dealership. I learned that hard work is how we get ourselves through. We rely on ourselves and not the government to get the job done. And what we say is our bond. That is our oath that we make with each other. I have a solid record that you can look to when I have stood up for fiscal responsibility, when I have stood up against higher taxes, higher regulations, when I fought Republicans when they spent too much money and hired too many people. So it is that record that I can point to and say you if you send me to Washington, D.C. and I earn your vote, I am going to take that same workmanship attitude to Washington, D.C. to get the job done. Gail, that is the number one question people ought to be asking because it is the number one failure of Washington D.C.

FALLEN: The second part of that question, going in with that strategy, then how do you stand up against the machine once you get to Washington, D.C. and the impact of the lobbyist and the big money interests? And the party itself?

GARDNER: That’s right. I have stood up to the party. I have stood up to the machine. And I will continue to do that. I have been a member in the Colorado legislature now who has fought a Republican Governor. Who has fought his efforts to pass tax increases. Who has fought to efforts to pass budgets that I felt were out of control. And I stood up against lobbyists who wanted to do one thing and I said no, it’s not right for the state of Colorado. This is a campaign about the future of this country. And this candidate, Cory Gardner, is going to stand up for this country because I have a six-year-old daughter. And I worry everyday if she is going to have the same opportunities that you and I have had. That is about every girl and boy like her. That this country is dwindling their future.

WEINMAN: Mr. Gardner, let me ask you to react to something that has just happened here in the last 30 seconds. A few minutes ago we talked to Weld County District Attorney Ken Buck and asked him from a Senate perspective if government can be undertaken without deal making. He said yes. In the last minute now, we have seen Dennis Kucinich on television with a statement nationwide that with a meeting several days ago with the President, you remember Dennis Kucinich has been solidly against the Obamacare legislation as written in favor of a public option, would not support it unless it included a public option. If I am correct, now I have Dennis Kucinich saying he will vote in favor of the current bill. Now, talking about deal making, can government be undertaken in the House of Representatives without deal making in light of the fact that in the last two minutes we have seen Dennis Kucinich, after a meeting two days ago wit the President and not talking to the press after that in the last two days, flip. Now he will support Obamacare.

FALLEN: Flip, interesting word, I would say fold like a cheep suit. Corey?

GARDNER: Yes, I absolutely agree with Ken Buck. And we have to, in the country, get back to reality. Washington, D.C. is not just twisting arms, they are breaking backs. And we have to have people with enough moral fiber and enough courage to stand up and say this is wrong and to sit there and fight the fight. No matter what consequences it might bring to that single person. We’ve got an opportunity in this country in November, to send people like Dennis Kucinich home. To send people throughout Congress home that are making those deals that are ruining this country. It’s got to stop. The Cornhusker Kickback, the Louisiana Purchase, there are things in Washington, D.C. that would make Al Capone blush.

WEINMAN: Now what you are describing and it is the opposite we’ve seen Kucinich do here this morning, can be argued, or your potential opponent Betsy Markey in her first vote against the health care legislation. Speak to that and the upcoming vote now.

GARDNER: What you saw in Congresswoman Markey’s vote was a vote to bring the vote to the floor, a vote against any other alternatives other than the Pelosi bill, and a vote against any motions to send the bill back to committee. As soon as Nancy Pelosi realized that she had the votes, she gave the green light to Betsy Markey and others who won in Republican districts to go ahead and vote no. Right now, I wish Betsy Markey would tell us how she is going to vote. But she is not. But I think the people of the Fourth Congressional District have a right to know. Whether the votes yes or she votes no, you can believe this is a cold calculated vote maneuver and not a principled vote.

WEINMAN: OK, so in other words, she was given a pass?

GARDNER: Yes.