There’s a lot of things to say about Congress, but I’ll start with one we don’t hear enough.
Almost every person in the House and Senate is well intentioned and believe that their ideas are good for this country. The challenge with that, however, is depending on who you ask one side has good ideas and the other side has bad ideas.
As a member of Congress and Colorado’s Republican Chair, I’m more confident than ever in our ideas and the elected Republicans we have selected to carry them out like Sen. Cory Gardner.
In a time where nobody can get along, Sen. Gardner has managed to be one of the most bipartisan and effective senators Colorado has ever seen. My counterpart on the left will probably try and tell you that Sen. Gardner hates puppies and ice cream — but I’d suggest tuning out some of their noise and just look at his record.
Sen. Gardner has proved that instead of pursuing an agenda of resistance, like some want, it’s important to lead and produce results for his constituents. It’s no coincidence that many major decisions being made by the Administration have a Colorado connection.
Sen. Gardner has given us a voice at the table that would be gone if someone else was in his seat that cared more about flashy headlines and cable news hits than having a positive relationship with the White House.
While the left mocked his idea three years ago to move the BLM Headquarters to Colorado, it now looks like that may just happen after constant urging by Sen. Gardner to the BLM and the Interior Department.
READ: Colorado Sun opinion columnists.
While Sen. Gardner’s 12 Democratic opponents attack him for his positive working relationship with President Trump, those who care more about Space Command potentially being headquartered in Colorado understand why his relationship and commitment to providing our state a voice at the highest level matters.
While some groan when Sen. Gardner talks about foreign policy, the fact that he authored and passed the first stand-alone mandatory sanctions on North Korea by Congress matters greatly to those across the world who want to avoid nuclear war with Kim Jong Un.
While fake environmental groups run ads lying about Sen. Gardner’s record on public lands, I’m fairly confident that the families who enjoy our beautiful outdoors will be happy to know that our Republican senator is the reason that the Land and Water Conservation Fund is permanently reauthorized.
While backers of Bernie Sanders aim their anger at Sen. Gardner for not backing free college for everyone, young professionals paying off their student loans appreciate Sen. Gardner’s work to find realistic solutions to assist them through measures like his Student Loan Repayment Acceleration Act.
You get the trend. Sen. Gardner has and will remain an effective voice for Republicans, Unaffiliateds and Democrats in Colorado. His opponents will tell you stuff that quite frankly is not true. They’ll tell you they will do his job better. I’m here to tell you they won’t.
I urge all Coloradans to look at Sen. Gardner’s record and the way he goes about his job. We have a good one in Washington, and I’ll be fighting to make sure that in 2020 Cory Gardner remains our effective and forward-looking leader for our state in the Senate for years to come.
Ken Buck is chairman of the Colorado Republican Party and U.S. Representative in Colorado’s 4th District.