Cory Gardner and Michael Bennet set aside the campaign tension between them in recent years to appear together at an event Monday at Colorado State University in Fort Collins.
The gathering, titled “Building Bridges: Bipartisan Perspectives on Democracy,” marked a rare public appearance for Gardner, a Republican who lost his U.S. Senate reelection bid in Colorado in 2020.
“It is incredibly important that we have the ability to talk to each other when we disagree with each other,” Gardner said. “It is hard to hate up close. When we talk to each other, when we hear each other out, that’s when we can come up with the right solutions and ideas for this country.”
While Bennet and Gardner spent much of the event talking about how to improve the national political dialogue, they also highlighted the need to send financial aid to Ukraine.
“I hear people — and I understand it— they say ‘how can you dare fund the border in Ukraine over the border in the United States,’” Gardner said. “We are a nation that can do more than one thing at a time. If we think that we can only focus on one thing, shame on us. We are belittling our country. Let’s do both. We can do both. We are doing both.”
Bennet, a Democratic U.S. senator from Colorado who was reelected in 2022 to his third full term, said the Senate’s work to pass a Ukraine funding bill was an example of the chamber “trying to reassert relevance and trying to say ‘were not just broken.’”
“I’ve spent a huge amount of time over the last 10 months in Mitch McConnell’s office — that might sound strange, but it’s true — as we were trying to figure out: How do we get a big bipartisan vote in the Senate done?” Bennet said of the Republican leader in the chamber. “Because we thought that was the only way it would ever clear the House.”
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MORE: The first five minutes of the event was interrupted by a handful of anti-Israel protesters. Their message was directed at Bennet.
“How dare you come today to talk about democracy when you continue to ignore our voices … who are demanding ‘stop funding Israel!’” the first protester yelled. “In the name of humanity, stop funding Israel! Stop funding Israel!”
She and others then yelled “cease fire now!”
Another protester chided Bennet for receiving campaign donations from “pro-Israel PACs” and then held up a “cease-fire” sign before being led out of the auditorium.
CSU President Amy Parsons said that as a public institution, the university encourages debate and protest — “and this is an example of that.”
“We’re living in interesting times,” she said. “And people are very polarized and very passionate about what’s going on in the country right now.”
Neither Bennet nor Gardner talked about the Israel-Hamas war during the event.
WHAT TO WATCH THIS WEEK
THE BIG STORY
Touting free speech, House Republicans push to call migrants “illegal”
House Democratic leaders have sought to keep tempers cool this legislative session by limiting lawmakers from using language they consider offensive during floor debates — particularly on emotional and divisive subjects like transgender rights, abortion and immigration.
After months of grumbling about it, House Republicans on Saturday decided they’d had enough.
While debating a bill Saturday to fund social services for migrants, Rep. Ron Weinberg, R-Loveland, went out of his way to use a number of terms that House Democratic leaders had told Republicans could be considered offensive. A list provided to the GOP caucus and shared with The Colorado Sun included phrases like “illegal alien” that critics view as dehumanizing.
The AP Stylebook, a grammar and usage guide followed by The Colorado Sun and most media organizations, also discourages the use of “illegal alien” and “illegal immigrant” to describe people.
“I, at one point in my life before coming to this country, was an illegal alien,” began Weinberg, whose family immigrated to the United States from South Africa.
Weinberg was only getting started. After his comment led to a brief recess, he incorporated a number of other terms Democrats deemed offensive into his speech, saying he was once considered an “invader … fresh off the boat,” drawing further reprimands from Rep. Kyle Brown, a Louisville Democrat, who was serving as the chair in the chamber.
Later, Rep. Gabe Evans, R-Fort Lupton, followed up by reading aloud a news article that included some of the discouraged terms.
“We are talking about noncitizens who are here without lawful authority,” said Evans, whose grandparents immigrated to the U.S. from Mexico. “These are illegal immigrants.”
“Representative Evans — we’ve talked about this,” an exasperated Brown replied. “I will allow you to say that these are migrants who are here illegally, but I will not allow you to say (illegal immigrant) — it is not in the bill.”
On Monday, Minority Leader Rose Pugliese took up her colleagues’ cause, saying in a speech on the House floor that the limits on what can be said during floor debate infringed on free speech.
“We have the right to represent our constituents, which are about half this state,” said Pugliese, a Colorado Springs Republican. “The voters of Colorado want us to have this uncomfortable conversation.”
House Majority Leader Monica Duran, D-Wheat Ridge, told The Sun in an interview Monday that her caucus has provided Republicans guidance throughout the session on how to avoid language that could be considered offensive — often at the minority party’s request.
“That’s all this was, guidance as to words that are offensive and words that are hurtful,” Duran said. “Words like that demean (and) disrespect our culture and our heritage.”
Duran said she was “disappointed” that guidance offered “in good faith” by fellow Latinos was used to make a political point — and it gave her pause about doing so in the future.
Why it matters: Republicans have bristled throughout the session at what they view as Democrats policing their speech. But the dust-up comes at a critical moment. Hundreds of bills remain in limbo with fewer than three weeks remaining to pass them into law. And while Republicans have too few members to have much say over what gets passed, they can slow things down through filibustering. Tempers often flare as the session nears its end.
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THE POLITICAL TICKER
4TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT: Two Republican candidates have exited the GOP primary in Colorado’s 4th Congressional District in recent days. Businessman Floyd Trujillo failed to make the ballot after his petition signatures were deemed insufficient by the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office. Former congressional staffer Chris Phelen suspended his campaign. Both men endorsed conservative commentator Deborah Flora on their way out of the contest. Meanwhile, businessman Peter Yu’s petition signatures were verified, meaning the six-candidate lineup for the June 25 ballot is set. In addition to Flora and Yu, it includes U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, former state Sen. Jerry Sonnenberg, and state Reps. Richard Holtorf and Mike Lynch.
3RD CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT: Joe Granado, a Republican running to represent Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, failed to make the June 25 primary ballot after his petition signatures were deemed insufficient by the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office. That means six Republicans will be on the primary ballot in the 3rd District: Colorado Board of Education member Stephen Varela; former state Rep. Ron Hanks; Grand Junction attorney Jeff Hurd; Delta County business owner Curtis McCrackin; Carbondale investor Russ Andrews; and Durango businessman Lew Webb.
PROPERTY TAXES: State Rep. Shannon Bird, D-Westminster, asked the House Finance Committee on Monday to postpone her House Bill 1299, which would have imposed the commercial property tax rate on properties offered as short-term rentals but only when they belong to a person or business that owns at least two other homes. The measure was then killed by the committee. The bill was introduced in response to a further-reaching measure that would have raised the taxes on homes offered as short-term rentals, but that legislation was killed last week in a Senate committee. “At this time, I believe we need to have more local conversations with stakeholders — local governments, property owners and local business communities — about STRs and the potential role the state can play in supporting or assisting local governments and Coloradans on a variety of property tax issues,” Bird told The Unaffiliated about why she was shelving the bill.
ELECTION 2024: State Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer of Brighton faces a challenger in the June 25 Republican primary. Natalie Abshier of Mead made the ballot via the assembly process, as did Kirkmeyer. Abshier previously ran unsuccessfully for the St. Vrain Valley School Board in 2021. Meanwhile, Democrat Kwon Atlas, an aide to then-Denver Mayor Michael Hancock, failed to make the primary ballot in the race to represent House District 8 in Denver. His signatures were deemed insufficient by the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office. That means Lindsay Gilchrist, a criminal justice reform advocate, will be the Democratic nominee in the safe Democratic district currently represented by Rep. Leslie Herod, D-Denver.
CONGRESS: U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper’s chief of staff, Kirtan Mehta, has left his position to become vice president of public affairs for the Washington Commanders football team. He had worked for the Democratic senator since January 2021. Separately, Regan Bruno is the new communications director for U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colorado Springs. She comes to the job after working as a public relations coordinator for Fox News. Lamborn is retiring at the end of his term.
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CHART OF THE WEEK
The Colorado Democratic Party in March continued to outraise and outspend the Colorado GOP, continuing a trend that began a year ago when each party elected a new chairman.
Democrats raised more than $900,000 in March, compared with the roughly $59,000 raised last month by the Colorado GOP.
Democrats got a big boost in March from the Biden Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee, to the tune of $730,000. But the state party then sent nearly $713,000 to the Democratic National Committee. The transfers are typical of the way some national joint fundraising committees work, with money distributed to state parties before it’s sent back to national committees.
The Colorado GOP has operated a bit differently. It received nearly $256,000 from Protect the House 2024 in November, a PAC aimed at helping elect Republicans to the U.S. House. But the state party hasn’t sent any money to any national GOP committees.
Democrats spent $875,000 in March, compared with the $86,000 spent by the GOP.
The spending discrepancy left the GOP with much more cash heading into April at nearly $600,000 compared with the $350,000 the Democrats had in the bank.
Another reason for the cash-on-hand difference is that Democrats have several full-time employees whom they paid about $36,000 in March.
The Colorado GOP paid about $14,000 in March to companies owned by party officers, including $8,000 to a company owned by Chairman Dave Williams. The GOP also paid $10,000 to High Octane Enterprises, a company owned by Mineral County GOP Chairman Eric Grossman, for planning and managing Republicans’ state assembly earlier this month.
THE BIGGER PICTURE
Corrections & Clarifications
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