January 06, 2020 07:45 AM UTC

'No Labels' Group Doesn’t Plan to Support Gardner Again

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• by: Jason Salzman

(Promoted by Colorado Pols)

A national organization called “No Labels,” which calls for a bipartisan approach to solve political problems, has no plans to support U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner (R-CO) again this year, as it did during Gardner’s 2014 campaign for Senate.

“We are not looking to do the seal of approval again this cycle, but there is a lot of time between now and the election,” No Labels Executive Director Margaret White told the Colorado Times Recorder last month.

No Labels turned heads during Colorado’s 2014 U.S. Senate race when it gave a “Problem Solver Seal of Approval” to Gardner.

White insisted that her organization did nothing to support Gardner in 2014 besides issue a news release.

But RealClearPolitics reported at the time that No Labels was participating in get-out-the-vote efforts in support of Gardner, during the final days of the close election.

Informed of the spending for Gardner, White said through a spokeswoman that in 2014 her organization “did not donate to the Gardner campaign or direct any outside efforts on his behalf, other than, as has been publicly reported, a few interns doing some canvassing.”

But federal campaign-finance records show that No Labels did, in fact, spend about $4,000 in 2014 in support of Gardner.

White did not return multiple emails seeking an explanation for the expenditure to help elect Gardner.

For his part , Gardner cited his “seal of approval” from No Labels on the campaign trail in 2014.

But for now, if Gardner implies that he’s got the approval or support of No Labels during this year’s election campaign, it will be based on the organization’s actions six years ago.

No Labels’ support of Gardner in 2014 led Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) to resign as honorary co-chair of the organization.

White also pointed out that a “Problem Solver Seal of Approval” was also eventually offered to Udall. The offer was contingent upon Udall’s accepting specific terms, and it came after Democrats objected to the organization’s support for Gardner.

Gardner’s behavior as a senator led The Denver Post, a prominent 2014 endorser of Gardner, to rescind its endorsement, but White said this had nothing to do with her organization’s decision not to issue seals of approval during the coming election season.

This year, No Labels will push for meetings between members of the U.S. House and Senate, according to White, who was in Denver in part to promote her book, the Ultimate Guide to the 2020 Election, co-written with Robert Clancy.

“One of the things we’re really championing this year and into next is bicameral meetings, meetings where Senators are coming together with House members in a bipartisan way to start talking about these big issues,” said White. “Ask your member of Congress to get in the room, to agree to sit down with members in both chambers from both parties and start talking about ways that we can really focus on these key issues, because we believe that type of buy-in is what’s going to be necessary to start getting the right solutions for our country moving forward.”