April 16, 2024 06:03 PM UTC

Bob Gardner: When MAGA Devotion Goes Wrong

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• by: CO05er

The Secretary of State’s office announced this afternoon that Republican CD5 Congressional Candidate and Colorado Springs State Senator Bob Gardner does not have sufficient signatures to qualify for the 2024 GOP Primary Ballot. Sen. Gardner fell short by 175 votes. Right now in the State Senate, Gardner will have the opportunity to do the right thing on SCR01. Will he?

Last month, Sen. Gardner dismissed and ignored the testimony of dozens of witnesses, who described the sexual abuse at the hands of priests and teachers and the continued harm they have suffered as a result of the abuse. The most difficult part of their testimony was the institutional coverage that these adults in positions of power received. Sen. Jesse Danielson and Sen. Rhonda Fields brought this SCR01 – a constitutional ballot measure – that would allow the legislature to enact laws regarding civil penalties for the survivors of sexual assault.

This brings us to today when SCR01 is up for Second Reading in the Colorado State Senate alongside Gardner’s failure this week to submit sufficient signatures for the Primary Ballot. Gardner’s sufficiency failure comes at the same time an ad (by a group called “Holding Predators Accountable”) ran in the Colorado Springs Gazette elevating Gardner’s willingness to protection “for child predators.”

Shaun Boyd reported earlier this month that Republicans were opposing the legislation to hold abusers (and the institutions that shielded them) accountable; and Colorado voters (according to a late-January poll) unilaterally want the chance to vote to hold child sex abusers accountable. In the hearing, his GOP counterparts dismissed the resolution for bringing “antique” facts.

Will Sen. Bob Gardner do the right thing today? One could argue, it played a part in his failed congressional run (alongside the GOP party chair’s use of his office to advance his own interests), but perhaps SCR01 unduly provided Dave Williams or Jeff Crank with the ammunition they needed to narrow their primary field.