Rep. Cory Gardner formally announces his candidacy for U.S. Senate at the Denver Lumber Co. on Saturday, March 1, 2014. (Kathryn Scott Osler, The Denver Post)
WASHINGTON — A recent attack ad that accused U.S. Rep. Cory Gardner of blocking immigration reform has been rated as “” by Politifact, a non-partisan project of the Tampa Bay Times that often looks at political advertising.
Under examination were Spanish-language radio ads funded by the Service Employees International Union against several Republicans, including Gardner, R-Yuma, who is trying to unseat first-term U.S. Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo. The main thrust was that the Republicans were standing in the way of immigration reform, an assertion that, in Gardner’s case, Politifact found mostly untrue.
“SEIU said Gardner ‘blocked immigration reform’ and ‘voted to deport our DREAMers.’ While Republicans in the House have not moved forward on immigration, Gardner himself has repeatedly advocated for his colleagues to take up the issue. There are plenty of obstacles to passing a bill in the House, but Gardner does not appear to be one of them,” wrote Politifact analysts.
A full explanation of why is .
A SEIU spokeswoman did not responded immediately with comment.
Another Colorado Republican, U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman, also was mentioned in the SEIU ads. But PolitiFact only looked at Gardner’s record as it compares to the political attack. For more about immigration and how the issue could affect Coffman’s run against Democrat Andrew Romanoff (as well as the national picture), click or .
This is the second time in the last week that PolitiFact has examined an issue in Colorado’s Senate race. Last Thursday, PolitiFact Gardner made about the Keystone XL pipeline and how it would “create thousands of jobs in Colorado.” PolitiFact rated that claim as “.”
