Gardner is quick to accuse political opponents of violating ethics rules, but his record shows he has used his office to boost his wife’s businesses
Washington, D.C. – The Congressional Integrity Project today released its report detailing U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner’s (R-CO) record in public office. The report, part of the organization’s “Covering for Corruption” series, highlights how Gardner has leveraged his positions in state government and in the U.S. House and Senate to benefit his wife’s business interests as a consultant and advocate for the fossil fuel industry.
“For years, the Gardners have skirted ethics rules so that Jaime Gardner can profit off of fossil fuels while Cory Gardner boosts those same industries through his Senate office,” said Kyle Herrig, executive director of the Congressional Integrity Project. “Cory Gardner has hypocritically used his office to moralize against self-dealing while his family profits from exactly that type of corruption. It’s time for Gardner to come clean to all Coloradoans about his intermingled public and private interests. He and his wife need to release her full client list to let voters determine just how much they’ve profited off of this arrangement.”
View the research report HERE.
Throughout his political career, Cory Gardner has carried water for the oil and gas industries, which have contributed more than $1.7 million to his campaigns — including over $1 million from big oil PACs alone. At the same time, those industries have employed Jaime Gardner as she made a career out of helping them generate profit from public land.
- Jaime Gardner is a practiced navigator of the Washington revolving door, running the pro-fossil fuel groups Colorado Resource Alliance and Consumer Energy Education Foundation (CEEF) that provided regulatory information to energy clients while her husband served in the U.S. House of Representatives.
- After Cory was elected to the public office, Jaime created a consulting firm that represents energy clients with substantial interests in the work of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, which her husband sits on. Her clients also had interests in the work of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, when he was in the House of Representatives.
- During his time in office, Cory Gardner has pushed for Jaime’s clients’ priorities, including allowing drilling in Alaska’s Outer Continental Shelf, streamlining permits for deep-water drilling, and allowing the construction of the Dakota Access and Keystone XL Pipelines.
To obscure these conflicts of interest, Cory Gardner failed to list his wife’s employment on his personal financial disclosures in either 2013 or 2014 — a possible violation of ethics rules — and Jaime has not disclosed her specific clients publicly.
That is why the Congressional Integrity Project is calling on the Gardners to release Jaime’s client list so Coloradans can see how her husband’s positions have aligned with her clients’ interests, or if her clients lobbied Gardner’s office directly.
View the letter HERE.
The Congressional Integrity Project has previously released reports on Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson and Florida Senator Rick Scott detailing how they have misused their positions to enrich themselves and their families. For more information on the Congressional Integrity Project’s work visit: www.congressionalIntegrity.org. For the latest updates, follow @USIntegrityProj on Twitter.
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