Cory Gardner Latest News

BY ROBERT MOORE
RobertMoore@coloradoan.com
Fort Collins Coloradoan

The nation's health-care system can be improved with a number of market-based changes, Republican congressional candidate Cory Gardner said Wednesday.

Speaking to about 70 people at a town-hall forum at the Lincoln Center, Gardner cited tort reform and allowing consumers to purchase insurance across state lines as ways of driving down health-care costs.

"If I can buy a car across state lines, by golly, I should be able to buy an insurance policy that best meets my needs," Gardner said.

He is one of three Republicans actively seeking the nomination to challenge first-term Rep. Betsy Markey, D-Fort Collins. University of Colorado Regent Tom Lucero is an announced candidate, and supporters of former Fort Collins City Council member Diggs Brown are pushing his candidacy until his active-duty military tour ends in November.

As he did in a telephone town-hall meeting last week, Gardner didn't attack Markey directly.
Gardner, a 33-year-old state representative from Yuma, opposed Democratic proposals on energy policy and health care but also was critical of recent Republican history.
"One of the failures of the Republican Party has been to not come up with solutions to the greatest problems we face in this country," he said.

In a question-and-answer session with the audience, he said it wasn't enough for Republicans to simply oppose Democratic health-care proposals.

"How do we create solutions? How do we put policies in place that drive down the cost of health care?" he said.
The audience applauded Gardner when he voiced support for a number of Republican staple issues, such as opposition to abortion and protection of the Second Amendment.

One questioner asked Gardner what Republicans could do “so we don’t sound so Neanderthal on the issue of immigration.”

Gardner said the priority was to secure the border, which led the questioner to ask him what should be done with illegal immigrants already in the country. Gardner declined to give specifics.

“We have to focus first with securing our border,” Gardner said. “Once we do that we can focus on solutions for people who are already here.”

A supporter of President Barack Obama, who didn’t give his name, asked Gardner if he believed Obama was born in the United States. Some groups have claimed Obama is ineligible for the presidency because he wasn’t born in the United States.

“I think the administration is trying to say he was born in this country,” Gardner said.

When the questioner pressed him to denounce those who say Obama isn’t a citizen, Gardner said there were more important issues to discuss. Another member of the audience shouted, “Where’s the birth certificate.”