NextGen mostly truthful, but misleading in Keep Out ad attacking Gardner
By: Joe Fries and Vianes Rodriguez
The NextGen Climate Action Committee has released a series of campaign ads, titled Keep Out, attacking Colorado Senate candidate Cory Gardner’s position on a number of key issues.
Colorado Democrats have been relentless in challenging Gardner’s record on social issues. NextGen, a group headed by climate activist Tom Steyer, adds climate change to the list of Gardner’s policies that are being scrutinized heading into the November election.
In this ad, NextGen depicts Gardner as an intruder who has his sights set on the private lives of voters. The ad shows people locking up their homes and shutting the blinds to protect themselves from Cory Gardner’s “intrusive” policies on abortion, contraception, marriage equality and climate change.
This NextGen ad makes three claims:
1. Cory Gardner thinks he knows better than scientists, NASA, and the US Military when it comes to climate change.
Although it isn’t clearly stated, NextGen’s first claim challenges Gardner’s stance on the science behind climate change, not its existence. Gardner acknowledges that climate change is real but disputes the idea that man is a major contributor to its acceleration.
As a state representative, in 2010, Gardner told the Loveland Connection Newspaper, “I think the climate is changing, but I don’t believe humans are causing that change to the extent that’s been in the news.” Loveland Connection News 9/20/10.
According to NextGen spokeswoman, Abby Leeper, the claim in the ad was also based on Gardner’s refusal to support Amendment No. 6 within the Electricity Security and Affordability Act H.R. 3826.
This amendment states,
“Congress accepts the scientific finding (contained in the
proposed rule referred to in section 4(2)) that greenhouse
gas pollution is “contributing to long-lasting changes in
our climate that can have a range of negative effects.”
Gardner, along with 219 other House Republicans, voted against the amendment on March 6, 2014.
“One point we wanted to make is that Gardner voted against an amendment that would have placed on the [Congressional] Record that the House Energy and Commerce Committee accepts that climate change is happening and is caused by greenhouse gas pollution,” Leeper told Fact Lab. “That would have been a huge move for them to recognize that climate change is happening and that it has been caused by human activity and he [Gardner] has refused to do so.”
The ad also implies that Gardner’s position doesn’t match up with the US Military’s findings when it comes to climate change. The US Military takes a clear stand on the science of climate change within the Pentagon’s 2014 Quadrennial Defense Review; a report conducted every four years by the DOD.
In the 2014 Report, the Defense Department insists that climate change can have devastating effects when combined with human contributions.
“Climate change poses another significant challenge for the United States and the world at large. As greenhouse gas emissions increase, sea levels are rising, average global temperatures are increasing, and severe weather patterns are accelerating. These changes, coupled with other global dynamics, including growing, urbanizing, more affluent populations, and substantial economic growth in India, China, Brazil, and other nations, will devastate homes, land, and infrastructure.” (Pg. 30 QDR 2014)
NASA’s position on climate change also identifies human activity as a major climate change enhancer.
“The current warming trend is of particular significance because most of it is very likely human-induced and proceeding at a rate that is unprecedented in the past 1,300 years.”
In addition, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has concluded that the increased rate of climate change has been influenced by human activity.
Is NextGen’s claim valid? Yes it is.
Although Gardner recognizes that climate change is a real problem, he has consistently opposed legislation that would recognize greenhouse gases as major causes of climate change. He also supported legislation that would have resulted in Congress not recognizing the existence of climate change.
Gardner voted against an amendment to the Energy Tax Prevention Act 2011 amendment to HR 910 that would have allowed “Congress to recognize that climate change is happening, largely caused by human activity.” The bill “excludes greenhouse gases from the definition of ‘air pollutant’ for purposes of addressing climate change.”
We reached out to the Gardner campaign for clarification on his stance on human impacts on climate change and we were referred to a 2014 interview with the Post Independent. Gardner states, “I think you have people (commissioning) this report who are trying to politicize and point fingers and create division on an issue of climate change.”
The Congressman has sponsored legislation that support green energy projects. However, in dissecting NextGen’s claims, the facts indicate that Cory Gardner’s voting record and his doubt about man’s contribution to climate change do not correspond with the findings of U.S. Military and NASA scientists.
Grade: A
2. Cory Gardner thinks the government should decide who can and can’t marry.
Cory Gardner has consistently voted against bills that would offer same sex couples domestic partnerships. He has opposed gay marriage throughout his political career. Colorado House voting record
In 2012, Gardner voted for bills that would cut federal funding for any activity that would alter or break the definition of marriage as between one man and one woman. US House voting record
He also supported a 2012 bill that would bar funds from the Justice Department that violated the Defense of Marriage Act. The bill was introduced in response to President Obama’s order that the Justice Department was to stop defending DOMA in federal court. In 2013, DOMA was subsequently overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in US v. Windsor. DOJ voting record
There’s little left to question about the truth of this claim.
Grade: A
3. Cory Gardner led an eight-year crusade that would outlaw birth control and make abortion a felony crime.
Sen. Mark Udall and the Colorado left have hammered Gardner’s position on abortion in nearly every ad that’s been released.
Gardner’s so-called anti-abortion “crusade” began in 2006 when he supported the Colorado Right to Life Act, which recognizes “that personhood begins at fertilization.” In a questionnaire, Gardner was asked, “Would you vote for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to restore full protection to preborn human beings?”
He answered, “Yes.”
Gardner also has been a supporter for the “personhood” amendment; which defines life as the moment an egg is fertilized. In March 2013, Gardner supported a federal bill called the Life at Conception Act, which states,
“The right to life guaranteed by the Constitution is vested in each human being beginning at the moment of fertilization, cloning, or other moment at which an individual comes into being.”
This would make the abortion of a fertilized “person” a felony crime.
In a recent interview with FOX31 reporter, Eli Stokols, Gardner insisted that the federal “personhood” bill doesn’t exist. Stokols reminded Gardner that the bill is, in fact, a real bill that still includes his name as a co-sponsor.
It should be noted, however, that Gardner has recently retracted his support for the “personhood” bill at the state level but remains a co-sponsor of the federal bill. In March, Gardner told The Denver Post, “I was not right. I can’t support personhood now.” He cited restrictions on birth control as the main reason why he can no longer support the bill.
This brings us to the claim that Cory Gardner “led a crusade that would outlaw birth control.” While the voice in the ad says that Gardner would “outlaw birth control,” there is a misleading subtext strategically placed in the ad that reads “common forms of birth control.”
The NextGen ad isn’t the only one to make this claim. Gardner, however, has never supported the “outlaw” of birth control.
NextGen cites a 2012 statement made by the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists concerning “personhood.”
These “personhood” proposals, as acknowledged by proponents, would make condoms, natural family planning, and spermicides the only legally allowed forms of birth control. Thus, some of the most effective and reliable forms of contraception, such as oral contraceptives, intrauterine devices (IUDs), and other forms of FDA-approved hormonal contraceptives could be banned in states that adopt “personhood” measures.
There is no record of Gardner seeking to “outlaw” birth control altogether. In June, he wrote an op-ed in The Denver Post in which he argues that the birth control pill should be available for purchase over the counter.
We reached out to the Gardner campaign seeking information about his stance on IUDs and the “morning after” pill. We were referred to the same op-ed article in The Post which fails to mention his position on those particular forms of contraception.
This claim gets a C, because it is only borderline true and it is tainted with misinformation.
Conclusion
In sifting through the facts, it is clear that this particular NextGen Climate Action Committee ad isn’t entirely truthful. However, the majority of the claims made by NextGen pass the Fact Lab test.
Overall, NextGen earns a B for the claims made in this ad. Under the Fact Lab rubric, that means the ad’s overall claims are true but misleading; information is not provided in a significant claim that could change how it is interpreted.
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