“[Gabe] Evans has made the purposeful decision to belly up to the trough and then just start taking the money and turning a blind eye,” explained U.S. Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO) in an Accountability Town Hall on Monday.
This bold punchline was only made bolder by the fact that the town hall was held in Adams County, in Evan’s district.
The town hall, which additionally featured Tiffany Muller, the president of End Citizens United (ECU), and Scott Kelly, a former NASA astronaut, sought to spotlight U.S. Rep. Gabe Evans’ (R-CO) record on gun safety and other issues, as part of a broader effort to flip Colorado’s 8th Congressional District (CD8) from red to blue.
During an hour-long panel discussion, Crow and Muller focused on Evans’ alleged misaligned priorities, criticizing how he consistently puts the financial interests of his donors over the people he represents. One of the many interests that Evans was accused of prioritizing was those of gun lobbyists, an area that Kelly had experience in, both in his personal life after the attempted assassination of his sister-in-law, former U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-AZ), and through his work as a senior advisor with GIFFORDS, a nonprofit advocating for gun safety and regulation.
In his remarks to over 50 people at the town hall, Kelly maintained a pro-gun, pro-Second Amendment stance while also advocating for more gun safety laws.
“I believe in the Second Amendment as it was written by the people who wrote it, not by the gun lobby that has perverted the Second Amendment to mean that anyone can have a gun, any kind of gun, at any time with no background checks,” he explained.
Kelly partially blamed Gabe Evans for blocking more effective gun safety laws from being enacted, a sentiment backed by Muller.
“We know gun violence is the number one killer of American youth, … but Gabe Evans refuses to support a single common sense gun violence solution that saves children’s lives,” she stated.
Muller further rebuked Evans for receiving $330,000 in corporate PAC money before completing a full term, questioning how this might affect his priorities on a range of issues, including gun safety and others.
As an example of Evans’ affected priorities, GIFFORDS cited in a news release a vote by Evans to cut “$417 million from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF), greatly reducing its ability to crack down on firearm trafficking and reduce gun violence.”
Crow, who said he’s never accepted corporate PAC money, elaborated on Muller’s point, stating that “these corporate PACs don’t give money for free.”
He continued, “They are making an investment, and they think that investment will pay off on their issues; I mean, it’s just an exceptional privilege.”
“As Colorado families pay more for groceries, energy, and healthcare, Donald Trump, Gabe Evans, and their billionaire buddies are enriching themselves at taxpayers’ expense,” Crow continued in a news release distributed later by organizers. “Coloradans have had enough. We’re mobilizing to ensure our leaders in Washington are answering to working families and not just the elite and well-connected.”
