Gardner calls Udall’s attack ad over floods ‘disgusting’

Courtesy of U.S. Congress
<p>U.S. Senator Mark Udall (D-CO) says one of the highpoints this year has been unwinding some of the national security laws.</p>

The anniversary of last year’s devastating floods has become a talking point in Colorado's U.S. Senate campaign.

Democratic Sen. Mark Udall is accusing his Republican challenger of slowing recovery efforts, a charge his opponent’s campaign calls "disgusting."

In a new TV ad, Udall says Colorado’s flood recovery efforts were hurt by last year’s federal shutdown, and lays the blame on the man challenging him for his seat, Republican Rep. Cory Gardner.

Gardner’s campaign denies that claim, pointing out he was among a minority of Republicans who voted to end the stalemate and re-open the government. And a 9News Truth test calls the claim that the shutdown hurt recovery efforts "misleading."

It's very misleading to say the government shutdown hurt response to the disaster.

As promised by Vice President Joe Biden on his visit to Colorado, federal workers never stopped responding to the floods in the shutdown.

That's not to say there weren't headaches.

There were 120 national guard engineers which the state had to pay to keep on the job during the shutdown, but they did stay on the job.

The Udall campaign can point to all kinds of articles featuring people worried about what might happen if the shutdown kept going, but to argue that it had a measurable impact on flood recovery is deceptive.

At time, the disaster united Colorado's congressional delegation, with Udall and Gardner working together to secure more money to rebuild flood-damaged highways.