Sen. Cory Gardner: The recent election that brought Donald Trump to the White House is alarming on many levels. I am among the large number of your constituents who are counting on you to act as reasonable counterbalances to some of Trump’s more radical agenda priorities and appointments. Of particular immediate concern is his refusal to divulge his financial dealings and to place his business holdings in a true blind trust.
I hope that you’ll agree it is vital that we know our chief executive is not compromised by his business entanglements with foreign powers hostile to the interests of the U.S. Trump’s recent comments equating the U.S. to Putin’s Russia (where most of the dictator’s enemies are terminated with poison or bullets) is just the latest Trump action that brings his potential conflicts of interest into sharper focus.
I ask you to support efforts to require Trump to reveal the details of his finances, not only because it’s the right thing to do but because failure to do so will weaken the underpinnings of trust that is essential for good governance.
Your acquiescence in appointing unqualified nominees who have displayed antipathy toward the departments they’ve been named to lead is shameful. Your complicity in deepening the political divide that is destroying our union leads me to wonder to what degree you value your party’s lust for power over the need for bipartisan leadership that puts our country first.
As the party that controls the entire government, reasonable Republican politicians have an obligation to reach out to the majority of voters who denied the popular vote to this erratic president. Failure to act now to fulfill your oaths of office will result in the stain of Trump’s malfeasance tarnishing your political careers from this day forward.
The voters of Colorado did not vote for Trump, and we won’t forget or forgive your failure to display independence and integrity when our country needs it most.
Larry A. Bollinger
Durango
