Local Republican chairman Don Mathis told supporters in an email that Friday’s lunch was called off because of the “current threat assessment and current events.” He told the Steamboat Pilot & Today he was referencing the protest organized by Democrats.
Gardner spokesman Casey Contres said Tuesday that a staffer wrongly relayed that explanation to Mathis but said the protest wasn’t a factor in the cancellation. He says Gardner instead met with Routt County commissioner Doug Monger, who appears in a television ad criticizing the House health care bill.