Conservative Gardner worked for Dem in past

Republican congressional frontrunner Cory Gardner is a former Democrat who realized in college that his beliefs "were aligned with conservative Republican values and ideals," he said.

But a year after graduating from Colorado State University, Gardner was an active volunteer for Democrat Susan Kirkpatrick, who was challenging GOP conservative icon Bob Schaffer for Northern Colorado's congressional seat, Kirkpatrick recalled Tuesday.

Kirkpatrick was so taken by Gardner that she chose him to make a seconding speech at the 1998 Democratic 4th Congressional District assembly that nominated her to take on Schaffer.

"I do remember that his specific take was that I would be a good representative of the rural agriculture interests of the 4th Congressional District," said Kirkpatrick, a former Fort Collins mayor who now serves in Gov. Bill Ritter's Cabinet as secretary of the Depar-tment of Local Affairs.

Gardner's campaign issued a statement on Tuesday after a national political magazine began asking questions about his Democratic past.

"I was raised in a family of conservative Eastern Plains Democrats. My granddad is a Democrat, my father is a Democrat. In high school, I registered as a Democrat, as well," Gardner said in the statement.

"In college, I realized that the values I was raised with and ideals that I believe in were aligned with conservative Republican values and ideals. While in college at CSU in 1996, I interned with a Republican state representative, Russ George. "

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