Report: GOP Senate candidate promotes failed energy measure

In a new ad, Republican Senate candidate Rep. Cory Gardner touts his role in passing a law that boosted Colorado’s clean energy industry — but doesn’t mention it was repealed five years later.

In the ad, Gardner says he’s a “new kind of Republican” who supports “the next generation,” which is why he said he backed the law.

{mosads}The Associated Press reports the law, which set up the Clean Energy Development Authority and aimed to help fund clean energy projects, did little, if anything, to spur the state’s green-energy economy.

Tom Plant, who managed the energy authority until 2011, said financing woes made the authority’s actions toothless, AP reports.

“[Gardner] introduced the legislation in good faith in order to do something,” Plant told AP. But he said the authority’s funding mechanism “made it impossible for us to ever issue bonds.”

Gardner is challenging Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.) in his election bid. Udall’s campaign spokesman pushed back at the ad, blasting Gardner for “claiming credit” for the state’s clean energy business.

Gardner’s team shot back that the authority played a critical role in helping Colorado build up more clean energy.