Andy Kerr
Template:TOCnestleft Andy Kerr is a Colorado state politician.
Supported DSA protesters
A group of protesters gathered July 6 2017 outside Senator Gardner’s office, urging the senator to vote no on the Senate healthcare bill. Following a sit-in in his office lobby, Gardner’s staff invited five protesters into his office for a call with the senator. Once the call had finished, the protesters, members of the Democratic Socialists of America, refused to leave. Carolee Strom, Merrill Carter, Chris Diehn, Jessica Westerbur and Jeremy Wilburn, were arrested and cited for trespassing.
At the time, Gardner’s office was in a private building that closes at 5 p.m. The demonstrators,
Carolee Strom, a retired nurse, expressed relief at the outcome after Senator Gardner dropped the charges, but also stood by the decision to occupy Gardner’s office.
“I called, I emailed, I texted, I protested and his ears were closed. It had come to a point for me where civil disobedience was the only road I could take,” Strom said. “I had to stand up for people that have no voice in this travesty of legislation. I had to speak for their lives.”
Gardner did not appear in court, but protesters gathered outside the building held a cardboard cutout of the U.S. Senator. Some 30 people — among them Sen. Irene Aguilar, D-Denver, Sen. Andy Kerr, D-Lakewood, and Rep. Joe Salazar, D-Thornton — gathered outside the Lindsey-Flanigan Courthouse Tuesday before the hearing to demand that prosecutors drop the charges. Protesters carried signs reading “Health Care For All” and “Stop Repeal.”[1]