Cowboy State Politics

Wyoming doesn't have a money problem. We're sitting on a boat load of cash that gets bigger every year. Our issue is where we put the money. Proposition 1 would only amount to a small amount of money that wouldn't really affect how counties run.

We're also being told that if Prop 1 passes libraries will be hurt and we won't be able to fund schools, among other fantasies. State law mandates that libraries be funded and the Constitution demands that we adequately fund education. It is a completely absurd argument to suggest that Prop 1 will materially affect how our counties operate.

Nancy (Cale) Case doesn't want to waste time on election integrity bills that the new legislature won't hear. Nevermind that new legislators haven't been sworn in. Leadership hasn't been chosen and not a single vote has been taken in the 2027 legislative session. Evidently, we don't have any problems with elections.

Nevermind that a recent column by Cheyenne Attorney Fred Harrison exposed that several counties had tabulation machines reporting errors and clerks certified them anyway. Nothing to see here, move along.

A Letter in the Turkey Vulture claims that the author can't vote for Chuck Gray because he gave information to the DOJ. Ummm, who issues that information in the first place? THE GOVERNMENT! There's a ton of information in that little barcode on the back of your driver's license. But no one bats an eye at letting the store clerk scan it. It's all really silly.

There have been many times Republicans haven't supported the winner of their primary election. There's been lots of examples of Republican candidates who've lost the party's support because of scandal. In at least one case, a state GOP supported a Democrat over the Republican.

It makes no sense that Republicans are supporting a guy who by just about every measure doesn't line up with the Wyoming Republican Party Platform. Let's not forget, 5 years ago during COVID, the Republican Governor had a hard time finding a seat at a WYGOP State Central Committee meeting banquet. Republicans should vote for principles and not labels.

Steven Willeford stopped the gunman in the Southerland Springs, Texas church shooting. He lured the gunman out of the church and then engaged him.  He spoke at the Sheridan County Republican Party Reagan Day Dinner. 

Armed with an AR-15 and only 8 rounds, he engaged the shooter and pursued him.  By the time police arrived 7 minutes had passed and the confrontation was basically over.  He has an amazing story of bravery that everyone needs to hear.

Replay of Cowboy State Politics Live from October 7. Congratulations Teton County, you just added $3.5 Million to the cost of homes that were supposed to be affordable. The money is supposedly suppose to cover what you're already paying for.

Boulder climate change lawsuit is an end-run around the left's inability to enact legislation.  Can't do things the right way? Use the courts!

Don't believe the polls, they're just as wrong as they always are. So says CNN! 

And who is it that told us another whopper?  I give you a hint who that politician is...

We're at the point in the game where everything is conservative--doesn't really matter what it is: government healthcare, so-called affordable housing, millions in crony capitalism.  Evidently, if you have an "R," it's got to be a conservative policy.

I miss the times when we could have an actual argument over the policy. Now, instead, we end up debating if the person who came up with the absurd idea is conservative.  Because, of course, anything in Wyoming can come from the political right simply by claiming it does.

Now, more than at any other time, polls are showing a majority of Democrats have a favorable view of socialism.  There are candidates who openly admit they're socialists. Every single country that has set out to change their constitution has ended up with one that mirrors the political sentiment of the time.  Chile is good example. They decided to change theirs and ended up with communism.  This isn't hyperbole, it's historical fact.

Everyone can look at our country and say we have a few problems.  Just wait until we call a Constitutional convention. It sounds like a good idea and Convention of States advocates make it sound like the solution to everything.  Not only would it not fix whatever problems we see in Washington, it would destroy the Constitution.

To get some perspective on this, I spoke to one of the experts on an Article V convention, Robert Brown.

Every where you look someone is trying to tell you that Proposition 1 is going to shut down government. That didn't happen after Senate File 69 when those same people made those same arguments. Fire departments didn't close and the Laramie County Sheriff didn't have to lay off 1/2 of his staff. But they're at it again.

Their arguments are just as ridiculous as the Wyoming media riding a Vespa would look. You're being asked to believe that if Prop 1 passes it will be the end to social services.  Do you really think that there's a politician alive that would intentionally cause firemen to be fired? Not a chance; nor would any of them have to.

Most of what you hear is based on a false premise: that what we're spending money can't change.  Of course it can.

Last Sunday, Ogden Driskill met with Mary Throne of Prometheus Hyperscale and a Cheyenne lobbyist for lunch.  According to his comments on social media, after The Open Range Record reported on the meeting, the pair just happened to be 373 miles away from Cheyenne and invited Oggie to lunch.  Though we sent Oggie multiple requests for comment and gave him hours to respond, he chose not to.

Now, he has a string of explanations why that meeting happened--not a single one of which actually answer the questions we sent to him prior to publication. The long and the short of it is Oggie's probably just mad he got caught.