Columns
Editorials, opinion columns and political commentary on Wyoming government, the Legislature and public life.
- Pavey: It's Not About the Tea, It's the Taxes
Homeowners have been adjusting their budgets for years. They’ve paid more for groceries, utilities, insurance, and taxes. The government can go through its books with the same care it expects from the people paying those bills. - Lange: The Money Behind The Mailers May Surprise You
The dizzying array of pass-through PACs and charitable funds probably has you so confused that you are ready to stop reading. If you do, the operation has accomplished its objective. It is designed to scramble the circuits of even the most dogged investigators... - Iverson: Ertman's Preposterous Response
Ms. Ertman asks us to read the entire record. Agreed. Include his favorable votes. Include his explanation. Include the costs of his policies. And when reading his testimony, keep going to the conclusion. That is where Barlow told Congress he wanted Wyoming an... - Cole: The Ongoing Outrage of the United Nations
How can one explain the U.N. selection of Iran to a four-year term on the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women? Or selecting Cuba to serve on the U.N. Human Rights Council? This is simply outrageous! - Lange: End the Circular Firing Squad with Runoff Elections
No matter whom you supported, if you are led by your better angels, you should want to know if your candidate can garner a majority rather than slide into office with a mere plurality. The best way to end this biennial bellyaching is to have a runoff election. - Editorial: President Trump Can't Veto the First Amendment
Trump can dispute a story, produce contrary evidence, and demand a correction. If it’s defamation, test it in court. Throwing out three news outlets because he thinks they’re fake news is wrong. - Lange: I'm Not Buying the Hype About DOJ Observers
I think that the citizens of Wyoming are tired of being used as extras in B-movie agitprops. We’ve seen this flick playing in Colorado since globalist millionaires flipped it from a reliably red state to a Rocky Mountain bastion of blue. - "Wyoming Conservatism" Is a Knock-Off Stetson That'll Never Be the Real Thing
Wyoming may have its own landscape, its own industries, and its own political temperament. It does not have its own laws of logic, dictionary, or brand of conservatism. - Cole: Perhaps It’s Time to Think WAY Outside the Box
So, what can be done? Here comes a completely outside the box idea. Hold onto your hats! What if a statewide effort were to convince conservative Republicans to vote for the Democrat candidate for governor, Mr. Casner? Before you stop reading, just take a mome... - Wall: When Your Candidate Loses: The Mathematics of a Divided Vote
Primary elections encourage factions. General elections test whether those factions can become coalitions. Wyoming has just finished an intensely divided primary, and there has undoubtedly been a lot of frustration, celebration and anger in many different corn... - The Cowboy State Contradiction
Wyoming may still call itself the Cowboy State, but if its elected officials continue choosing dependency over independence, subsidies over free enterprise, and government management over personal responsibility, the title will become little more than the Repu... - Marquardt: Does "Grassroots" Actually Mean Grassroots?
Campaigns can buy television commercials, mailers, consultants, and digital advertising. What they cannot simply purchase is someone who believes enough to cook the food, set up the chairs, open a building, drive across the state, knock on a door, put up a sig... - The WYPBS Debate is Emblematic of What Happened to Our Country
Given the decline in the quality across many domains of public education, none of this, sadly, is unexpected. It is, however, lamentable. At the end of the evening, I was left wondering why the people of Wyoming need to spend almost $2 million annually on WY P... - Editorial: Wyoming Absurdly Blocks Political Parties From Being Political
At its core, this statute compels speech through silence. It compels a private political organization to remain silent during the very election where its voice is most relevant. In the end, political parties must tacitly agree that anyone who claims to be a Re... - Lange: Nameless Libertarians Refute Themselves
How can you have a viable political party that has no publicly named leadership? How can you speak as a party without an accountable spokesperson? How can I even know that the “Libertarians for Wyoming” page is run by actual Libertarians? - Lange: Green River Gets it Right on Surveillance Cameras
A wiser question is this: Why would you use schoolkids and handicapped citizens as cover for unconstitutional surveillance? There is no apparent reason why these two projects need to be bundled together. Take one vote to build wheelchair ramps and a second vot... - AFP at My Doorstep: The Messenger Didn't Fail, AFP Did
Perhaps the best question to ask is, why was this young man so misled by Americans for Prosperity and then sent to my doorstep? We can only speculate what all the true motivations are; on one we can be certain: it’s definitely not about the truth. - Lange: Children Deserve Stronger Marriage Laws
Such “no-fault divorce” laws first appeared in 1917 when Communist ideologues imposed them on Russian citizens to “break down the traditional structure of the ‘bourgeois’ family.” Soon, the America Bar Association campaigned to bring them to America. - Cole: Republicans’ Inability to Navigate around the Senate Filibuster Rule
Leaving aside the silly, vacuous Democrat objections to this bill, Majority Leader Thune attributes the Republicans’ failure to move this legislation to his inability to obtain a majority of GOP senators to support proceeding with various measures, and thus hi... - Mossburg: Trump Administration is Right to Enforce Hospital Price Transparency Rule
With medical debt –often incurred without a patient knowing the price of services -- one of the leading causes of bankruptcy in the United States, everyone should cheer a reform that allows patients to choose the most affordable service for their needs. - Can Wyoming Leftists and RINOs Lie Their Way Back into Dominance?
It's worth remembering that Democrats do not have a monopoly on such lurid episodes. There are also RINO Liz Cheney's destroyed J6 videos and other evidence proving her own criminality as she collaborated with the likes of Adam Schiff and Nancy Pelosi on the i... - The Republicans' Inability (or Refusal) to Navigate the Filibuster
That the Republican-led Senate can’t find some novel way to get around the filibuster such as the Democrats have now done twice just this century defies credulity! - Lange: Courage Made America’s Noble Ideals Reality
Cowardice, not intellectual misunderstanding, is our greatest enemy. Courage to stand and act when you are most unpopular is the only way that America’s founding is truly honored. - Lange: Assassination And Abortion Are Morally Equal
If we teach that abortion is no more consequential than pulling a tooth, we should not be surprised when a perfectly sane and well-educated teacher of our children takes a train to Washington to execute multiple elected officials. It’s just another day at the... - Charlie Cole: Over the Stop Just Will Not Stop
As events continue to unfold across America, patriots need to calmly and rationally view them through the prism of history before casting their votes in November. As philosopher George Santayana famously noted, “Those who fail to learn the lessons of history a... - The Managerial Revolution Stifles True Humanity
Understanding the essence of humanity is the first task in choosing sides. Can life be boiled down to adequate food, housing, and clothing? How much cultural cuisine are we willing to lose to put “a chicken in every pot”? How much should we suppress religious... - Mossburg: Legislators Should Make Transparency a Top Priority in 2027
As I discovered, many grant recipients did not use grant money as promised, didn’t complete projects on time, and were not audited. It would have been a lot easier and faster to find this information and hold grant recipients accountable if the information had... - Mike Yin Says Ignore the Scorecards. Wyoming Voters Should Ask Why
When Mike Yin tells Wyoming voters to back away from the scorecards, maybe the question is not whether the scorecards are too harsh. Maybe the better question is why so many people in power are suddenly nervous now that voters are reading them. - Yellowstone Effect: Has it Changed Discourse in Wyoming?
The "Yellowstone Effect" is not just a local phenomenon. It has become the go-to script for an establishment that is increasingly losing its grip on the political narrative. Nowhere is this more evident than in the recent behavior of Governor Mark Gordon. - The Wyoming Gentry Would Like the Peasants to Calm Down
That is what this really is: Not a defense of conservatism, not a lesson in civic virtue, and not a concern for the health of the republic. It is establishment panic with a panache for bending the rules. - Lange: Finnish Censorship is Already Here
At the time of its passage, virtually no one considered the potential for a conflict between “religion or belief” and “sexual orientation.” Far less did anyone imagine that such a conflict would result in criminalizing doctrine that had been included in the Bi... - Keaton: Why Democrats are Ogden Driskill's Biggest Fans
"Driskill, who represents Senate District 1, has often framed the growing conservative wing of the party as a collection of newcomers and "carpetbaggers" who have no right to change Wyoming's political landscape." - Not So Common Sense Republicans for Wyoming
The "Common Sense Republicans for Wyoming" are upset that the Freedom Caucus reduced Governor Gordon’s budget by 1.3% (a $143 million reduction on the governor’s $11.1 billion budget). How many Wyoming families have to adjust their household budget 1.3% every... - Jake Went Looking for Budget Panic. Pendergraft Gave Him a Reality Check.
Cowboy State Daily host Jake Nichols tried to press Representative Ken Pendergraft on “drastic cuts” - and wound up reinforcing the limited-government case instead. - Lange: Let's Talk about the Common Good and Woke Religion
Deplorables are danged if they do and danged if they don’t. Justice is whatever the anonymous writer says it is. If you doubt that, and examine it in the light of the Bible, you must be a Christian Nationalist. - Marquardt: Let's Try This Again Gail
When a public commentator regularly argues against policies aligned with those principles while still presenting themselves as a conservative voice, it is fair for readers to examine that tension. Symons suggests that ideological politics demands everyone belo... - The Continued Protection of the Use of Taxpayer Resources by Government Unions is Baffling
"The right question is, why do so many leaders think taxpayers should pay to facilitate government union or political business? Gov. Gordon argues the cost of deductions is negligible given that the infrastructure is already in place to process them, but that’... - Bextel: Reflections a Month After the Checks--Let's Investigate LSO
A photograph taken by Representative Karlee Provenza led to a full-on media assault and controversy. I’ve been reflecting on what happened in the aftermath. It seems the Democrats found plenty of “Republicans” to do their bidding. - The Legislature Should Override Governor's HB0178 Veto
This bill isn't some vindictive plot; it's scorching-hot accountability. Wyoming counts over 41,000 public employees (per Wyoming Retirement System data), and their families deserve a government that doesn't squander resources on union perks. - How Senate Leadership Subverted the Session
What unfolded during this legislative session was not the deliberative, transparent process the founders envisioned. Instead of open debate, there were closed-door caucuses. There was a lack of rigorous discussion on the Senate floor. There were delays, recess... - The Single Greatest Enemy We Face
Leftists have had decades to perfect their dark "art" of creating phony moral equivalencies. It is by this means that they assert validity for their evil ideas and actions, heralding them to be legitimate counterparts to what they decry as equally evil concept... - Hendrix: How to Fix Education
"When school boards or administrators choose to increase the size of administration in their districts instead of spending the money in the classroom or in hiring new teachers or support staff, they are robbing our children and are guilty of misuse of funds, a... - Who is Gail Symons, Really?
"You cannot accuse others of ideological rigidity while consistently advancing one side of every ideological fight. You cannot call reform “dangerous” while dismissing skepticism as “bogeyman politics." - Idaho Supreme Court victory for educational choice bodes well for Wyoming scholarship supporters
"The Wyoming Constitution, in particular in Article 1, Section 23, asks the state Legislature to go above and beyond funding an appropriate education and to “encourage means and agencies calculated to advance the sciences and the liberal arts.” - War of Attrition, Parental Rights in Wyoming: A Right That Cannot Be Enforced Is Not a Right - It’s a Slogan
Lawsuits are expensive. Injunctions are slow. Judges are reluctant. And school districts know it. They don’t need to win outright. They just need parents to give up. - Adamo: Mark Gordon And The Never Ending "Higher Education" Scam
"Is there an actual need for ranchers to assure proper Angus representation among Charolais and Heifers? It is no wonder that students across America are increasingly substandard on real academics, the kind good schools used to teach." - Mossburg: Public sector workers’ rights would be strengthened under new Wyoming bill
"While workers in Wyoming have the ability to opt out of union membership, requiring them to proactively send dues instead of having them automatically deducted from paychecks ensures that they want to belong without doubt." - Who Decides and When: Recreation Levies and the Lack of Taxpayer Choice
Should people be required to fund something indefinitely without ever being asked if they support it? HB0127 says they should at least be given that opportunity. - Pavey: History is Not a Slogan and It's Not a Protest Chant
"History is not a chant, and it is not a protest sign. And if we want citizens capable of reasoned debate rather than rehearsed outrage, we must start by teaching it that way." - Cole: Time for a Direct Factual Talk About Immigration
“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free." Notice, it didn’t say “bring me your poor so that we can give them welfare!” And that’s what the vast majority of immigrants to America primarily used to seek: liberty and opportuni... - Oh, What a Difference 2 Years Makes: The WY Media's Treatment of Their Team
"The Headlines from February 9, 2026 were very different than in 2024. There was no discussion of how much money had been spent on those 21 bills." - The Check on the House Floor
"In the end, the House of Representatives voted unanimously to create a committee to look into the events of Monday night after the session had concluded." - Horses with More Sense Than the Legislature
"Somewhere, a state trooper is quietly wondering whether field sobriety tests now apply to Quarter Horses." - Hendrix: This is How it Starts: A Blue State Refugee's Point of View
"How many elected officials have we heard say that the FC and other conservatives are too focused on “national issues” instead of Wyoming? This is misleading because what happens elsewhere in the nation is most likely happening here, too." - The Wyoming Open Records Act Needs Teeth
Current state statutes require the agency for whom the request is made to acknowledge receipt within 7 days, then the information must be produced within 30 days. If this is not adhered to, a complaint can be filed with the ombudsman, but Ms Potter has no enfo... - Pursuing Freedom: Are You Ready for the Legislature to Convene in February?
Self-governance only thrives when you, and many others, actively participate—whether you hold office or not. Take responsibility now to uphold freedom principles and government integrity. - Charlie Cole's Corner: It's Time for a Genuine Debate on the Climate
The truth is that there has been no genuine, scientific debate on this subject. We’ve been told ad infinitum that the science as to climate change is “settled” by a supposed scientific consensus. - Adamo: A Great Day for Justice and Freedom! So Leftists Have a Meltdown!
"On one spurious premise after another, leftists/Democrats are grandstanding with an intensity and duplicity that has become so predictable among their kind. From their perspective (were it to be believed), we're not only witnessing the end of Venezuelan "Utop... - Reject the "Both Sides are Violent" Narrative
The “both sides are violent” argument ignores the facts and deflects from the true nature of what is happening in our nation. - Charlie Cole's Corner: The Platform is Not A Religious Manifesto
Perhaps the Declaration of Independence launching the founding of our country was also a “religious manifesto” since it too refers to our rights emanating from a Creator.