The Weston County Commissioners have failed to choose a candidate to fill the County Clerk vacancy created by Becky Hadlock’s departure. Per Wyoming statute, if a vacancy occurs in a county-wide or statewide elective office, the political party whose candidate won the office in last election provides the names of three candidates to the county commissioners or Governor from among which to choose a replacement.
While technically, according to Weston County GOP Chairwoman Kari Drost, the commissioners still have three days to choose a replacement, today they held a meeting in which all three candidates were interviewed. One candidate received 1 vote and the other two failed to receive a second and the motions for a vote on either candidate failed.
According to two witnesses at the Weston County meeting, at one point the commissioners asked Weston County Attorney Michael Stulken if they were required to select a replacement from the three candidates. He instructed them that according to statute they had to. The commissioners ignored his advice.
Drost pointed out that under statute, once the commissioners (or Governor in the case of a statewide vacancy) receive notice from the party that three candidates have been selected, they have five full days to fill the vacancy from the provided names. Today’s meeting was held on day number two, leaving three full days to comply with statute.
Drost will be a guest on Cowboy State Politics tomorrow, May 6 at 8:30 a.m. MST for an exclusive interview.
This is reminiscent of a similar situation in Sheridan County that culminated in District Judge Darci Phillips interviewing the three candidates provided by the Sheridan County Republican Party. Phillips eventually chose Holly Jennings to fill the seat on the commission. In the next election, Jennings received the highest number of votes among the other candidates.
When issuing her order, Judge Phillips made it clear that the Sheridan County Commissioners violated Wyoming Statute by not making a selection from the provided names.
Statewide, Wyoming’s method of filling vacancies has been challenged multiple times. Each attempt has been summarily and quickly dismissed by Wyoming judges. The last statewide challenge was a lawsuit filed in federal court against the Wyoming GOP. Among the failed plaintiffs are Gail Symons and Tom Lubnau.
This is a developing story and The Open Range Record will update it as details become available.