Thursday night is pivotal for U.S.
From the June 24 Cody Enterprise:
It’s gonna be a big show.
Thursday night’s presidential debate will likely be a pivotal moment for our nation. CNN will host the event between two men who have both been president.
To understand how unusual this is in U.S. history, remember that only one president, Grover Cleveland, ever served non-consecutive terms. He was first elected 10 years before the famous flight of the Wright brothers. The last president to even try to be reelected after losing an election was Theodore Roosevelt in 1912.
Recall also that the last campaign was conducted in a climate of Covid fear. Masks were everywhere, businesses were shut down, and CNN ran a continuous death-toll scroll on the right side of the screen for many months. We did not have a normal election cycle in that climate.
Now we can examine our candidates much more closely, without pandemic concerns.
While certain political entities always play up the significance of the coming election as “historic” or “pivotal” in order to motivate their base, this election seems to us to truly be a big one. Never in our lives have the candidates openly had such divergent goals.
A divided America has different visions of our future. We have calls to “defund the police” on one side and to build a wall along our southern border on the other. Each of the last two elections has been marred by controversy and questions of fairness.
We need some normalcy.
Enter this debate. Now President Biden said in May that he would not cooperate with the Commission on Presidential Debates, which had sponsored general-election debates since 1987, said Michael Grynbaum of the New York Times. So instead of the commission, CNN will run the show.
Expected to be widely watched, it should settle some issues. American voters will get to see the candidates onstage, unfiltered, facing each other. The Easter Bunny will not be present to come between a president and the press. Mean statements made cannot be deleted in the minds of voters who have watched the live debate. Voters can exercise their judgment on the age and fitness of the candidates, one 78 and the other 81, and both the oldest presumptive nominees in the history of their respective parties. Spokesmen or women will have a hard time walking back statements plainly made live before millions of viewers.
This is a good thing.
Here’s predicting a record viewership, as undecided voters tune in to learn and partisans tune in hoping to verify what they believe.
Thomas Jefferson, who penned a large part of our Constitution, wrote, “Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government.” Let’s pop some popcorn, grab a cold beverage and watch the show. We have a government to choose.
The debate will air at 7 p.m. Mountain Daylight Time on CNN and CNN.com and be simulcast on ABC and ABC News Live.
— Chris Bacon, Editor
What's up Chuck?
From the June 20 Jackson Hole News&Guide:
When Wyoming’s secretary of state instills an unfounded mistrust of our highly secure elections, neighbors are right to look at one another and scratch their heads. Misinformation erodes our democratic traditions that seek to maximize participation in local elections.
County clerks across Wyoming’s 23 counties are elected by constituents to oversee secure and accurate elections, among other tasks. They carefully follow state laws, passed into law by the Legislature and signed by the governor.
Healthy democracy requires a high degree of good faith in fellow citizens, and much of that structure has been eroded in recent years by extremist conspiracy theories. The number of cases in recent Wyoming history of unregistered or disqualified voters casting ballots is miniscule, yet the secretary of state continues his scare-tactic approach to making voting harder for qualified citizens. His campaign for election relied heavily on a message that “the election was stolen” and included appearances at events where the now-debunked “2,000 Mules” film was screened for fellow lovers of fear mongering.
Chuck Gray has never actually run an election on the ground, registering voters, managing elections staff and volunteer judges, and coordinating and certifying one of the most important processes in our democracy. Which may be why he is confused about how things should actually work on the local level, during his attempts to unilaterally change election rules, such as trying to get rid of ballot drop boxes across the state.
Over 700 voters used the drop box in Teton County in 2022, about 6% of the valley’s voting population. County clerks have successfully used secure, locked boxes to collect ballots as an alternative to mailing through the United States Postal Service ahead of election day. We’d argue that this box, under 24-hour surveillance, may be even more secure than the iconic blue USPS boxes on street corners across the county that have long served absentee voters. Both methods of submitting a ballot play a key role in allowing every eligible resident to vote.
Eligible Wyoming voters should be able to cast ballots in a secure way that is convenient for them. If Teton County residents working in Yellowstone wish to vote, the nearest polling location can be over two hours away in Jackson. Maybe their day off falls on a weekend when they head to town for errands. So why shouldn’t they be allowed to use a secure ballot drop box? Because the mail is more secure? Let’s get real and use some common sense.
This newspaper and its staff of journalists have a clear mission: to seek and report the truth. Our team does so with objectivity and multiple sources whenever possible. It’s a shame that some elected leaders like Chuck feel compelled to attack our work in reporting on his questionable solutions in search of problems, calling us partisan, when we are not. Our job is to hold those in power accountable for their actions.
So if Chuck wants to understand how Wyoming works, we’d encourage him to trust the elected county clerks and their staffs to do what’s secure and legal. If an actual problem exists, the Legislature is solely responsible in clarifying what “deliver to the clerk” means. Those who believe mailing ballots or dropping them into a locked box isn’t safe can always hand them to an election official in person during business hours or vote in person.
Welcome to Mustang Days 2024
From the June 20 Lovell Chronicle:
Mustang Days is upon us, and what a fun celebration it is every year.
It all begins Friday night with the Drag Main event, which is a fun way to kick off the celebration. Of course, the idea is to parade classic, antique and show cars up and down Main, but really, just about anything is welcome. The event was first held in 2020 as a way to get people outside during the COVID-19 pandemic, and it caught fire.
Many families just head down to Main Street, bring some chairs and watch the cars go by. There’s lots of honking, waving and revving.
The triathlon on Saturday is just a youth triathlon this year, with a competitive adult triathlon returning to Big Horn Canyon on July 6, which is great to see. When Ben Zeller and family staged the Big Horn Canyon Triathlon a few years ago, it was one of the great events of the year in our neck of the woods. Nice to see it return.
One thing to take note of is the time change for the Mustang Follies. Staged for decades at 8 p.m., the show moves to 7:30 this year, with the Dollies of the Follies and the Mustang Band performing on Main Street at 6:30. The times were changed just to get families home a little sooner, though under Tianne Samson the Follies have clicked along in recent years. Tianne promises a really entertaining show this year based on a Hunger Games theme.
There are three shooting events at the Lovell Rod and Gun Club trap range this year, a youth shoot Saturday at 1, a traditional trap shoot Sunday at noon and a top gun shoot Monday at 5 p.m.
Most everything else is pretty much standard. It’s always amazing how much this community packs into one week. Hats off to all of the volunteers who make it happen, starting with Darece Grant, who stepped up as the Mustang Days chairman a few years ago and has done an amazing job organizing everything. This may well be Darece’s last year, with plans for a mission underway, but here’s hoping some great people step forward for next year. We know there are a couple of possibilities in the works.
Have a fun-filled and enjoyable Mustang Days, everyone. It’s a week when our community puts its best foot forward.
— David Peck
A hiding habit ...
From the June 20 Newcastle News Letter Journal:
While there are several reasons that boards across Wyoming may utilize executive sessions, the News Letter Journal has always maintained that closed meetings should be used sparingly. We also believe that excessive use of executive sessions by a board should raise concern for members of the public because it suggests that things probably aren’t going well for that entity.
The list of exceptions to Wyoming’s open meetings that allow for executive sessions can be found in Wyoming Statute 16-4-405. While there are several reasons that a board may use to shut the public out of a public meeting, it is important to note that those exceptions don’t require the board to go into executive session — they allow the board to go into executive session. In other words, the use of an executive session is entirely at the discretion of the board.
We also believe that in most instances, the board could choose to have these discussions publicly, but they choose to avoid transparency so they can discuss these issues privately.
We often preach that local governments should go above and beyond what the law requires when it comes to public notice and transparency — but far too often they choose to err on the side of secrecy and privacy.
This is especially true when it comes to personnel issues. Many of our local governments cite discussions about “personnel” as the reason for holding an executive session, but Wyoming law does not actually allow boards to close their meeting off to the public for all personnel issues — only specific instances that involve complaints against an employee or negotiations over salary.
There are also ways to discuss personnel and contract issues without allowing the discussion to become “personal,” and utilizing those techniques can eliminate any legal need for an executive session. Boards can — and should — discuss positions and programs openly in public meetings and leave names out of those discussions. Doing so focuses those discussions on the public’s interest instead of the personalities involved, and is likely to produce a more productive conversation and appropriate result.
On those rare occasions when an executive session is actually warranted, the board should also do everything in their power to keep those sessions as short as possible, and only discuss the specific information that is suitable for executive session before returning to open session to hold the rest of the conversation. There is nothing worse than watching a board go into executive session and then come out and hold a vote without any discussion or indication of what information was used to make the decision.
If an executive session is absolutely necessary, the board should also do everything in its power to schedule the executive session at a time that is most convenient for the public. That generally means that executive should be held at the end of meetings instead of the beginning, so the public is allowed to witness as much of the meeting as possible before being forced to wait until a board returns from a closed session.
Lengthy executive sessions that are held at the beginning of meetings discourage the public from attending and make it more difficult for the newspaper to cover the meeting.
We encourage every board in Weston County to carefully reconsider the use of executive sessions moving forward, and only use them when appropriate. When they are scheduled, it should always be done with the public in mind.
Powell breakfast lovers face uncertain future
From the June 18 Powell Tribune:
While talking with longtime Marquis Awards owners John and Terry Collins about the summer closing — and hopeful sale — of their Bent Street business that began in their home in 1983, they mentioned all of the changes in businesses downtown during that period.
However, you don’t have to have been here long to see a lot of change that’s either happened or is in the wings downtown. I know the groups of friends who like their morning breakfast get-togethers are concerned, because Pepe’s announced it’s closing at the end of this month. The Mexican restaurant has, for more than 20 years, served both Mexican and American breakfast staples, as well as lunch options.
And, oh by the way, Cafe 3 Zero 7, current occupant of a classic cafe location on Second Street, is for sale. And Hickory Street Bistro, known for breakfasts as well as its own spin on lunch and dinners, just shut its doors aside from catering, according to a recent social media post.
So, depending on what happens with some of these for-sale businesses, breakfast lovers may need to squeeze into a few less places going forward — there’s still Skyline Cafe and Uncommon Grounds, and the owners of Cafe 3 Zero 7 are doing what they can to sell the business rather than close it — or bide their time and snatch some fresh doughnuts from Yoders donuts the couple times a week the trailer is parked locally.
I’m sure there are entrepreneurs just waiting to take their shot at a new breakfast place in town, and I hope those who like their long morning breakfasts with friends always have some good places to choose from.
Lucky for me, my feathered breakfast makers remain on the job.
— Zac Taylor
WTE offers thumbs up and down 6-22-24
From the June 22 Wyoming Tribune Eagle:
Absentee ballot drop boxes are secure, should remain available
UP to Laramie County Clerk Debra Lee for deciding to continue using the absentee ballot drop box on the east side of the Laramie County Governmental Complex during this year’s election season. And DOWN to Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray, who recently sent a letter to all 23 county clerks, asserting that drop boxes are both not secure and violate state statute.
Thankfully, the County Clerks Association of Wyoming stood strong against Mr. Gray’s political posturing. No, state statute doesn’t clearly say “absentee ballot drop boxes are allowed,” but W.S. 22-9-113 does say that completed absentee ballots shall be “mailed or delivered to the clerk.” We would argue that dropping the ballot into a locked box, which can only be opened by the clerk or their staff and is under 24/7 video surveillance, is the same as handing it directly to someone in the clerk’s office or sending it through the mail. As long as it ends up in the clerk’s hands, it’s been “delivered to the clerk.”
As Ms. Lee rightly pointed out in an interview with the Wyoming Tribune Eagle, eliminating drop boxes would restrict some voters’ access, especially since the absentee voting period has been cut from 45 days to 28. Since mail delivery is often delayed, someone who fails to receive an absentee ballot in a timely manner, or who waits until close to Election Day to complete it, may need to utilize the drop box — especially if they have a job that prevents them from going to the election office during business hours.
Mr. Gray’s letter undeservedly casts doubt on the integrity and security of the election process in Wyoming, and unnecessarily limits the options of legitimate voters. Some people are discouraged enough about the importance of every voter’s participation in our constitutional republic; the state’s chief election officer shouldn’t be making unjustified cynicism worse.
Thankfully, we have local officials like Ms. Lee and the other 22 county clerks in the state who are willing to see past election-year politics and serve the best interest of local residents.
Lawmakers’ call for special session on coal leases is more posturing
DOWN to Rep. Mark Jennings, R-Sheridan, and the 25 other state lawmakers who asked Gov. Mark Gordon to call a special session to address the federal government’s plans to end new coal leases in the Powder River Basin. But UP to Gov. Gordon for rejecting the request, reasoning that he already has resources and in-house expertise to defend Wyoming’s interests in court.
As we said a few months ago when some lawmakers wanted to get back together to try to undo the governor’s veto of a popular property tax relief measure, the cost of such a session far outweighs the benefits. Legislative Service Office staff estimate special sessions cost the state $35,000 to $50,000 a day, not to mention the interruption of work schedules for many citizen legislators who have busy jobs. And, in an election year, when all 62 members of the House of Representatives and roughly half of the state senators are up for reelection, a special session for anything less than a true emergency makes even less sense.
That didn’t stop Rep. Jennings and 21 of his House colleagues, along with four senators, from writing to Gov. Gordon, asking him to call a special session to “appropriate funds and enlist a constitutionally-focused, proven legal team to fight Biden’s war on Wyoming the right way.” (Emphasis theirs)
These very conservative lawmakers — nearly all of whom are part of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus — are still upset that the governor vetoed Senate File 13 earlier this year. It would have allocated $75 million for the Legislature or any Board of County Commissioners to hire lawyers to sue the federal government in order to “protect the rights, powers and interests ...” of the state related to federal land use plans.
As Gov. Gordon said in his veto letter, it’s his office and the state’s attorney general that are responsible for challenging the feds in court, as necessary, not the legislative branch or local county officials. This is about separation of powers. Wyoming has a $1.2 million coal litigation fund already, which the governor says is sufficient to handle the nearly inevitable lawsuit to come.
Is there a glimmer of hope that our elected officials might get over their petty sniping at each other through what seems to be a mutually desired outcome? Rep. Jennings later told WyoFile in an email that “We were hoping to send the Governor a letter of support ...” in relation to fighting off the Biden administration’s perceived overreach. However, the letter’s pot-shot at the caliber of the Wyoming Attorney General’s office staff wasn’t the way to show “support.”
The irony is that we and many others have been calling on lawmakers to diversify the state’s income base so it doesn’t come to a crisis point as mineral extraction is targeted politically or otherwise takes a downturn. Rep. Jennings and his colleagues, as well as our governor, should rise above the political posturing and work together in areas of agreement.
Lack of mental health providers in K-12 schools is concerning
DOWN to Wyoming lawmakers for failing to direct funding for K-12 school districts to hire and retain mental health staff.
During a recent meeting of the Legislature’s Joint Education Committee, lawmakers heard that Laramie County School District 1 saw the biggest decline in hired mental health staff positions last year, and the trend is widespread in school districts across the state.
At a time when the mental well-being of our young people is among our top concerns, lawmakers should be doing all they can to ensure they get the help they need.
However, Sen. Charlie Scott, R-Casper, may be right when he asks if school districts are playing games by shifting some paid school nurses from the K-12 funding model to special education funds.
This certainly could be a conscious effort to draw attention to their assertion that lawmakers aren’t providing enough money to cover the true costs of education (LCSD1 is one of the parties suing the state in a case currently in trial in district court).
And we recognize that smart school finance officers have every motivation to get 100% reimbursem*nt from the state for special ed funds, then use the K-12 funding model money in another way.
Either way, the Legislative Service Office report shows that districts are choosing not to hire more mental health service providers at a time when they’re desperately needed.
Especially in rural areas, where certified mental health professionals likely are nowhere nearby, it’s incumbent on the schools to provide this resource, and they can only do it with the Legislature’s help.
If you agree, contact your local state lawmakers and school board members and tell them to make mental health services for K-12 schools a priority.
Their contact information can be found online at wyoleg.gov/Legislators and laramie1.org/en-US.
Kudos to state officials for extending Capitol hours for public viewing
UP to state officials for extending summer hours at the Wyoming State Capitol so more people can tour the “People’s House.”
After spending more than $300 million to renovate the center of state government, the building was only open for about seven months before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and everything shut down. We’re glad to see it reopen from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturdays, and for it to be open from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. weekdays until Aug. 30.
No doubt, these extended hours will mean some additional costs, whether for state trooper and state employee staff time, utilities or other things. However, since the facility uses volunteer docents to greet visitors and provide information about the self-guided tours, we expect that to be relatively minimal.
If you haven’t seen it in person, there’s no better time than the present to head to the Capitol and look around. After all, some of the money spent on the project was yours, and the results speak for themselves.
David Adler: D-Day reminder: Constitutional principles went to war abroad to preserve them at home
The 80th anniversary of D-Day, justly commemorated as history’s greatest military invasion, reminds us of the fact that World War II was waged to defeat the forces of authoritarianism abroad so our constitutional democracy and all that comes with it—freedom, justice and the rule of law—could be preserved at home.
When American soldiers stormed the beaches at Normandy on June 6, 1944, they fought for the cherished principles embodied in the Constitution and those trumpeted by the Bill of Rights: limited governmental powers confined by the Constitution, freedom of speech, press and religion, equal protection of the law, due process of law and popular sovereignty. If allied forces had not prevailed, those constitutional principles and democratic values might have been lost forever.
War abroad to preserve democracy at home cannot by itself succeed if America’s governmental institutions, including the Supreme Court, fail to defend fundamental constitutional principles. Fully informed and influenced by the existential threats that authoritarianism posed to our constitutional democracy in World War II, the Court, in West Virginia Bd. of Education v. Barnette, in what represented Justice Robert H. Jackson’s most memorable and eloquent opinion, delivered on June 14, 1943—Flag Day—a 6-3 decision that enjoys its lofty status in the pantheon of landmark cases extolling the virtues of freedom of speech, religion and constitutionally limited government.
The State of West Virginia had enacted a law that required teachers and students to salute the flag and recite the Pledge of Allegiance each day. The Supreme Court, just three years before, in Minersville v. Gobitis (1940), had upheld in an 8-1 decision, a similar Pennsylvania statute, challenged by Jehovah’s Witnesses, who contended that the mandate violated their First Amendment right of freedom of religion because it coerced them to engage in idolatry. The Court upheld the statute on grounds that it promoted the goals of citizenship and patriotism and served the interests of national unity and security.
Legal scholars, as well as organizations as patriotic as the American Legion, had roundly criticized the compulsory statute, believing the question of saluting the flag should be voluntary. Now, the Barnette Court, in full view of the fact that Germans, in the iron grip of Hitler’s totalitarianism, were required by law to salute the Fuhrer, recoiled at the prospect of imposing on Americans a requirement that they, too, assume a mandated physical position to salute the flag. The Court, in a remarkable 6-3 ruling, overturned Gobitis and upheld a challenge to the law brought by Jehovah’s Witnesses on the grounds that it violated their First Amendment rights of free speech and religion. Three Justices—William O. Douglas, Hugo Black and Frank Murphy—who had voted with the Gobitis majority, reversed course in Barnette and recanted their position in Gobitis.
Justice Jackson wrote for the Court, “If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein.” West Virginia was promoting patriotism, but its means could not justify its use of coercive power.
“The Bill of Rights,” Justice Jackson said, “denies those in power any legal opportunity to coerce” allegiance. “Authority here is to be controlled by public opinion, not public opinion controlled by authority.” Jackson’s stark contrast of the essential difference between totalitarianism, as manifested in Hitler’s Germany, a closed society without freedom, and the constitutional democracy of the United States, founded on the indispensable conditions of a free and open society, brought into sharp focus what allied forces were fighting for in World War II.
In America, as in all republics grounded on the consent of the people, national unity must be obtained through persuasion and example, not by coercion. Justice Jackson, drawing on history, and the current practice in Germany, perceived the paths and results of state coercion of beliefs, thoughts, religion and speech. “Those who begin coercive elimination of dissent soon find themselves exterminating dissenters. Compulsory unification of opinion achieves only the unanimity of the graveyard.”
Justice Jackson’s opinion was applauded by the legal fraternity and the nation. The eloquence of his judicial defense of individual liberty and democracy has not been matched since.
David Adler, Ph.D., is a noted author who lectures nationally and internationally on the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and Presidential power. Adler’s column is supported in part through a grant from Wyoming Humanities funded by the “Why it Matters: Civic and Electoral Participation” initiative, administered by the Federation of State Humanities Councils and funded by Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Adler can be reached at david.adler@alturasinstitute.com.
