| | Cheyenne - The typical profile of a Republican candidate who wins a statewide office in Wyoming includes 1) having paid his or her dues with faithful party service and 2) having sought and won the approval of Republican Party leaders in Natrona County. | The apparent front-runner in the race for the GOP nomination for Congress has done neither. Mark Gordon is unconventional in other ways, too, which has inspired shrill criticism among rank-and-file Republicans and even some dark speculation that he is really a stalking horse, a so-called "RINO" (Republican In Name Only), for the Democrats, perhaps even for Democratic Gov. Dave Freudenthal.
It's unlikely Gordon's run is a nefarious partisan plot to undo the GOP. But certainly the Republican leadership can't be taking any pleasure in the sniping and name-calling and mud-slinging among party faithful over who is a "Real Republican," all aimed at undoing what could be an attractive candidacy for the party in November.
Also, the chairman of the Natrona County Republican Party, Bill Cubin, has to reassure potential candidates who fear they, too, will be the target of vitriolic attack.
Gordon has lots of money and lots of support from national Republicans, and the position statements his campaign is putting out on immigration, Iraq and other issues sound solidly conservative. But he clearly has a lot of explaining to do about his previous financial support for Democratic candidates and the National Democratic Committee. Meanwhile, the intrigue swirling around his candidacy is creating lots of dirt for the blogs and rumor mills.
| Gordon has never run for any office before the 2008 race for Congress, not even Weed and Pest District board member. He attended Middlebury College, a selective, small liberal arts college in the mountains of Vermont.
But Gordon also has impeccable credentials as a native Wyoming son. He is a well-respected Johnson County rancher and businessman in his hometown of Kaycee and in Sheridan, where he and his wife ran a catalog business for several years. He is 51, tall, a good-looking image of a classic rugged Wyoming cowboy (who drives the Toyota’s hybrid model Prius around town, instead of the iconic Ford F-250 pickup truck).
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Image Courtesy of www.gordon08.com
| He has served on the Wyoming Council for the Humanities and the Ucross Foundation Board of Trustees and has been chairman of the state Environmental Quality Council. A self-described conservationist, he has been active in the Sierra Club, although he says he distanced himself from that organization 15 years ago when it lost its focus on wise use of the land. His 33,000-acre ranch is a model of holistic range management.
But what really gives some very vocal Republicans heartburn is some of Gordon’s contributions over the past 12 years. They include:
$1,000 to the senatorial campaign of Democrat Kathy Karpan in 1996
$1,000 to the Sierra Club Political Committee in 1998
$2,000 to the presidential campaign of Democrat John Kerry in 2000
$1,000 to the congressional campaign of Democrat Ted Ladd in 2004
$2,500 to the Democratic National Committee in 2004
$1,000 to the congressional campaign of Gary Trauner in 2006 Note that Ladd and Trauner were trying to unseat incumbent Republican Rep. Barbara Cubin, who was losing popularity across the state. If Gordon wins the GOP nomination, he will be facing presumptive Democratic nominee Trauner in November.
By contrast, Gordon has given $8,000 to the Republican National Committee and Wyoming Republican Party over the past decade, three-fourths of it since December.
These figures inspire denunciation and speculation about a hidden agenda. "Venom" is how former U.S. Sen. Al Simpson, revered elder Republican statesman in Wyoming, describes the attacks. But Bill Cubin, son of Rep. Cubin, says the questions about Gordon’s previous giving to Democrats and the Democratic National Committee are legitimate.
"I talk to more active Republicans on a daily basis, and it has an impact, in their minds," Cubin says. Their reaction, he says, ranges from, "I can't believe he would think it would never come up," to, "Gosh, I wonder if he is a Freudenthal plant in this race."
Simpson has no misgivings. "I know him well," says Simpson. Gordon campaigned for him in his early U.S. Senate campaigns. (Simpson likes Cynthia Lummis, too, also a candidate for the nomination and he won't play favorites among primary contestants.) However, he describes the criticism of Gordon, especially from Natrona County, as "savage." Simpson says Gordon is the Republican he claims to be. "I'm interested in how Republicans want to quarrel as to what a 'Real Republican' is," Simpson said. He is sensitive about Republicans who make that distinction, having been attacked on that question himself because of his stand that abortion is a private issue and none of the government’s business.
Gordon's main primary opponent Lummis, who has paid her dues with the party and has the blessing of the Wyoming GOP to the extent she was put forward as one of three possible people to fill the unexpired term of the late U.S. Sen. Craig Thomas in 2007. She also has great Wyoming ranching credentials, being the manager of her family's Lummis Livestock in Laramie County.
Her political credentials are impressive, as well. Lummis, 57, was the youngest woman elected to the Wyoming House (age 24). She served in the House 1979-1982 and in the Wyoming Senate 1982-1994 and was state treasurer for two terms 1999-2007. She earned her law degree from the University of Wyoming while in the Senate . Republicans in the race are Michael Holland of Green River and Bill Winney of Bondurant. Winney has some name recognition from his first run for the congressional nomination two years ago and he figures indirectly in this intra-party brouhaha.
A flyer is circulating among Republicans - author unknown - that portrays Gordon as the winner of an Academy Award for "best supporting Republican role in the Democratic Party." It lists his contributions to Democrats and concludes, "Mark Gordon's many contributions to Democrats put him more at home with the liberal Hollywood crowds than at home on the range with Wyoming Republicans!" The flyer concludes, "Mark Gordon is not a friend of the Wyoming Republican Party."
The flyer was mailed using the return address of Winney's campaign office in Cheyenne but was postmarked in Casper. Winney and his campaign manager, David Featherly, disavow any knowledge of the flyer.
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Photograph By Amber Sawyer
| More speculation: A blogger on a forum hosted by WyomingNetwork.com thinks Gordon is running at the request of Democrat Trauner, himself, to sow the seeds of discord, to disrupt Republican organization and ruin Gordon's chances in November. Adam Ruff, campaign manager for Trauner, refused to comment on "the equivalent of barroom gossip." | But Bill Cubin posted an approving message on the Natrona County Republican Party Web site saying questions raised by the flyer are legitimate and that Gordon's actions speak louder than his mainline Republican position statements. "That is relevant information for Republicans, when they decide who they are going to vote for in August," Cubin’s message stated.
Cubin said determining the author of the leaflet is unimportant, although the anonymous attack is causing some consternation. "Some candidates and potential candidates have expressed concerns to me that there is a piece like this one waiting for them in the near or distant future," Cubin wrote.
And what does Gordon say?
He is proud of his affiliation with the Sierra Club and work in the 1980s and 1990s promoting stewardship and grazing policies that result in thriving range and stock.
The contributions to Democrats "come from incredible frustration I've had that we are polarized in Washington and are not getting anything done." He says the Republican Party has "lost its way," presiding over government growth and large deficits and abdicating the GOP principle of individual responsibility, "and then you have some of the corruption going on, and it's enough." He said he wanted his contributions to help re-establish a vigorous two-party system.
Cubin says he's heard the explanation that Gordon is upset at the Republican Party and politicians in Washington and he was "sending a message" with his political contributions. "But it doesn't make sense to give $2,500 to the Democratic National Committee and support John Kerry over George Bush, who was so out of step with Wyoming voter attitudes," Cubin said.
"He's an environmentalist, and that's good. A lot of us are, to some extent. But he's been involved with the Sierra Club," he said. "I'd like to hear more about it. People don't believe he's being forthcoming."
What about the Republican Leadership Council endorsement and money?
"I don't think voters pay attention to those kinds of endorsements," he said.
"I think he's got a lot more explaining to do."
Gordon sought and won the endorsement of the national Republican Leadership Council, which bills itself as a political organization that advocates for the historic Republican principles of liberty, individual principles of liberty, individual responsibility and personal freedom. It was founded by former New Jersey governor and Bush administration Environmental Protection Agency head Christine Todd Whitman, former Missouri Senator and U.N. Ambassador John Danforth and former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele. That endorsement came in April. A campaign news release quoted Whitman as telling Gordon, "The RLC seeks to support candidates like you who will uphold the core Republican values of fiscal conservatism and less government interference in individuals' lives."
Gordon says he talked to Diemer True, a long-time friend and leader of the pre-eminent Wyoming Republican True family of Natrona County. "It's been a very friendly set of conversations," Gordon said, but no blessings. Support by the True family usually is a huge advantage in Republican contests and comes with substantial financial support, according to FEC records of contributions by Diemer True.
FEC records show Gordon has a big lead in collecting and spending money. In the first quarter of 2008, Gordon's campaign received $412,417 (about $300,000 from his own pocket) and spent $326,030. He is airing a series of TV ads and has invested in newspaper advertisements and mailers across Wyoming.
Lummis reported about $170,000 in contributions during the quarter. The next highest report, $9,000, came from Cheyenne legislator Dan Zwonitzer, who has dropped out of the race. Winney collected $5,650 in the first quarter and combined that with about $18,000 left from his 2006 campaign.
(Meanwhile, Democratic congressional candidate Gary Trauner of Wilson raised more than $250,000 in the first quarter, raising his campaign account to about $550,500.)
Gordon's campaign announced the results of a survey it commissioned in April showing a 16-point lead over Lummis. According to the poll of 401 Wyoming Republicans considered likely to vote in the Aug. 19 primary, 39 percent were for Gordon, 23 percent for Lummis, 6 percent for Winney, 2 percent for Zwonitzer, and 30 percent were undecided. Dresner, Wickers and Associates conducted the random telephone survey of Republicans who said they would vote in August, according to campaign press secretary Renny MacKay. He said the respondents were presented with a slate of candidates who had announced so far and were asked whom they favored for the nomination. (Zwonitzer later withdrew from the race.) The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.1 percent, he said.
Expect some pointed questions from nervous and skeptical delegates at the state Republican convention in Rock Springs this weekend.
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