Frustration over ugly and potentially illegal politicking boiled over into a legislative meeting Wednesday, with lawmakers who’ve been on the receiving end of attacks pressing for answers while colleagues with links to the group that sent the mailers looked on.
The debate, which took place near the end of a Joint Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivision Committee meeting, later drew in Secretary of State Chuck Gray, who was pressed about whether his office, which oversees elections, would investigate the situation.
“I’ve had so many constituents come to me this year on the question of elections,” Sen. Bill Landen (R-Casper) said at the meeting in Evanston.
Landen is not up for reelection this year, but said that hasn’t stopped voters from asking him what lawmakers are “going to do about misleading and outright lies in mailers.”
“I wonder if you share the concern about what’s going on in our Wyoming politics now?” Landen asked Gray. “It just feels like we’re sliding down the slope. And when you have mailers like that go out, I’ve seen them in my district … and I just think, ‘Wow, we’re getting to a pretty dangerous level here.’”
Dirty campaigning is far from new to Wyoming, but voters, candidates and longtime politicos say it’s reached a new level this election cycle, particularly when it comes to political action committees and out-of-state interest groups.
One series of PAC mailers has already sparked a defamation suit. Another PAC attracted a cease-and-desist letter after it used the photograph of a Virginia man in mailers to portray a Wyoming man running for office.
As secretary of state, Gray oversees the administration of statewide elections, including legislative races.
“Political life has always, there’s always been a vibrant back and forth,” Gray said in his response to Landen, adding that he’s recently been reading about the American Civil War and early American history.
“And the idea the media tries to create that this is new, I just highly disagree with it,” Gray said.
Whether the state of affairs is unusual was one question, but another drove the committee’s discussion. Lawmakers wrestled with what, if anything, is to be done by the Legislature to address voters’ concerns about deceptive mailers and by who? By the Secretary of State? Or by candidates themselves?
Meeting
The discussion began during the public comment portion of the meeting.
“Most of you have heard in the news lately that there have been mailers circling around our state that have inaccurate claims about legislators making votes on things that we never voted on,” Rep. J.T. Larson (R-Rock Springs) told the committee.
Larson is a plaintiff in a defamation suit recently filed against the political action committee affiliated with the hard-line Wyoming Freedom Caucus. While it’s normal for politicians to complain about their opponents’ attacks, it’s rare for frustrations to culminate in defamation suits, which are difficult to prove against public figures.
The PAC has targeted non-Freedom Caucus members with mailers that accuse them of voting to remove former President Donald Trump from the ballot. The Wyoming Legislature has never in its history voted on whether to keep or remove Trump from any ballot.
“I just think that we’re going to be seeing a lot more of this if we don’t address it as a state,” Larson, who testified remotely in his capacity as a candidate, told lawmakers.
His remarks came at the end of the committee’s two-day meeting. Lawmakers had mostly focused on telecommunications, electricity, housing and business fraud.
But Larson’s comments compelled the committee to address an issue where its own members have found themselves on opposing sides.
Rep. Cody Wylie (R-Rock Springs), Larson’s co-plaintiff, sat on one end of the table, while the two members of the Freedom Caucus present at the meeting — Reps. Jeremy Haroldson (R-Wheatland) and Pepper Ottman (R-Riverton) — sat at the other.
“I definitely am aware of what happened, and I find it appalling,” Chairman Sen. Cale Case (R-Lander) said in response to Larson’s comments.
“The ability of this committee to do anything about that in a timely manner for this election is absolutely zero,” Case said in reference to the primary election being about three weeks away. “But it is important to register your concerns and the concerns of people all around Wyoming.”
Case also brought up freedom of speech, calling it “a very, very powerful, constitutional right.”
In the meantime, Case said, how the courts handle the case will inform how lawmakers address the issue in the future.
Rep. Mike Yin (D-Jackson) raised a related concern about the Crook County Republican Party reportedly donating $25,000, according to Cowboy State Daily, to the Wyoming Freedom Caucus’ PAC.
“I do have a concern on whether one of those groups is breaking the law and whether that’s being investigated in any way,” Yin said, before encouraging Joe Rubino, general counsel for the secretary of state, to approach the microphone to answer.
“Political party funds” are prohibited from being “expended directly or indirectly in the aid of the nomination of any one person as against another person of the same political party running in the primary election,” according to state law.
“We take all election complaints very seriously,” Rubino told the committee. “All allegations of any alleged violation of the election code very seriously, and we’ll review those when we receive them.”
Yin asked several questions about the secretary of state’s recent press release announcing an investigation into ActBlue, a left-leaning political action committee and fundraising platform, and whether voters could expect a similar investigation into the Crook County GOP’s donations.
Gray said his office would wait for the county party’s campaign finance report, and in the meantime, “we invite everybody to file complaints if there is an issue in terms of [the election code].”
People have filed such complaints in the recent past. After several were lodged last fall, Gray determined anonymous mailers attacking Reps. Barry Crago (R-Buffalo) and Steve Harshman (R-Casper) did not violate election laws, mostly on account of their timing.
Back and forth
Gray also challenged the idea that the ballot mailers on the supposed Trump vote were spreading false information.
“That is in the eye of the beholder,” Gray said. “I’ve talked to both sides of this issue. There are many people that believe that those mailers are an accurate reflection in their opinions. And there’s a venue for this to be debated. And I think many people may very well be called to the witness stand and give their opinions on every one of these mailers.”
Wylie then asked Gray a direct question.
“Did you ever see anything hit your desk where I voted to remove President Trump from the ballot?” Wylie asked.
Gray did not answer yes or no, but pointed to the budget footnote the PAC and Freedom Caucus leadership have credited as the equivalent of such a vote.
“That’s the fact pattern on what happened,” Gray said.
The two Freedom Caucus members on the committee — Haroldson and Ottman — stayed mum during the discussion aside from Haroldson suggesting, without immediate success, that lawmakers move on from the conversation.
Roughly fifty minutes into the discussion, lawmakers did just that.
“This has been a lot of fun. I don’t see that there’s a lot of resolution,” Case said.
“I will tell you, that if Mr. Wiley were running against me in my district, in a primary, and that mailer came out making that assertion, I would stand up and denounce that mailer, that that is wrong,” Case said. “What I’m trying to say is that we all share an obligation to police this individually and to hold ourselves to high standards.”
The primary is Aug. 20. Early voting is currently underway.
To learn more about Wyoming candidates for federal and legislative races check out WyoFile’s 2024 Election Guide.
The Wyoming Legislature should pass a series of laws that forbid out of state, and national based, politican campaign funds, and PACs, from participating in and contributing to Wyoming elections and politics. The Wyoming Secretary of State definitely isn’t interested in doing anything about these issues, as he directly benefits from this “dark money” and influence. Many in the Wyoming Legislature are also not interested because they benefit from the same. We should also forbid lobbying and “contributions” in the Wyoming Legislature by out of state corporations or organizations. This out-of-state political money and influence is not only unwanted and inappropriate, it is just flat out wrong. True political corruption at it’s core. This is an existential threat to our state and future. Wyomingites need to stand up and fight this out-of-state “takeover” of our political institutions.
Fun how the Repubs are quarreling over this now. They have done this to the Democrats for years and have done nothing to stop it. What goes around comes around.
This reels of exactly what he tried to tell the voter before the 2022 Election. He, to get bites, brought 2000 miles and swore to its truthfulness. It has been totally discredited, removed from circulation and those who made it have confirmed it was a LIE. So now hear comes again to support more lies. The man needs removed from office. His campaign and his time in office is all lies.
I am so disgusted that he finds this to be okay, common practice. This is Wyoming and I assure you it is not the cowboy way or the way of the people of Wyoming generally. Real debate and discussion of actual existing concerns are what elections are for. They are not to support the manipulative devious lying tactics of the orange orangutan.
As the strange 70’s song goes….”Chuckie’s in Love” ….. with the Freedom Caucus!
Very Simple solution. Do all of us a favor and BAN ALL POLITICAL MAILERS. If politicians can’t get out and meet the people that votes for them they don’t need to run
Gray is one more GOP chicken. Where are Wyoming’s political ethics headed? Our party is disgraced.
Can’t wait til August 21, the day after the primaries. Chuck Gray will be calling election fraud on any candidate that wins over “his” further right candidate. He just won’t be able to resist.
This is definitely not the Cowboy Way. Yet another reason to sincerely pray that Charles receives adequate adult supervision on August 20th and again on November5th.
As a registered Republican in Natrona County, I will absolutely vote (primary Aug. 20) for the candidates maligned by the freedom caucus. These mailers are “fake” and dancing around “the eye of the beholder” is classic Chuck Grey. Sad situation indeed.
I strongly disagree with Mr. Gray. Yes, dirty politics is nothing new. But that fact should not be used to excuse bad behavior. We should strive to act better rather than worse than previous generations.
Is Chuck Gray seriously citing the lead up to the *Civil War* for why we should think this stuff is acceptable?
Well, just prior to the Civil War breaking out, the two dominant political parties were the Whigs and the Know Nothings. I presume Chuck Gray would align with the latter…
Just Imagine: Wyo is reaping what it has sown.
Of course Chuck Gray defends this. Why would he want to do anything to stop this? He is part of the Freedom Caucus’ right-wing lying machine.
Vote Chuck Gray and the Freedumb caucus out of office and these problems will go away. And then there’s the three “reps”.
There are facts and there are opinions. Stating someone specifically voted on an item when no such vote was held is a lie, not a fact or opinion. Saying that something is the “equivalent” of a vote is an opinion. Of course Gray – the success story of the Freedom caucus isn’t going to do anything. The man is a farce who should have never been elected in the first place. Attack mailers for one of our local (non-freedom caucus) reps parroted word for word a local far right Facebook groups attack on him several months ago. All lies and misrepresentations. So now these candidates have to spend time trying to defend themselves against lies (which we know the far right doesn’t care about – if they hear it from their echo chamber, it must be true) while at the same time trying to dismantling the same positive of lies and misrepresentations from the mailers sent out on their opponents without the help of out of state PAC’s. I’m all for civil debate, but somehow comparing this to Civil War times – that didn’t have the internet, X, Facebook and probably didn’t send out mass mailings funded by out of state PAC’s, is ridiculous. We didn’t have anonymous out of state PAC’s funding mass mailings not to mention Facebook, X etc to reach all corners of the state. The state of GOP politics in WY just keeps getting worse.