The images circulating recently out of Cheyenne of an activist photographed handing checks to state legislators on the House floor are jarring. They stop you cold and invite cynicism. Understandably, they cast a shadow over the Wyoming Legislature at a time when public trust is already fragile. My initial reaction was all of those things, but then I pushed pause to self-reflect.
Opinion
Before rushing to judgment, we should pause long enough to acknowledge an important truth: It is not right, nor is it fair, to allow the actions of one individual, or even a small number of individuals, to define an entire legislative body. The overwhelming majority of Wyoming legislators had absolutely nothing to do with what occurred. Many serve honorably, thoughtfully, and with sincere intent to do right by the people of this state. To paint them all with the same brush may be easy, but it is also wrong.
As someone who has spent more than three decades in public education, most of those in Wyoming, I cannot help but recognize a painful irony in this moment. Public school educators know this feeling well. Over the past several years, the actions — real or alleged — of a very small number of educators have been repeatedly used as justification to question the integrity, motives and professionalism of all Wyoming public school teachers and leaders.
Over the last few years, including this one, we have watched bill after bill be introduced that seems less about improving education and more about reacting to isolated incidents in our public schools. Legislation that implies that the vast majority of public educators can’t be trusted. Targeted bills that suggest public schools are ideologically warped. I have testified in Cheyenne against bills that seemingly frame an entire profession as suspect because of the conduct or rhetoric of a few. That kind of judgment is not fair, and what is happening now to the entire Legislature is not fair either. When we respond to individual misconduct by indicting an entire group, we abandon reason for reaction and move from accountability to assumption.
Most public educators in Wyoming are not political activists. They are not trying to indoctrinate children or impose ulterior motives. They are professionals who show up every day to teach reading, math, science, music, agriculture, etc. They coach, advise and worry about students who come to school hungry, anxious or hurting. They stay late, spend their own money on their students and care deeply about this state and the communities they serve. Likewise, most legislators are not corrupt, careless or self-serving. They are citizens who ran for office knowing the pay was minimal, the criticism guaranteed and the workload heavy. They sit through long committee meetings, wrestle with complicated policy decisions and take votes that please some and anger others. They do this in the public eye, often with little thanks.
The danger we face, both in education and in government, is allowing moments like these to harden into narratives. Narratives that say, “This is who they all are.” Once those stories take hold, they are difficult to unwind and breed mistrust. They justify overreach and invite punishment instead of problem-solving. Accountability matters, and when someone violates ethical standards, that behavior should be addressed swiftly and transparently. Yet accountability must be precise. It’s where responsibility actually resides. Broad-brush condemnation may feel satisfying at the moment, but it ultimately erodes confidence in the institutions we depend on.
Wyoming is better when we resist the urge to reduce people to caricatures. It is better when we distinguish between individual failure and institutional judgment. Wisdom is evidenced when we don’t allow the mistakes of a few to define the many, no matter who happens to be in the crosshairs.
Yup, the GOP in all its glory. An excerpt from a letter to the editor published Feb 26th, signed by the Executive committee of Crook cnty Republican party. Quote” Speaker Neiman for his courage to share the full unvarnished story of his interactions regarding the donations in question. His willingness to “air it all out” rather than hide behind procedural delays is a testament to his integrity.”
You call waiting for 9 days to finally “air it all out” an act of integrity. Courage? Please….the man waited until the last possible moment to speak up. This is just one example of the GOPs’ reaction.
So, yes it’s easy to paint them all with a broad brush when leaders refuse to acknowledge the appearance of impropriety within their ranks.
This opinion piece by Supt Jones is about as ridiculous of one that’s ever hit the Wyofile presses. When all of Jones’es supposed good guys sit around and do nothing while the bad guys do their dirty deeds, it pretty much makes all of ’em the bad guy. Try again, Jones
While the incidents involving educators might be isolated incidents, this does not appear to be true of corruption in the legislature. Rather, what we saw on the floor seems likely to be the tip of an iceberg.
If you’re just going to standby, do or say nothing when others are playing their little scandalous games in the legislature, well, you’re in the least being an enabler and should also be held accountable. Mr. Jeff Jones’ letter really doesn’t make sense.
What burns so many is the fact that the WYO GOP leadership and the majority of the party members have circled the wagons to protect those that gave and accepted the checks instead of acknowledging that this looks terrible and implementing measurable corrective actions so that it doesn’t happen again. While the governor did something, the WYO GOP party leadership sat on their hands. WYO GOP has responded with a defensive reaction and lashed out at the DEMS who have brought this to everyone’s knowledge. Deny, blame the messengers, bring up unrelated issues, whine about how it was shared with the press instead of some internal process (that is not mandatory), while no one in the WYO GOP actually acknowledges and accepts that this is problem.
Put the shoe on the other foot. If this was DEM party reps who were observed accepting checks on the floor what would be the WYO GOP’s response? While only a few were involved, the defensive response by the entire WYO GOP party providing cover for them damns the entire group. Especially party leaders. And WYO GOP party reps saying nothing is actually saying a lot.
NO JOKE. If 1of the 2 dems in our legislature accepted a check on the house floor, WYGOP would be weeping, fainting, burning effigies, digging up the graves of the lawmaker’s ancestors…
Thank you for a great opinion piece Dr. Jones that I’m in complete agreement with.
Wyoming has always been made up of tough, independent minded people. Unfortunately, a great many of them have bought into the lies and false promises from the far right recently but that doesn’t necessarily make them bad people. Like Lisa Jamieson mentioned, which I also agree with, if Wyoming voters would take the time to do a little research before they automatically vote Republican and listen to what the candidates really say and believe, this state and country would be better for it. Voting a straight ticket doesn’t necessarily result in the best outcomes if you observe what’s going on in Wyoming and the United States currently. Democracy is based on give and take negotiations and it’s just not happening as much as it needs to right now.
As you mentioned, politics and teaching are sometimes thankless jobs so I’d like to say thanks to every honest politician and hard working teacher who gets up every morning and actively trys to make things a little better than they found it rather than blindly following a misguided ideology that basically says, “our way or the highway…we know better than you so shut up and take it”.
I find Jones’ argument here to be flawed when directed towards the Wyoming Freedom Caucus.
The WFC is in fact a single organism and should be treated as such . It might be comprised of some number of adherents ( ~ 40 ? ) residing within its host the House , and an unknown number of like-minded over in Senate , but they individually and collectively walk talk squawk and legislate as a single entity , with few exceptions. One body , fifty heads and mouths ; a seamless bloc of votes. As such, the actions of one , two, or three of them engross the body of the whole. It defines them. Looking at you John Bear, Rachel Rodriquez , Chip Neiman et al.
It’s important to keep that in context. The Freedom Caucus is a hegemony. Some use the analogy of an old school political machine . Jeff Jones’ argumentation is valid when applied elsewhere.
The comparison Mr. Jones makes between teachers and legislators, making the point that as soon as you apply a generality to an entire group of people, you are guaranteed to be wrong on many counts, has merit. In the case of the teachers, however, I am still waiting for examples in our state of the “indoctrination” or whatever it is the Freedom Caucus is using as an excuse to continually attack teachers and librarians with their legislative hammer. As far as I can tell, FC legislation comes from a national source, with no reality based reason to be enacted in our state. In the case of the legislators, I have noticed that any time someone points out the crimes of a red hatter, that is when the “They are all crooks” excuse is immediately shouted. This is a lazy excuse employed when a voter does not wish to pull their support from a known corrupt politician. Some voters have decided it is better to support a criminal than a liberal. What a dereliction of duty! We, the voters, are responsible to vote corrupt politicians out of office as soon as their lack of integrity becomes apparent. We, the voters, have only ourselves to blame when corruption is allowed to run rampant among our elected representatives. We, the voters, in a disturbing trend, seem to have decided that the color of the jersey matters more than character. There I go, applying a generality to an entire group of people. Thank you to every voter who makes the effort to learn about specific candidates, nuances of specific issues, and local realities before deciding who gets your vote.
Ok, let me use those so called “good cops” when they’re in the midst of a bad one anology. They never seem to do anything about it, don’t clean their own house and the bad cop gets to keep on keepin’ on. True, there are a few “bad cops” roaming the legislature but where are the supposed good guys, the white hats, when the sheet hits the fan? To date, you still have the checkgate scofflaws on the floor, seemingly not a care in the world. Another huge issue with the current House of Reps is piss poor leadership by someone who’s deeply ensconsed in the freeDumb Cuck cult. Not only has the Speaker side stepped any responsibility, the supposed white hat Reps stand by and don’t do a thing about it. Either they’re all corrupt, too, or chicken shits. Either way, they shouldn’t be there if they can’t do the right thing so ya, the entire body of the House should be held accountable