Governor talks election bill flood, eroding civility and tyranny at Lander town hall

Shortly after Mark Gordon became Wyoming’s governor, he bought a house on a handshake deal. 

“There was no contract or anything,” Gordon told a crowd gathered in a Lander hotel Thursday afternoon. “[We] just came to an agreement. Everything he said he was going to do, he did. Everything I said I was going to do, I did. 

“That’s the state I grew up in.”

But that implicit trust and sense of civility, Gordon said, has eroded in recent years, at least in government. Election attack ads, public name-calling and refusals to participate in public debates are all examples of shifting norms of Wyoming politics. 

“I think we have lost a sense of decorum,” Gordon said. “I think that’s harmful, because now meetings where the important topics are being discussed, they kind of devolve into spectacle as opposed to principled conversation about what the right thing to do is and listening to one another.”

Civility was among the topics Gordon spoke to during the town hall. The League of Women Voters event presented the governor with a series of questions about Wyoming’s political atmosphere and challenges.

Over the one-hour conversation, Gordon addressed the definition of tyranny, cited the U.S. Constitution, talked about the value of serving in office and framed answers in the context that as a conservative, he believes in small government.

The event offered insights into the governor’s priorities and beliefs as he heads into the final year of his term. 

Election integrity 

Moderators kicked the event off with the topic of election integrity, which Secretary of State Chuck Gray and the Wyoming Freedom Caucus have made a priority despite few documented cases of voter fraud in the state. 

“Governor, does Wyoming have a voter election fraud problem?” Moderator Steff Kessler asked. 

“I have consistently said that the people that Wyoming folks elect to be their clerks … do a very credible job,” Gordon said. “And I consistently have maintained that we can always improve what we’re doing. But in terms of a lot of fraud, I don’t see it.”

Wyoming’s constitution put the power to manage elections at the local level, which is where Gordon thinks it belongs. “We have a system that works,” he said, and one that includes provisions for examining anomalies and detecting fraud. 

Moderators then asked about the wave of election-related legislation introduced in the 2025 Legislature — which signifies that lawmakers are concerned about the security of Wyoming elections. A slate of election-related draft bills are also expected to dominate an upcoming legislative meeting Nov. 3-4. 

“Can you help us understand why the Legislature is treating our county governments as if they are untrustworthy and incapable, requiring state oversight in an intervention?” Moderator Linda Barton asked. 

Gordon reiterated his beliefs about the system working and opportunities for improvements. 

“Now, is there overkill?” he asked. “Perhaps. I mean, if you look at the Legislature today, they all got there by a supposedly flawed system, yet now we’re really quite anxious to make sure that we correct that.”

Gordon brought up the critical function of separation of powers in government and noted that Wyoming lawmakers are seeking ways to pull power into the legislative branch.

“That’s the definition of tyranny” as set out by James Madison in the Federalist Papers, Gordon said. It’s important to keep an eye on the division of powers, he said, adding later, “I am concerned that the Legislature is trying to take to itself the powers that aren’t accorded to it in the Constitution of how to run elections.” 

In all his years in Wyoming politics, Gordon continued, he has never seen such high levels of distrust. 

While moderators asked specifically about critical comments Gordon has exchanged with Gray in public forums, the governor declined to go into detail about the feud.

Gordon did acknowledge that with increasingly ugly campaigns, he can see why people would not be encouraged to run for office. 

“It’s hard for me to try to convince somebody to put yourself through that,” he said, even when there’s “a terrific reward on the other side.

“On the other hand, if we don’t get engaged, we surrender the field, and that is not a good option, in my mind.” 

Tax confusion 

Next, Barton asked: “Is there any policy that you believe has been passed by the Legislature that has not been fully understood by the voting public, such as consequences of reducing property taxes in the downstream impacts to our small towns and counties?” 

She was referring to a law passed in March amid concern about rising property taxes that authorized a 25% exemption on the first $1 million of a single-family home’s fair market value. The law resulted in shrinking property tax revenues for towns, counties and hundreds of special districts across Wyoming — which fund everything from hospitals to 4-H and county road and bridge departments.

“I think that particular issue is one that Wyoming communities are beginning to wrestle with,” Gordon said. “You’re hearing out of Casper that parks aren’t as neat as they used to be. You’re hearing out of Basin, we’re having to close libraries. And these consequences are going to be larger and larger.”

What’s especially unfortunate about it, Gordon said, is that many people misunderstood how property taxes are levied and allocated. 

“There was a notion that property tax was going to the state,” he said, “and it goes to local governments. It’s how fire departments are funded, it’s how parks are funded, it’s how roads are funded, senior centers, all of that stuff is funded from local taxes.”

Gordon remembers a legislator on the powerful Joint Appropriations Committee saying, “the state doesn’t need that property tax.” 

“A member of the Joint Appropriations Committee did not understand, the state doesn’t collect that property tax,” he continued. “And so by that misrepresentation, I think we are not doing what is the right thing for Wyoming.”