CHEYENNE—Just two days into the 68th Wyoming Legislature’s general session, one lawmaker took to the Senate floor to apologize to his colleague for his actions on Tuesday.
On the first day of the session, Sen. Larry Hicks, R-Baggs, made a motion to remove Sen. Eric Barlow, R-Gillette, as chairman of the Senate Labor, Health and Social Services Committee based on what he called the two senators’ “vehement disagreement” on the “question of life of the unborn.”
His motion to remove Barlow received just three votes of support, as senators overwhelmingly rejected the move.
On Thursday, Hicks took to the Senate floor to issue a formal apology to Barlow. He said that, after making his motion Tuesday, he went back and examined his own voting record.
“I went back and I looked at my own voting record, and on any number of issues, circumstances change on the ground,” Hicks said, adding that voting records often “evolve.”
“What I would like to do is extend an apology to my colleague from Campbell County — if, on one or two occasions, I may have misrepresented his voting record,” Hicks said. “I did that based on my own religious convictions. But it is not necessarily what we did two, four and six years ago. It is what we do today, and tomorrow, as a body.”
In a news release issued Thursday morning, Barlow responded to Hicks’ Tuesday remarks.
“My record speaks for itself. I have always been committed to protecting life and supporting Wyoming families at every stage of life,” Barlow said in the release. “Some people choose to politically posture, but I believe our job as legislators is to lead with integrity and ensure that our work reflects Wyoming values.”
Barlow has, according to the release, “backed pro-life legislation and policies that champion the unborn and support mothers and families; strengthened Wyoming families by backing policies that improve maternal health across the state and increase opportunities for Wyoming’s children; fostered accountability through his efforts to guarantee that legislation aligns with the will of Wyoming voters rather than of national interests.”
“I’ve always focused on doing the work that matters to Wyoming families, not divisive rhetoric or political theater,” Barlow said. “I plan to continue to work toward making sure Wyoming remains a place that values life and family.”
We need legislators who are there to represent the interests of their constituents rather than to represent their own judgmental beliefs that they pass off as religious. Contrary to their beliefs, they were not sent by God. They were elected by smear campaigns in the primaries that had a poor turnout.
I don’t believe our elected representatives should let their religious liberties infringe upon the rights of the citizens that are guaranteed under both the U S and Wyoming state constitution.
Lest we forget, Article 1, Section 18 of the Wyoming Constitution states: “… no person shall be rendered incompetent to hold any office of trust or profit, or to serve as a witness or juror, because of his opinion on any matter of religious belief whatever…”
Apparently, Larry Hicks is not well-versed on the concept of Separation of Church and State. This problem is becoming rampant in politics these days.
If you’re truly representing Wyoming, you’ll stay out of our personal lives. Political expediency is what drives these people. Hicks should be ashamed of himself, the healthcare in his district is basically nonexistent.