The trigger-happy Wyoming Freedom Caucus has loaded its rusty six-gun once again, and once again is fixin’ to shoot holes in its own foot. With all its errant gunplay, the Freedom Caucus is putting at risk innocent bystanders in Wyoming’s communities, the very folks they pound their chest and purport to protect.
Opinion
As evidence, I offer Maggie Mullen’s recent article in WyoFile about the interim work of the Legislature’s Joint Corporations Committee. Freedom Caucus members, who preach “local control” out of one side of their mouths, told the committee that they are willing to sacrifice towns and counties in the Cowboy State as collateral damage in their war against folks who push back against Freedom Caucus looniness.
Let me say that again. The Wyoming Freedom Caucus is willing to throw local government in the Big Empty under the bus in the name of local control.
At issue are the several member associations, made up of local elected officials, that sometimes resist Freedom Caucus initiatives to replace local control with centralized legislative planning from Cheyenne. When these associations stand up for the rights of their local citizens, the Freedom Caucus snarls and says, “Not on our watch!”
The Freedom Caucus party line is always that it represents the “grassroots” in Wyoming, that it speaks for “we the people.” Horseshit! There ain’t nobody more grassroots or closer to the people than the mayor of a Wyoming town or a commissioner in a Wyoming county.
Yet when these same locally elected officials work together in their voluntary peer associations to better represent their constituents, the Freedom Caucus accuses them of ganging up on democracy and thwarting the will of the voters. That, friends and neighbors, borders on hypocrisy and puts a couple toes over the line.
Freedom Caucus members must think, somewhere in their narrow and fearful minds, that Wyoming’s mayors, county commissioners and other local officials undergo a sinister transformation when they join the Wyoming Association of Municipalities, the Wyoming County Commissioners Association or similar groups. The WFC must have nightmares about local officials suddenly becoming bomb-throwing Bolsheviks or Chinese spies instead of salt-of-the-earth elected public servants when they join an association of their peers.
So Freedom Caucus zealots pontificate about cutting off public funding to the associations and curtailing their work through tightening of the public purse. Here’s where the Freedom Caucus shoots itself in the foot.
Think about it. The Wyoming Freedom Caucus is an invitation-only association of folks with election certificates who band together to amplify their effectiveness and use public resources to further their aims. In this, it’s no different whatsoever from any other association of elected officials. It’s just oilier and more secretive.
If the state of Wyoming shouldn’t support the associations of other elected officials with tax dollars, it shouldn’t support the Wyoming Freedom Caucus, either. Sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander, and all that.
The Freedom Caucus should not be provided a fancy meeting room anywhere on state property. It can hold its secret meetings in a double-wide trailer somewhere on the outskirts of Cheyenne, and the members can pay the rent themselves.
Nor should Legislative Service Office staff waste a minute working on bills that emerge from Freedom Caucus meetings. State property, such as laptops, on which WFC members get their marching orders from their handlers in D.C., should be unavailable in secret Freedom Caucus meetings. If they need staff or machinery to do the work of their association, they can raise private funds.
If the good folks in Wyoming’s towns and counties don’t appreciate the Freedom Caucus trying to hamstring their local officials, they can write to the Joint Corporations Committee to express themselves. Or they can attend the next committee meeting in Casper on Aug. 14, either in person or remotely, and get their voices on the record.
Or I suppose they could say something else like, “Hell yeah, we want more Freedom Caucus control over our lives! We trust the Freedom Caucus in Cheyenne more than we trust the neighbors we elected here at home, so bring it on.”
Here endeth the lesson.
I hear their opening a new Taco Don’s in Cheyenne. Wonder what the address is, would like to visit to see it’s as run down as their politics?
When you consider the title they proclaim Freedom caucus, it rings as true as those who think they are Pro-life. Both are an oxymoron. Total lies and authoritarian in action and in substance. Normal people care about humanity, about personal freedom, about staying out of people’s personal lives, about bringing equality and actual justice for all forward in the society in which we attempt to live. Here the FC doesn’t like judicial outcomes so let’s fix how they are selected and make it as political as possible with outcomes they like. They shit on the Wyoming Constitution and treat it like dirty TP with the bills they pass. Then go after the judiciary for interpreting and enforcing the constitution as written.
Wyoming wake up and bring back what was our conservative government that had the support of and best outcomes for Wyoming residents. It was not run by the out of state ALEC group, or other fringe right wing nuts. It believed in us as a state of people who do the right things for the right reasons, who live and let live. Who are there for family and friends. Who recognize that we are a community as a whole and that Wyoming is the best place on earth to live and raise a family, get an education, and find your personal freedoms to be supported and not in jeopardy.
Vote these clowns out. Every dang one of them.
Thanks Rod. Seems the WFC is getting its marching orders directly from the Project 2025 lunatics in DC. I wondered how any little group of people could get to thinkin’ they are smarter than all the rest in the state, but then I happened to recognize one of those faces in that picture and it explained it all. Dumber than a bent tee post. If it’s a secret society meeting out in a double-wide the rest of those WFC folks must be just as far fetched.
I’m not a religious man but if that bunch gets a foothold anywhere Wyoming Voters better wake up and get some those thoughts and prayers going before the next election and show the WFC the door.
I always found it a bit ironic that the Bear guy’s wife works for the Campbell County Library. I thought they hated Libraries. Or any public institution. What frauds. I’ve lived here for almost my entire 44 years: these people will leave.
Thanks, Rod. But here’s an added take:
It’s the associations that Joint Corporations wants to neuter, in the self-appointed name of spokesman for all taxpayers. I hear directors for those local officials’ associations testify in legislative committees, and they mostly deliver information about the impact by bills under consideration. Most of the actual lobbying happens by the elected officials themselves. No, what some legislators don’t want is the hard info delivered (as directed) for the local governments — like, for instance, the impact of cutting property tax revenue by 50 percent.
Officials testified extensively to Joint Corporations how the associations created efficiencies and saved money for local governments, as they served taxpayers.
This seems to be about killing the messengers of unwanted info, the associations.
Historically, I believe the noun for members of the WFC is : carpetbaggers
Though many are long time Wyoming residents, their politics reflect the era of first Governor Campbell and the Wyoming Territory following the “reconstruction of the South”. Sad part is they were voted into power.
Always enjoy Rod’s columns. Yes, Wyoming voters need to wake up and vote the members of the Freedom Caucus out, but having said that, you need to realize that the people relocating to Wyoming are doing so because they believe in far right politics. Just as Idaho and Texas are becoming bastions of right-wing extremism, I fear that Wyoming will follow suit. The only thing constant is change, and to quote Bob Dylan “the times they are a changin”. For the better or worse depends on where you lie on the political spectrum.
Well said Rod Miller!
How many times have you heard the Non-Freedom Caucus parrots say “That government is best, that governs closest to the people”? Taking them at their word they are the second worst at governing, being one step behind Congress, and the mayors and county commissions are the best. So of course, the Non-Freedom caucus wants to ham string them. Perhaps another example of the NFC legislator’s ineptitude is the fact that if they pass the proposed legislation they will be paying their own way to ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council), CPAC and Heritage Society/Foundation meetings. Unless of course, they want to be like their heroes in the Beltway and say yet another law they pass doesn’t apply to them.
I’ve never seen so much regurgitated clownage then what the No Freedom Caucus produces. These people are like the proverbial turd that just won’t flush. We had Cherie Steinmetz wanting to create a quasi-law that would have US citizens to carry papers at all times or face immediate imprisonment; Madam Chairman Tim French (ya, the ‘rugged individualist/federal subsidy check casher) wanting (demanding) that the Feds release all public lands and parks to this group; Marlene Brown wanting to take control from local governments; Bob Ide wanting to restrict who private landowners can sell to: Bill Allemand with only 1% of his bills even looked at (shooting prairie dogs) and Rachel R. Williams being the typical California carpetbagger moving to a small State and trying to make it like Cali etc, etc, etc. Wyomingites, this No Freedom thuggery is the creepy white van cruising slowly down your street and we need to keep flushing and flushing to cleanse ourselves of their idiocy.
They are indeed right wing fake christian goofballs. Send them packing.
Yep, this turd keeps on circling the porcelain. The biggest bunch of idiots ever convened in Wyoming but since they’ve organized, at least we know who they are.
Bravo! As always, Rod Miller, you succinctly put into words many of the things I think about- especially in relation to the Freedom Caucus!
Excellent Hope more Wyomingites take heed
Trump won Wyoming 72 to 26%, with many counties over 80% for Trump.
I dont know how many Wyoming residents are changing their minds/taking heed…
Thanks Rod, as always succinct and brutally honest. You are the type of Wyomingite I admire and want around.
Wyoming Freedom Caucus = A collection of greedy and in it only for themselves boobs. Takes orders from dark money anonymous strangers, wants to eliminate public lands and national parks – other then access for themselves and a select few – notorious big government haters yet in the shadows many members of this thuggery have begged for and cashed big federal assistance and subsidy checks – can you say hypocrites of the worst kind? -. These people want to establish a fascist regime where woman are only a commodity and dissenters can be jailed. An absolute cabal of degenerate losers who somehow – we’re to blame – conned us into sending these creeps to Cheyenne. The next election cycle can’t come soon enough
Rod Miller, you hit the nail on the head! An excellent lesson.
Thanks Rod, for another insightful outing of “Freedom” Caucus shenanigans. This group’s misfit policies hides their true purpose – make Wyoming the red-headed stepchild of east coast wackos. Freedom Caucus (FC) candidates received hundreds of thousands of dollars from eastern seaboard political meddlers to pay out-of-state PR firms to craft and distribute campaign materials with scare tactics, such as sexual threat memes and overblown rhetoric painting non-FC candidates as criminals and un-American. Their divisive speech and emphasis on bathrooms and book bans won’t lift Wyoming citizens or positively affect our future.
Cutting taxes sounds good until Wyoming residents realize it means cutting things we appreciate, like fixing potholes, hiring police officers and deputies, having an adequate number of polling places to vote, funding local governments for clerks and courts to conduct the people’s business. The WY Freedom Caucus is interested in following orders from their Washington DC based bosses, NOT what the good folks in Wyoming want for our state. When our quality of life decreases under their watch, we’ll see who really rides for the brand.
Yet again you hit the nail on the head. Why I’d even hold the nail while you hammer. JVH
Well said! Freedom Caucus is the very definition of Orwellian double speak. They are Authoritarian from top to bottom. In the words of the great Kris Kristofferson, “Freedom’s just another word for nothin’ left to lose”.
Wake up! Wyoming.
Well said, Rod. The Freedom Caucus (aka the NonFreedom Caucus) is certainly for the people – but only their own little clique of people. This is a conglomeration of wanna-be’s, supposed government handout haters yet behind the scenes takers of federal handouts (PPP and USDA subsidies), full control of women, the power hungry and carpetbaggers. YES, carpetbaggers such as their fearless leader, Californian Rachel Rodriguez Williams. This unhinged group is not working for the people and only take their marching orders from some secret out of state puppeteer funded by dark money. The NonFreedom Caucus is festooned with buffoons masquerading as champions of the people. Sneaks, liars and losers with ulterior motives are not champions
The Freedom Caucus isn’t about freedom but control. We need to vote them out
Thanks for pointing out that the Freedom Caucus is no different than other organizations of elected officials. It made me smile when there’s so much in politics right now that doesn’t.