With power over the people’s purse strings should come higher standards

My friend Millie and I are running buddies. She’s smart, educated and thoughtful. She is also single and would love to have a companion to hang out with, settle down and raise a family. For now, our runs are populated with horror stories of creeps, cads and crazies that come across her radar. To her credit, she refuses to lower the bar and is committed to her search for the right one who can live up to her standards. That is yet to happen. We keep running.

I wish our electorate would be as discerning as Millie when it comes to those we elect to hold the keys to our kingdom.

When Rep. Bill Allemand, R-Casper, was arrested last month and charged with driving under the influence of alcohol, I scratched another tally mark in my ballooning list of “ways our leaders have failed us” chart.

It is not the arrest that raises concern. I’ll leave it up to Allemand to preserve his sterling reputation and contest the whys and ways, which landed him in the slammer. Allemand has not been convicted and rightly deserves his day in court to defend the allegations. To those of you who are busy dismantling the Rule of Law, remember you’ll hate it until you need it. In the meantime, let us bow our knee and thank the high holy Constitution, we are innocent until proven guilty. 

It is what followed, Allemand’s pitiful response to the allegations, which bothers me. Allemand could have taken the high road and issued a public statement, rife with sincerity and remorse, asking his constituents for grace as he looks forward to his day in court and an opportunity to address the allegations.

Rather, he took to the swampy trenches and refused to accept responsibility for his actions. Taking a page from the MAGA playlist, he turned the lens outward, attacking the arresting officer, who may have been unaware of the Big Deal he just pulled over, and who potentially saved lives in the process. 

Allemand argued his arrest was the result of his constitutional exercise of free speech and accused law enforcement of refusing to let him exercise his civil rights. I would have loved to have been a chaff of wheat on that county road to hear the maybe not-so lucid lawmaker expound on the virtues of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Dodge, divert, deflect. Repeat. Throw in a conspiracy theory or two and you have a premium toolbox for redirecting attention away from those responsible to any unsuspecting pawn within striking distance. 

Public servants and constituents are both human, imperfect, and capable of mistakes and lapses in judgment. Who among us has not fallen short? Would it have hurt him to appeal to our good graces? Consider how an acknowledgment of poor behavior and a promise to do better would have landed with his electorate. Could it have been any worse than publicly attacking another public servant who is in the business of protecting us from ourselves? 

Legislating is serious business and we expect serious lawmakers. Allemand is a member of the Joint Appropriations Committee. Membership on the JAC is a lofty perch, highly coveted, typically secured after years of listening, studying, and understanding the complexities of government, its agencies and revenue streams. This is the committee where the seasoned dogs are, the best and brightest, those with a wonky, nerdy knowledge of the state’s budget who sit on the committee only after doing their time of slow-grind legislating. 

Allemand has been in office since 2023. His legislative profile is silent as to his occupation, ditto for his education and professional background. There is no showing of civic organizations with which he is involved. He is part of a ranching operation listed as inactive on the Secretary of State’s website. He runs, by his own account, an unnamed trucking company. He is a stranger to the business community, which props up our economy. His skill and expertise in representing his constituents is unclear. In this curious void, it is fair to judge Allemand by the content of his character. 

His fury and sputter, blaming everyone but himself, is a tell he cannot avoid. Is this a lawmaker we should trust with the routing numbers to the people’s bank account, which holds an estimated total investment of $33 billion?

This isn’t an Allemand problem, this is an us problem. Why do we settle for unexceptional folks, with undefined day jobs who hover on the banks of a civil society, to represent our interests? Is this the best we can do?

Wyoming’s long street runs both ways. By entering the public forum, legislators willingly submit themselves to the public microscope. In return, we too should honor and respect the office and model civility while at the same time holding them to a higher level of scrutiny. Rather than attack a wayward politician, pay attention and vote the bums out when they fail to live up to the task for which we elected them. 

Know thyself, Rep. Allemand. There is honor in stepping down, releasing your seat to someone better suited, better equipped for the noble yet arduous task of managing a state. 

Resign, Rep. Allemand. Do the right thing. Make America Honorable Again. 

Susan Stubson © 2026