Wyoming’s lax business regulations are helping to obscure the source of political mailers in Texas this week that have stirred significant controversy ahead of the midterm elections.
The pamphlets, which purport to come from a transgender rights organization, were mailed to families across Texas, where a highly competitive Senate race between Democrat James Talarico and Republican Ken Paxton will partly determine the balance of power in Congress, according to The Texas Tribune.
Addressed to the “student” of the household, the mailers purport that parents need not be involved with a student’s transgender identity and include a section about emancipation, or when a minor becomes legally recognized as an adult. The messaging also implicates the Transgender Education Network of Texas — an advocacy group that says it has nothing to do with the mailers.
According to the return address, the Texas Transgender Student Union is responsible for the mailers. State records, however, include no such business registered in Texas. Meanwhile, Wyoming filings show a company by that name registered here last month, where state law does not require businesses to disclose their members or managers. The Wyoming connection was first reported by a Texas Observer journalist.
Democrats and others have criticized the pamphlets as an obvious ploy to rally conservative voters in a midterm election with Texas Democratic candidates polling stronger than they have in decades, The Texas Tribune reported. Republicans, meanwhile, have focused on support for transgender Texans as a sign that Democrats are out of touch with most Texas voters and described the information in the pamphlet as predatory.
The Texas pamphlets are only the latest example of controversial political mailers to spring from the high degree of privacy provided by Wyoming’s business regulations. Because state law does not require a company to disclose its members or managers, it effectively allows the owner to remain anonymous to the public. The privacy that stems from Wyoming’s lax business regulation laws is sometimes referred to as the “Cowboy Cocktail.” One office building in Sheridan serves as the address for thousands of businesses — including the Texas Transgender Student Union.
In May, as WyoFile previously reported, a super PAC suspected of backing long-shot Democrats in Nebraska, Pennsylvania and Texas, thought to be easier targets for Republicans in November, relied on a newly formed Wyoming company for some of its $3 million in advertisements.
Earlier this month, Republicans and undeclared voters in Alaska received mailers alleging their elections “are ripe for fraud” and encouraging them to leave most of their ranked-choice ballot blank, according to The Alaska Story. The mailers list a Cheyenne address and purport to be paid for by The Center for Honest Voting, a company registered in Wyoming on Oct. 6, according to state records. Otherwise, the source of the mailers is unknown to the public.
In recent years, Wyoming lawmakers have focused their election reform efforts on how and when voters may cast their ballots, and paid less attention to campaign finance. However, the incoming Legislature is expected to turn more attention toward dark money, or political spending where the source of funds is not publicly disclosed.
