I have now voted.
October 13, 2026.
I went down to the old county courthouse and caste my votes. I've now weighed in for 2026.
In some ways, it wasn't easy for me. I knew who I wanted to vote for, but I was a bit tortured between not voting for Chuck Gray and Harriet Hageman and leaving my ballot blank, or for casting a vote for one of their opponents.
I did the latter.
The situation facing the country is just too dire. We are, effectively, in the 1932 German election where the choices are boiling down to a desperate few. Or, perhaps, we're in the June and November 1946 French election where the Catholic Christian Democrats were in a coalition with the Communists, which shows how dire the situation was in the Fourth Republic. The choice now is to vote against a rising force of bloody fascism and acknowledge that the opponents retain some real taints, or to allow the country to do down the Via dei Fori Imperiali.
It's that dire.
The last few days made up my mind for me. A government that makes an open spectacle of execution and then sides with Vladimir Putin.
I'm not going there, and I cannot tolerate going there.
Nien, Non, No.
In two years I'll reassess. Chances are that at least one of the candidates I voted for I won't vote for again.
So, how did I vote?
Let's look at the state elections, that was easy.
Governor:1
Eric Barlow. He's the only real choice, and he's a good one. Rebecca Bextel thinks she's a conservative, but she's a Dixiecrat through and through. She needs to go home to Sweet Home Alabama, where she is literally from. Kenneth Casner is an overdone, baked in the sun, left out to dry, joke of a candidate. He symbolizes the pathetic state the Wyoming Democratic Party is in. The Democrats used to have some fine candidates, and it wasn't all that long ago that they were in the Governor's chair. Casner? Give me a break.
Barlow's election will be the death of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus, whose Bittereinders are already retreating to the Constitution Party Redoubt.
Good riddance to them.
So, here, I voted for a straight Republican ticket.
The other state races.
Other than Governor, we had a host of uncontested or barely contested races in which incumbents sought reelection. Fortunately for all of us, they are all really good candidates.
The one contested one is Superintendent of Public Instruction. In that race Ana Cordova, a Democrat, contests with Steve Harshman, a Republican.
There's' no doubt that Harshman, an local educator of long and respected standing, is an excellent choice. Still, I thought about voting for Cordova, a young educator with an impressive background. Harshman is 62 or 63, Cordova much younger. I suspect that Harshman might look at running for Governor, but he'll be 72 years old at least before he can, given that Barlow will win two terms.
Again, here, on state races, I voted a straight Republican ticket.
The property tax initiatives
There is a Freedom Caucus ballot initiative to cut residential property taxes in half, which benefits the carpetbagger class. It would but local governments like a fish, but hey, hey, the carpetbaggers have already educated their children and live behind walls, so they'll be okay.
I actually had a county commissioner explain this one to me in detail. Rank and file property owners voting for it, given the other deductions a property owner is eligible for, are screwing themselves.
I voted against it.
Frankly, I'd impose a tax, if I could, on the property of the carpetbaggers, which drives up property values for anyone else. Raise your kids in California? Well, you weren't here while we were enduring the ups and downs of the Wyoming economy and now you can pay for it. Stay in California if you don't like it. Even if you do, stay in CAlifornia.
Anyway you look at it, I'm not for giving the Bextels and Biens an advantage in taxes at our expense.
Representation in Washington D.C.
It was this set of choices that were difficult for me.
There was never any question that I would never vote for Chuck Gray. I never have, and I never will. Chuck needs to go back to Los Angeles and work for a good twenty years at a convenience store in Watts so he knows who real people are. Likewise, there was never any question I'd vote for my law school near contemporary Harriet Hageman, whose evolution from farm girl, polo shirt wearing, cute student to dressed in black lawyer for the rich and powerful is a disappointing memory of a very long career.
She didn't have to turn out like this. If she'd gone to work for one of the real civil firms in the state, she would not have.
No, the question was whether I'd vote for Kinney, Johnson, or Byrd or nobody at all.
In the end, given the dire situation, I voted for the Democratic candidates.
Now, I'll note that I think Byrd is an excellent candidate. Better than Hageman in every way, save perhaps for two ways.
Gray symbolizes everything wrong with the GOP in Wyoming except that instead of being a carpetbagger from the Confederacy, he's a carpetbagger from Los Angeles, and a pathetic one. California conservatism was real conservatism. Gray's father was an admirer of Reagan, not Strom Thurmond. Gray is an example of how Sun Yat-Sen tragically gave us Mao Tse-Tung. A movement gone preversely wrong, although Reagan's embrace of the fowl Dixiecrats made that predictable. And Gray, about whom we know very little, is still young enough that he can be forced into evading the fate of Donald Trump, a rich kid who publicly putrefies to the detriment of us all.
Gray's only platform is that he loves Donald Trump more than Trump loves Trump, that he's a latter day opponent of wind energy, for what appears to be opportunistic, and that as a 36 year old man whose not married and not known to have a publicly acknowledged interest in any identified female, he's opposed to transvestites in women's sports.
Seems like populist bullshit.
Gray would support Trump in anything, which in the next two years is going to be extremely dangerous. I could not vote for him.
Which left me voting for Kinney.
Kinney is a moderate left Democrat, and I'm not. I'm sure she's for "choice" or "reproductive rights', which infanticide, and I am not. I suspect this would be Byrd's position as well Should she be elected, in two years I'm voting for whichever rational Republican emerges. If a better GOP candidate emerges for the Senate, abortion would be my defining issue there as well, in six years. The next two years are the key, however. The Democrats are going to take the House and its necessary they do so. Giving Chuck Gray a titanic dope slap, or better yet send him crying in his knee pants back to Los Angeles, is necessary.
As for the Hageman/Byrd contest, Byrd would make a really good Senator. If the Democrats take the Senate, we couldn't be better represented. He has the same, I assume, pro choice problem, but my guess is that isn't deep with Byrd, but I base that on nothing other than instinct. He would be a real voice for Wyoming and we're going to need one, should the Democrats take the Senate, and leave John Barrasso wandering around the halls of Congress giving deep stares at John Thune, or whomever.
Do I think the Democrats can take these races? Frankly, no. But if they do well, that sends a message to at least Hageman, who probably would moderate her positions. Gray, if elected, will face a challenger in 2028 and be sent packing.
So here I voted a straight Democratic ticket.
The local races
I haven't said much about these.
My City of Casper ward race featured a guy with a business background facing a young women with fishing tackle on her face. I'm not voting for fishing tackle.
The county commission race featured one incumbent, Dallas Laird, one former commissioner who was later assessor, who was not great in either role, Matt Keating, one former Casper mayor, Ray Pacheco, one Evansville former mayor, Candace Machado, and somebody else.
I had to vote for three.
I voted for Keating, Pacheco, and Machado. Two Republicans and one Democrat.
On this race, I frankly voted against Laird, who is as old as dirt. He's been in local politics since Sitting Bull was in grammar school and it was time for him to go. Besides, he came into office promising to do something about the county selling the hospital to Banner health, which was by then impossible to do anything about, and he didn't do anything about it. He never could have, once something is sold, it's sold. As a lawyer, he knew that, or should have known that.
I'm not keen on that sort of misrepresentation.
Pacheco I have reservations about, but he tries to please people in the best way, so I'm okay with him.
Machado is a gadfly, but down at the county, which is sort of a geezer reservoir in transition, I figure that might be a good thing.
Governor Gordon wrote an op ed opposing the property tax initiative.
(OPINION) Why passing Prop. 1 would have a devastating impact on Wyoming
As noted, I voted against this initiative which would have the impact of mostly benefitting people with really high dollar residences.
This entire cutting property tax movement strongly resembles something that was done in California some decades ago and really hurt it. It's notable that it's strong in the Freedom Caucus camp, which is heavily populated by carpetbaggers. They don't have the same connections to their communities that real Wyomingites do. A prime mover in the initiative was failed Gubernatorial candidate Brent Bien whom, as we've noted, spent most of his adult life sucking on the Federal Government's tit which means he didn't have to worry about local services and education like the rest of us did and do. The element of Solidarity seems to be completely lacking in the populist far right
And that, frankly, is not a very Wyomingite or Western way of looking at things.
cont:
|
FOR
IMMEDIATE PUBLICATION: Why
Passing Prop. 1 Would Have A Devastating Impact On Wyoming
Byline:
Governor Mark Gordon Word
Count: 799 On
December 10, 1869 our first Territorial Legislature approved, “An act to
provide a territorial and county revenue.” In doing this Wyoming
modelled the Framer’s ideal of local control, of decisions and
responsibilities kept at the local level where citizens can have a direct
impact on how those decisions are shaped and financed. Wyoming
voters are faced with the proposition on this November’s ballot to reduce the
property tax in our state by 50%. This initiative, called Proposition
One is the first step in what could be a further call to completely dismantle
a system of taxation Wyoming has relied upon since before statehood. The
reduction by 50% would have an immediate and devastating effect on the
services most Wyoming citizens rely upon in their communities. Property
taxes are not always ideal. But they do provide a direct mechanism for
citizens - not politicians - to decide on and pay for the services they
desire and benefit from. Wyoming saw rapid increases in residential
valuations and those increases have been hard to bear for some.
Accordingly, the legislature, with my support over the past few sessions,
enacted meaningful property tax relief while preserving citizens’ rights to
determine what and how best to fund the services they see as essential. Nevertheless,
property tax as a mechanism for building and maintaining our communities is
not improper. It is the cost that has become burdensome. Tax reform is
fundamentally different from destroying a tax base or relying on the
legislature to fund essential services. Some
things are universal - safe neighborhoods depend on services such as
firefighting, emergency responses, good schools, and maintained roads.
All of these are essential to Wyoming’s long term strength and
vitality. They make our communities places where families can stay,
businesses can grow, and the next generation can build a future they can call
home. Local
control is a conservative principle - it means that decisions about community
needs should rest as close as possible to those people who live there, who
pay the taxes there, and who can hold their local elected officials
accountable. How responsible do we find Congress these days? Our
communities need both the authority and the financial ability to meet those
needs. Every property owner having “skin in the game” helps to assure the
citizenry pays attention and demands accountability at the local - very most
responsive - level. In my
time in office, in successive budgets, I have seen the legislature
continuously reduce its commitment to towns and counties, to make them fight
harder for Cheyenne’s attention. Property tax does not go to the state
- it stays at the local level. Reducing and/or eliminating an essential
obligation’s funding does not eliminate it, and remarkably this ill conceived
Proposition lacks any plan to cover those costs other than counting on the
fickleness of future legislatures. Wyoming
families deserve affordable taxes and a disciplined government, and during my
terms as your governor you have gotten both. We cut government, streamlined
regulations, provided tax relief, and ensured a healthy and strong state. We
did not cut the legs out from under communities and counties. They
also deserve ambulances when they call, firefighters when their homes are
threatened, safe roads to work and school. They expect meaningful taxpayer
relief that maintains strong communities. "The Wyoming people have
already benefited from powerful property tax relief like the 25% homeowner
exemption or the 50% long-term homeowners exemption among other relief
measures." Cutting just to cut is not a responsible way forward for
Wyoming. Wyoming
can, has, and will continue to help reduce tax bills to homeowners, but
smaller local revenue does not make essential services less expensive.
Fuel, emergency equipment, road repairs, and the people who protect our
communities still cost money. All but our most wealthy local
governments are feeling the same pain we are in paying for fuel, the same
decisions on what we can afford. For the
past half century, Wyoming has worked to protect her communities from the
booms and busts of a commodity economy. It has been good work and we have all
benefitted from those who laid solid groundwork. If the
only answer for the loss of locally derived revenues that fund essential
services like educating our children, should Proposition One pass, is for the
state to “backfill” local communities from limited funds depending on
favorable markets, we must also prepare ourselves for hard times ahead and
remind ourselves, dependency on state government in Cheyenne weakens our
local communities opportunity to set their own destiny. Protecting
the essentials means protecting Wyoming’s capacity to govern itself. We
must never walk away from that fundamental, conservative principle. If you
care about the essential services in your communities, join Jennie and I in
voting No on Proposition One. For
more information: Amy
Edmonds, Communications Director, amy.edmonds@wyo.gov |
Footnotes:
1. As always, I'm going with the conventional color conventions. Blue is conservative, red left of center. This is how it is the world over.
Orange, well I used that for a distributist sort of view. It's the color of Christian Democracy.
Last edition.
