After the Election. The Wyoming 2022 Election Post Mortem. Part 1.

 

November 11, 2022

Governor Gordon announces Inauguration Committee General Chairmen

 

CHEYENNE, Wyo. –  Governor Gordon and First Lady Jennie announced today that Annemarie and Dave Picard will co-chair the Wyoming Inauguration Committee for 2023.  

“Jennie and I appreciate Dave and Annmarie’s willingness to once again step up to organize the Inaugural activities,” Governor Gordon said. “Jennie and I are so grateful for the support of Wyoming’s people, both at the polls and during the past four years. We look forward to thanking our friends, family and supporters as we continue our work and move Wyoming forward.”

The public is invited to participate in numerous activities on January 2, 2023 including a prayer service, swearing in ceremony of the five statewide elected officials, a public reception and the Inaugural Gala.  For more information and a complete schedule, please visit www.wyo2023.com or contact the Inauguration Office at 307-369-2725.

About the Inauguration of Wyoming’s Statewide Elected Officials

Every four years the citizens of the great state of Wyoming, through their votes, elect five people to lead the state for the next four years.  We congratulate all who  participated in the democratic process, and celebrate the transition from candidate to elected official beginning with a day of public events at Wyoming’s State Capitol and throughout the city of Cheyenne.

Wyoming State Statute sets the date that those elected in November assume office, and prior to the entering of office they must take and subscribe to the oath of office prescribed by the Wyoming Constitution.  

Traditionally the swearing-in ceremony has been performed in a formal setting befitting the peaceful transition of power.  This coming year will be no different, taking place on January 2, 2023.

Please join as the three branches of government come together in this time-honored celebration of democracy.

 The Wyoming Inauguration Committee, Inc. is a nonprofit corporation formed under WY Statute 17-19-1804

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Governor Gordon’s Chief of Staff Retiring, Replacement Named

 

CHEYENNE, Wyo. –  Governor Mark Gordon is announcing a change to his leadership team. Current Chief of Staff, Buck McVeigh, is announcing that he will retire at the end of the year. To take his place, the Governor has named Drew Perkins his new Chief of Staff.

“I will never be able to thank Buck adequately for his extraordinary service to the state and her citizens,” Governor Gordon said. “Long before he joined my office or served as Chief of Staff, Buck had a distinguished career with Wyoming, which gave him invaluable insight into and knowledge of our state. It has been an honor to serve with Buck, and a treasure to enjoy his friendship.”

McVeigh served as the Governor’s Policy Director before becoming Chief of Staff in June 2019. His 36-year career with the State of Wyoming began in 1980 with the Department of Agriculture, and included positions in the Department of Administration & Information, the State Auditor’s Office and the Public Service Commission along with the Governor’s Office. McVeigh was a longtime-member and 14-year executive branch co-chairman of the state’s Consensus Revenue Estimating Group (CREG). He also served as Executive Director of the Wyoming Taxpayers Association for five years. 

“Having been given the opportunity to serve as Governor Gordon’s Chief was truly the honor of a lifetime for me. It is with a heavy heart that I leave this fine man’s side,” McVeigh said. 

McVeigh noted that of all the positions he held during his career, the Chief of Staff’s position was inarguably the most difficult.

“There are truly no words to describe it. A 24-7-365 job with endless days. We made it through some awfully difficult times over these last four years. And, I say with all honesty, I couldn’t have done it without the incredible staff and cabinet that we have. What an awesome team!” McVeigh commented.

McVeigh will finish the year as Chief of Staff and then be replaced by Drew Perkins who was a State Senator from Natrona County until announcing his resignation earlier today. 

“I am honored and humbled to be asked to try and fill Buck McVeigh’s shoes as the Governor’s Chief of Staff. That will be a tall order,” Perkins said. “I have enjoyed working with Governor Gordon since he served as Treasurer. I respect him immensely and consider him a good friend. I am excited to assist the Governor and his team as he starts his second term, and to have the opportunity to work full-time in continuing to serve Wyoming and her people.”

Perkins has represented  District 29 in the Wyoming Senate since 2007, serving as Senate President, Vice President and Chair of the Joint Appropriations Committee. He comes to the Governor’s office after working as an attorney in private practice for more than 30 years. He is a graduate of the University of Wyoming School of Law, and earned an M.S. in Taxation from Southeastern University (Washington, D.C.) and a B.S. in Accounting from Brigham Young University. 

“Drew and I have enjoyed a longstanding respect and friendship going back to my time as Treasurer,” the Governor said. “Throughout that time, I have found his advice to be correct and valuable. From the passage of Amendment A to more recent budgets, Drew has been a trusted source of wisdom and perspective. I eagerly look forward to working with him.”

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Drew is a good guy, he'll go a good job.  It's a shame he was not reelected.

Andi LeBeau of Fremont County lost her seat by ten votes, thereby depriving the Reservation of an enrolled members in the legislature.

November 13, 2022

Its now clear that the incoming legislature is going to be much more far right than the last one, which likely will end up shocking Wyomingites who thought the existing legislature was pretty right wing.  Not so, in comparison to this one.

The irony is that Trump's candidates largely failed most places, so Wyoming is going to be unique this way, and will probably spending a lot of time giving Washington the middle finger salute, and getting ignored in return.

In spite of having pretty much single-handedly wiped out Republican chances this midterm election, with of course a lot of help from 1) people like Kevin McCarthy who wouldn't confront Trump's lies, and 2) people like Harriet Hageman, Kari Lake and Chuck Gray who promoted his lost election myth, Trump appears almost certain to announce his bid for the Oval Office this Wednesday, an act which will pretty much flush GOP hopes down the tubes in 2024.  While there are press rumblings that the GOP will, at long last, confront Trump and dump him, that seems pretty unlikely.

November 16, 2022

Mitch McConnell was reelected GOP Senate leader in spite of a challenge from the Trumpite right.

The challenge was not well-founded.  McConnell, who is not the most personable of political figures, has done a really good job in this position.

November 17, 2022

So we will have a split Congress, with the Democrats controlling the Senate and the Republicans barely controlling the House.

Indeed, both houses are nearly evenly split.

What this probably means is that American government isn't going to function at the legislative level for the next two years, probably.  How dysfunctional it is, however, depends somewhat on who becomes Speaker.  Amazingly, McCarthy's only real contenders right now are from his right, when you'd think they'd be from the center.  This doesn't bode well, as it likely means that in the House, the next two years will be devoted to doing nothing whatsoever but criticizing.

It'll be interesting to see what, if any, role Wyoming's new far right, so far, Congressman does in the next two years.  Our junior Senator is suddenly pulling towards the center, perhaps having detected a changing wind.  

November 17, cont:

Keven McCarthy received a visit today from a well known Trump strategist.

For those who may have any doubt, myself included, this probably signals how things this session will go and to whom the House will be working towards.

November 18, 2022

Nancy Pelosi has announced that she will not seek a leadership role in the Democratic caucus in the upcoming Congress.

Pelosi entered Congress at age 47 and has been a real power for some time. She's the only woman to have ever been Speaker of the House.

While some pundits, for example me, thought she should not run for speaker this last go around, she turned out to be remarkably effective.  Perhaps for that reason, she's been gigantically vilified by the political right and even the source of the most absurd hatred and calumny.  Such organizations as the National Rifle Association, combined with politicians such as Harriet Hageman, have practically demonized her.

Pelosi, more realistically, is a symbol of what is right and wrong with politics. A remarkably effective, long serving politician, she generally made her views well known and stuck by them. At the same time, she compromised her moral positions, placing loyalty to her party above the moral dictates of her Faith.

Who will be the incoming Republican Speaker isn't really yet know, but it's assumed to be Kevin McCarthy, a co-religious of Pelosi's who has compromised his own morals by quietly supporting rebellion against the electoral process and who is now faced with a revived hard right Trumpist base and a GOP middle that's wandering off.

December 8, 2022

Casting a wider net again, Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema has announced she's leaving the Democratic Party and registering as an independent.  She will apparently caucus with the Democrats, as the other two independents in the Senate do.