Governor Gordon has enough of Chuck Gray.

The rise of Californian Chuck Gray in Wyoming's politics has really been remarkable.  Filling the seat of a popular Casper legislator he failed to unseat in a primary, after that individual died, he became a firebrand populist funded with family money.  His bid for earlier larger offices failed until he latched on to the Secretary of State's office in a campaign which was frankly nasty in town, something that was common to him, and which hasn't stopped.  He has his sights on higher office now, with reliable rumors claiming that he's going to run for Congress and that Congressman Hageman will run for the Governor's office, which she's done before unsuccessfully.

Gray still surfaces in the media, rising up from what is otherwise a very mundane clerical position, to claim this or that.  He did so the other day in a public meeting regarding wind farms, and that apparently caused Gordon to react.

Governor of Wyoming sent this bulletin at 05/23/2025 01:57 PM MDT

Abraham Lincoln said, “Honesty is the best policy.” He believed that when people are given the truth, they make the best decisions.  Although our forefathers had their differences, they did not have to contend with the hit-and-run tactics some politicos and malcontents resort to using on social media. Social media platforms can be useful ways to connect with friends and loved ones and share useful information. However, when they are used deceptively by self-seeking individuals as a means of causing discord and dissension for personal gain, they are not. Spreading gossip through deceptive posts takes its toll — not only on the individuals being defamed, but on our communities as well. Social Media Lies Cause Unnecessary and Harmful Community Strife I am not going to respond to far-flung rumors or half-truths that political opportunists hurl my way. Typically, I have paid little attention to the insults our Secretary of State spews because they are bogus. But after Mr. Gray’s most recent social media lie suggesting my vision for Wyoming energy only includes wind power, the record needs to be set straight. Assuredly, this week Mr. Gray chose to take a shot at me, but next week he will take aim at someone else  — a county clerk, a property owner, or member of your family— really anyone who disagrees with him or he feels by slandering he can raise his stature. It is sad. Chuck Gray: Only Member of the State Land Board to Vote Against Individual Property Rights and Wyoming Schools The five statewide elected officials, as members of the State Board of Land Commissioners (SBLC), took a sworn oath to honor our Constitutional and fiduciary responsibility to earn the best return for the state and our schools. Notably, Mr. Gray is often the sole member of the SBLC to ignore this obligation. When he cast his vote against the Pronghorn and Sidewinder state leases, his vote was not only an attempt to suppress the private property rights of adjacent land owners, it also sought to deny revenues for Wyoming schools and overlooked potential financial benefits for Niobrara County. That is his prerogative to be sure, but it demonstrates his disregard for the duties of his office and a determination to impose his personal preferences on others, no matter the cost. My vote, along with the other three commissioners’ votes, recognizes the economic benefits to Wyoming and Niobrara county and the rights of participating landowners without prejudicing the outcome of the development. Already, these projects have been through a four-year process and still require additional levels of review with the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality’s Industrial Siting Division, the state engineer, and local regulators, among others, before it can proceed. These are not insignificant hurdles. The Truth The Pronghorn and Sidewinder projects include both private and state lands; importantly, the state lease was granted after those lessees, many who voluntarily opted into the project, signed consent forms regarding their state leases.   Notably, the SBLC approval was only for the wind farm lease on state lands with cooperating lessees. The Board of Land Commissioners cannot permit the part of the project that lies on adjacent private lands, which makes up about 70% of the total Pronghorn project and 80% of the total Sidewinder project.  The state land board did not authorize any portion of the prospective hydrogen project, nor could it approve water appropriations contemplated for the project. Water and private property rights are sacred in Wyoming. In addition, current state leaseholders (those holding grazing leases) signed a consent form to allow the turbines to be built on the leased land.  Top Priority: Protecting Wyoming to the Core To be clear, my vision for Wyoming is exemplified by a track record of visiting communities to listen, and understand each community’s unique perspective on what needs fixing and what folks hope to be able to do on their own. I also visited Niobrara County last week and spent time with residents there. As I have stated since first being elected, I am eager to give local communities the tools they need to prosper and the opportunity for our citizens to create their futures and thrive. We do that in Wyoming by respecting private property rights, water law, and individual initiative. Defenders of the Truth: How You Can Help If you are interested in learning more about my vision for Wyoming (straight from the horse’s mouth), I invite you to: Sign up to receive regular e-mail updates from my office. Attend public meetings and town halls. Reach out if what you read seems “off” so that my office can clarify my position. Refuse to spread dishonest, inflammatory social media posts. Consider the source of information. : e.g. What is Mr. Gray seeking with his latest lie/s? Another political office? Does he not recognize individual property rights? I invite every Wyoming citizen, especially Mr. Gray, to consider the consequences of deceiving people and instead seek ways to strengthen and unite Wyoming, not divide us. Thanks for reading. Ride for the Brand.  - Mark Gordon

The Governor's statement appears to have caught Gray a bit flat footed.  Gray's made a career out of spouting lies packed with invective but having somebody call him out publicly, and from a higher office, is something he isn't used to and obviously wasn't expecting.

This isn't the only area this past week where the two have locked horns.  Gray earlier this year accused Weston County Clerk Becky Hadlock of misconduct in the last election and asked for the Governor to remove her, a truly extraordinary move for the Governor to take.  The investigation was completed, and Gordon issued a letter stating:

While the review revealed there were multiple mistakes committed by Clerk Hadlock and her staff, no information or evidence was provided that supported any malicious intent on the part of Clerk Hadlock, or that she was trying to manipulate the results of the election.

“[O]ne of the key elements to determining malfeasance is motive or willfulness, but in this incidence there is no indication that she did so with any intent to change or nullify the results of the votes of the people of Weston County,” the Governor wrote. In essence, the process worked, with any irregularities identified and corrected during a review by the canvassing board.

“It is clear that Clerk Hadlock made many mistakes and exhibited a high degree of unprofessional and perhaps slipshod management of the election,” the Governor wrote. “Still, the system set up to discover, correct, and properly count votes worked here.”

He went on to note that he didn't feel it appropriate to override the choice of the electorate and would leave Handlock's future up to the voters, something that 100% echoes what Republicans said about efforts to remove Donald Trump in his first term.

A current feature of Republican politics is to completely ignore precedent where it doesn't serve what amounts to a sort of NatCon view and Gray has practically based his career on election lies, claiming that there are all sorts of irregularities.  Not too surprisingly he came right out with his own statement.

CHEYENNE, WY – In response to Governor Mark Gordon’s May 23rd decision not to initiate removal proceedings for Weston County Clerk Becky Hadlock, Secretary of State Chuck Gray issued the following statement:

“I am deeply troubled by Governor Gordon’s letter and for refusing to conduct a rigorous analysis of the facts of this case. I am particularly troubled by the Governor’s lies by omission in completely ignoring our finding that Clerk Hadlock submitted a false post-election audit report with our office, which we discussed multiple times as the most serious finding in our investigation released in March. The Weston County Clerk’s submittal of a false post-election audit report on November 6, 2024 does appear to be a willful violation of the code, as revealed by the Weston County Canvassing Board meeting on November 8, 2024, as well as the subsequent, properly-performed audit, which confirmed that there were 21 of 75 ballots with a discrepancy, in direct contravention to the initial post-election audit results submitted to our office. This false post-election audit occurred after we had expressed concerns about the anomalies. Our investigation came to the conclusion there are only two reasonable explanations for the false submission of this audit, absent another explanation provided by the Weston County Clerk, the Governor, or any relevant actors, which was not even discussed. Our investigation found that one possibility is that Clerk Hadlock conducted her audit, finding errors in the election and then choosing to falsely assert that no errors had been found. The investigation found that the second reasonable possibility is that no audit was conducted at all. Either one of those possibilities would suggest that she attempted to hide the problems with the conduct of the 2024 General Election. That is why we made the recommendation that we did, and the Governor’s omission of discussing the false post-election audit in his decision is inherently problematic. Gordon has gotten used to the media refusing to cover these lies of omission and this is another example of those lies of omission. I’m deeply troubled that Governor Gordon refused to even acknowledge key parts of the case.”

Gray has his supporters in the populist mass that's running the GOP and influencing Wyoming's politics, with those same people really disliking Gordon. Gordon has a lot of more quiet supporters.  There's a lot of speculation on whether Gordon will run for a third term, which he's theoretically barred from doing but which the Wyoming S.Ct would clearly say he could do, and he'd have a good chance of winning, certainly against Gray.  Hageman seems to be wildly popular with the GOP base right now, so it'd be unclear how that would go.  I suspect that Gray would fail in a race for Congress.

At some point there's going to be a reckoning for the flood of lies the populist base of the GOP has been fed by its leadership.  Trump's horrific funding bill may be the beginning of it.  Wyoming is going to pay in spades for the results of what it's been supporting, with the first wave of that already hitting.  By November of next year a lot of chickens may have come home to roost and will have died in their coups.  Whether a political change starts to occur in 2026 or 2028 isn't clear, but it's going to.  I don't expect Gray to survive it.  Most of the better known Wyoming politicians will, as they'll modify their positions to the time, although those who came up during this period will have  hard time doing so.

Anyhow, more than one person is cheering Gordon on.  No doubt more than one is cheering Gray too, having bought off on what he's told them, facts aside.