The Best Post of the Week of May 18, 2025.

It was quite a week.

We started the week off with a look at the Vietnamese Diaspora

A Sunday Morning look at the Vietnamese Diaspora.

And we delved into local politicians betraying local values.

Looking for Nate Champion.

The occupant of the Oval Office was on display again.

The Madness of King Donald. The 25th Amendment Watch List, Second Edition.

I posed a query to our readers, but received no response.

A query for the retired readers.

We noted a momentous anniversary for Christianity.

Thursday, May 20, 325. The opening of the Council of Nicea.

Republicans were all atwitter about alleged coverups of Joe Biden's decline, while they're covering up Donald Trump's.

The elephant in the room.

Some depressing news in the age of science denialism. 

Pandemic Part 10. A new paradigm?

Monday, May 21, 1945. British government falls apart, French mandates want out, Himmler arrested.

Women were on the blog a lot.

Mid Week At Work

Appearance. Shape and being in shape and women (men will come next).

We considered authenticity.

Occupational Identity and authenticity, a rambling thread.

Tuesday, May 22, 1945. Operation Unthinkable.

The amazing ability of the Palestinians to self sabotage.

The 2026 Wyoming Legislature, Part 1. The way too early edition.

The U.S. took a giant step towards economic disaster.

Subsidiarity Economics 2025. The Times more or less locally, Part 6. “Rarely has an economic policy been repudiated as soundly, and as quickly, as President Trump’s Liberation Day tariffs.”

Froma Harrop: The tax cut fantasy needs to end

Here's Six Ways Trump’s Budget Will Hurt Rural Americans

Saturday, May 23, 1925. Memorial Day Weekend.

Governor Gordon called  Chuck Gray out on the carpet.

Governor Gordon has enough of Chuck Gray.

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.

The Wyoming Legislature’s 2025 general session has ended

The Wyoming Legislature’s 2025 general session has ended: Lawmakers adjourned Thursday.

Wyo File.

Thank goodness.

Now it's a matter of seeing what remaining bills are signed by Governor Gordon, or allowed into law without his signature, or veteod.

Probably the least impressive legislature since the Johnson County War.  Still, a lot of the really bad legislation died.

Joan Barron: Maybe Next Year Will Be Better

March 13, 2025

Gordon Vetoes Attempt To Defund His Energy Project Program

March 17, 2025

Governor vetoes Wyoming lawmakers’ bill declaring abortion is not health care: Mark Gordon's decision comes as Wyoming Supreme Court prepares to hear challenge to two 2023 abortion bans.

March 19, 2025

Governor Gordon Defends Law Enforcement in Veto of Problematic Second Amendment Bill 

Governor signs bills banning sanctuary cities and ranked-choice voting 

CHEYENNE, Wyo. – In a public ceremony that included members of state, county, and municipal law enforcement, the Governor signed a letter vetoing Senate File 196 - Second Amendment Protection Act - amendments, calling the bill “overkill” that would punish first responders and threaten the cooperative work between Wyoming law enforcement officers and their federal partners.

“This Act takes aim at – and potentially vilifies – law enforcement if, in the process of working to apprehend, prosecute, and detain illegal aliens, drug mules, human traffickers, abusers, and other miscreants, they cooperate with the federal government and a gun is involved. Wyoming can do better,” the Governor wrote. 

Governor Gordon also signed nine bills today, including legislation banning sanctuary cities in Wyoming, prohibiting the use of private funds for elections, and a prohibition on ranked-choice voting.

The Governor also exercised his line-item veto authority on Senate File 169 - Strategic investments and projects account-repeal. The Governor left in place $10 million for the siting, design, construction, and operation of a new State Shooting Complex. However, he questioned the inclusion of the shooting complex by usurping the supplemental budget process, while the Legislature chose not to fund other capital construction projects, including a new veterans home.  

In his letter vetoing Sections 1, 2, and 3 of SF 169, the Governor says he has always supported simplicity in budgeting, but the repeal of the Strategic investments and projects (SIPA) account removes the ability of the Governor to use investment income that should be available to any Governor in recommending a budget.

“The effort seems counterintuitive and parochial, serving only the narrow focus of withholding revenue from the Executive Branch budgeting process while preserving it exclusively for the legislature’s priorities,” Governor Gordon wrote. “Wyoming is required to balance its budget with expenditures not exceeding income. That effort has always been a joint effort. Artificially constraining income to one branch breaks with that practice and will not necessarily result in a cleaner or a leaner budget.”

The Governor also vetoed Section 4 in the Act, which would have terminated the Wyoming State Penitentiary Account (WSPA), a subaccount of the SIPA. The preservation of the account will enable the Department of Corrections to fund integrated security improvements. 

The Governor signed the following bills today:

 

Enrolled Act Bill # Bill Title

 

HEA0062 HB0318 Maintenance of voter lists.

HEA0065 HB0228 Prohibition on private funds for conducting elections.

HEA0071 HB0165 Ranked choice voting-prohibition.

HEA0076 HB0133 Sanctuary cities, counties and state-prohibition.

SEA0073 SF0174 Constitutional apportionment of legislators.

SEA0074 SF0166 Political party formation-amendments.

SEA0077 SF0057 911 service reporting.

SEA0081 SF0032 Unpaved roads speed limits-amendments.

SEA0090 SF0160 Treatment courts-amendments-2.

 

The Governor vetoed the following bill. Click on the bill for the Governor’s letter:

 

SEA0082 SF0196 Second Amendment Protection Act-amendments.

 

The Governor exercised his line-item veto authority on the following bill. Click on the bill for the Governor’s letter. 

 

SEA0098 SF0169 Strategic investments and projects account-repeal.

 

The full text of all bills can be found on the Wyoming Legislature’s website. A list of bills the Governor has taken action on during the 2025 Legislative Session can be found on the Governor's website.

Banning ranked choice voting, done by this bill, really sucks and is anti democratic:

ORIGINAL House 

Bill No. HB0165

 

ENROLLED ACT NO. 71, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 

SIXTY-EIGHTH LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WYOMING

2025 General Session

 

 

 

 

AN ACT relating to elections; clarifying that elections shall not be conducted by ranked choice voting; clarifying that ballots are required to specify only one (1) vote per office to be filled; and providing for an effective date.

 

Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Wyoming:

 

Section 1.  W.S. 22‑2‑117(a) and 22‑6‑120(a)(xii) are amended to read:

 

22‑2‑117.  Vote required for election; ratification.

 

(a)  Partisan and nonpartisan candidates who receive the largest number of votes for each office to be filled at the general election are elected. Nothing in this election code shall be deemed to authorize any election in Wyoming to be conducted through ranked choice voting. Any existing or future ordinance enacted or adopted by a county, municipality or any other governmental entity that purports to authorize ranked choice voting in violation of this subsection is void. As used in this subsection, "ranked choice voting" means a voting method that allows voters to rank candidates for an office in order of preference and has ballots cast to be tabulated in multiple rounds following the elimination of a candidate until the candidate or candidates with the most votes are declared winners, or any other system that allows a voter to vote for more than the number of candidates permitted to fill a particular office.

 

22‑6‑120.  Format of general election ballot.

 

(a)  The general election ballot shall be printed in substantial compliance with this format:

 

(xii)  Adjacent to the description of any office shall be printed "Vote for one" or if the office is to be filled by more than one (1) candidate shall be printed "Vote For Not More Than", then the appropriate words and figures designating the proper number to be elected;

 

Section 2.  This act is effective July 1, 2025.

 

(END)

 

March 23, 2025

Forum shopping effort fails, as is obvious that it would:

Judge dismisses suit against Wyoming’s new anti-abortion laws: In Teton County, Judge Owens rules that the attempt to challenge two new laws properly belongs in Natrona County, site of the affected Wellspring clinic.

Making Wyoming's voting process more cumbersome to address a non existent problem here:

Governor allows proof of voter residency, citizenship requirement to become law without signature: Mark Gordon questioned the legality of the bill’s 30-day durational residency requirement.

March 25, 2025

With final bills signed and vetoed, the Legislature switches focus to the ‘off season’

And with this, we conclude the threads on the 2025 Wyoming Legislative Session.

Last edition:

The 2025 Wyoming Legislative Session. Week 7. Vetoes.

Labels: 2020s, 2025, 2025 Wyoming Legislative Session, law

Blog Mirror: Gordon, Gray spar over Wyoming election security

 

Gordon, Gray spar over Wyoming election security