Ride for the brand

Buffalo Bulletin,

March 13

It has been said that Wyoming is one small town connected by very long streets. We are the least populated state in the union. There are 19 cities (municipalities with over 4,000 population) and 80 small towns.

Despite the number of us who call a small town home, it’s no secret what the Wyoming Freedom Caucus thinks about the small towns in our state. Wyoming House Freedom Caucus Chairman John Bear, R-Gillette, made his disdain for small towns clear three weeks ago during debate of HB70, a bill designed to help Wyoming’s struggling small towns. He questioned whether small towns should even exist in the Cowboy state, likening them to “welfare states.”

But about some things, members of the Freedom Caucus are not quite so transparent. Nor are their far-right friends in the Senate.

A bill to increase employee and employer contributions to law enforcement officers’ retirement accounts passed, but without support from the House Freedom Caucus. Likewise, an amendment offered by Rep. Cyrus Western, R-Big Horn, to increase the death benefits for families of law enforcement officers who die in the line of duty split members of the House Freedom Caucus. Western introduced the amendment after the tragic death of Sheridan Police Department Sgt. Nevada Krinkee, who died in the line of duty leaving a wife and daughter.

Despite claiming to support law and order, far-right members of the Senate refused to even allow the introduction of a bill to raise judges’ salaries. The last time supreme, district or circuit court judges received raises was 2019. According to the fiscal note on the bill, the raises would cost $2.53 million over the next three years.

Finally, it was incredibly disappointing to watch as members of the Freedom Caucus, the far-right in the Senate voted against funding the Veterans’ Home of Wyoming construction project. The project included updates to bring the facility up to Americans with Disabilities Act standards and the construction of private bathrooms for each resident. Far-right members of the Senate and the House Freedom Caucus could not get behind this project despite their claims of support for those who have served in the United States military.

We get it, the legislature needs to be fiscally responsible and take a hard look at expenditures. But at what expense? It seems these legislators’ answer to everything is no. The cost of these decisions hurts people, including law enforcement officers and veterans in a very real way. In a $10.6 billion budget, these members could not see a way to provide additional death benefits for the families of law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty. Same for private bathrooms for military veterans. Legislators need to weigh the real human costs of just saying no.

In Wyoming, we ride for the brand. We don’t just talk the talk, we also walk the walk. If you say something, mean it. You can’t say that you support law enforcement and veterans, and not take action. And Wyomingites don’t care much for politicians who say one thing and do another.