Political dinner party

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

By Henry Sweets

Jackson Hole, Wyo.-Last week’s Lincoln Day dinner, held at Spring Creek Ranch, brought to town three of the top Republican candidates for the state’s lone seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. This annual dinner provides an opportunity for county Republicans to raise funds and solidify common goals. Each county hosts a dinner during the spring, allowing Republican candidates to campaign within their own party.

After a cocktail hour where the general public had an opportunity to schmooze with elected officials and candidates, people took their seats to hear Senator John Barrasso deliver the keynote address, who shared anecdotes about connecting with the people of Wyoming and talked about his recent trip to Afghanistan.

Teton County Republican Party chairman, Joe Schloss, read a few brief messages including one from House District Representative Monte Olsen, which reported that Olsen might not run for re-election next year due to health reasons. He has until May 30 to announce. Local attorney Steve Duerr has announced he will run for that seat.

House candidate Mark Gordon, from Buffalo, Wyo., took the stage and noted his extensive background in ranching and his past employment with big oil companies, but urged the crowd not to forget his close ties to the conservation community. He has served on Wyoming’s Environmental Quality Council in several capacities. He promised that if elected he will promote compromise and unity within the party and he also accused recent Republican government officials of big spending, sending the nation’s economy into debt. “We need to work together to get this country back on track,” he said.

Gordon emphasized strong borders and a need to send home those who are here illegally. Conversely, he stressed that the nation needs an efficient and sizable guest worker visa program - an issue that greatly affects Wyoming.

When asked in a later interview about oil and gas development and Wyoming’s boom and bust past, Gordon said that people in Wyoming once thought “it was either good jobs or a good environment, and that’s a silly idea. … Tell me what person … doesn’t want a good environment, and doesn’t want a good quality of life.”

Next, Republican hopeful Cynthia Lummis, former Wyoming state treasurer, spoke. Lummis has been in Wyoming politics since she ran for the state House of Representatives at 23 years old.

“States are the great incubators for ideas,” Lummis told the crowd. “We in Wyoming have much to share with Washington, and Washington has much to learn from us.”
Lummis said that her experience at the state level has prepared her to become a key innovator at the national level.

“This country needs to become energy independent, free from foreign oil … and we have the technical expertise and on the ground experience in this state to help this country learn how to do it,” she said.

She cited not only the state’s capacity to develop energy technology, but also her own experience as Treasurer managing Wyoming’s $8 billion in mineral revenues with a sovereign trust. Lummis wants to develop a similar trust for the nation’s mineral wealth. These funds currently cycle into the federal budget as revenue, but she would like to establish a permanent mineral trust to be managed and invested in stocks and bonds, the revenues from which will fund the management of federal lands, including the National Park Service.

The last candidate to speak Bill Winney, a retired Captain of the U.S. Navy, who has been calling Wyoming his home base since 1978. Winney spent six years working in Washington D.C. as an administrator in the Department of Defense, working on Tomahawk Missile and submarine programs.

Winney said that Wyoming needs to learn how to assert its own “science” of doing things in the light of external federal forces that might squeeze out Wyoming’s interests. When asked about our natural resources, both mineral and ecological, Winney said, “If we want to preserve things, we need to protect them with a strong nation and strong economy. We can’t keep sending money oversees, so we need to do things to develop our resources in this country.” Industry will try to do things the cheapest way possible, he said, but we “can learn how to minimize the footprint” of development, and that might mean mineral companies have to spend more money.

Photo by ANDREW WYATT
John Barrasso speaks at a meeting for Lincoln County Republicans at Spring Creek Ranch Thursday night.

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Political dinner party | Planet JH News Article: General Politics

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