Wyoming
Attorney Says Wyoming GOP Can’t Claim Autonomy When It ‘Sat On’ Rights For 40 Years
The Wyoming Republican Party can’t use its autonomy rights as a defense when sued if it “sat on” those rights for 40 years, an attorney suing the party argues.
A group of Hot Springs County Republican Party leaders sued the Wyoming Republican Party, its Dispute Resolution Committee and a few of its officials last year, alleging that the party violated state law by giving voting power to outgoing officials who weren’t precinct delegates chosen by a vote of the people.
While this case has been unfolding, the Wyoming Republican Party announced that it’s going to quit following the state laws that pertain to it in light of a 1989 U.S. Supreme Court case, Eu v San Francisco County Democratic Central Committee, affirming parties’ rights to dictate their own fate as private groups.
“We are reasserting, not asking for our rights,” Wyoming GOP Chair Bryan Miller said at the state party’s April 23-25 convention. “Wyoming will have to fight this if they want to fight this.”
Miller also said that, “the party’s rights have been violated for nearly four decades.”
Why Didn’t They Say So Before
The state GOP cited that same case and filed that same defense in the Hot Springs County case.
The plaintiffs’ new attorney Kate Mead, who replaced the original attorney Clark Stith as the latter is now a judge, told a court Friday that this logic doesn’t work.
That’s because of a legal concept called “laches.”
It means that when someone takes “unreasonable delay” in asserting his rights, and others suffer for that delay, the court will deny relief to the person who caused that delay, according to Black’s Law Dictionary.
Mead pointed to Miller’s comments to the convention’s bylaws committee.
“The chairman of the WRP’s statements … were the first that plaintiffs learned that the WRP had sat on its constitutional rights argument for nearly 40 years,” wrote Mead in her argument. “Why hasn’t the WRP sought review of Wyoming election law prior to this case?”
Mead noted that the Wyoming Supreme Court told a subgroup of the GOP, the Uinta County Republican Party, how to notify the Wyoming attorney general when launching a constitutional challenge during its 2023 case on these same arguments about autonomy.
“WRP’s delay of nearly 40 years, according to their own chairman, is undeniably inexcusable as a matter of equity,” wrote Mead. “WRP failed to file a direct constitutional challenge against the state, instead causing the plaintiffs here untold disadvantage, injury, time and money.”
Mead noted that the 2023 Uinta County case stemmed from the same basic dispute about which party leaders can vote, and whether the party can rely on its own bylaws rather than state law for that decision.
“And, as expected, here we are again,” she said, chalking the recurring dispute up to a lack of clarity and the party’s delay in vindicating its rights in court.
She’s asking the case judge, Uinta County District Court Judge James Kaste, to let her add her argument into this case.
Kaste is also expected to make a decision in the coming days on whether to dismiss the case or keep it alive for trial, a phase called “summary judgment.”
But That’s New
That’s not the whole story, Miller told Cowboy State Daily in a Wednesday phone interview.
The party has long had clashes over its rights and the restrictions state law places on it, but he didn’t know about the Eu case until Jan. 17 of this year when the party’s attorney, Caleb Wilkins, unearthed it for him, Miller said.
Before that point, the existence of that case was a theme of “scuttlebutt,” Miller said.
“I had heard there was a case out there. I’ve since found out that they tried to bring it up in the Uinta County case,” he said.
But Frank Eathorne was the state GOP chairman at that time, and Uinta County waged that case apart from the state party besides, said Miller.
He said the Eu case probably would have changed the outcome for Uinta County GOP, but the Wyoming Supreme Court wouldn’t hear that argument.
That’s because no one notified the state attorney general that the state’s laws were under attack as unconstitutional, as the law requires, court documents say.
“I’d been bugging our attorney, you know, for a couple months, December timeframe,” said Miller “Then January he goes, ‘I found the case you’re talking about.’”
Miller told bylaws committee members on April 23 that the party intends to challenge Wyoming in federal court to vindicate its rights.
He told Cowboy State Daily on Wednesday it’s getting close to filing.
Meanwhile, The AG
Wyoming Attorney General Deputy Megan Pope is defending Wyoming’s laws in this case and asserts they’re constitutional.
While Pope has acknowledged the power of Eu, she’s also pointed to later cases setting up a tiered test by which a state may survive a party’s claims of autonomy by showing that its laws only burden the party minimally.
On Friday, Pope added another argument: the state Republican Party is not wholly private. It manages public functions.
Wyoming law tells major parties that their county central committees must comprise people elected at the primary election from within their respective neighborhoods.
It tells them to help fill vacancies when partisan elected officials leave office mid-term, as the party matching the incumbent’s affiliation chooses three nominees to replace him.
And state law tells the major parties they can’t financially back one candidate over another in the primary election. That’s generally read to mean the parties can’t endorse candidates in the primary election.
Party leaders at the convention April 25 said the party wants to endorse candidates, impose loyalty tests and assert its autonomy in other ways.
“These statutes do not intrude on private associational rights,” wrote Pope in her new Friday argument. “Instead, they regulate the composition of party committees that perform public functions.”
She pointed to cases addressing that quasi-public category.
“The First Amendment protects a party’s right to organize itself and conduct its own affairs,” wrote Pope, with a reference to the Eu case, “But when a party exercises powers ‘traditionally exclusively reserved to the State,’ it is treated as a state actor and its actions become subject to constitutional constrain under the public function doctrine.”
The quote within Pope’s quote there is from the 1974 U.S. Supreme Court case of Jackson v. Metro Edison Co. — addressing the public functions of public utilities.
This case is ongoing, and Kaste has not yet ruled whether to dismiss it as too legally settled for trial or let it go to a jury.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
A father-and-son duo of Blackfeet artists are visiting Riverton and Jackson this week to share their unique takes on ledger art. The events are part of Central Wyoming College’s week-long Native Voices celebration.
Terrance Guardipee and Terran Last Gun will share their work and perspectives during “Behind Linear Narratives: Indigenous Plains Ledger Art,” at the Intertribal Center at CWC’s Riverton campus on May 6 starting at 5:30 p.m.
The two also have an exhibition opening at the Jackson Hole History Museum on May 7, which will be part of an art walk featuring Native artists and Indigenous-inspired food tastings taking place that same evening.
Plains Indian communities lost one of their main canvases when the U.S. government and white settlers started eradicating bison in the mid-1800s. That’s how ledger art was born: Instead of documenting significant events on hides, people would find ways to acquire and draw on filled-out accounting books as a way to keep telling their stories.
Terrance Guardipee
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Central Wyoming College
Terrance Guardipee was introduced to the visual storytelling style by his mentor George Flett in the late 1990s. Flett gave Guardipee eight sheets of ledger paper to try it out.
“ He was a huge influence on me and guided me through my art career,” said Guardipee. “I went to the Institute of American Indian Arts and so did he. We had that connection.”
Flett, Guardipee and a collection of other artists worked together to revitalize and elevate the art form, and eventually succeeded in getting it recognized as its own competitive category at the Sante Fe Indian Market in 2009.
“ All of us had our own role in what we were doing and none of us looked the same,” he said. “Our art didn’t look the same. We were all individual people.”
Over time, Guardipee developed his own unique ledger art style, moving from a more traditional single-page approach to mixed-media collages that include old documents and antique maps – the more coffee-stained and marked-up, the better.
“ I grabbed stock certificates, checks, receipts, music paper, anything I thought my ancestors, if they came across it and they were doing this kind of work, they would’ve used,” he said. “ Each document wasn’t just a random document to me. They all went with the piece.”
The art form, in its many different iterations, has now grown far beyond its Plains roots, expanding all over Indian Country and among women artists, according to Guardipee. But he said his advice to people curious about the form is to create from their own cultural experiences, rather than replicate the symbols or imagery used by other artists.
Terran Last Gun
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Central Wyoming College
“ Get maps of where you’re from. That’s your homeland. Your ancestors are there,” he said. “Their blood’s been there [for] thousands of years. Draw on those. Represents where you’re from.”
Guardipee’s son, Terran Last Gun, is an acclaimed visual artist in his own right and also attended the Institute of American Indian Arts in Sante Fe, New Mexico. He took up a version of ledger art, but with his own more contemporary twist grounded in geometric shapes and bright colors.
Terrance Guardipee
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“ Our ancestors evolved. We evolve. Ledger art evolves,” said Guardipee. “You go to my son, doing very abstract-looking ledger art, but it still connects to our culture. It still has to do with who we are, just in a different way of telling the story.”
The duo have both come away with top prizes at the Santa Fe Indian Market in recent years. For Guardipee, watching the ledger art movement grow and then seeing his son find his own path with the form is “the icing on the cake.”
CWC’s Native Voices event also includes screenings of the documentary “Free Leonard Peltier” in Riverton on May 5 and in Jackson on May 6. Film producer Jhane Meyers, who also worked on the 2022 film “Prey” in the “Predator” franchise, will be at both screenings for a post-showing discussion.
The celebration will wrap up on May 9 with the free sixth annual Teton Powwow at the Snow King Event Center in Jackson. The events are free and open to all.
CASPER, Wyo. — On Tuesday, Rep. Elissa Campbell announced her campaign for reelection to Wyoming House District 56.
A release from Campbell says that she’s determined to continue “a commitment to strong conservative leadership, fiscal responsibility, and ensuring that the people of Wyoming have a clear unwavering voice in their state government.”
Campbell is a Wyoming native and University of Wyoming alumna. She currently serves as the executive director for the Wyoming Foundation for Cancer Care. She is also a Casper Rotarian and volunteers with Casper’s Sleep in Heavenly Peace, which builds beds for kids in need.
Campbell has served in House District 56 since August 2024, taking over for former Representative Jerry Obermueller.
“Since taking office, Representative Campbell has diligently represented the values and priorities of the people of District 56 and communities across Wyoming,” the release states. “Her legislative efforts have focused on protecting Wyoming’s economy, defending individual freedoms, strengthening families, and ensuring responsible stewardship of taxpayer dollars.”
Campbell has supported and advanced legislation that promotes energy independence. She has also advocated for policies that support local government, law enforcement and small businesses.
“Serving as the Representative for House District 56 has been a tremendous honor,” Campbell said. “Wyoming deserves leaders who listen, work hard, and never forget who they represent. I am running for re-election to continue fighting for our communities, our values, and our Wyoming way of life.”
Campbell emphasized that her campaign will continue to prioritize the principles that have guided her term: limited government, personal responsibility, economic opportunity and preserving Wyoming’s traditions for future generations.
“As long as I have the privilege of serving, I will continue to be a strong and independent voice for the people of Wyoming,” Campbell said. “District 56 deserves leadership that reflects our values and puts Wyoming first.”
The release notes that Rep. Campbell will host a series of community events in the coming months to meet with voters and discuss priorities for the next legislative session.
In her first term, Campbell sponsored House Bill 22, co-sponsored House Bill 208 and helped advance Senate File 145.
On Aug. 20, 2024, Campbell defeated a pair of challengers to win the primary race for House District 56. She received 806 votes, roughly 55% of the ballots cast. Pete Fox received 37% of the votes and Pamela Mertens received 8% of the votes.
For more information on Campbell, visit www.campbell4wyoming.com.
Related
by Maggie Mullen, WyoFile
After the Wyoming GOP voted to defy a state law prohibiting the party from backing one Republican over another before the primary election, statewide candidates are split on whether they would accept such an endorsement.
Some told WyoFile they agree with the party’s decision and will seek out an endorsement, while others said they oppose a political party breaking election law. A few said they were taking a wait-and-see approach.
“Jury’s still out on this one for me,” Wyoming State Auditor Kristi Racines said Wednesday.
For years, the Wyoming Republican Party has argued that because it is a private organization, state laws that govern its organizational structure and prohibit it from endorsing or financially backing candidates in opposed primary election races are unconstitutional.
At its convention in Douglas last weekend, the party took things into its own hands, voting to adopt bylaws establishing a process for vetting, endorsing and spending money to support candidates ahead of the primary.
Supporters of the new bylaws point to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling from 1989, which struck down California’s ban on political party endorsements, ruling that the law violated the First Amendment’s guarantees of free speech and association. Opponents, meanwhile, raised concerns at the convention about the bylaws breaking the law, litigation costs and unintended consequences.
The new bylaws are widely expected to spark lawsuits, while the Wyoming Republican Party has said it plans to file its own legal challenge against the state.
In the meantime, the new bylaws lay out a process for evaluating candidates based on “commitment to the Wyoming Republican Party Platform, demonstrated loyalty to the Party’s principles, legal eligibility to hold office, and for incumbents, their voting record.”
The state party will consider candidates running for Wyoming’s state-elected officials — including governor, secretary of state, superintendent of public instruction, treasurer and auditor — as well as congressional candidates. Otherwise, county parties “may vet all other races on their respective County Ballots,” according to the new bylaws.
The state party, as well as each county party, “shall each create and oversee a Candidate Vetting Committee empowered to review and recommend approval or disapproval of candidates based on established criteria,” the bylaw states. “The Committee shall provide candidates an opportunity to respond to concerns prior to issuing a recommendation.”
Candidates
Brent Bien, who is running for governor, told WyoFile the bylaw changes are “a long time coming,” pointing back to the 1989 ruling.
“I think we just got to make sure we get those folks that truly believe on the Republican side of the equation, who truly believe in the platform and what Wyoming stands for,” Bien said. “And I just don’t think there’s been any enforcement mechanism to do that.”
At the convention, Bien was a clear favorite among many attendees who wore his campaign buttons and t-shirts. Still, Bien said he wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t get the party’s endorsement.
“I didn’t get Trump’s endorsement,” Bien said. “And some of these legislators around the state, you know, they haven’t endorsed me.”
Bien’s take isn’t shared by all the gubernatorial candidates.
“Contested primaries should be decided by voters,” Gillette Sen. Eric Barlow wrote in a statement. “The role of the state party is to unite Republicans around shared values and help grow the party, not decide elections before voters have had their say.”
“Under current law, the state party should not choose sides in Republican primaries, and I will not ask them to start now,” he wrote. “My job,” running for governor, “is to earn the trust of Wyoming voters directly.”
At the convention, supporters of the bylaws said the party had tried to get the Legislature to change state statute. Barlow directly pushed back on that argument.
“As a legislator for the past 14 years, this issue has never come before us,” Barlow said. “If it had, it would have ensured all Wyomingites could weigh in and decisions would have been made openly and transparently — not in the courts and not a few months before an election.”
Secretary of State Chuck Gray, who is running for U.S. House, told WyoFile he supports the new bylaws.
“I will participate in the Party’s vetting process and will seek their support because I’m the only candidate in this race with a proven record of standing up for conservative principles — even when it wasn’t popular with the media and the insiders,” he wrote in a statement.
As secretary of state, Gray is Wyoming’s chief election officer and oversees statewide election administration. Asked if he wanted to comment in his official capacity on the Wyoming Republican Party’s decision to defy state law, Gray did not respond by publishing time.
U.S. House candidate David Giralt took a more cautious approach when asked for his opinion on the new bylaws.
“I trust Wyoming Republicans to make good decisions for our party, and I’ll let the process play out,” Giralt said. “I’m focused on getting in front of as many Wyoming voters as possible and making the case for why I’m the right person to represent this state in Congress.”
Kevin Christensen, another U.S. House candidate, said he wanted to see how fair, transparent and consistent the process played out before weighing in.
“The Wyoming people are the ones that make the determination in the primary, not the party,” he said. “That being said, if this is about supporting candidates and determining who is really a Republican and who’s just putting an ‘R’ next to their name, that seems like that would be consistent with being the Republican Party.”
Jillian Balow, yet another candidate for U.S. House and former superintendent of public instruction, said she “would be honored to accept an endorsement and money from the state party only if it is in accordance with Wyoming and federal law.”
“The contingency of our party at the convention knew the changes they made defied state law and they curtailed delegate discussion to pass new by-laws anyway,” Balow wrote in a statement. “Some delegates were appalled, some were gleeful, and many were silent, because they were silenced. This is not the way Wyoming does business.”
U.S. House candidate Reid Rasner also pushed back on the new bylaws.
“As a pro-Trump conservative, I always expected the political establishment to try and stop our campaign,” he wrote in a statement. “But, after making over 200 stops across our communities, one thing is clear: people are tired of the political games.”
Sheridan Republican Rep. Tom Kelly, who is running for superintendent, said while he opposes “the idea of parties having the power to disallow anyone from running under their banner,” he thinks “parties should be able to express publicly which people they would like to represent them.”
Though he’s not actively seeking endorsements, Kelly said he would accept support from the state party.
“Financial backing? Absolutely,” Kelly said. “Contrary to a popular false narrative, I have no wealthy D.C. donors bankrolling me.”
And if the party endorsed one of his opponents, Kelly said he would tell them, “Congrats. I should have done a better job presenting myself.”
WyoFile reached out to other statewide Republican candidates, including those running for governor, secretary of state, superintendent, U.S. House and U.S. Senate. They did not respond by publishing time.
This article was originally published by WyoFile and is republished here with permission. WyoFile is an independent nonprofit news organization focused on Wyoming people, places and policy.
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