Once upon a time, the Wyoming Republican Party Organization had integrity. These days, not so much.

For example, the Crook County Republican Party Organization donated the whopping sum of $25,000 dollars to the Wyoming Freedom PAC.

This donation was made despite the fact that Wyoming Statute §22-25-104 says “No political party funds shall be expended directly or indirectly in the aid of the nomination of any one person as against another person of the same political party running in the primary election.”

When a Crook County Republican Official was asked about the donation, Sherry Davis, a Crook County State Committeewoman said, “A PAC is not a candidate.” As a result, the donation was legal.

Everyone in the world knows what candidates the Wyoming Freedom PAC supports. If donations are made to the Wyoming Freedom PAC, they will go to support candidates in the primary who are running against other Republican Candidates. 

How this is not “indirect” support of one person against another person in a primary is hard to comprehend. Even if the strained interpretation of the statutory language made sense, a party organization with integrity would have followed the spirit of the law.

What was the reaction of the ultra-conservative Wyoming Freedom PAC, who argues on their website they want to uphold the “rule of law”? Of course, they took the money.

Why? One could assume that obtaining power by any means is more important than following the law. For the Wyoming Freedom PAC, it appears the rule of law is negotiable depending on who benefits.

What was the reaction of the Wyoming State Republican Party Central Committee – the organization responsible for governing the county parties to this donation? By all accounts – crickets. Why? One could argue the Wyoming Republican Party does not care about the spirit of the law. 

The State Republican Party has their own issues with complying with this law. Let’s examine just one example.

Kathy Russell is paid the Executive Director of the Wyoming Republican Party. She is in charge of the day-to-day administration of the Wyoming Republican Party.

She is running against Bob Nicholas, the Republican incumbent in House District 7. 

There was a time, when a party with integrity would have asked Ms. Russell to step down from her job to run for office. She still has her job.   

One wonders, hypothetically,  if Ms. Russell is using her knowledge, position of power and influence within the party to advance her campaign, while never missing a paycheck from the Wyoming Republican Party.

Doug Gerard, for example, was chair of the Campbell County Republican Party. He stepped down from that position to run for Wyoming House. Doug Gerard demonstrated integrity.

Was there any action taken regarding this conflict of interest in advancing the interests of all Republican candidates?  None to my knowledge.

What if a Republican wanted to complain to the party about any of the Party’s actions or non-actions in these matters? What recourse would they have?

The Wyoming Republican Party developed their own secret court system to manage disputes between Republican persons or entities.

Look it up. You can find the party bylaws on the Wyoming Republican Party website. It’s frightening. Article II Section 2 of the Wyoming Republican Party Bylaws creates their own private secret court system.

A committee of not less than 5 nor more than 9 members of the State Central Committee are appointed by the Chairman of the Party, Frank Eathorne.

These rules purport to bind every Republican. They meet in secret. They have no rules of evidence or procedure.

They get to hire an attorney. They get to choose who your attorney can be. They can render a money judgement and take your property.

I personally do not submit to this process. You should tell them the same thing.

What could possibly go wrong with this process?

When the top-secret arbitration panel is made up of party insiders, selected by the Chairman of the Party and allowed to meet in secret, the result is a fait accompli. Whatever the party insiders want, they get. 

Another avenue for complaints for these violations should be to the State’s Chief Election Officer, the Secretary of State, Chuck Gray, to enforce the integrity of the election. He has his problems, too.

Tons of black money are funneling into the state, with campaign mailers that say, “Representative So and So, voted with the Radical Left to remove President Trump from the ballot.”

What really happened was Representative So and So voted not authorize Secretary of State Chuck Gray’s slush fund to litigate matters in other states. So, apparently, opposing a slush fund for the Secretary of State is tantamount to opposing Donald Trump. 

Legislators are being punished for opposing Secretary of State Gray’s slush fund with deceptive mailers, and some have even filed a lawsuit against the publisher of the deceptive mailers. 

What has Secretary of State Gray’s response been to the black money mailers? Crickets.

It used to be the party, and party officials had integrity. Not so much anymore. All we see is the unbridled pursuit of power – power over our daily lives. And who is worse to wield power over our daily lives than those who lack integrity?

Tom Lubnau served in the Wyoming Legislature from 2005 – 2015 and is a former Speaker of the House.

He can be reached at: YourInputAppreciated@gmail.com

Duke Kahanamoku was a real-life American aquaman. 

“The Father of Surfing” rode the pipeline of popularity he achieved as an Olympic champion to become the soft-spoken savior of Hawaiian heritage foretold in a king’s deathbed prophecy.

“The ocean is my temple, the waves my prayers,” Kahanamoku reportedly said, one of many quotes that have helped give surfing its spirit of oneness with the water. 

“Every wave is a chance to be reborn.”

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He is, among other things, the original “Big Kahuna” – American slang of Hawaiian origin for a dominant personality. 

Kahanamoku’s legendary exploits began splashing through Hawaii’s aquamarine surf at record-setting speed, powered only by muscular arms and legs. 

He won five Olympic medals – three of them gold – representing the United States before Hawaii was one of them. 

The Big Kahuna grew into an international icon in between the Olympics, skimming the surf on his 16-foot, 114-pound, natural-wood longboard with awe-inspiring dexterity. 

“To us, he’s the king of surfing.”

Surfing became an Olympic sport for the first time in 2020. 

It returns to the Paris games this week. Surfers around the world recognize Duke as royalty. 

“To us, he’s the king of surfing,” Kelly Slater, 11-time World Surf League champion, said in the 2022 PBS documentary “Waterman – Duke: Ambassador of Aloha.”

Kahanamoku displayed “superhuman” skills with a legendary rescue at sea, appeared in feature films and spent his twilight years as the state’s official “Ambassador of Aloha.”

Duke Kahanamoku doing one of his stunts with a surfboard at Corona Del Mar, California, while traveling 40 miles per hour on the crest of waves.  (NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images)

Kahanamoku was born at a time of tumult in his native society and is, by many accounts, the spirit foretold in a royal prophecy.

“Before they are entirely gone, there will come one in my image who shall have within himself all the glorious strength of a dying race,” Hawaii’s King Kamehameha reportedly announced on his deathbed in 1819. 

“He shall be honored throughout the world, and he shall bring fame to my people.”

‘A flutter kick and powerful strokes’

Duke Paoa Kahanamoku was born on Aug. 24, 1890, in Haleʻākala, a landmark home in Honolulu built of pink coral and known for its affiliation with members of Hawaii’s royal family. 

Kahanamoku was not among them. Duke was not a title, but his given name. His father, also Duke, was a police officer; his mother, Julia, was described as a faithful Christian. 

They had eight other children.

Duke Kahanamoku with his board at a beach in Australia, 1936.  (Harry Martin/Fairfax Media via Getty Images)

The family moved to Waikiki, its beach today one of the world’s favorite surfside vacation spots, under the dramatic emerald sparkle of Diamond Head.

Kahanamoku gained national attention in 1911 with a swimming performance that still defies credulity. 

A newcomer to official competition, he swam the 100-meter freestyle in the salt water of Honolulu Harbor in 55.4 seconds – shattering the world record by 4.6 seconds. 

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“AAU officials on the mainland were in disbelief and questioned whether it was a legitimate time,” reports the website of the United States Olympic & Paralympic Museum. “Indeed it was, as they would soon see.”

Native Hawaiians riding their surfboards at Waikiki Beach with Diamond Head in the background, Honolulu, Hawaii, circa 1925. (Underwood Archives/Getty Images)

Kahanamoku’s secret was a “a new style of swimming,” the museum writes, “with a flutter kick and powerful strokes.”

The Honolulu boy earned a spot on the U.S. Olympic team at the Stockholm games in 1912. He won his first gold medal in the 100-meter freestyle — adding a silver as part of the men’s 4×200 freestyle relay team.

“AAU officials on the mainland were in disbelief.”

He added two more gold medals in the 1920 Olympics in Antwerp, in the same two events.

Kahanamoku won his final Olympic medal, silver, in 1924 behind fellow American Johnny Weissmuller. The gold medalist became a Hollywood icon, starring in 12 films as Tarzan in the 1930s and 1940s. 

Kahanamoku would also become a familiar face on the big screen — but only after kicking up a global sports tsunami with his surfboard. 

‘Superhuman rescue’

David Kalakaua, the last king of Hawaii, opened his island paradise empire to the world before dying in 1891, just five months after Kahanamoku was born. 

Olympic gold medalists Duke Kahanamoku, left, and Johnny Weissmuller, who later played Tarzan in 12 Hollywood movies, on Waikiki Beach, Honolulu, Hawaii, circa 1927.  (PhotoQuest/Getty Images)

Among decisions with an unforeseen impact on world events, the king signed an 1875 treaty to give the United States exclusive use of Pearl Harbor.

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Outside influences brought dramatic changes to Hawaiian culture. 

“By the end of the 19th century,” reports Surfer Today, “foreign missionaries had almost ‘erased’ surfing, or the act of riding waves, from the Hawaiian Islands.”

Kahanamoku inspired surfing’s revival out of love for the sport and mythical skills. 

An advertisement for Valspar Varnish features an illustration of four men surfing the waves at Waikiki, Honolulu, Hawaii, 1922.  (Jim Heimann Collection/Getty Images)

Kahanamoku trained for the Olympics on both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, surfing in his spare time.

His incredible rides skimming the waves with dolphin-like dexterity became an international sensation – especially Down Under.

“His widely publicized surfing exhibition … lit the fuse to popularize surfing in Australia.”

“His widely publicized surfing exhibition on Jan. 10, 1915, lit the fuse to popularize surfing in Australia,” Eric Middledrop of the Freshwater Surf Life Saving Club, just north of Sydney in New South Wales, told Fox News Digital via email.

“The rest of the world soon followed.”

People who had never seen the ocean followed the Big Kahuna’s surfing exploits 10 years later, during a legendary feat of humanity that generated international headlines. 

A portrait of swimming and surfing star Duke Kahanamoku, Hawaii, circa 1912.  (Underwood Archives/Getty Images)

While surfing at Corona del Mar, California, in 1925, Kahanamoku watched with horror when a 40-foot yacht was swamped by a giant wave. 

Seventeen passengers were tossed into the ocean, many badly hurt. 

“I reached the screaming and gagging victims and began grabbing at their frantic arms and legs.” 

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“I reached the screaming and gagging victims and began grabbing at their frantic arms and legs,” Kahanamoku said in contemporary news accounts.

He rescued eight people on four or more trips back and forth to the shore on his board; fellow surfers saved four more.

Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr. and John Roosevelt are pictured with Duke Kahanamoku, center. President Roosevelt, with his sons, made the first visit of a sitting U.S. president to Hawaii in 1934. Kahanamoku gave private surfing lessons to the Roosevelt sons.  (Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library & Museum/Public Domain)

“Kahanamoku’s performance was the most superhuman rescue act and the finest display of surfboard riding that has ever been seen in the world,” Newport Beach Police Chief Jim Porter told the Los Angeles Times in a period account. 

“Many more would have drowned but for the quick work of the Hawaiian swimmer.”

‘Ambassador of Aloha’

Duke Kahanamoku died on Jan. 22, 1968. He was 77 years old and was buried at sea.

The Big Kahuna’s legend only grew in later life.

Duke Kahanamoku playing a Native chief in the 1955 film “Mister Roberts.” Kahanamoku was an Olympic swimming champion before his acting career and went on to serve as Honolulu’s sheriff for 26 years.  (Slim Aarons/Getty Images)

He appeared on the big screen in 15 films, including in “Wake of the Red Witch” with another iconic American “Duke,” his friend John Wayne. 

Kahanamoku, in his free time, played ukulele, adopted by Polynesian performers from Portuguese sailors, his musicianship forging the instrument’s affiliation with Hawaiian harmonies. 

“He was known to spontaneously dance hula,” according to a Facebook account from Duke’s Waikiki, a popular Honolulu watering hole named in honor of the hometown hero. 

“His larger-than-life presence helped America proclaim Hawaii as the 50th state, melding two cultures into one United States,” boasts the Discover Hawaii website.

Museum volunteer Cisco Torres hangs a replica picture of a United States postage stamp of surfing legend Duke Kahanamoku at the Huntington Beach International Surfing Museum in California.  (Glenn Koenig/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

Kahanamoku was named Hawaii’s official global “Ambassador of Aloha” when it joined the Union in 1959, some say fulfilling the prophecy of King Kamehameha: 

“He shall be honored throughout the world, and he shall bring fame to my people.”

To read more stories in this unique “Meet the American Who…” series from Fox News Digital, click here. 

The Big Kahuna still scans the surf for barrels and bombs around the world. He’s honored with monuments on beaches in California, New Zealand, Australia and Hawaii. 

Duke’s statue on Waikiki Beach is both a physical and cultural landmark of Hawaiian tradition.

Duke Kahanamoku Statue at Waikiki Beach in Honolulu, Hawaii.  (Prisma Bildagentur/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

The handmade surfboard he used to popularize surfing in Australia is a global treasure of the sport. It even has a human caretaker, much like hockey’s Stanley Cup. 

“We believe that this surfboard would probably be the most important piece of surfing memorabilia in Australia, if not the world,” said Middledrop of the Freshwater Surf Lifesaving Club. 

The Aussie spokesperson’s digital signature speaks to the reverence for the Big Kahuna in surf culture. Middledrop’s official title is “Duke Kahanamoku Surfboard Caretaker.”

Duke Kahanamoku was a three-time Olympic gold medalist in swimming who popularized surfing around the world.  (Hulton Archive/Getty Images; NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images; Slim Aarons/Getty Images)

Kahanamoku enjoyed equal reverence in the PBS “Waterman” documentary.

“When you come across something that is just so genuine and so good, you can’t help but drop whatever you think you know about people,” said narrator Jason Momoa.

“He changed lives just by being who he was.” 

The aroma of coffee greets visitors of Motoring Coffee, but if it’s your first trek to 1525 Union Street, you’ll likely be too distracted to notice. Instead, your attention will be focused on the most unlikely component of an everyday coffee shop: a 1986 Porsche 911 in that iconic Guards Red color. Peek past the Porsche and you’ll find a six-person communal work table balanced on the bed of a 1998 Honda Acty K truck.

Welcome to San Francisco’s new cafe celebrating classic cars and excellent coffee.

The new 2,000-square-foot cafe is the second location of the Los Angeles-based Motoring Club, founded in 2019 by owner Michael Rapetti. It’s part coffee shop, part private club — more on that later — with a space made for working, hanging out, ogling cars, and snacks. “We started as a car storage business and a social club for car enthusiasts,” Rapetti says. “And then we’ve evolved over the years into still having those elements, but also adding coffee and retail and bringing in a more public aspect.”

For coffee, the team works with Coffee Manufactory out of Los Angeles, but more recently they’re going beyond the typical offerings. Rapetti says they’re finetuning where their beans come from and sourcing from new farms and contacts, creating blends that resonate with their customers in Los Angeles (and now San Francisco) but roasted by Manufactory. Beyond the typical offerings of drip, espressos, flat whites, and lattes, the cafe will also have some specialty coffee drinks on hand, such as the popular Burnt Rubber, a cold brew drink with black sesame syrup and activated charcoal with foam on top, plus a dash of black sesame seeds that look like the tread of a tire. Motoring will also have a matcha program through a partnership with Nekohama Matcha in Los Angeles. Beyond that, Motoring makes its syrups in-house and organic, and additionally, alt-milk fanatics will appreciate that there is no upcharge on swapping to, say, almond or oat milk.

On the food side, the cafe is partnering with Saltwater Bakeshop, bringing a slate of morning pastries to the shop. Expect butter croissants, ham and cheese croissants, cinnamon twists, muffins, scones, and more, from the pop-up, a nice preview to the upcoming bakery from Saltwater slated for later this year. A breakfast sandwich from Saltwater is also in the works, as is a fridge for grab-and-go options such as overnight oats, parfaits, salads, and sandwiches. Besides the coffee and food, there’s a retail section for Motoring Coffee cups and beans, but also branded clothing and a vintage jacket section sourced by Rapetti, such as a sleek Benihana Racing jacket. The plants around the cafe are also for sale, as is the car up front — if you’re determined enough, and have pockets deep enough — which will rotate throughout the year and include cars such as a Red Bull F1 racing car or classic Alfa Romeos. The price of the car is denoted by a cheeky line on the cafe menu, which currently reads “1986 Porsche 911 — MP” denoting a Market Price for the car.

But past the Porsche and Honda truck, at the back of the cafe visitors will see a glass wall and doors that serve as the entrance to the private membership component of Motoring Coffee. To be clear, membership is unnecessary for enjoying the massive cafe space up front with its fast chargers and Wi-Fi, but behind the doors is a larger lounge area to co-work in and more cars to geek out over, such as an out-of-commission vintage Rolls Royce limousine kitted out as a meeting room. It’s worth noting that potential members can’t just show up and demand a tour — someone does need to run the coffee counter, after all — but all of that can be worked out through an inquiry on the Motoring Club website.

The cafe and car components of Motoring Club bring together a community that Rapetti has long sought out. As an “aspiring car enthusiast” who doesn’t yet own a big collection of cars, he wanted to create an accessible space and club that doesn’t require, say, a Lamborghini or Ferrari to join. The club is for a younger demographic with an appreciation for classic cars, but also, in the grander scheme of things, the cafe creates a community space for car enthusiasts in San Francisco. In that vein of community, Rapetti says they also plan to hold quarterly markets with vendors and pop-ups where they open up the entire space to the public; they’ll also project F1 races and other car events in the cafe, to change things up for visitors.

As a resident of San Francisco from 2009 to 2015, Rapetti says he always wanted a community like this, but it didn’t exist. Now he’s creating that group himself. “We’re hoping to bring some new energy and new community to what I think is already such a great vibrant neighborhood, in the city that I’m excited to be back in,” Rapetti says.

Motoring Coffee (1525 Union Street) is now open daily, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. with extended hours coming soon. For more details on Motoring Club and private membership can head to motoringclub.com/sanfrancisco.

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