Campaign finance reports released recently show out-of-state political action committees are spending tens of thousands of dollars in Wyoming races.

That’s in addition to spending by two in-state PACs representing both factions of the Wyoming Republican Party, the Freedom Caucus and Wyoming Caucus, which also raised thousands.

The Make Liberty Win PAC based in Virginia spent just over $370,000 to support some candidates and attack others. The PAC has said it’s “dedicated to electing 250 liberty-defending state legislators.”

The money was used for texts, phone calls and mailers to Wyoming voters.

Many of those mailers contained misinformation, like listing the wrong dates for early voting and an incorrect photo of a state legislator. That was discovered through a WyoFile investigation.

Make Liberty Win spent almost $7,500 supporting Rep. Rachel Rodriguez-Williams (R-Cody) with texts and phone calls to voters. She’s been endorsed by the far-right Wyoming House Freedom Caucus.

At the same time, they spent nearly $9,200 opposing current House Speaker Albert Sommers (R-Pinedale) using the same methods.

Sommers has been a frequent critic of the Freedom Caucus.

The Virginia-based Make Liberty Win is primarily funded by a libertarian student activist organization in Texas called Young Americans for Liberty.

Another financial report published this week shows the Western Way Action PAC out of Denver has spent $47,800 in the Cowboy State. Its website says it “supports conservative leaders and commonsense policies that create economic development opportunities, promote free-market principles and drive real solutions.”

That money was used for mailers to support some incumbent candidates in races for the Board of Carbon County Commissioners.

However, at least one candidate posted on social media last week that the mailers were sent without their knowledge or permission.

That candidate, Sue Ellis Jones, said on Facebook, “it is sad that the tactics of national politics has [sic] come to the local grassroots level. A last minute campaign push is not fair to the other candidates in the race.”

Wyoming’s primary elections are Aug. 20.

This reporting was made possible by a grant from the Corporation For Public Broadcasting, supporting state government coverage in the state. Wyoming Public Media and Jackson Hole Community Radio are partnering to cover state issues both on air and online.

A White House initiative to provide internet access to all Americans has cleared Wyoming for the largest federal investment in broadband yet.

The Biden-Harris administration has been working with states to create proposals and map data for a massive broadband build out. Wyoming was approved to receive over $347 million in grant money to work toward “internet for all” in the state. The approval means the state can now request access to the funds and get started making its proposed statewide broadband service a reality.

“That is $347 million to help connect over 39,000 homes and businesses in the state,” said Courtney Dozier with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA).

The goal is to create a network of connectivity across the state that ensures Federal Communications -Commission (FCC) regulatory broadband speeds. That means at least 100 megabits per second for downloads and 20 megabits per second for uploads.

Dozier expects Wyoming will have “shovels in the ground” by 2025.

Where’s all the construction? 

The Biden administration had received criticism that the “internet for all” initiative, or the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act, hadn’t connected any homes since its announcement in 2021.

Republicans and Trump’s appointee to the FCC, Brandon Carr, have pointed to bureaucracy and mandates within the BEAD program that place regulatory pressure on private companies and slow the build-out. However, the NTIA says it’s a massive project and a lot of money to hand out with proper preparation.

“With this historic level of investment. $42 billion from Congress and the Biden-Harris administration that we’re not likely to get again. We need to come up with a plan to connect everyone,” said Dozier.

Wyoming, like other states, had to plan and complete a detailed map of where internet connection exists, and where it does not. A map of underserved (slow internet speeds) and unserved (very slow speeds or no connection) areas was necessary.

“We have been working really closely with states and territories to receive their proposals that they submitted on what they’re going to do to accomplish this goal,” said Dozier. “How are they going to spend this money and make sure that at the end of the day, everyone in Wyoming that’s currently un- and underserved … has that access at the end of this program.”

Wyoming last year was pre-approved for the funds so the state could incorporate federal investments in the planning stage. Now that Wyoming’s plan is finalized, $347,877,921.27 in funding can begin to be put into action.

$300 million alone won’t be enough

While this is the largest federal investment made in Wyoming for the purpose of broadband connectivity, it’s by no means the only. In a state as vast as Wyoming, full connection is an expensive endeavor.

In 2018, the Wyoming state government set aside some $10 million for the Wyoming Broadband Advisory Council (part of the Broadband office), funds that would help start a mapping project for the state and promote broadband expansion.

In 2019, the U.S. Department of Agriculture began the ReConnect Loan and Grant Program, which allowed state governments, cooperatives and corporations to apply for development of broadband services in rural areas that might otherwise be too expensive for market-incentivized building to occur. Wyoming saw funding from that program in 2020 and 2022

The U.S. Department of the Treasury has given Wyoming over $70 million in competitive grant funding from the Capital Projects Fund for last mile broadband connection. This program awarded five companies $70 million for development in the past. Visionary Broadband was recently awarded another allocation of these funds by the Wyoming Business Council Broadband Office for the additional fiber project in Cheyenne.

Despite all these investments, the act of completed, working, high-speed connections will take time. Dozier said the administration and the federal government is ready to keep working on this project well into the future.

“This is a huge priority for you and so we’re going to continue to dedicate the kind of time and resources to land the program over the next five to six years.” said Dozier.

Fiber in my backyard?

In previous interviews with WPR, former head of the Wyoming Broadband Office, Elaine Zemple, said, “I don’t think we will reach 100 percent. But it’ll be in the high 90 percent,” in response to the federal goal of “internet for all.”

This was for two reasons. One being the difficult, vast and undeveloped terrain of Wyoming. And two, the privacy wishes of those who want to disconnect as much as possible.

The NTIA appears understanding of some Wyomingites’ desire to unplug – or choosing to not receive access in the first place – so long as the reasoning is there.

“If you’ve built a hunting lodge in the middle of [Wyoming], in the middle of nowhere, because you want to disconnect, we’re not going to force you to get internet service,” said Dozier.

However, she said an objection of some kind would have to be made.

“[Maybe] a broadband serviceable location that does not want it. Maybe they have religious objections. Maybe there’s other objections. Because don’t forget, too, that the person living in that home might not always be living in that home.”

The Biden administration would like to see fiber laid out as much as possible, alongside other broadband components made here in the United States,although some of those restrictions were recently lifted. The fiber focus did not come without criticism, including in Wyoming, but the administration appears open to working with states to use alternative technologies.

“Based on that calculation and the priorities for the program, it is a kind of fiber preference,” said Dozier. “We are working with Wyoming and every state and territory to support them pushing out the most reliable technologies as far as they can, while ensuring that everyone is getting access to high speed, affordable, reliable Internet, which may take on various different forms.”

Some of those technologies are hybrid networks or fixed-wireless connections that can be used to more cost-effectively get high speed service around mountains and out to rural, small communities.

Public involvement 

Dozier stressed that the public should be involved in this process. Part of Wyoming’s map-making process included talking with nonprofits, local governments and internet service providers about where the internet can or should be built.

But that doesn’t cover everyone, according to Dozier. She says the public still needs to voice their concerns, as they have been offered to do so in the past.

“[Continue] to engage with your state broadband office, with your local governments, is going to be key to the success of the program,” she said.