Tom Lubnau: Once Upon A Time, The Wyoming Republican Party…

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