Cowboy State Politics

Moran ranch owner Frank Chapman is running for Congress.  He's lived in Teton County since 2011 operating the Heart 6 Ranch.  He's a lawyer and a hunting guide.  A political newcomer to Wyoming politics, Chapman says he's the right candidate because of his experience fighting the federal government.  He sat down in the studio with me on Wednesday.

Christine and I are off on another one of our adventures.  We've crossed the southern border--something about shopping and the Texas Rangers. On Friday's edition of Cowboy State Politics Live, I interviewed Rep Bill Allemand.  He just recently announced his re-election campaign.  The Supreme Court lifted the injunction on Wyoming's ESA bill.  And a lot more.  See you when we get back!!

Kevin Christensen is running for the United States House of Representatives.  He is among the 10 other people who have declared their candidacy for that office.  He spent 27 years in the military and a time as BLM director for NE Wyoming. One of the topics we focused on was the Buffalo RMP which was implemented when he was one of the heads of that agency.  I pressed him on what those BLM policies meant for Wyoming energy producers.  It's a great wide ranging discussion.

Rebecca Bextel announced Wednesday that she is seeking a nomination for Governor from the Constitution Party.  It sets up an interesting electoral scenario.  Historically, Wyoming has elected very liberal people to the Governor's mansion.  For 36 years, basically, the Democrats controlled the governor's office.  Since 2011 the Democrat party has struggled to gain voters and now is on the verge of not even being a major political party. With the nomination, Bextel would appear on the General Election ballot bypassing the primary contest.  I interviewed Rebecca this morning to make her announcement.

Friday, I interviewed Fremont HD55 Representative Joel Guggenmos about his re-election campaign.  There had been some rumblings about him living for a brief period outside of his district.  He and his wife had their rent increased 600% and so they moved. For a few months, the Guggenmoses lived in a camper a short distance outside of his district. When they found a home they could afford, Joel and his wife moved back.  Fremont County Clerk Julie Freese told the Cow Pie that he sold his home, bought a different one and then moved back.  This, of course, blew up on social media.  Saturday morning, Guggenmos issued a statement clarifying that has never owned a house.  The Cow Pie, for their part, added an editor's note to their original article...at the bottom, where few people will ever see it. I spoke with Joel early this morning to get an update.  Also included in this episode is the original interview I did with him on Cowboy State Politics Live.  

Kari Drost, Chairwoman of the Weston County Republican Party joined me to discuss Weston County's commissioners choosing not to follow statute and select someone to fill the vacancy of County Clerk.  While technically the commishes have 3 more days to comply with statute, Tuesday they tried to do the exact same thing as Sheridan county in 2022.

"In a room full of RINOs, it's better to be a bear."  Rep John Bear announces his re-election campaign.  If successful, this will be his 4th term in the Wyoming House.  During our discussion, I asked him about some of the bigger issues he and the Freedom Caucus have faced.  I pressed him on the issues that he's specifically going to do.  We also discussed some of the criticism he's faced from the other side of the aisle.

March 31st Governor Gordon issued an "Arab-American Heritage Month" proclamation.  Don't feel bad if you didn't know about it.  Nobody did.  The proclamation doesn't show up on his website and no announcement email was sent out.  At first, I thought the image I found on social media was a hoax.  After calling the Governor's Office, I confirmed that indeed he did sign it. I don't have a problem with any legal immigrant.  That's what this country was founded on.  I do, however, have an issue with artificially singling out individual groups based on race.  That's a big reason why we have such a problem in our country right now.  If the Gov wanted to make a splash, he should have proclaimed April "American Heritage Month" instead.

Earlier this week I made a screaming trip across the state to attend a Democrat sponsored legislative town-hall.  It was billed as "Come Hear the Full Story: Cheyenne, Checkgate and What's Next."  Granted, things would have turned out different had I not walked through the door; but, there was very little of the Democrats' "full story." What did happen though is Liz Storer encouraging the room to cross-over vote and a shockingly conservative argument from a Redcoat.

As it always does, the crowd at a political event tells the story.  At the Republican Convention this past weekend, one gubernatorial candidate didn't bother to step onto the stage.  He recorded a video WHILE AT THE CONVENTION and ask that it be played during his time-slot.  Another, gave a speech that was just as canned as if were given at a whistle stop. And, Brent Bien received a raucous response to his remarks.  No one at the event had to guess who the odds-on favorite was.

Chuck Gray joined me in the studio a couple of days ago.  He had just finished a town-hall in Sheridan that, at times, got a little feisty.  We had a wide ranging discussion of the race for the U.S. House and several other Wyoming centric issues.  

While Sommers was Wyoming Speaker of the House he sat on the board of the State Legislative Leadership Foundation--a group with longstanding ties to the Chinese Communist Party. Albert denied it and the Wyoming media tried to explain it away.   Now that Sommers is running for House District 20, it's important to bring it up again.

The Wyoming left continues to push the narrative that there were "cuts" to the budget in the 2026 Budget Session.  Really, there is almost a half a billion dollar increase.  Politicians like Chi-Comm Som are using the lie that there were as a campaign issue.  Was there money moved around?  Yes, but there wasn't a cut. Interestingly, after getting schooled on this point by Rep Pendergraft, Jake in the Cow Pie continues to insist that there were cuts. As is always the case, the truth is very different than the story the Redcoats are telling. Link to the Gov's budget book, Look at page 15 and 19: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CV-WakvtiWWolS2pI5VgKWGOK0JuiKb3/view 

Luke Reiner was the WYDOT Director.  Now he's running for the Wyoming House in District 8.  While at WYDOT, Reiner championed a plan to build EV charging stations every 50 miles of Wyoming's Interstate Highways.  He was told no.  A fawning puff piece in the Wyoming Tribune Eagle fails to bring up how Reiner spent months trying to convince Wyoming Citizens to go along with the EV push.

Legislators gathered for a town hall April 14 in Sheridan.  Most of the evening was a question and answer about what happened during the session.  There were, however, two exchanges in which senators were asked why a list of bills did not get heard.  The stories shifted the more the evening wore on.  First, they ran out of time; then, it was blamed on the Majority Floor Leader and finally, the bills wouldn't pass to begin with. Senators weren't the only people changing their stories.  Gail Symons is attempting to explain away her column that asked Democrats to cross over to the Republican party.

Before the filing period, no one really knows anything about the election--who's in, who's out or anything.  The only thing we can do is speculate.  However, there are a few candidates who do have voting records.  Those we can be critical of--and there's a stark difference.  In an election with a lot of candidates, they'll all be desperate for your attention.  The important part is to do your homework before you talk to them. Article on the Congressional Race: https://www.openrangerecord.com/news/227ae4e7-62be-4204-93f0-1c7f79800fef  Articles on Eric Barlow:     His environmentalism: https://www.openrangerecord.com/news/6726ce97-3f3b-472c-9220-318e56e2b605      His "Non-Profit:" https://www.openrangerecord.com/news/4edb1ff6-5f0b-47c7-a540-8963bbe48eaf  Article on Degenfelder: https://www.openrangerecord.com/news/992a97aa-447f-4085-9e4e-cab1df307676 

Sen Ed Cooper can't seem to keep his story straight.  Before the session, he told a newspaper the Freedom Caucus is given $30,000 donations if they vote right.  After I interviewed State Freedom Caucus President Andy Roth, he retracted it.  He then told our journalist that he made a mistake.  Now he's back claiming that what he said there's money spent on Freedom Caucus candidates.  During that same appearance, he couldn't keep his own voting record straight while accusing other people of lying.

Everything seems pretty normal even though there's technically a government shutdown.  I asked Rep Hageman if this is just evidence that the government is too big.  Harriet took a few minutes to address the criticism coming from the media about Iran.  We also briefly discussed her endorsement of Megan Degenfelder.

At a recent appearance in Cody, Eric Barlow said, "I was born Eric and I'll die Eric."  A truer thing could not be said.  Barlow is the same politician he has always been--one that votes with the Democrats over 80% of the time.  But he's also the same activist that he's always been. In a 2002 transcript from his testimony to Congress Barlow said that energy development is creating "destroyed soils, degraded water, and dried up aquifers."

Governor Gordon and Chuck Gray had another dust-up in the SLIB meeting.  This time The Gov told Secretary Gray to "Shut up!"  It was all over an amendment that would have mandated a citizenship check for taxpayer dollars--a reasonable proposal. The rest of the Republicans on the board tried to obfuscate the issue and kept bringing up reasons why the amendment wouldn't work.  What ensued was pretty predictable. 

The Freedom Caucus has unveiled a plan to bridge the political divide in Wyoming.  Unbeknownst to most political observers, it's been going on for a while.  They term it, "Radical Transparency."

Secretary of State Chuck Gray is running for the United States House of Representatives.  He's in a field with eight other candidates.  In a race like this, policy positions matter because that's about the only way a candidate can distinguish themselves from everyone else. We talked about what he's campaigning on and we had some time to talk some more Wyoming-centric issues.

Gubernatorial candidate Brent Bien sat down with me in the studio for the better part of an hour.  We dug into his lengthy military career.  Now, he's a retired "full-bird" colonel in the U.S. Marines.  We spoke at length about his plans should he be successful in his run.  Of course, we also discussed whether endorsements matter or not.  It's a great interview that gives you some rare insight into who he is.

David Giralt is one of the many candidates running for the U.S. House of Representatives.  He's an Army Ranger, used to work at the Pentagon and spent time in U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis' office. Though it took us a few days to find a time to visit, he joined me on Tuesday's live program.  It's a great interview.

Sheridan County held its County Convention on Saturday.  WYGOP Chair Bryan Miller introduced a bylaw change that would bar any member of the press from holding any leadership position in the party.  As you can imagine, that didn't sit very well with me.  The measure was soundly defeated--so much so that the state version of it wasn't even brought up. Teton County tried a bylaw change that tried to limit what the press can do in one of their meetings.  The trend is clear, those in power don't want the public knowing what they are doing.  

Today, the Sheridan County Republican Party is holding its county convention.  There isn't anything too controversial being proposed (unlike some other counties).  But nonetheless it is a Republican event so you never know what's going to happen. Yesterday's live program ended up being a heck of a lot of fun.  Here's a replay of it.  

Agent 29 appeared on the Cowboy State Daily morning show this morning.  It was masterpiece theater.  There was a discussion about the budget, recalibration and a few others.  But the fireworks started when Jake tried to cast budget reductions as "drastic."  It just went down hill from there. Ken's response?  Words mean things.  

Rep Hageman held several town halls across the eastern half of Wyoming this past week.  I caught up with her in Wheatland. Wyoming is in the middle of a Winter drought.  Snow packs are down and most of the state has seen more of 60 degrees than 6.  This summer, there's going to be a huge problem with water--not just for Wyoming but the surrounding states.  I asked Harriet what we can expect. A big question on everyone's mind is the SAVE America Act that appears to be hung up in the Senate.  I got a few answers from our Representative on that.

Many journalists have a problem reporting facts accurately.  The biggest problem though is their own political activism in their reporting.  That often happens in Wyoming media.  There's no better example than how the media behaved this legislative session.  It didn't matter if they had verified their facts, often they just ran with it. In one example, the author decided to misquote me, take me out of context and not tell the truth about what actually happened. 

Security footage of the entrance to the Legislative Service Office during the time of the "check incident" has been deleted.  The Wyoming Highway Patrol, in response to an open records request by The Open Range Record, said the videos had "timed out of the system" and are no longer available. This is a shocking development considering that a criminal investigation is ongoing.  It also raises serious questions about the integrity of the investigation and how the legislature deals with the public's right to know. 

Over the weekend, two resolutions of censure showed up in county GOP meetings.  Both of them failed miserably.  The reasons they were brought have nothing to do with anything Republican and everything to do with personal squabbles.  All political organizations have to have money to operate; so it doesn't make sense to try to prevent anyone from raising money. But that is exactly what the Teton County GOP and Taylor Allred attempted to do. Also, the Cow Pie (CSD) takes a stab at describing what a Republican is.  Their attempt reveals more about who the Cowboy State Daily is than anything.

The Wyoming Association of Sheriff's and Chiefs of Police has been loudly advocating against the Second Amendment Protection Act Amendments (SF101).  A lot of their testimony has not been entirely accurate. The House Appropriations committee, when hearing the bill, exposed a lot of it. The Cowboy State Daily has played right along with them publishing an article full of inaccuracies.  No surprise there!  All they had to do was read the bill.

In a rare Thursday episode, the results of the Special Investigative Committee.  Surprise there's nothing there.  What's more interesting is what the Washut's committee DID NOT investigate. While the check incident was going on, Senate President Dennis Biteman allowed a lobbyist access to the Senate floor. The Sheridan Press used a photo of a slain Sheridan police officer to push a political narrative.

Kylie Wall is the Natrona County High student who faced massive backlash from school staff for starting a TPUSA Club America chapter.  Her signs were torn down, she was told what she could and could not do--even in her free time.  Now, her chapter is up and running.   A bill she is supporting, HB159, is making its way through the Wyoming Legislature.  She joined me for an interview over the weekend.

Wyofile and Wyoming Public Media went to great lengths to paint conservatives as liars in the "Special" Investigative Committee.  It would be one thing if the two of them weren't in the room but Wyofile and WPM sat through the grueling 4 hour spectacle.  Really, they're activists masquerading as journalists. In other news, Correnti's resolutions rightfully met a quick death at the WYGOP Central Committee Meeting.  They were the 2026 equivalent of the "Me Too" movement.

Finally, I got to sit down with Rep Pendergraft, Agent 29, and talk about the session.  It's been really hard to schedule time with him. The conversation begins with a discussion of how he views representation.  Some legislators look at their emails and make decisions based on how popular one side or the other is.  Really though, according to Ken, this job is about being able to make the hard decisions. His vote on Sheridan College was one of those.  He originally fought for funding at the college and when that failed, lots of other things got added to the measure. It's a Republic and not a popularity contest.

On the Floor of the house Art Washut accused another member of reading a script that had been given to them.  There are a bunch of people who read from their phones and their computers but Art never says anything about that.   Here's the link to the article I mentioned in the show: https://www.openrangerecord.com/news/999ab213-5dcf-4d39-8a7f-6ae34f2f7fd0 

There are several gun bills moving through the Wyoming Legislature.  Mark Jones, National Director for Gun Owners of America joins me to run through all of them. He joined me on the new Open Range Record program, The Roundup.  It's a full hour of gun talk!

Governor Gordon issued an exec order banning political contributions on state grounds.  The only problem is he really can't do that--he can't even accomplish that inside the Capitol Building itself.  It is a political stunt.  And there's a little problem of him transferring $150,000.00 to his Prosperity and Commerce PAC.  Yes, it's named PAC PAC. A lot of what you're seeing is political theater; most of it is un-tethered from reality.

There was a rally Friday at the Capitol that was billed and permitted as an "Equality Rally."  Really, it was an anti-ICE, anti-law enforcement rally.  Sarah Burlingame of Wyoming Equality submitted the permit.  What transpired was over 100 people--mostly school children screaming, impeding traffic and denigrating law enforcement.

It's Valentine's Day, and I certainly can't let the day pass without giving a present to my favorite group of people, the Redcoats.  Marilyn Connoly, Julie Jarvis, Elisa Campbell, Ken Clouston and others have gone full blown Democrat.  When the final session numbers are done, Democrat Mike Yin will have voted with the Republicans more than this group. AND, Landon Brown thinks he's a Ronald Reagan Republican.  Not kidding, he said that on the CSD Morning Show.  The fun is just beginning for the 2026 Budget Session.

Rep Hageman joined the program this morning.  Today, she has U.S. Atty General Pam Bondi in front of her committee.  Though I haven't really been interested in talking about Epstein, this seemed like a good opportunity to get the scoop on it.  Turns out, there's a very good reason why a lot of those records haven't been released.  Also, I asked Rep Hageman "Why haven't we seen a bunch of people in handcuffs?"  It's a great discussion!  

The legislature kicked off today with the usual pomp and circumstance.  The only remarkable thing about Gordon's speech was what he didn't talk about--climate change.  He probably thought that'd be unpopular so instead he lectured legislators how they should do things his way.  He also promised that he would always defend Wyoming's right to export our resources.   Too bad, the legislature gave him the money to do that in 2019 and he vetoed the bill. Also, you know you've made it when the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court refers to your show in the State of the Judiciary speech.  All I can say is I'm not the one full of misinformation.

Sen Eric Barlow helped found the non-profit 501c(3) Edible Prairie Project.  Its goal is to get locally sourced goods into the hands of needy families.  A laudable goal to be sure.  The problem is that Eric Barlow is a sitting Wyoming Senator, was on the board of EPP and used the non-profit to buy meat from his own sheep! This is exactly the type of insider behavior that voters are sick of.

The Freedom Caucus has been accused of being told how to vote by some shadowy figure in DC.  It's been said that all of their political activities are run out of a clandestine office in our nation's capitol.  None of it is true.   I tracked down the President of the State Freedom Caucus Andy Roth to get to the bottom of all the smears the likes of Sen Ed Cooper, Ogden Driskill, Albert Sommers and others have been spreading.

The Wyoming left is apoplectic about the possibility of their vote buying machine going away.  For years, the Wyoming Business Council has funneled millions of your dollars to dubious projects--often losing millions.  In one case, they lost $20M on a berry farm.  In another, they gave $2M to a cosmetics company that already sold their products at Sephora. Now, Albert Sommers and Gail Symons are claiming the reason we have to keep the WBC is for community infrastructure.  The problem with that argument is we already have another office that handles that.

Appropriations Chairman Rep John Bear, also known as Lex Luthor, joined me for the entire 2 hour live program on Friday.  Anything you want to know about the hot-button budget issues, we probably talked about it. Gubernatorial candidate Brent Bien called in to talk with Rep Bear.  He was conspicuously absent from a Wyofile article about all those running for governor.  This is a great, really long form interview with the guy crafting the finances for the next two years.  It's well worth a listen!

There are a lot of problems at the University of Wyoming; not the least of which is how they've been hiding really destructive courses from the legislature.  After publishing the most recent episode on it, I got what I thought was a random social media message. Turns out, it was from a member of the James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal.  Dr. Jenna Robinson is the president of that organization.  She joined me on the show to talk about what can be done to fix a lot of these programs and the center she leads.

I spoke with Rep Hageman right before she was to cross examine Jack Smith.  We had time to walk through her decision to run for the U.S. Senate and discuss some of the bigger issues happening right now. In previous interviews Harriet has called herself a "free speech absolutist."  So, I wanted to ask her about the the Trump Administration's FCC's decision to 'go after' talk shows that favor liberal guests.  To me, that smacks of the fairness doctrine and 'net neutrality' that conservatives have been fighting against for decades.  Why are we the ones suggesting it now? At length, we discussed some of the issues she planned on asking Jack Smith about.  At the end of the program, you'll find out what happened to him when he sat across from our Representative.

Earlier this week, J.D. Wasserberger of Lusk, WY distributed a deceptively edited video of Rep Ken Pendergraft.  It purports to show the EXACT OPPOSITE of what Ken said in committee.  This is the type of politics that most of us really despise--the politics of personal destruction. Using my sources, I tracked down Mr Wasserberger and called him.  He claimed that it was he who was sent the video and he only forwarded it on.  Whether he made the video or not, it is clear from the phone conversation that he knew it was taken out of context.  When asked about it, he said, "That's just politics." Not exactly, it's the WORST kind of politics.

Governor Gordon claims that the Appropriations Committee took a chainsaw to the budget with no rhyme or reason.  The Cow Pie's headline claimed the JAC "defunded" WYPBS.  But, neither of those things are true.  To cut through the media's bullcrap, I talked with Reps Pendergraft and Haroldson--both of whom are on the legislature's Joint Appropriations Committee.  Shocker, there's a big difference between what the media is telling you and what really happened.