In the Wednesday, April 5, 2023 edition of The Sheridan Press, there appeared an article on page 2 entitled: “Amid leadership shakeup, GOP convention heads to Jackson.” This got our attention in the “what the heck are they talking about” manner. For the record, this article was written by a reporter for the Jackson Hole News & Guide and picked up the The Press via the Wyoming News Exchange. Here is a link to the original article.
Let’s start with the headline. The Wyoming Republican Party holds a convention every two years, during election years. The last convention was in 2022 and the next will be in 2024. In the off years, such as 2023, the party holds elections for leadership. Our spring meeting is in Jackson on May 6 and there will be elections for party leadership. The only factual portion of the headline is that we will be having a meeting in Jackson.
Oftentimes headlines are written for sensational, you’ve got to read this purposes, and the article substance is quite different. Sadly, not in this case. The second paragraph says “Returning to Jackson for the first time in over a decade for the convention [sic]….” Jackson hosted a state central committee meeting in 2016, which is less than “over a decade.”
Then we get to the following paragraph. This reeks of newspeak and propaganda.
“Establishment conservatives have formed the ‘Wyoming Caucus’ to respond to the far-right Freedom Caucus voting bloc in the state Legislature.” [emphasis added] Once again, the RINOs and their media mouthpieces want you believe they are conservatives. And those pesky Freedom Caucus followers, yup, they’re those evil far-right whackos. Let’s look at the facts: the Freedom Caucus followers vote in line with the Wyoming Republican Platform well over 70% of the time. The Wyoming Caucus members vote in a bloc with the Democrats over 60% of the time. You can fact check this on a multitude of sites that monitor voting in the Wyoming Legislature. Reality is that the Freedom Caucus followers are what we think of as Conservatives and the Wyoming Caucus members are Democrats masquerading as Republicans.
The article then moves on to slandering Karl Allred by stating that he “single-handedly blocked Teton County’s bid from being considered to host the state convention [sic]” and acted as a “one-person selection committee.” Sorry, but this is a load of horse hooey. Karl Allred is the chair of the Site Selection Committee, which is made up of three people. There were three locations submitted for the May meeting: Jackson, Newcastle, and Evanston. Because Karl is from the Evanston area, he recused himself from the decision! The remaining two members decided upon Evanston because it was the least expensive option and they felt that with gasoline prices being high and inflation running rampant, most delegates would prefer saving money.
Teton County Chair, Mary Martin, did object to the choice of location and asked that Jackson be reconsidered by the Central Committee as the location for the May meeting. What resonated with the Central Committee membership was that early May is the only time that Jackson approaches affordability. Any other meeting date is impossible due to either outrageous motel prices or questionable weather conditions. Hence, the body figured it was as good a time as any to meet in Jackson.
Lastly, what article on the Wyoming Republican Party would be complete without taking a swipe at Frank Eathorne. Frank Eathorne has been overwhelmingly elected and re-elected as State Chair. Under his guidance, the Party has fixed the financial mess that Matt Micheli left behind, has coalesced into a group guided by the Party Platform, Party Bylaws, and the State Constitution. Chairman Eathorne has been under constant attack by the media for being moral, ethical, and unbending. Natrona County party leadership, a group that has publicly stated they don’t agree with or follow the State Party Platform, has been conducting lawfare against the State Party for over four years; failing to pay their portion of the State Party operational funding as further defiance. Natrona County, and their almost equally rebellious Laramie County counterparts, have actively slandered Chairman Eathorne. Naturally, the media loves this discord and promotes it every chance they get.
There is much more wrong with the article, but these are the high points. Suffice it to say that the piece is a hit job on the State Republican Party, which is little wonder why it got reprinted in Wyoming papers such as The Sheridan Press.
Link to J-H News & Guide article: https://www.jhnewsandguide.com/news/town_county/amid-leadership-shakeup-gop-convention-heads-to-jackson/article_b08f0d85-bb8f-558c-a8c1-82d18fc40e08.html
Links to voting info: