Candidates talk issues at forum

Farm Bureau Federation and the Thermopolis-Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce, along with help from FFA, held a candidate’s forum Monday night at the Thermopolis Middle School, featuring federal, state and local candidates that will appear on the ballot November 3.

Candidates introduced themselves and then were asked some questions.

Senate District 20

Theresa Livingston has lived in Worland for the last 27 years and has experience as an Air Force medical lab tech, worked for the BLM for 15 years, has been a special education teacher and has lived in several other countries. Saying she’s tough enough to be a Democrat in Wyoming, she just wants people to get out and vote, saying, “Politics is not a spectator sport.”

Ed Cooper, born in Thermopolis, has lived a life of agriculture and spent 48 years in the oil and gas industry, including having his own businesses. He said he knows small business, he knows the area and he knows the people, our lifestyle and our values. A strong proponent of the second amendment and pro-life, he sees things happening in the state that are critical, such as a need for business and revenue. He said, “I think my experience will be invaluable and I can represent you well.”

Question: Are you looking at a sales tax increase to offset the budget deficit?

Cooper – A sales tax increase is definitely on the table. I will have to look at it really hard before voting. It’s a sales and use tax and there are pros and cons to it. Businesses create the revenue for us and taxes really impact our seniors. This is something tourism doesn’t pay the bulk of.

Livingston – One thing that bothers me is people who make less than $25,000 are hurt the most. We have really low taxes, but aren’t you proud enough of your state to give a little more?

Representative

House District 28

John Winter is pro-Trump and wants to advocate for multiple use of public land and private property rights. He said, “Remember where we come from.”

Levi Shinkle wants to see Thermop survive for another 150 years. He said we get stuck in a rut electing the same people over and over and should think about where we want the community to go from here.

Question: What are your thoughts on a business income tax?

Shinkle – I think at this point with the decline in revenue nothing should be off the table. We need to look at everything and it would be irresponsible to not look at any solution we can find.

Winter – I’m not for any new taxes. We have to do a lot of cutting at a lot of agencies before that happens as far as I’m concerned. Until those cuts are made and they’re satisfactory, we don’t need to look at new taxes.

County Commissioner

Sharena Fruciano says she has a very unique perspective on things, especially on COVID-19. As a realtor she says she talks with a diverse group of people and this community is very special to her. She would like to advocate for the county on a local and state level and be a voice for everyone, saying, “I don’t have all the answers, but I promise to listen to what you have to say and work together to get the community to survive.”

Michael Byrd knows our state is currently seeing revenue shortfalls and Hot Springs County is facing this, too. He believes the people deserve a transparent government that works for the people. He added, “If I personally benefit, or any of my businesses, I shouldn’t be standing here running. We need to bring businesses back to our community.”

Phil Scheel says he is passionate about Hot Springs County, passionate about Wyoming and he definitely sees us facing some economic, medical and other tragedies. He said, “It is our job to implement the rules. We are an extension of the state and we have the best opportunity to take the ideas to the state legislature.”

Question: What is your goal for the next four years?

Scheel – Its extremely broad. I think we deal with more issues than any other entity. We cover county roads, we take care of indigent burials, manage the airport, which is one of the best small airports in the state, and have a relationship with the town, solid waste programs, the DEQ and a pile of other things to take care of.

Byrd – The biggest thing is the budget shortfalls. We need to take a couple of steps ahead, check costs like what is it costing us down the road and stay away from wasteful spending.

Fruciano – I want to try to bring the community together. We’re the second smallest county in the state, we all know each other and hate seeing differences of opinions pulling us apart. We need better communication and more information for the people and I want to be an advocate for the people. Together we have a lot more power.

School Board

Will Farrell says his interest in being on the school board stems from his passion for kids. He has volunteered in many youth activities and sees the kids struggles and successes. He has been witness to some of the controversies and wants to help with improving things. He said he feels the board does a good job and doesn’t want to change what they’re doing, he just wants to help. He has taught in private school so he understands the dynamics with teachers, students and parents and would like to help improve some of those interactions.

Joe Martinez is currently on the board and believes our kids are the most important part of our community. He said we need to give them the keys to success and every person is important for the community to thrive. “We need to give them every opportunity to do what they want to do, be who they want to be,” he added. He admits its not always an easy decision process and it takes a lot of time and effort on the board, but “we don’t get paid for it other than the joy of watching them walk across the stage at graduation.”

Sherman Skelton has been on the curriculum coordinating council, which he says has given him a better idea of the strategies the teachers use. He’s trying to be a good student himself, learning how the district runs on a daily basis. He understands not all their decisions are popular, but he leans to the analytical and fact based side of things while keeping it good for the students. He said, “There will seldom be seven people approaching the problem with the same strategy and we need to use that as a strength to give our students the best education possible.”

Nichole Weyer said she truly enjoys working with the students as well as our state, local and national level. The education her children have received in this community is wonderful and she is proud of that. Looking at the budget shortfalls, she said we need to have good representation on our boards to ensure we’re funded, and funded well, that we should have an equitable education for our students like those in bigger cities like Casper or Cheyenne. “It is important for us to continue to provide music and trades,” she said, knowing the financial downfalls in the state are going to be a big issue for education.

Question: How are you going to address budget cuts?

Weyer - I think that the perception is that schools are overfunded and encourage you to talk to me any time about what we have faced. We’re trying to keep things going without the children being affected. Our budget is going to take a huge hit and the coming years. We were asked to cut 10-percent, which we have already done, and now we need to cut more. It will eventually affect our students. Our teachers are very underpaid in Wyoming. They work their tails off and I can say we have the best staff in the state and they deserve all we can give them.

Skelton – I have two students in the district now. When COVID hit my students didn’t like their teacher, but I learned the value of teachers and all they go through. Through adversity comes opportunity and last year we did our best. The most meaningful thing we can have is talks with our legislators. We can’t come to a solution without reaching out and asking. We’ve been looking at projections for years, so we’ve been making adjustments as we could to try to stay ahead of the game.

Martinez – We have made cuts year after year. It may not seem like it, but where we’ve benefited is student numbers. What we get is based on a three-year average of the number of students, so we have to make those cuts very carefully. I will advocate working with the legislators, calling and emailing. We’re all working together to do what’s best for our kids, but if they don’t know our community, they can’t see where we’re using those funds to the best of our ability. For us, its always kids first.

Farrell – I don’t have the history of understanding what they’ve dealt with in the past, but do know things are going to get even more pinched the way our economy is. The tax revenue isn’t going to be there and it has a trickle down effect. You can’t squeeze blood from a turnip, so its going to take some good thought, good leadership and maybe other ways of looking to raise some funds to continue to keep things going.

Town council

Bradyn Harvey is running for Thermopolis Town Council. He is running because he cares deeply about the wellbeing of Thermopolis. He wants to help it and its small businesses in any way he can. Harvey said, “I am hardworking and worked in the oil fields for 10 years, which forged my work ethic. And I hold myself to the highest integrity. I do whatever I say I’m going to do.” 

Harvey said that he is for small government and believes that the local government needs to be efficient, transparent and fiscally responsible. He said he understands finances and has managed large budgets. 

Harvey held two small protests in the downtown this summer to gain the attention of the governor to reopen the economy. Also, Harvey and his brother put on the demolition derby in order to help the community and its businesses, many of whom sponsored the event. Harvey said that they weren’t expecting a profit but did and gave it back to locals and the schools.

Bill Malloy is up for reelection as a town council member. He is a Wyoming native who has been in Thermopolis for 55 years. He was born and raised in Laramie and graduated from the University of Wyoming. He taught music in Thermopolis for 42 years and was a substitute teacher for 14 years. He was the mayor for eight years. Malloy said, “I have a great knowledge of working with six million dollar budgets with the town. We have gone through many cutbacks. We went through six years of cutting 10 percent a year every year, and we managed to never lay anybody off and keep things moving.”

Malloy said, “I am a Christian, a constitutional conservative Republican, and proud of that. I’m running on experience. I have more experience right now than anyone on the council. Knowledge, quality leadership, dedication to the Town of Thermopolis. We need to keep continuity, especially in these tough times on budget cuts.”

Dusty Lewis is also up for reelection as a town council member and was not present for the event.

United States Senator

Merav Ben-David is running for U.S. Senator for Wyoming and she sees our young people getting the best education we can give them. As a professor and researcher for the University of Wyoming for 21 years though, she said those students are facing a cliff – no opportunities, a narrow economy and no job prospects. She said we are at a crossroads and can continue in the same rut and run off the cliff or we can take a different direction. She wants to improve infrastructure, healthcare, access to healthcare, education and a real equality state. “My vision is based on facts that are science based and will bring a new future to Wyoming,” she said.

Cynthia Lummis was not in attendance, however she did send a letter, read by Mike Baker, saying its time to get our economy back on track. She would like to see expanding energy production and truly understands the tremendous challenges our farmers and ranchers have been facing. Getting policy in place so they may sell their products directly to the consumer is something she plans on working toward as well as working tirelessly, fighting for Wyoming’s people.

United States

Representative

Richard Brubaker talked about several of the things he’s running on including being anti-war. He believes we need to stop wasting money on wars and bring our soldiers home. He would like to see a budget-based free healthcare system, as well. As a taxi driver in Riverton he said he sees a lot of drugs and alcohol everywhere and this “is not working for us. We have more people living off welfare. We need jobs. I look at the mountains every morning and wonder what collateral we have to pay off our massive national debt and all I can think of is our massive public lands.”

Jeff Haggit grew up in Michigan and has been on several councils over the years. He says our rights have been chipped away at, little by little and its horrendous how many we’ve given up in the interest of security. He believes our debt is outrageous, is against mandated vaccines and believes we should make our own decisions what goes into our bodies.

Liz Cheney and Lynnette Grey Bull were not in attendance but will also appear on the ballot.