What the office seekers had to say at Meet the Candidates night

At the end of July, the Farm Bureau Federation and the Hot Springs County Thermopolis Chamber of Commerce held the Meet the Candidates event at the Thermopolis Middle School. The gathering was very well attended by local residents and others who came to hear what the candidates had to say and their positions.

United States Representative

Starting the event were the candidates for the United States Representative. Republican Harriet Hageman and Democrat Steve Helling were present. The other candidates, Republicans Anthony Bouchard, Denton Knapp, Liz Cheney, and Robyn M. Belinskey, were not present for the event. Democrats Lynnette GreyBull and Maghan R. Jensen also were not present for the event.

Republican Hageman said that she grew up on a ranch outside Fort Laramie and lives in Cheyenne. She is a water, natural resource, property rights, and constitutional attorney who practiced law for over 30 years. Hageman added, “I’m running because I believe that Wyoming deserves to have a representative that understands your values. That will represent you, will represent Wyoming.” Hageman addressed the issues of inflation, open borders, and the protection of energy jobs. 

Hageman described that many people in Wyoming told her about their concerns, where they said, “We want someone who is accountable to us. We want someone who does understand our issues. We want someone who will come to Wyoming and talk to us. We want somebody who will come and be answerable to us. And so one of the commitments that I have made as I have traveled is that as your representative, I will come back to Wyoming and I will visit every single county, every single year and hold town halls where I can talk to you about not only what is going on in Washington, DC, but I can also hear from you as to the issues that are important to you. You will be able to hold me accountable for the votes that I made, and we may not always agree, but I can assure you I will come back to explain myself and will have an opportunity to talk about it.”

Democrat Steve Helling is from Cheyenne and said, “I am running because, like 90% of Americans, I was not happy with the direction this country has headed. In fact, in addition to not being happy, it actually was bad. I have lived in the greatest country in the world all my life. I’m getting older now and I think it’s heading in the wrong direction. I’m mad about this January 6th committee… because there’s no end in sight. I’m mad when I hear Mrs. Cheney state saying that you cannot be loyal to President Trump and to the US Constitution. I’m not sure what she means when she says you can’t be loyal to the US Constitution, but if you’re not loyal to the US Constitution, it seems to me that you may be a traitor. I mean, I think we’re all loyal to the US Constitution and her attack on anyone who voted for President Trump is insulting to me, so I’m mad about that.”  

Helling added that he wants to see the United States be energy independent, control the border, and have low inflation. Helling also wants to address the supply chain issues and how they affect the farming community. Helling said he is an environmentalist but also in favor of developing fossil fuels and is anti-nuclear energy. Hellin is also pro-life and pro-gun.

Governor

For the office of Wyoming Governor, Republican candidates James Scott Quick and Rex Rammell, as well as Democratic candidates Rex Wilde and Theresa A. Livingston, were not present for the event.

Current Republican Governor Mark Gordon was not present but communicated via letter and said, “I’m a lifelong conservative and staunch defender of Second Amendment rights and an advocate for smaller government closest to the people. I am committed to protecting our state from the increasingly heavy hand of the federal government and, more acutely, the Biden administration’s failed policies. I successfully fought Biden’s push for school closures, vaccine mandates, and other excessive requirements.”

Gordon added his concerns over gas and groceries prices and the overreaching federal policies, such as the Biden administration ending new oil and gas leases on Wyoming public lands. Gordon said that these actions have led to “the worst inflation we have seen in over 40 years. It seems every day that Biden is attacking our state, our economy, and our values.” 

Gordon continued and said, “I am also fighting President Biden’s 30x30 program, which aims to put more lands under federal control.”

Governor candidate Brent Bien was present at the event. Bien is a Wyoming native, a University of Wyoming Engineering graduate, a retired Marine Corps colonel, aviator, and combat veteran. Bien said, “I’m not a politician. I’m not from aristocracy, but I am like you, an American who truly believes in American exceptionalism, the American spirit, the American dream. I’ve made an entire career successfully leading folks to achieve desired results, and I plan on doing that as your next governor.”

Bien added, “What I have seen is the horrors and the state of tyranny. When you see that, you realize just how great we have it here in America, and how fragile our constitutional republic is, particularly when left in the hands of those who preach the globalist cult. And that truly is our greatest threat right now.”

Bien continued and said, “We have to remember who we are as Americans that the only way that globalism wins is if we feel defeated. Because the fight, the struggle right now, is globalism versus Americanism. And we’ve got to believe in the power of America. We got to believe in Wyoming.” Bien also said he wants to address property taxes and look at what age people no longer should pay property taxes. Bien wants the state to use cash-based budgeting and wants to implement school choice.

Secretary of State

For the Office Secretary of State Republican candidates, Mark Armstrong and Tara Nethercott were not present for the event. 

However, Republican Chuck Gray was present and said, “The secretary of state oversees elections in Wyoming. It is very important because we need to ban ballot drop boxes, which nine counties have in our state. It’s very troubling. We need to have paper ballots. We need to have a hand audit of the count, and we need to ban crossover voting. And I’m the only candidate in this race that has a proven track record of getting election integrity done. So we sponsored the voter I.D. bill that passed the state legislature in 2021.”

Gray added, “When I entered in 2017, I thought it was outrageous that we didn’t have voter I.D. in the state of Wyoming, and we worked on that a great deal. Three times in a row, the insiders and the Democrats stopped it. But because of the grassroots, because of you and conservatives across our state are able to get that done in 2021.”

Gray continued and said, “The other thing I’ve worked on a lot as a state legislator is stopping automatic mail-in voting, especially a bill that almost passed the state legislature in 2017 that would have moved us toward an automatic mail system. And I got out there on third reading and brought in an anti-clause amendment, which opened it up for debate again. And we were able to switch six people that day and win by floor, which I think was a pivotal moment in our state, because even after the 2020 election it would have been very difficult to unwind automatic mail-in voting.”

Auditor and Treasurer

For the Office of State Auditor Republican candidate, Kristi Racines was not present for the event. Also, for the Office of State Treasurer Republican candidates, Bill Gallop and Curt Meir were not present for the event.

Superintendent of Public Instruction

For the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, Republicans Megan Degenfelder, Brian Schroeder, Jennifer Zerba, and Democrat Sergio A. Maldonando, Sr. were present. However, Republican Robert J. White III was not present for the event.

Megan Degenfelder said she has a master’s degree in economics, worked in the coal industry in Gillette, oversaw a meaningful budget for staff consolidation, and worked with the Legislature. Degenfelder said, “As Superintendent, I will work to empower parents, ensure that they are the number one decision maker in their child’s education and have as many options and choices as possible. I will advocate for American values, those ideals of innovation, free-thinking, and hard work, and fight back against political ideologies like critical race theory to ensure they are nowhere near our classrooms in Wyoming… I’ll work to improve literacy rates and make sure that government is getting out of the way of education so that our teachers can do what they best do best, and that’s to teach.” 

Brian Schroeder said he had the honor of serving as the State Superintendent for the last six months. Schroeder believes Wyoming is poised to lead the nation in education and that he wants to focus “like a laser beam,” on several issues. The first would be to recover the purpose of education, which is “to learn, to think.” Schroeder added, “that has been the purpose of education for over a thousand years. It’s just been in the last hundred years that a progressive mindset has shifted the paradigm, and we’ve been experimenting with our kids ever since… In math, teach to think logically. And in science, we teach them how to think critically. History teaches kids how to think with perspective in context. Language teaches kids how to convey their thoughts effectively. And if the purpose of education is teaching thinking, then that would of necessity mean that one of the core disciplines should be logic, which is simply the systematic rules of thinking.” Schroeder also said he wants to remove critical race theory and gender ideology from the classroom and to remind parents that they are the owners of their school. Schroeder wants to keep schools pure and free from social engineering by rejecting federal funding that requires schools to implement those theories and ideologies. 

Jennifer Zerba, formerly from Thermopolis, and currently works in Natrona School District, said she got her degree in business administration. Zerba said she looks at education with “a different set of eyes,” and asks, “What are the results? Which are graduates able to do when they come out of school? Are they a skilled workforce? Are they ready to go to work? Are they willing to thrive through life?” Zerba added, “I am committed to responsible financial spending” and she asked, “Are we wasting our money on programs” that “make sense?” Zerba wants to see more plumbers, electricians, and tradespeople in the workforce as “not everybody is meant to go to college.” 

Democrat Sergio A. Maldonando, Sr. has a doctorate in Law and Policy Justice Studies and is finishing his dissertation at the University of Wyoming. Maldonando said that with his background of 30-plus years of education, “children and education must not be politicized.” Maldonando also wants to ensure school safety and to have a “baby boomer philosophy taught and modeled to our children.” Maldonando emphasized that “educators and superintendents across the state will work in a collaborative manner with our legislative body. We need authenticity.” Maldonando has received the WEA endorsement for this office.

State Senate Representative District #28

Republican John R. Winter was present and said, “I believe that these 2022 and 2024 elections are two of the most important elections of our lifetime. And we all know the liberal socialist Democrats are destroying this country, and it is up to us, the citizens of this country, to bring it back to sanity. In addition to our country, let’s start with fixing this great state of Wyoming. We have too many legislators in Wyoming who go to Cheyenne with political views and values that are not Wyoming-based. It is very dangerous, as we must ride for the brand.” Winter added that Americans need to be informed, and he encouraged people to vote for Harriet Hageman and retire Liz Cheney. Winter also mentioned that Democrats are crossing party lines to vote for Cheney. Winter is “Pro-Trump and his American First Agenda, God, country and family, pro-Republican, freedom, American exceptionalism, pro-life and pro-Second Amendment, pro-property rights… a common-sense constitutional conservative.” 

Democrat Kim Barlett was present and said she considers herself “a moderate,” who is “a fiscal conservative and a social liberal. I am a Protestant Christian who, as my mother says, has an overdeveloped sense of fairness and justice.” Bartlett said, “I’m running because I believe democracy requires a choice” and described her grandmother’s patriotism. Bartlett said, “She taught me that paying taxes is my duty as an American to support the country that affords me.” Bartlett added, “My platform has five issues, all of which work together to create a sustainable fiscal path for Wyoming into the future. I would like to increase economic diversity and job growth. Continuing the good work that Wyoming has put in so far. I believe in increasing revenues so that we can sustain the services that we all enjoy. Our children deserve a world-class education. They have to be able to compete in a global marketplace, and well-educated children will attract new businesses to Wyoming. I support Medicaid expansion because healthy kids learn better and healthy families equal healthy workers. I also believe in equality under the law. It protects the personal freedoms of all of us, even with all of our differences. We’re Americans and our diversity makes us stronger. I also support freezing property taxes for seniors so they can have a life in the houses that they have worked so hard to build.”

Hot Springs County Commissioners

Republicans Jack Baird, Paul Galovich, Joe Martinez, and Tom Ryan were present and were asked some questions. The first question was, “How do you think the 30x30 initiative will affect Hot Springs County and what can the county commission do to address a nationalization of private lands?”

Paul Galovich replied the state and federal constitutions, private property rights were the premier reason those documents were established. Galovich added, “And I believe that we need to stay focused on that and keep that in mind.” Galovich also said of any proposals through the county commissioners, “I think that private landowner’s concerns and interest should be of paramount importance in any of those and indeed that decision process.”

Joe Martinez replied, “We really enjoy some of the best private property rights in Wyoming. We have to protect those rights no matter what. And it’s going to be working with state legislators and U.S. representatives in order to ensure that your rights are continually protected. We can’t have the federal government coming in and controlling what we can do on our property when they don’t know what’s best for us in our community. We see a lot of people who move into Wyoming and who are able to purchase larger pieces of property because they know that they have rights protected in Wyoming because there are fewer regulations. And so we need to continue to work with our legislators and make sure that there’s not that government overreach.”

Tom Ryan, the current Chairman of the County Commission, said, “The commission we have now has actually acted on the 30x30 in opposition to that, and I agree with both of these gentlemen when they talk about property rights. The thing that’s frightening with 30x30 is it will be tied with money. There’ll be a lot of money coming for it. So the hardest thing is when you’re paying bills… the thing you have to watch the 30x30 is they’re going to tie it money and that’s the thing it’s going to make it more complicated. The commission we have now is opposed to 30x30.”

Jack Baird, a current County Commissioner, said they made a resolution opposing the 30x30 initiative and talked about a recent ranch that was purchased. Baird also mentioned agricultural people who need handouts to make things better and added, “we don’t need the federal government in our lives and that will make things better.”

Next, the candidates for County Commissioners spoke individually, starting with Jack Baird, who said, “We had some tighter budget issues… but that money went to infrastructure. We have some good people in there getting some things cleaned up and fixed up and we’re maintaining them. Another good thing we’ve done is the Black Mountain Road project.” 

Paul Galovich told a backstory of his family and roots in Wyoming when they faced tough times in the Great Depression. Galovich said, “The federal government is out of control. These are some of the real issues we are facing today. How are these issues affecting Hot Springs County? How can we as a community deal with these issues? I believe our local elections are some of the most important considerations we have today because this is where the most important solutions will occur. It is necessary that we consider these issues together as a community, that we look to each other in new ways and as unusual solutions are sought for the uncertain times we face.” Galovich also pledged his commitment that if elected, he will take his salary and give it back to the community to volunteer organizations. 

Joe Martinez spoke and said he currently serves on the school board and the fair board. Martinez said, “You the voters deserve to have the confidence that the person you elected is there to represent you. Your voice matters and you need to be heard. I’m not running for me. I’m running because I want to be your voice for the county. My pledge to you is that I will listen to what you have to say and I will make sure that it is heard at the meetings. My decisions and my votes will not be based on what I want, but rather based on the best interest of our community and based on what the majority of our community wants.” Martinez added he wants to work with other government entities, such as on matters of the landfill and transfer station, garbage pick-up services, and work with the Town Council. Martinez also wants to invest in the community with tourism dollars. 

Tom Ryan spoke and talked about his experience as a county commissioner for eight years and served on the school board for 14 years. Ryan said, “We cut a million and a half dollars from the budget. So I have an understanding of being financially responsible. The accounting is a different entity in that it isn’t like a business where you can go out and generate more revenue. You just get the revenue that the legislature tells you that you get.” Ryan also emphasized the other county officials and staff he works with and said, “The county is in a good position.”

The candidates for county commissioners were asked a second question: “Would you support a meatpacking plant in our county by offering tax relief and relaxed side variances in order to entice new industry to this area?”

Paul Galovich replied he would support any business once it becomes established in Hot Springs County through tax relief and wants to remove government stumbling blocks to help get businesses started.

Joe Martinez replied that meat-packing industries are highly regulated and that all options are on the table. Martinez wants to guide businesses in exploring all their options so that they can best utilize their business. 

Tom Ryan replied that he would support any business that wants to come into Hot Springs County, but he doesn’t “know at a county level what tax relief we could provide. Property taxes are about the only tax that a business pays. And I don’t think the state allows the county to waive those taxes. But I would definitely support that discussion and sitting and visiting with them.”

Candidates Mark Mortimore for County Coroner and Jill Logan for County Attorney were not present for the event.

Running unopposed were Republicans Jerimie Kraushaar for County Sheriff; Becky Kersten for County Clerk; Julie Mortimore for County Treasurer; Daniel Webber for County Assessor and Terri Cornella for Clerk of District Court. They all gave short speeches, asking for voter support and explaining their experiences. However, Webber was not present.

Thermopolis Town Council

In Non-Partisan Offices, candidates for Thermopolis Town Council, John Dorman Sr., Bradyn Harvey, and Rachel Hughes were present. However, Tony Larson was not present for the event.

John Dorman Sr. said if reelected he wants to finish what he started as a council member, such as the transfer station and infrastructure matters. 

Bradyn Harvey spoke of his hard-working ethic, his integrity, and that he is not afraid to stand up for himself and others. Harvey said, “Thermopolis needs a fresh perspective on the town council.” Harvey also said, “First and foremost, protect the rights and liberties of the individual from government overreach at all levels. I refuse to raise taxes and instead focus on fiscal responsibility.” Harvey wants Thermopolis to be a place to raise families and wants to combat drunk drivers. He also wants to add a BMX track and new mountain bike trails and upgrade equipment in the parks. 

Rachel Hughes said she wants to clean up abandoned buildings and homes, refurbish town parks, and add a splash pad. Hughes also wants to look at zoning and town codes and reorganize the home occupancy business permit policies. 

Thermopolis Mayor

Republican candidate Mike Chimenti was present and said he has been mayor for the past three and a half years and resident of Thermopolis for 48 years.

Chimenti explained his experience working with budgets and being careful to watch spending. Chimenti added about his concerns over the retirement community and not wanting to affect their tax rates.

Chimenti also mentioned his work on the landfill, transfer station, and water projects. 

Adam Ryan Estenson was not present for the event, but a family member, Matt Ryan, read a letter on his behalf.

Estenson is the chair of the Land Use Planning Commission and also the safety director at Ryan Brother’s Trucking. “Rooted in Legacy” is his campaign slogan. Estenson supports health, sustainable and affordable water, public safety, and efficient and responsible sanitation services.

Estenson will seek to participate in joint ventures and joint power agreements with practical planning and well-informed dialog.