Obviously the biggest story of this year was the Wyoming
governor’s race but there were lots of other big stories, too. Before we
dissect that huge political story, let’s look at some other big stories.
The
54,000-acre fire near Bondurant that destroyed 55 homes was a first for
Wyoming. We have had some big fires and
seen some homes lost but nothing like this scale.
We are not
California so a subdivision with 100 homes is more common than 8,000 homes. But
that fire showed Wyoming is not immune to nature’s vengeance for folks who love
mountains and forests and hence built their homes there. I speak as someone who
also owns a house in a forest.
Biggest
business story was the continued decline of Wyoming’s coal industry. From our
beginning, the Cowboy State has ridden our unlimited supply of coal as a big
source of state revenues. Unless President Trump uses a military base on the
northwest coast of the USA to export coal, this industry will continue to decline.
Plus it
strikes close to home in Kemmerer when the Westmoreland Company threatens bankruptcy
and being unable to pay retirement benefits to the hundreds of miners it
employs in the coal business.
In Evanston,
the talk is about the huge expansion of the state hospital. Plus the
Immigration Service may build a big facility in that town. In my town of Lander,
some $75 million is being spent on the Wyoming Life Resource Center expansion.
But the
billions supposedly committed to upgrade F. E. Warren Air Force in Cheyenne
dwarf these projects. And there is the
$350 million being spent on the State Capitol complex. For a state allegedly
mired in economic difficulty, this is a lot of new construction.
On the job
development front, Weatherby moved its firearms manufacturing and headquarters
from California to Sheridan.
This was the
year that Wyoming opened a trade office in Taiwan. Rock Springs joined Rawlins in winning the
Great American Main Street Award. Evanston is a semifinalist for 2019.
The Women’s
Suffrage Pathway was dedicated over South Pass, southwest of Lander.
Outside of
coal, the energy economy looks bright with a huge backlog of applications to
drill for oil and gas on federal lands.
Wyoming lost
many wonderful people in 2018. The year started off horribly when Leslie Blythe
died on January 5 from complications of the flu. A true statewide leader, she has been missed.
In Sheridan,
long-time legislator Tom Kinnison died.
In Cody,
retired banker Victor Riley passed away.
He was a huge benefactor in his town but also was a founding supporter
and major donor to Wyoming Catholic College in Lander.
The death of
Ray Plank was noted in Johnson County, mainly at Ucross, which he used to
generate progressive ideas for the state and promote art.
Just recently,
Brent Kunz died. The Cheyenne attorney was a friend of everyone and was one of
those people who improved Wyoming immensely during his lifetime by mainly working
in the background.
Wyoming
citizens were proud of their own retired U. S. Sen. Al Simpson of Cody who was
so eloquent in his eulogy for the late George H. W. Bush.
And then there
was that election.
The year
started with the two presumed gubernatorial front-runners dropping out.
Secretary of State Ed Murray dropped out in February amid accusations of
misbehavior from decades ago. Former U. S. Rep. Cynthia Lummis just decided to
sit it out.
The word
“million” has not been mentioned too many times in history when it comes to
Wyoming political campaigns, but this year it happened a lot.
Mark Gordon won
the Republican nomination for governor. Congratulations to him and his team. He
started out a front-runner and finished strong. Gordon was chased hard by
Foster Friess, Harriet Hageman, and Sam Galeotos. Among that group, over $7 million was spent
in the primary election alone.
Friess was a
late entry but was actually leading in the polls with a week to go, after being
in the race just 112 days at the time. What ended up being one of the most
compelling issues of the campaign was his emphasis on the lack of transparency
in Wyoming government when it comes to where all the state money is spent.
The year 2018
will go down in history as a time when perhaps the huge cost to run for a major
office in Wyoming could become a big impediment to the ordinary candidate,
which is too bad.
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