You Still Here

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Cowboy State Daily is Wyoming’s largest newspaper with Wyoming’s most experienced journalists. 

<title>You Still Here? Friday, January 13, 2023 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

That is some powerful lightning...

You Still Here? Friday, January 13, 2023

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's general assignment reporter, Clair McFarland.

Clair McFarland

Crime & Courts

Courts

The Wyoming Republican Party is appealing a judge’s ruling that state laws governing major party leadership elections apply to it. 

Uinta County District Court Judge James Kaste 

 that the Hot Springs County Republican Party’s 2025 leadership election in which non-precinct committee people were allowed to vote was not legal. 

The Wyoming Republican Party’s Dispute Resolution Committee had insisted that the election was legal and upheld it. While the election didn’t square with state law, it squared with the party’s bylaws. 

[{"type":"text","text":"The judge ordered the state party to follow state law over its bylaws. "}]

The Wyoming Republican Party informed Kaste’s court Friday that it’s asking a higher tribunal, the Wyoming Supreme Court, to review his order. 

“Through undersigned counsel, notice is hereby given that Defendants Wyoming Republican Party, Wyoming Republican Party State Central Committee, and Wyoming Republican Party Dispute Resolution Committee appeal the Court’s 

” says the Friday motion by the party’s attorney, Thomas Szott of The Bernhoft Law Firm. 

Now the party is waging multiple legal challenges in which it argues that it may follow its bylaws over Wyoming law. 

Earlier this month, the Wyoming GOP challenged the Secretary of State’s Office in federal court in an 

 a law barring major parties from financially backing one of their affiliated candidates over another in the primary election cycle. 

Each party can bankroll the nominees its registrants choose at the primary election in the three months between the primary and general election — but not before. 

That law has been interpreted over the years to equate to a ban on the party endorsing specific candidates in the primary cycle, GOP Chair Bryan Miller told convention attendees in April. 

[{"type":"text","text":"Well That Depends"}]

Whether political parties’ associational and free-speech rights rise above the state laws that govern them is a recurring judicial topic nationwide. 

[{"type":"text","text":"The answer is sometimes, according to Kaste’s May 29 order. "}]

Kaste noted that Wyoming election law doesn’t dictate the state party’s membership directly. 

Freedom of association is a right, and it gives political parties some protection from state infringement, noted Kaste from a 1986 case called Tashjian v. Republican Party of Connecticut. 

But courts also use a balancing test called the Anderson-Burdick test when parties assert this right, and they consider how burdensome the state’s laws are on that right. 

If the burden is severe, the court judges the state’s infringement under a rigorous constitutional standard that most laws do not survive, called strict scrutiny.

But if the state is only imposing a “lesser burden” on the party, then the state’s important regulatory interests are usually enough to justify “reasonable, nondiscriminatory restrictions,” Kaste noted from an earlier case. 

State party leaders who were sued in this case claimed Wyoming violated the party’s rights. 

“Defendants are incorrect,” wrote Kaste.

The state laws impose minimal burdens on the party’s associational rights, and the state’s important regulatory interests justify them “amply,” said the judge. 

He added that the party relied on oblique cases while ignoring cases “that are more squarely on point.”

Wyoming law lays some tasks and formational requirements on the party, but the party’s role in filling vacancies is a privilege in which the state has an important interest, he added. 

The Wyoming laws challenged in this case impose only a minimal burden on the party, says Kaste’s order. 

The state has a legitimate interest in how office vacancies are filled, he wrote. 

“It would be a real problem if a vacancy occurred in a public office and the State had no one to call,” Kaste said, adding that the biennial election also ensures orderly election tasks, like nominating presidential electors before general elections

But Kaste’s order doesn’t address the endorsement and financial backing issue the party has raised in federal, not state court. That case is ongoing. 

Wyoming GOP Headquarters 5 6 30 26

<title>Wyoming Republican Party Appeals Judge's Order Telling It To Follow State Law | Cowboy State Daily</title>

The Wyoming Republican Party is appealing a judge’s ruling that its rules don’t trump state law in electing its leaders. Now the party is waging multiple legal challenges in which it argues that it may follow its bylaws over Wyoming law. 

Wyoming Republican Party Appeals Judge's Order Telling It To Follow State Law

Mac Watson

Daily Video News

It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming for Tuesday, June 30th.  I’m Mac Watson

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"–"}]

Winter is back in Wyoming as a late June snowstorm closed the Beartooth Highway and Yellowstone's Dunraven Pass. Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports that at 9,400 feet, the Top of the World store recorded three inches of snow. 

“Several inches of snow was reported on the Bear Tooth Highway and in the interior of Yellowstone National Park. It's a significant amount of snowfall, but that's not unusual, especially at high elevations, people forget how high Yellowstone is, let alone the Bear Tooth Pass, which is getting close to 11,000 feet up there. So, when you get a cold front moving in with moisture that manifests as snow, and you're hard pressed to pick any month of the year where there isn't at least a possibility of snow in Yellowstone and on the Bear Tooth Highway.”

Lance VandenBoogart with the National Weather Service office in Riverton said that’s not unusual for northwest Wyoming or Yellowstone, even in the last days of June.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"– "}]

A 75-year-old Goshen County man told investigators he shot a pair of Rottweilers and dumped them in the North Platte River because he feared for his livestock. Cowboy State Daily’s Greg Johnson reports that a neighbor told authorities why they disposed of the dogs in the river.

“The guy claims that they were threatening his livestock, they're threatening his neighbor's livestock, and he said that he shot one of the dogs, and then another dog, he said, came after him, so he shot it as well. However, the officer in charge of the investigation wrote his affidavit saying that the facts don't really support that, and what was interesting is that there was an accomplice who told police that they put the dogs in the river because they were quote ‘too lazy’ to bury them.”

David Cronk made his first court appearance Friday on two charges each of felony animal cruelty and misdemeanor unlawful disposal of a dead animal so as to pollute.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"},{"type":"italic"}],"text":"–"}]

An older Colorado couple have been identified as the two people killed in a Friday multi-vehicle crash west of Casper. Cowboy State Daily’s Kolby Fedore reports that a Jackson woman who was among those who stopped to help the couple and others hurt in the crash, telling Cowboy State Daily, “We made sure she wasn't alone.”

“74-year-old James Cox and 69-year-old Susan Cox were coming from Golden, Colorado, on their way to their house in Ennis, Montana, when they got into a crash about 45 miles northwest of Casper on Friday afternoon.  The Natrona County Coroner, James Whipps, confirmed that they were dead on Monday afternoon. Krista Nethercott from Jackson is a funeral director and a mortician. She arrived at the crash site just moments after the collision happened. She said that James Cox was behind the wheel. He was dead immediately. Susan Cox was still alive, and Nether Cot said all she could do was offer some comfort, and made sure she was not alone for her final moments.” 

By the time emergency crews reached U.S. Highway 20/26 near mile marker 58 Friday afternoon, two people were dead, seven others had been injured, and strangers were comforting survivors, checking on children, searching for fire extinguishers and handing out bottled water.

A new political group called the 'Common Sense Republicans' have erected six billboards urging voters to “STOP The Freedom Caucus Agenda.” Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that Rep. John Bear, a well-known member of the Freedom Caucus, says he “loves” the billboards.

“The Freedom Caucus fired back with them being against a lot of the popular things, you know, like protecting women's sports and an election integrity and keeping illegal aliens out of the country, and the pack came back and said no, we're focused on really local stuff like funding EMS. one of the members of the PAC said that, you know, indicated that the Freedom Caucus doesn't like the billboards, and Bear came back and said, 'No, we love this, we love talking about our agenda, and so you've got this, it's a very direct political battle.”

Casper-based attorneys Emily Madden and Scott Ortiz co-founded the Common Sense Republicans for Wyoming political action committee (PAC) in March. The PAC has raised six billboards across larger Wyoming towns urging people to “STOP The Freedom Caucus Agenda” and vote in the Aug. 18 primary election.

I’ll have more news from Cowboy State Daily right after this.

Cowboy State Daily News continues now….

Abe Yoder moved his Amish family from Wyoming to Iowa after he says Crook County officials threatened him with stiff fines and removing his children over outhouse permits. Cowboy State Daily’s Kate Meadows reports that county officials deny those claims and say they only sought wastewater compliance.

“Abe Yoder is really at the center of this. There was one other family who left, and they went to Wisconsin. The rest of the community, the people whose outhouses were found to be not in compliance, did end up complying and following regulations, doing what the county asked them to do.  Yoder told Cowboy State Daily that he's more disappointed in the community itself not taking a stand and not fighting back than he is in the county being persistent with its regulations.”

Yoder recently moved to Iowa, selling off much of his Hulett-area estate and taking his wife and nine of his 11 children with him.

It has already been a busy year for human-bear conflicts in Wyoming, Montana, and across the West. Outdoors Reporter Mark Heinz reports that bear observers say it could get worse thanks to drought and other factors.

“One of the people I spoke with was our friend Ken Fisher up in Alberta, she's a human bear conflict specialist, and in monitors things not only in Canada, but you know, kind of all through bear territory, even down here in the lower 48 and she said, ‘Yeah, it could be, you know, that because of dry conditions and more people going out, just there's more potential for conflict, we could be seeing a little bit more.’”

Large carnivore specialist Dan Thompson tells Cowboy State Daily, that from

the Wyoming Game and Fish Department’s perspective, it’s essentially been a normal year.

Sweetwater County School District No. 1 apologized Saturday for what it called the error of a staff member.  Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that the staffer released a campaign message for gubernatorial candidate Eric Barlow through the ParentSquare messaging app. 

“It was addressed to a group of students that are involved in studying public services, and so the my understanding is that they, that it was presented, or it was understood as a volunteer public civic engagement opportunity, and then when it hit, there was this reflection, like, oh, maybe that was political, since it singled out one candidate.”

Former state House Speaker and now-Sen. Eric Barlow is running for the Republican primary nomination for governor against Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder, retired Marine Col. Brent Bien, and Curt Blake of Centennial. 

Greta, a German shepherd with a platform of “more belly rubs for all,” is getting huge support in Park County since a “Vote For Greta” sign went up in Cody. Cowboy State Daily’s Greg Johnson reports that one voter says, “She certainly can’t be worse than, like, half the people running.”

“I did talk to the Park County clerk, who said that, despite being a dog, and Greta actually is deceased now, he missed the deadline to register as a candidate doesn't say what office she's running from, but it doesn't matter to some, some of the people I talked to, they said it doesn't matter what office I'll vote for her, because she's better.”

Greta was the beloved pet of Elizabeth Jenkins’ parents, who said she made up the campaign sign as a joke. She put it out near the Cody Post Office along Stampede Avenue in Cody late last week with a host of other signs from political candidates. Then she posted a photo of the sign to a local Facebook page.

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And that’s today’s news. Get your free digital subscription to Wyoming's only statewide newspaper by hitting the Daily Newsletter button on 

 - and you can watch this newscast every day by clicking Subscribe on our 

 channel, or listen to us on your favorite podcast app.  Thanks for watching - I’m Mac Watson, for Cowboy State Daily.

News image 6 30 26

<title>Cowboy State Daily Video Newscast: Tuesday, June 30, 2026 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Tuesday's headlines include:
* Winter Ain’t Done In Yellowstone 
* Witnesses Crushed By Horrific Crash
* Bear-Human Conflicts Continue To Increase

Cowboy State Daily Video Newscast: Tuesday, June 30, 2026

Kolby fedore

Kolby Fedore

Public Safety

What first appeared to be an ordinary construction delay on a lonely stretch of highway west of Casper quickly turned into one of the 

 many of those involved had ever witnessed.

On Monday, the Natrona County Coroner's Office identified the two people killed as James Faris Cox, 74, and Susan Horn Cox, 69, of Golden, Colorado.

"That was my aunt and uncle killed in the wreck Friday," their nephew Lee Wolfe told Cowboy State Daily. "They were on the way to their house in Ennis, MT. They lived in Golden, CO."

[{"type":"text","text":"He said the couple was traveling alone."}]

"It was just my aunt and uncle in their truck, no survivors," he said. "My two cousins and their families were heading up there at a different time thankfully."

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Semi, Multiple Vehicles Involved"}]

The Wyoming Highway Patrol said the crash involved multiple vehicles, including a semi-truck.

"Two confirmed fatalities. Seven injured. Seventeen people involved, two flown by helicopter, the others were taken to Wyoming Medical Center by ambulance," Wyoming Highway Patrol spokesman Aaron Brown said. "This is still an active investigation." 

As of Monday afternoon, investigators had not released a preliminary cause of the crash, and no criminal charges had been filed.

The Natrona County Coroner's Office said it is investigating the fatalities along with the Wyoming Highway Patrol and Natrona County Sheriff's Office.

[{"type":"text","text":"Krista Nethercott of Jackson never saw the crash itself."}]

She had been traveling toward Casper with a neighbor after taking her son to enroll in college when traffic suddenly came to a stop.

[{"type":"text","text":"At first, she assumed the delay was caused by nearby road construction."}]

"There were these pylons on the right-hand side that kind of tell you there's construction," she said. "But there wasn't anything alerting you to slow down. There wasn't a flagger."

After waiting several minutes, she said she couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong.

She stepped out of her vehicle and walked toward the front of the traffic backup.

"That's when I could see there were cars on both sides of the road," she said. "I was like, 'Oh my goodness.'"

Nethercott said she immediately ran toward the wreckage to make sure someone had called 911 and to offer whatever help she could.

She said she told him, "I'm a funeral director. I'll help you. I'm not scared to see death." 

Working with another bystander, she checked on the occupants of one of the most severely damaged vehicles — the Coxes' pickup.

"The gentleman was immediately deceased," she said. "The lady probably lived a couple minutes."

[{"type":"text","text":"She said both appeared to have been wearing seat belts."}]

The truck was crushed so badly, she said, that she believed rescuers ultimately would need the jaws of life to remove the couple.

"If the woman had lived longer, I don't think this gentleman and I could have ever taken her out of the vehicle," she said. "That's how crushed it was."

Despite witnessing the aftermath firsthand, Nethercott said she has no idea what caused the collision.

"I don't know if the semi-trailer didn't slow down and ran into people, or if somebody was trying to pass too many vehicles. I couldn't ascertain that at all. It was just mass metal and cars," she said. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Before The Sirens"}]

The crash occurred about 45 miles northwest of Casper, and Nethercott estimated it was roughly 30 minutes before ambulances and fire crews reached the scene.

"It seemed like it was a long time to see paramedics," she said. "But considering you're out in the middle of nowhere, I don't think they could have gotten there any quicker."

Long before emergency vehicles arrived, however, strangers had already organized themselves.

Nethercott estimated around 10 people got out of their vehicles and immediately began helping.

One man walked the line of stopped traffic asking whether anyone had a fire extinguisher. Another, who identified himself as working at a pediatric clinic, examined a young child who remained safely strapped into a five-point car seat while the boy's injured father tried to comfort him.

Others brought camping chairs for survivors to sit in while Nethercott handed out bottled water from her vehicle.

"There were people left and right getting out of their vehicles and trying to find anything that could be used," she said. "Whether it's water, an emergency medical kit or a fire extinguisher."

[{"type":"text","text":"The scene itself was almost impossible to comprehend."}]

"There was debris all over the place," she said. "Food, toilet paper, paper towels ... it looked like somebody had been camping. There was glass everywhere, bumpers everywhere."

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"'The Wyoming Way'"}]

The Natrona County Fire District described responders arriving to "a very chaotic scene" involving multiple damaged vehicles, a large debris field, numerous victims and a large bystander presence.

The response included firefighters from the Natrona County Fire District, ambulances from Mills Fire Department, Banner Wyoming Medical Center and Evansville Fire/EMS, Wyoming LifeFlight, Guardian Flight, the Natrona County Sheriff's Office, Wyoming Highway Patrol, WYDOT crews, dispatchers and road construction personnel.

[{"type":"text","text":"Fire officials said 17 people were directly involved in the crash."}]

In a statement, the department singled out the motorists who stopped to help before first responders arrived.

"Crews would like to send a heartfelt thank you to all the bystanders who assisted victims immediately after the crash, while waiting for help to arrive, as well as while responders were on-scene, offering shelter during the passing of a thunder cell, emotional support and minor patient care," they wrote. 

[{"type":"text","text":"\"The true spirit of the 'Wyoming Way' was in full force this day.\""}]

Nethercott said, "There were people left and right getting out of their vehicles and trying to find anything that could be used. They didn't sit around and wait for somebody else to do it."

[{"type":"text","text":"The moment she has replayed most, however, involved Susan Cox."}]

Although there was little anyone could do medically, Nethercott said she wanted to make sure the woman did not spend her final moments alone.

"We told her help was coming,” she said. "We don't know what happens when people are unconscious, but we wanted her to know somebody was there."

Only after that did she turn her attention to survivors who still could be saved.

Among those survivors is Kensi Van Patten. A 

 campaign organized on her behalf says she suffered serious injuries in the crash and faces a lengthy recovery while her family copes with mounting medical expenses. 

The fundraiser asks for donations to help with medical costs and lost income during her recovery.

The Wyoming Highway Patrol, Natrona County Sheriff's Office and Natrona County Coroner's Office continue to investigate the crash. 

Double Fatal Crash Go Fund Me 6 29 26

<title>Witnesses Describe Chaos, Compassion After Wyoming Crash That Killed Colo. Couple | Cowboy State Daily</title>

An older Colorado couple have been identified as the two people killed in a Friday multi-vehicle crash west of Casper. "We made sure she wasn't alone,” said a Jackson woman who was among those who stopped to help the couple and others hurt in the crash.

Witnesses Describe Chaos, Compassion After Wyoming Crash That Killed Colo. Couple

Politics

In the arena of political criticism, a new political action group has declared war on the Wyoming Freedom Caucus.

Casper-based attorneys Emily Madden and Scott Ortiz co-founded the Common Sense Republicans for Wyoming political action committee (PAC) in March. The PAC has raised eight billboards across larger Wyoming towns urging people to “STOP The Freedom Caucus Agenda” and vote in the Aug. 18 primary election.

 against popular conservative ideals like lower taxes, voter ID, protections for female athletes and school choice.

“They never define the ‘agenda’ they oppose because it’s popular,” says a June 4 post by the Wyoming Freedom Caucus.

Former Caucus chair and current member Rep. John Bear, R-Gillette, posted 

 Friday saying "(I'm) out here in front of this billboard because the people who put it up seem to

. We love it. It's got our name all over it, and we like talking about our agenda." Bear also listed popular conservative ideals and claimed, "I guess these folks are against all that." 

But the Common Sense Republicans for Wyoming PAC countered, saying the billboards actually criticize more local, more harmful policies - not the national hot-button topics the Freedom Caucus has emphasized for years. 

“They have great national talking points, which is why they were so popular in the first place, but you can't make American First if you leave Wyoming behind,” said Madden in a Monday email. “Gutting funding for schools, police, fire, EMS, hospitals, UW, and the Business Council, that's just saying you don't believe Wyoming's best days are ahead.”

The Wyoming Business Council is a state agency that gives grants and loans to businesses and communities. Its supporters call its work important economic development, and its detractors call it an overgrowth of government. 

“We welcome people to take a look at the website and the videos. We are pro-Wyoming; we believe our best days are still to come,” said Madden.  

[{"type":"text","text":"The Battle Raging On Facebook"}]

The Wyoming Freedom Caucus is a controversial and populist-leaning group of state House Republicans. It contains 

, but its position often prevails in the 62-member House of Representatives.

Common Sense Republicans’ billboards highlight the divide between the WFC’s more populist faction and other Republicans. That divide has wracked multiple primary election cycles now, as the GOP primary election in August is generally more decisive in deep-red Wyoming, than the general election held in November.

The caucus’ member Rep. Paul Hoeft, R-Powell 

 June 23 to counter the PAC and tout caucus’ members’ support of residential property tax cuts, election security measures, “immigration accountability,” protection of women and girls’ public spaces, and what Hoeft called legislation in defense of the family and the Second Amendment.

“Don’t let the folks that are working in the shadows, chippin’ away at the things that matters to you most,” said Hoeft in his video. 

The PAC fired back in its own series of Facebook videos 

Madden rebutted the suggestion that she and Ortiz are in the “shadows,” and pointed to 

, which identifies Ortiz and Madden, shows a photo of them and shares a mission statement.  

Hoeft had called Freedom Caucus members the elected “grass roots” helping their constituents.

Madden countered, noting that the Wyoming Freedom Caucus receives staffing and help from its national umbrella network, the State Freedom Caucus Network.

[{"type":"text","text":"But First, Who Are These People?"}]

Madden told Cowboy State Daily in a Friday phone interview that she was born and raised in Torrington, Wyoming; graduated from the University of Wyoming law school and cherishes the state deeply.

Both Madden and Ortiz have been registered Republicans since at least 2012 when the Natrona County Clerk’s Office adopted its newest registration system, Clerk Tracy Good confirmed Friday.

“Scott and I got involved because during the 2026 budget session we saw a lot of policies, of the Freedom Caucus, that were detrimental to the Wyoming that we know and love,” said Madden. “For Scott it really hit home with him, with the local services impacted by the property tax cuts.”

The Freedom Caucus, and other Republicans, backed multiple residential property tax cuts and relief laws passed over the past three years. Property taxes fund local communities and public schools.

The cuts have impacted different communities differently. The Carbon County Library System said it took a 53% 

Meanwhile, the state’s wealthiest county, Teton, still funds its services without levying maximum property taxes, and a recent report from the State Board of Equalization concluded that some properties in Teton County benefit disproportionately from a property tax increase cap that the Legislature passed in 2024.

“For me,” Madden continued, “it was the University of Wyoming and the judiciary.”

Freedom Caucus members on the House Appropriations Committee in January advanced a proposed $40 million cut to UW’s state block grant. The full Legislature rejected that proposal.

The committee also held an executive discussion to consider winnowing the Wyoming Supreme Court from five justices to three, 

. Lawmakers did not run legislation about that, however.

“For him and I both, we’re Wyomingites,” said Madden of Ortiz. “And those policies are not supporting or allowing the Wyoming that we grew up in – or that we want to live in – to thrive.”

Ortiz told Cowboy State Daily that he’s been a “Reagan Republican since the ‘80s,” was raised in Wyoming and is a product of the UW law school. 

The Freedom Caucus has called both Ortiz’s and Madden’s GOP credentials into question, calling Common Sense Republicans for Wyoming a “Leftist trial attorney PAC” and pointing to past social media posts by Madden in which Madden indicated support for Democratic candidates.

[{"type":"text","text":"For Ortiz, the “leftist” attorney charge is laughable."}]

“It’s hilarious they call me a leftist attorney,” he said, adding that he’s been representing Wyoming trucking companies, energy companies, and other red-blooded entities around the state. “It ruins their credibility because anybody that knows me would laugh out loud.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Ortiz said his daughter has, in fact, laughed at the charge. "}]

[{"type":"text","text":"“She doesn’t even think I’m a moderate,” he said."}]

“I love that once we point out you can be a conservative Republican and totally disagree with everything the Freedom Caucus is doing, they just resort to name-calling,” Ortiz added.

[{"type":"text","text":"In The Past…"}]

Regarding Madden, WFC Chair Rachel Williams, also known as Rep. Rachel Rodriguez Williams, sent Cowboy State Daily a statement calling Madden a supporter of Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

The State Freedom Caucus’ Network’s Wyoming director Jessie Rubino, who has also coordinated floor maneuvers with Freedom Caucus members, sent the statement on Williams’ behalf.

“She’s free to support these people of course, but proves that she’s out of step with the majority of Wyomingites and should raise questions about her self-proclaimed label as a ‘common sense republican,’” says the statement.

In response, Madden said in a Friday email: “This election is about what is happening to Wyoming today. Wyoming’s biggest threat is not a democratic candidate who lost. It’s the Freedom Caucus.”

The PAC does not focus on federal or presidential races; only state races.  

Madden said she’s excited to engage with anyone about her opposition to the caucus, and to discuss policies and issues directly impacting Wyoming.

“And that includes the Freedom Caucus policies that threaten the future of our state,” she added.

“I hope that someday the Freedom Caucus will stop with the ideological purity tests and talk about real laws and the real consequences of their policies,” Madden added.

Rubino sent Cowboy State Daily screenshots showing what appear to be posts by or involving Madden, in support of national Democratic candidates. 

“Throwback to inauguration 2016 when I got a bunch of tickets because we thought Hillary would win,” says the caption under a photograph of Madden and another woman, reposted under Madden’s Instagram handle.

A new political group called the 'Common Sense Republicans' have erected six billboards urging voters to “STOP The Freedom Caucus Agenda." Rep. John Bear, a well-known member of the Freedom Caucus, says he "loves" the billboards.

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