Wyoming’s secretary of state is defending election-season mailers that falsely claim certain Republican legislators running for reelection voted to keep former President Donald Trump off the ballot.
The Wyoming Legislature this year did not entertain any budget or bill action featuring language about keeping Trump off the ballot.
Yet, a handful of mailers sent to Wyoming residents last month claim that several Republican Wyoming House incumbents voted for such a measure. Representatives JT Larson, Ember Oakley, Lloyd Larsen, Dan Zwonitzer and Cody Wylie all were among those targeted.
“Woke Wylie … Voted with the RADICAL LEFT to remove Trump from the ballot,” says a mailer targeting Wylie that was sent to many Rock Springs residents.
“There was never even a conversation (about that),” Wylie told Cowboy State Daily on Thursday.
The topic of the mailers surfaced during a Wednesday meeting of the Joint Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Committee on which Wylie serves as a member.
Some legislators condemned the mailers as confusing or deceptive, or both.
Secretary of State Chuck Gray, whose office investigates alleged election code violations, engaged in a heated back-and-forth with Wylie and other legislators, briefly defending the mailers.
“I was going to be quiet, but I can’t,” said Wylie, before asking Gray, “Did you ever see anything hit your desk where I voted to remove President Trump from the ballot?”
Gray cited a footnote the legislative Appropriations Committee affixed to his office’s budget, which numerous House members voted to keep. Though it cleared the House, the footnote didn’t survive the entire legislative process. It would have banned Gray from using Wyoming public money to fight out-of-state lawsuits without the Legislature’s permission, unless Gray, his office or Wyoming was already named as a party in such lawsuits.
The footnote surfaced after Gray filed an amicus brief in a Colorado lawsuit in which some Republicans tried and ultimately failed to keep Trump off the Colorado ballot.
“It was acknowledged by a legislator that (the footnote) was related to our filing in defending President Trump remaining on the ballot,” Gray told the Corporations Committee in response to Wylie.
He claimed the footnote was also related to the people’s right to choose “who to elect for themselves.” He said the footnote at the time felt like retribution, to him, and said he's spoken to people saying they agree with the claims made in the mailers.
Several Republican representatives, including nearly all those targeted via mailers, voted against an attempt to delete the footnote.
One Voice For Wyoming
Among those who have spoken with Cowboy State Daily, the legislators whom the mailers target disagree wholly with Gray’s claim that their votes equate to an attack on Trump.
“This statement … is blatantly and maliciously false,” says a cease-and-desist letter Jeff Stanbury, an attorney based in Fremont County, sent Tuesday on behalf of Republican Reps. Ember Oakley of Riverton and Lloyd Larsen of Lander, to the group that sent the mailers, the Wyoming Freedom political action committee.
“(Trump’s) name is not found anywhere in its language,” the letter says.
The footnote was about preventing Wyoming from sending its elected officials into potentially competing lawsuits or wasting Wyomingites tax dollars, the letter continues.
“The amendment in no way would’ve restricted the state of Wyoming from attempting to keep President Trump on the ballot,” says the letter, adding that the footnote merely affirmed the governor’s already-existing primacy over state-waged lawsuits.
Rep. Dan Zwonitzer, R-Cheyenne, said he couldn’t think of any reason a Wyoming lawmaker, in particular a Republican one, would carry legislation trying to keep Trump off the ballot in Wyoming, and said no such effort happened.
The footnote instead has other commonsense policy reasons, he said.
“The state of Wyoming has to speak with one voice. All litigation has to occur through our attorney general,” he said.
Zwonitzer said he hopes he would never find a Wyoming governor and secretary of state on opposite sides of the same lawsuit. He didn’t entertain that outcome, as Stanbury’s letter does.
But he said he couldn’t think of a reason “why any of our state elected officials would go around the governor or our attorney general.”
Larsen told Cowboy State Daily there may be occasions for Gray to wage out-of-state lawsuits, and under the footnote he still could have done so - he just would have had to get the legislative branch's permission.
Because Of Gray’s ‘Conduct’
Rep. John Bear, R-Gillette, countered and agreed with Gray, telling Cowboy State Daily in a Thursday interview that he believes the footnote was targeted at Gray to keep Trump off election ballots.
He pointed to a statement by House Appropriations Chair Bob Nicholas, R-Cheyenne, who said the footnote was a reaction to Gray’s conduct.
Bear said that those who voted against its deletion are “the very people who are saying they didn’t vote against Trump being on the ballot.”
He denied that there could be other policy or practical reasons for the footnote, and said lawmakers’ reasons for voting against its deletion “didn’t hold water.”
Just A Mouthpiece
Committee Co-Chair Sen. Cale Case, R-Lander, voiced disgust with the mailers but said the committee at this point is little more than a “mouthpiece” on the issue.
But the committee may tailor its future actions around what the Wyoming courts system decides with regard to a defamation lawsuit the mailers sparked, he added.
Wylie and another lawmaker from his town, Republican Rep. JT Larson, sued the Wyoming Freedom political action committee last week, accusing the group of defamation and false light for disseminating the mailers.
The PAC is the campaign arm of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus, a group of Republican legislative delegates who tend to support further-right and more authoritative approaches to social issues.
John Bear is the head of the Freedom Caucus legislators.
PAC chair Karen Drost did not respond to a Cowboy State Daily voicemail by publication time Thursday.
ActBlue
Rep. Mike Yin, D-Jackson, sparred with Gray on Wednesday also, asking whether Gray planned to investigate the Crook County Republican Party’s $25,000 donation to the Wyoming Freedom PAC, which detractors say violates a Wyoming statute barring political parties from contributing to certain candidates directly or indirectly before a primary election. The county party has contested that the move is legal.
Gray said he’s received no complaints about that action, and that it’s uncertain whether the check has even been cashed.
Yin asked Gray whether he’s received official complaints about fundraising organization ActBlue, which Gray vowed Tuesday to investigate based on claims that the group steals people’s identities to conceal illegal donations.
Gray said he’s heard reporting and anecdotal evidence of ActBlue’s alleged wrongdoings.
Yin grilled Gray at length about whether there’s a discrepancy between the way Gray is approaching ActBlue’s actions and those of the Crook County Republican Party.
Gray derided some lawmakers, saying they raise concerns about misconduct affecting people in their “camp,” but not enough people objected when a former secretary of state in 2022 filed a federal election misconduct complaint against him.
The Federal Election Commission ultimately dismissed that complaint, which Gray called a triumph for truth.
Free Speech
Gray insisted to the committee Wednesday that his purview over election practices is confined within Title 22, the state’s election law.
He reiterated the point Thursday, telling Cowboy State Daily the state’s election code doesn’t prohibit the mailers.
“Government should not be weaponized against free speech,” wrote Gray. “Any provision in Title 22 banning free speech would clearly be wrong and unconstitutional.”
He hearkened again to the “legislative history” of the budget footnote limiting his use of state money on out-of-state elections, and said he filed his amicus brief in the Colorado case to advocate for “(ensuring) that all Wyomingites would be able to choose who (sic) to elect for themselves.”
Gray said he’s heard from other Wyomingites with opinions about the accuracy of the mailers “that are very different from the opinions of the mainstream media and certain legislators.”
Lastly, Gray said:
• Civil court is the appropriate venue for Wylie to voice his concerns.
• His office handles complaints about Title 22 compliance “and in no way oversees complaints before the civil court.”
• He will review complaints of Wyoming election law violations and suspected violations to prosecutors.
• His office is investigating ActBlue in response to correspondence it has received and to “widespread allegations related to ActBlue.”
Gray said he was uncomfortable with some legislators discussing political activity and campaigns during an official meeting. He said as much during the meeting as well, and Sen. Bill Landen, R-Casper, rebutted him, saying election practices are within the committee's purview.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
