The newest conspiracy in Wyoming politics involves House Speaker Albert Sommers, R-Pinedale, and an alleged connection with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Rumors have been building, mostly over social media, about Sommers’ role as board member for the State Legislative Leaders Foundation (SLLF), a nonpartisan public policy group that had past relations with a Chinese group connected to the CCP.
The latest of these interactions happened at least a few years before Sommers joined the group and there’s no evidence that they are ongoing or have resumed since he joined the board last fall.
But that didn’t stop one of his state Senate District 14 Republican primary opponents, Laura Taliaferro Pearson, from sharing a post from a conservative Wyoming political podcast that parroted claims by other farther right Republicans that Sommers is somehow linked to the CCP because of his position on the board of the State Legislative Leaders Foundation.
Pearson is a supporter of a group of Republican legislators known as the Wyoming Freedom Caucus, which has been critical of Sommers over the past couple of legislative sessions.
“This humbug about Communist China is just the latest desperate fabrication that the Freedom Caucus and its surrogates have cooked up, much like my opponent’s belief in the ‘Chem Trail’ conspiracy,” Sommers wrote in a blog post late last week. “When a campaign has nothing substantive to offer citizens, it relies on innuendo, fear-mongering and bald-faced lies in an attempt to pull the opposition down.
“The Freedom Caucus churns out lies because it has nothing to offer Wyoming.”
That Explains It
In trying to connect Sommers and the CCP, Pearson said she now understands why most of the bills banning foreign ownership of land in Wyoming didn’t pass during this year’s legislative session.
“At this point, there aren’t many public officials that I trust,” she said. “This (SLLF) organization clearly is tied to the CCP, and just because my opponent wants to downplay affiliation, (it) still doesn’t sit right with me or his constituents.”
She believes the legislation that has and hasn’t passed over the past two years during Sommers’ time ass has only been to the benefit of a small number of people.
During his time as House speaker, legislation has passed into law expanding the state’s property tax rebate program, putting a 4% cap on year-to-year property tax increases, prohibiting transgender girls from participating in girls’ sports, banning doctors from providing transgender treatment to minors, all of which Sommers voted to support.
Also facing Sommers in the primary race is Bondurant resident Bill Winney.
‘Are You Kidding Me?’
Frustrated over the outrageous claim, Sommers also put out a video response to the allegations that he shot while mowing his hay field Saturday.
In the video, Sommers calls the Chinese claims “the most ridiculous thing that I have ever heard in my life.” In the post with the video, Sommers writes that people in Sublette County are now laughing about the premise that he’s a Chinese spy.
“If anyone believes that I serve to advance China, Hunter Biden or anyone other than my friends and citizens here at home they are sadly mistaken,” he wrote. “These types of crazy, unsupported and untruthful claims are not how Wyoming used to operate. It is sad that folks engage in this type of behavior.”
Sommers is a third-generation rancher who lives outside Pinedale. He’s served in the Wyoming Legislature since 2013 and is coming to the end of his two-year term as House speaker. He announced this spring his candidacy for the state Senate.
When his speaker term ends at the end of this year, Sommers said he also will step down from the SLLF board.
Sommers told Cowboy State Daily that not only does he not have any allegiance to the CCP, he’s never even been to China. He also pointed out how he signed a resolution in 2023 in support of Taiwan, a country that has long been at odds with China.
“They’re trying to accuse me of being in cahoots with the CCP, are you kidding me?” Sommers said.
Pearson said no one has called Sommers a spy and that he is making the claim himself as a distraction from the campaign.
What’s It Based On?
The speculation of collusion between Sommers and the CCP stems from a 2021 Washington Free Beacon story that found some past connections between SLLF and a Chinese economic advocacy group linked to the CCP called the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries.
Stephen Lakis, president of SLLF, told Cowboy State Daily on Monday that his organization has no ongoing relationship of any kind with the Chinese People’s Association or ever has with the Chinese Communist Party.
“That relationship has been over for a number of years,” Lakis said.
Sommers joined the SLLF’s board of directors last fall. The bipartisan board is made up of 34 members who are all legislative leaders in their respective states.
“It’s a neutral meeting ground where they know they’re going to be getting straight information,” he said. “We’re not peddling a liberal or conservative ideology or philosophy.”
SLLF was founded in 1972 and hosts forums for leaders in statehouses across the country and other events for legislators and major corporations. Lakis said the basic purpose of the group is to make legislators better at their jobs.
In 2009, the group also held a summit in China.
“We had an opportunity to bring a delegation to China to look at what they’re doing and talk to them about common issues,” Lakis said. “It was more (to) establish some line of communication.”
Lakis said the only other Wyoming legislator he’s aware of that’s been on the SLLF board was Fremont County Democrat John Vinich.
Sommers said the group is designed to provide information on the most pressing issues facing state legislators and provide them networking opportunities. There are a number of other organizations that exist and perform a similar purpose to SLLF like the National Conference of State Legislatures and Council of State Governments.
Although any state legislator can attend an SLLF event, only legislative leaders are on the group’s board of directors.
Sommers said he joined because he believes it “fosters leadership through civility and relationship building.”
“It’s a good organization that tries to provide good information to legislators,” he said.
Earlier this year, Sommers attended an SLLF event in California on artificial intelligence. He found the event beneficial and also believes it proved the nonpartisan nature of SLLF, as the presentation concluded that AI usually has a left-leaning bias.
Leo Wolfson can be reached at leo@cowboystatedaily.com.
