The rebellion of the Weston County commissioners against a 1991 court ruling in favor of the one-man-one-vote rule in the Legislature raises a lot of memories and questions.
The memories are of a campaign waged in the early 1980s by Niobrara County residents in an attempt to save their county’s seat in the Wyoming House.
That campaign was led by then-State Auditor Jim Griffith, a Lusk native.
The emotional “Save Niobrara” campaign included signs, pins. rallies, messages, letters and, I believe, T-shirts.
I think everyone had sympathy for Niobrara County, which got left behind population-wise during Wyoming’s growth in the 1970s and no longer had enough bodies to qualify as a district with a state senator and a representative as the state constitution originally required.
To Niobrara County, losing that seat was like losing its identity as a county.
The state’s 1981 redistricting plan included one House seat for Niobrara County
The Griffith-led campaign had worked so far.
Then the League of Women Voters challenged the 1981 redistricting plan in court on constitutional grounds.
By the time the appeal reached the U.S. Supreme Court it had been whittled down to the claim against Niobrara County’s representation, according to various internet sources.
The U.S. Supreme Court held that the state’s policy was rational and even “well-suited to the special needs” of the sparsely populated state.
Niobrara County scraped through again.
Nothing much else happened for the next decade, including little population growth.
Then in the early 1990s the lawsuit Gorin vs. Karpan was filed and blew the lid off.
In 1991, a panel of three Wyoming federal judges ruled the state’s system of redistricting was unconstitutional because it violated the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Niobrara County lost its local resident representation and so eventually did other low-population counties throughout the state.
Weston County’s representation was split between two senators.
This is a county that had been represented very well for years by Weston County rancher Sen.Earl Christensen, a former senate presidents, and others.
Now, notwithstanding all the lawsuits and federal ruling, we have the Weston County Board of Commissioners by-passing all the laws and procedures to get better representation in the legislature.
Weston County’s beef is that the federal court ran over Wyoming’s constitution — which mandates one senator and one representative to constitute a district — without any public input from citizens. It is an attempt somehow to reinstate the state constitution as the law.
I get all that.
What colors this development is the support of the whole idea by the Wyoming Republican Party and the Wyoming Freedom Caucus. This is the group gaining power in Wyoming.
That’s why I think it’s too early to dismiss this as sheer folly by a bunch of wackos.
Also, the old legislative system of redistricting outlined in the state constitution was so much simpler than what we have now, perhaps other counties will agree with the Weston commissioners and join their rebellion.
Meanwhile, the Weston County commission passed a resolution to declare two county legislative seats vacant and to follow tradition and fill those seats.with people of the same political party.
The commission then will present their resolution with their legislative picks to Secretary of State Chuck Gray, the state’s elections official, according to the Gillette News-Record.
Gray is a hard right wing supporter who has shown his antipathy to the federal government on many occasions.
This is where the screen goes black.
We we don’t know what Gray would do or what effect it would have.
Other than lawsuits. There will be lawsuits.
Contact Joan at jmbarron@bresnan.net
