Sometimes what someone doesn’t say can speak volumes.
That could be the case with Gov. Mark Gordon’s answers when asked a few times during a Tuesday press conference about what he expects from the Wyoming Freedom Caucus in the upcoming legislative session, calling the political dynamic “interesting” multiple times.
“It will be interesting to see the bills that they bring forward,” Gordon said. “I look forward to working with them on those bills to make sure the people of Wyoming are well served in that process.”
As governor, Gordon can make line-item vetoes to bills where he tweaks their language, or he can veto them entirely. He didn’t indicate Tuesday whether he expects to do much of either with Freedom Caucus-sponsored legislation.
The Freedom Caucus had a press conference scheduled several hours later in the day.
Gordon also gave his take on what led to the Freedom Caucus’ rise to power in the state.
The Freedom Caucus will play a significant role in determining what legislation passes in the upcoming session due to the group taking over a majority of seats in the Wyoming House after the November election.
The state Senate is more divided, with about half or possibly slightly more of the lawmakers in the chamber politically aligned with the Freedom Caucus.
When considering these numbers, Gordon, who has often been criticized by the Freedom Caucus, will likely still hold a veto-resistant majority on most issues, as it takes a two-thirds vote to override his vetoes.
But that doesn’t give him a free pass to simply veto every bill that he doesn’t like, a move generally seen as bad political optics. For instance, Gordon last spring got significant heat, even from some of his supporters, for a handful of vetoes he made on bills.
Gordon mostly took the high road Tuesday when discussing the upcoming legislative session and the 32 new legislators who will be sworn in, who he commended for their dedication to serve the public.
“I know that there may be differences of opinion on what we do coming forward, I know we may have some disagreements, but I’m really looking forward to working with everyone, and I am excited about this legislative session as perhaps I haven’t been for a long time,” he said.
He also pointed out that he’s worked with Freedom Caucus members on bills in the past and believes “there’s a lot of issues we see eye-to-eye on.”
How Did We Get Here?
The Freedom Caucus has grown significantly to where it is today considering it only had around a handful of members prior to 2020.
Gordon said it’s clear that it took a “disciplined and concerted effort” from the Freedom Caucus to gain its current power.
“I think it’s pretty clear, I think it’s pretty obvious that they also had a lot of help from out of state in doing that,” he said.
Nearly all of the Freedom Caucus’ direct contributions during the 2024 election cycle were from in-state donors; however, the salary of its State Director Jessie Rubino is paid by the Washington, D.C.-based State Freedom Caucus Network. As it does with the Wyoming group, the Freedom Caucus Network oversees around a dozen Freedom Caucus groups in legislatures across the country.
The Wyoming group is special and has gained national attention for being the first to take over a majority of seats in any state House in the country.
Gordon also used the word “interesting” to describe the Freedom Caucus’ position.
“It’s an interesting position they find themselves in now because a lot of you know, their efforts over the last few years have been trying to strengthen pieces of legislation, or maybe criticize pieces of legislation and criticize the leadership,” Gordon said during the press conference.
Gordon offered support for many Republican candidates in the 2024 primary who opposed Freedom Caucus-endorsed candidates.
He also accused the group of making “a very concerted effort to ditch everything that had been worked on during the previous session.”
This is mostly in reference to Freedom Caucus members overwhelmingly voting against a slate of committee bills passed during the previous interim session for introduction in the 2024 budget session.
Although he said Tuesday that the Freedom Caucus used “some specious claims” during election season, he also admitted there were areas where the caucus “clearly connected with the people of Wyoming.”
Gordon expressed concern again about the low turnout in the primary election where the Freedom Caucus had so much success, an election where only about 27% of the state’s eligible voters participated.
“They had an agenda that resonated with a portion of the state, and we didn’t hear from a very large portion of the state,” Gordon said. “But here they are and I look forward to seeing what they can accomplish.”
The Outlook
A total of 218 bills are now visible for viewing on the Legislature’s website for the upcoming legislative session and Gordon said more than 600 bill requests have been made to the Legislative Service Office.
“The Legislature is going to have a big task in trying to sort through what those bills are,” Gordon said.
This would mark a considerable uptick if those become published bills. In the last non-budget session in 2023, 497 bills were introduced, while in 2021 there were 441, and 503 in 2019.
It is worth noting that a similarly large number of bill draft requests were made around this time in 2023 and 2019, yet fewer ended up being introduced in both years.
Late last month, the Freedom Caucus unveiled its “Five and Dime Plan” for legislation, which includes adding more election-registration rules, invalidating driver’s licenses other states issue to undocumented people, prohibiting the University of Wyoming from using diversity, equity and inclusion standards into its hiring and educating processes, banning the state from investing in funds that prioritize environmental, social or governance standards, and providing a 25% property tax cut to residential property owners.
When asked about commenting on any of the legislation he likes or doesn’t like that’s been proposed so far, Gordon said doing so would be “premature.” But he did describe the Five and Dime Plan as “interesting stuff.”
He also declined to comment on a bill brought by Sen. Cheri Steinmetz, R-Lingle, that would repeal requirements on coal-fired power plants to add carbon capture and sequestration technologies, the latter an effort he reiterated his support for on Tuesday.
“I hope as people look at this, people look at the economic benefits,” he said.
Throughout his time as governor, Gordon has called for Wyoming to embrace new opportunities and innovations in energy, education and economic development.
When asked about property taxes, Gordon was noncommittal about supporting any more changes to the tax code and mentioned the property tax legislation already passed into law during the 2024 session and the initiative passed by the voters to create a separate class of taxation for residential properties, which he supported.
He also brought up a study done by Visual Capitalist last May, showing Wyoming having the third lowest overall tax burden in the country, and mentioned how local governments and schools receive a significant amount of funding from property tax revenue.
“So, it’s important people balance in their expectations: ‘not only do I not have as much of a tax burden, but I also understands that has consequences on what services I can demand from my local entity,’” Gordon said. “That’s the issue that’s going to be there, and hopefully they’ll be able to talk through that during the legislative session.”
Leo Wolfson can be reached at leo@cowboystatedaily.com.
