Tensions boiled over in the Wyoming House on Thursday when a state representative blasted one of her fellow Republican members for releasing the legislative positions of some of the leading conservative organizations in Wyoming.
State Rep. J.D. Williams, R-Lusk, sent an email containing an attachment intended for House Republicans, but also to all of the House Democrats and the executive director of the Wyoming County Commissioners Association.
The spreadsheet originally sent out to the 56 House Republican caucus members by Rep. Scott Smith, R-Lingle, contained vote positions for conservative advocacy groups Moms For Liberty and Honor Wyoming on hundreds of bills, including in-depth comments on specific bills and the platform positions of the Wyoming Republican Party.
Smith had presented the information at a Republican caucus meeting Wednesday.
Williams apologized for the mistake by email to all of the House members and requested the House Democrats delete the link to the spreadsheet, but Rep. Rachel Rodriguez-Williams, R-Cody, chairman of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus, told Williams she wasn’t having it.
“I do not accept your apology,” she wrote Williams and all of the other House members back in an email.
“You have proved yourself untrustworthy not only to the members of the House Republican Caucus, but to the grassroots organizations that work hard behind the scenes and collaborate with our caucus,” she said. “I urge you to make your apology public, beyond just the membership of the Republican caucus.”
Minority Floor Leader Rep. Mike Yin, D-Jackson, told Cowboy State Daily he hadn’t clicked on the link and didn’t want to get involved in “inter-caucus affairs.”
Rep. Tom Kelly, R-Sheridan, told Cowboy State Daily he thought Williams made “an honest mistake.”
How It Happened
Williams explained to Cowboy State Daily it was an inadvertent mistake when responding to Smith’s email, and that he was encouraging lawmakers to chat about legislation with their local county commissioners.
He said Wednesday night a group of Republicans were presented with the information in the spreadsheet, while another group he was a part of met with the county commissioners.
“After it was brought to my attention, I apologized to the body and I likewise apologized to everyone for my error,” Williams said. “That being said, I encouraged everyone to contact their county commissioners to better understand how the tax policy the Legislature is considering will impact your community.”
The Significance
Williams sent out the errant email at 11 a.m. on Thursday. He sent out his apology email 22 minutes later.
Public access to the spreadsheet was removed by 1 p.m., but not before Cowboy State Daily was able to inspect the document.
There weren’t any surprising vote stances for the groups at first glance, but advocacy groups generally still don’t like having their positions on bills put out publicly until they’re ready to do so.
“The Code of the West reminds us that when you make a promise, you keep it,” Rodriguez-Williams told Cowboy State Daily. “Rep. J.D. Williams and the rest of the Republican caucus made a promise not to share the hard work of our grassroots activists, and he immediately broke that promise by violating the trust of his fellow lawmakers, to the benefit of Democrats and a registered lobbyist.”
Rep. Pepper Ottman, R-Riverton, chairman of the House Republican Caucus, said the Republican Party and her volunteer organization are private groups that do private business, which is why it’s unfortunate that the email was sent out to the greater public.
She said there is a general trust put in their members that information won’t end up in the hands of the media.
“It’s up to these members to keep these group’s information private and there’s a reason why they want to keep this information to the Republican body,” she said.
Smith stressed in his Wednesday night email that the voting stances were not meant as a directive to Republicans and were in “no way telling anyone how to vote, but to give you positions and information on different bills.”
Smith said in his email that the bill spreadsheet would be updated throughout the legislative session.
During the 2023 legislative session, the Freedom Caucus followed a similar practice and sent out text messages to members giving them suggested votes on bills. When asked if this practice is still occurring, Rodriguez-Williams said, “The Wyoming Freedom Caucus receives bill breakdowns and recommendations- and our strategy sessions and other communications are confidential.”
Smith and Ottman said the purpose of the Republican House Caucus is to foster better relationships in Republican ranks, which is why they found the Williams incident unfortunate. The Wyoming House has been marked by a clear divide in recent years between its more socially conservative and moderate camps.
“We’re trying to build unity within the organization,” Smith said.
Leo Wolfson can be reached at leo@cowboystatedaily.com.
