Dear editor:
Rep. Clarence Styvar is not doing a major part of his job representing the people who elected him in Wyoming’s House District 12.
That’s the district where I live, located in South Cheyenne and into the county, between I-25 and South Greeley Highway.
The Wyoming Legislature has been in session since early January, and Rep. Styvar is at the capitol every work day. He shows up when the full House of Representatives meets. He hears and participates in debates and casts votes along with 61 other representatives from around the state.
But when Rep. Styvar’s most important job is happening, he is not in the room. He is refusing to show up. He has skipped more than a dozen important committee meetings because, as he told me, he does not want to be on the committee he was assigned to.
That is doing a major disservice to the people of HD 12 and Wyoming.
All Wyoming legislators serve on committees—these are smaller groups of lawmakers focused on specific issue areas like Minerals or Travel, Recreation, and Wildlife.
Committee meetings are where the real work on bills often takes place—when lawmakers and the public have in-depth conversations in order to make sure legislation is in good shape before sending it along to the full chamber.
Rep. Styvar is assigned to two committees: the House Revenue Committee, which he attends, and the House Labor Health Committee, which he does not.
During the six weeks of the Legislative session so far, Rep. Styvar has skipped more than a dozen House Labor Health Committee meetings. In his absence, the committee has heard and voted on dozens of bills on important subjects like abortion, vaccines, medical debt, and health insurance.
When Rep. Styvar was assigned to this committee, it gave his constituents a voice in these important decisions. By skipping the meetings, Rep. Styvar has removed our voice.
I had heard from colleagues at the capitol that Rep. Styvar decided to boycott the committee because he felt he should be its chairman. Rep. Styvar is the longest-serving legislator assigned to the House Labor Health Committee, which would traditionally qualify him for the role. But the position was given instead to Rep. Rachel Rodriguez-Williams, who is the Chair of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus.
After being contacted about this issue by multiple constituents, I emailed Rep. Styvar to address this matter with him directly. He immediately called me and explained his position. He told me that he asked the Speaker of the House not to place him on the Labor Health Committee in the first place, and that he does not support the Freedom Caucus agenda (even though he regularly votes with them). However, the Speaker went ahead and placed him on the committee over his objections. These were the reasons he decided to boycott his assignment.
I appreciate Rep. Styvar having the conversation with me and explaining his decision, and I believe he is genuine in his beliefs, but his job is to represent the people of House District 12 in these discussions and to vote on these bills. He is refusing to do his job.
To be clear, this problem could be easily fixed with more effective leadership in the House. But that has been absent under the Freedom Caucus.
Rep. Chip Nieman, the Speaker of the House and a Freedom Caucus leader, is responsible for making committee assignments. He could easily either reprimand Rep. Styvar and force him to attend, or he could switch Rep. Styvar to another committee.
Instead, Speaker Nieman, along with Rep. Rodriguez-Williams, have apparently decided that operating the committee one member short, and absent an elected voice of the people of House District 12, is not an issue.
In 2024, I ran in the GOP primary against Rep. Styvar to represent House District 12. It’s easy to say that, had I won, I would have committed to the job and showed up when I was supposed to, because Rep. Styvar’s behavior is unprecedented — no one I have spoken with has ever heard of a legislator simply deciding he is not going to show up to do the job he was elected to do.
This is unacceptable behavior from an elected representative. The people of House District 12 and Wyoming deserve better.
Signed,
Thomas Lear, Cheyenne