A series of combative town halls last week prompted Wyoming congresswoman Harriet Hageman to cancel future in-person events. After threats in Laramie and Wheatland last week, there were none of the same explosive fireworks and dramatic confrontation during her Friday phone-in town hall.
Hageman said Friday’s town hall was her seventh this year and 76th since taking office, but a rare remote event. She canceled in-person access to her town halls after a particularly unruly town hall in Laramie on March 19, and after receiving what she saw as legitimate personal threats at an event in Wheatland two days later.
Hageman said the fact that the political temperature “is getting a bit high” led her to cancel in-person participation.
“My town hall is solely for the purpose of exchanging information, and then when they devolve into the kind of situation we had in Laramie last week, it becomes very difficult for me to engage with my constituents,” she said.
Removing the in-person access didn’t damper public participation, as a Hageman staffer reported there being 1,077 people on the call that lasted 57 minutes.
“I want to thank you for joining and being respectful and for engaging in this process,” Hageman said.
Hageman said she still thought it was worth it to host the town hall in the chosen format and plans to resume hosting in-person town halls as soon as April, “If we can get the temperature turned down a little bit” and provide for the security and safety of people who attend the events.
People participating in the panel weren’t allowed to directly ask Hageman questions, respond to her responses or interact with her directly in any way. Questions had to be submitted beforehand or to her staff during the call.
Hageman took 16 questions Friday night, most of which had a conservative slant and none that critiqued or criticized her personally. Since the town hall was supposed to be held in Cheyenne, only questions from Cheyenne residents were given to Hageman.
The Judiciary
The relationship between President Donald Trump’s administration and the judicial branch has become a hot topic of late, with more than 100 Wyoming attorneys and judges sending a letter to Wyoming’s congressional delegation, demanding they denounce recent verbal attacks on judges.
In response to a question, Hageman said she believes the Trump administration needs to expeditiously appeal cases as fast as it can that uphold its priorities.
She has co-sponsored legislation that dictates that federal district court judges can only make rulings relative to their specific cases, rather than making expansive, nationwide injunctions.
Hageman also pointed out how the Department of Defense recently filed a brief telling a judge in Washington state that judges at that level don’t have the security clearance to review certain foreign policy information they’ve requested.
“Rogue judges have just gone in, thrown these injunctions against the wall, without any understanding or recognition of the havoc that they can wreak when they have such broad decisions without really thinking through it is their doing,” Hageman said.
Hageman said it’s the judiciary’s role to interpret laws, but that doesn’t supersede the president’s right to make certain decisions for the United States.
Next week, her House Judiciary Committee will study the state of the judicial branch in America.
Defends Trump Administration
Hageman has consistently supported nearly every move made by the Trump administration.
The administration has cut about 80,000 jobs from the Veterans Administration, bringing the agency back to 2019-staffing levels. Hageman said this is all about reducing the size and scope of bureaucracy, and stressed to Friday’s callers that services to veterans will remain the same.
Many have feared that the Trump administration will cut Social Security benefits. Hageman said these fears are also unfounded, but did say these agencies need to be extensively audited.
Hageman also warned that if the U.S. doesn’t get control of its $40 trillion deficit, there won’t be a country left, something Trump also has repeatedly said. During her time in office, Hageman said she has always made a concerted effort to roll back federal regulations, an opportunity that opened up extensively after the overturn of the Chevron Doctrine.
What Else Has She Been Up To?
She’s also sponsored legislation that would uphold First Amendment rights, but does not believe media entities are entitled to access to the White House press pool. Trump has opened up this press room to alternative sources of media that are more friendly to his administration.
On the environmental front, Hageman has also sponsored bills to delist the grizzly bear and gray wolf from the Endangered Species Act, end the federal coal leasing moratorium, and rewrite the BLM’s Resource Management Plans for the Rock Springs and Buffalo areas.
Championing postal service reform and access has been another priority for Hageman, fighting to retain distribution centers in Wyoming over the last few years. In February, it was announced that distribution centers in Cheyenne and Casper would remain open and receive millions of dollars of investments.
“It is something that is important to us that we maintain that service in Wyoming,” she said.
But she still believes more transparency and better management needs to take place in the U.S. Postal Service.
Hageman also said education in America has stagnated, which she blames on the U.S. Department of Education. She’s co-sponsored a bill to abolish the agency and another to funnel federal education money directly to Wyoming.
“We don’t need to launder money through D.C. to support an education system,” she said.
Hageman is also excited about the future of rare earth minerals in Wyoming.
Trump recently signed an executive order invoking war time powers to help boost production of critical minerals and rare earth elements.
She has also made constituent services a major priority of her office, receiving 3,200 cases and resolving 3,032, returning $5.4 million to Wyoming residents.
Democrats Opposed
Hageman cancelled in-person access to her town halls earlier this week, citing “credible threats” she’s received.
She also specifically referenced a confrontation that happened at a town hall she held in Wheatland last week, where an attendee followed her while she was leaving the venue and initiated a confrontation with staff, causing local police to intervene.
Hageman had blamed the unruly behavior at her town halls on “Democrat threats of violence” and said “hundreds of protestors organized by the local Albany County Democratic Party and national influencers” were to blame for consistent and sustained disruptions throughout the Laramie event.
In a statement issued earlier this week, Wyoming Democratic Party Chair Joe Barbtuo said any threats of violence made are not condoned by his party, but the simple act of protest does not amount to violence.
“It is a fundamental right protected by the Constitution,” he said. “Using peaceful dissent as an excuse to avoid public accountability does a disservice to the people of Wyoming, their voices should matter.”
The Albany County Democratic Party also took offense to Hageman’s remark, pointing out that although it did hold a protest event prior to the town hall, it was peaceful in nature.
“We had no role in organizing or managing the town hall itself, and we did not direct or encourage any disruptive behavior inside the venue,” county party chairman Klaus Halbsgut said in a statement.
Halbsgut, who told Cowboy State Daily after the event that he believed most of the protestors causing the most trouble weren’t from Laramie, called Hageman’s remarks “disappointing and unhelpful.”
“The chaotic nature of the town hall reflects the frustration many feel toward the federal government and Rep. Hageman's failure to engage meaningfully with her constituents,” Halbsgut said. “Her decision to cancel future in-person events and shift blame to local Democrats raises serious questions about transparency and accountability and appears to be an attempt to avoid addressing all her constituents’ and not just Democrats’ real and valid concerns.”
The Laramie County Democratic Party held an in-person town hall on Friday night to hear feedback from the public about what’s going on in politics.
Hageman’s next virtual town hall will be on Saturday and is for Torrington residents.
Leo Wolfson can be reached at leo@cowboystatedaily.com.
