CODY — The Wyoming Republican Party is standing firm behind its ongoing lawsuit with some members of the Hot Springs County Republican Party, refusing to seat two members of that party at the state central committee meeting Saturday.
The members say they were properly elected recently to leadership positions in the Hot Springs County party, but were ousted when the state party challenged the results. They and the other two members elected after the dispute were invited to Saturday’s meeting.
Discussion about whether to recognize the disputed Hot Springs GOP members was extremely short-lived, with the party voting overwhelmingly to only ratify the members chosen by the state party’s dispute resolution committee.
Under a set of proposed rules, the party considered conducting separate votes with each group of Hot Springs members during its leadership elections. The use of these rules was firmly rejected by the body.
One of the two disputed members, Joe Martinez, declined to comment to Cowboy State Daily about this result but said he wasn’t surprised.
What’s It About?
The state party’s dispute resolution committee determined last month that the votes taken in March for chairman and state committeeman of Hot Springs County should have included two other ballots that would have changed the results of those elections.
The committee ordered a recount, which happened last month, leading to two new leadership members being elected.
The state GOP bylaws allow all elected officers, whether or not they are precinct committee members, to vote in elections. State law requires that a member be an elected precinct committee member to vote.
Although county officers are elected by members of their respective parties, they are not voted in during public primary elections.
Outgoing state party Chairman Frank Eathorne admitted “a somewhat confusing mixture between public and private” exists on this matter in state law and expressed hopefulness the lawsuit could clarify the issue. He believes the lawsuit is an issue of First Amendment rights.
“This can be an exciting outcome for all of us,” he said.
The state law was upheld by the Wyoming Supreme Court in 2023 in a lawsuit between the state GOP and Uinta County Republican Party. On Saturday, Eathorne reiterated the party’s legal counsel’s belief that the Uinta County lawsuit was limited to that lawsuit itself and has no bearing on state law.
Party leadership asserts that since the Wyoming GOP is a private organization, it can make its own bylaws that aren’t beholden to state law.
Eathorne said he hopes the Legislature addresses the issue in the future so that the state GOP can operate like a traditional private organization such as an Elks Club.
Lawsuit Concerns
Sublette County GOP chair and former House Speaker Albert Sommers said although he supports the proposed rules, he didn’t really think they fixed the larger problem of what he sees as the state party breaking state law.
“Any private organization that violates state law runs up against the law,” he said. “I think as the law and order party that we should follow state law.”
Sweetwater County Republican Liz Bingham agreed and said she expects the state party to lose the lawsuit. She argued in favor of the proposed rules as a form of protection in the lawsuit.
Goshen County GOP Chair Kirk Haas disagreed, saying accepting the proposed rules would only put the state party under more scrutiny in the lawsuit.
Hot Springs County GOP Committeewoman Cheryl Aguiar said if any provisional ballots were to be counted in the state party elections, it would disqualify all the results of Saturday’s leadership elections, a strange comment considering she pushed for collecting provisional ballots at her own county election in March.
“The fact there is a lawsuit out there that will intimidate this body to circumvent our bylaws and my right to vote on a secret ballot is disgusting to this one time accommodation,” she said. “If we are going to allow ourselves to bend the knees to a lawyer or an agreement between two lawyers, why don’t we just nominate them for chair?”
Park County GOP Chairman Vince Vanata said simply because a lawsuit was filed violates state party bylaws. He also brought up issues with a confidentiality agreement that he said was altered by the plaintiffs suing the state party.
Party attorney Brian Shuck, who’s been advising the state GOP on the case, tendered his resignation during Saturday’s meeting. Eathorne compared the attorney to an endangered species during the meeting for his staunch constitutional approach to the law.
Outgoing party vice chair David Holland said Shuck donated around $300,000 to the party in recent years.
Caleb Wilkins of Coal Creek Law will be the party’s legal counsel moving forward and will represent the state party in the Hot Springs lawsuit.
Leo Wolfson can be reached at leo@cowboystatedaily.com.
