A state legislative representative from Rock Springs has not attended any meetings of the two interim committees he’s appointed to since the end of the 2025 session.
Rep. Darin McCann, R-Rock Springs, told Cowboy State Daily on Friday that he did not realize when he ran for office that the Wyoming Legislature has such an active interim season. He said he made the House chairmen of both his committees aware that his work schedule as a physician’s assistant would leave him booked on Mondays and Tuesdays.
In McCann’s two committees, the meetings that have already passed this interim all happened on Mondays and Tuesdays.
The former state representative McCann unseated at last year’s primary election countered, saying McCann has now missed the bulk of his chance to bring his community’s interests to the initial, crucial formation of his committee bills.
‘Made It Very Clear’
McCann told Cowboy State Daily he was forthright about his Monday/Tuesday unavailability ahead of the interim.
“I made it very clear to the committee chairs that I can’t do Monday and Tuesday, because I do surgery those days,” he said.
Surgeons fly to McCann’s local clinic to perform surgeries where he works as physician’s assistant, he said. There are some surgeries the doctors cannot do without his help, he added, and they will delay those, potentially for weeks, when McCann is unavailable.
“So I’ve got to do my real job, too,” he said. “I don’t think any of (the chairs) try to make me look bad by doing (meetings) Mondays and Tuesdays. They’re going to do what works well for their schedules.”
Transportation Committee Chair Landon Brown, R-Cheyenne, told Cowboy State Daily he doesn’t remember that conversation with McCann about never being able to make Monday/Tuesday meetings, but he understands that in a citizen legislature, a delegate’s job still comes before his legislative service.
Brown said he marked McCann “absent” when the latter missed the May meeting. Brown marked McCann “excused” for this week’s meeting since McCann had given Brown a heads-up just beforehand that he couldn’t make it due to his surgery schedule.
The difference in being “absent” and “excused” is a matter of how the voters perceive their delegate’s failure to attend, Brown noted.
McCann said the May meeting slipped his mind as well.
“I didn’t know there was a May meeting, to be honest with you,” he said. “I don’t have an excuse for not calling (Brown beforehand) other than I just didn’t know about it. It slipped through my schedule.”
But McCann reiterated that he did email Brown when the interim schedule initially surfaced, and “told everybody I could not do Monday/Tuesday.”
Rep. Rachel Rodriguez-Williams, R-Cody, chairs McCann's other committee. She did not respond by publication time to a voicemail request for comment.
More Than Two Months
McCann said he was able to attend the legislative session, which stretched from Jan. 14 to March 6.
“Because I took a leave of absence for two months,” he said. “That’s about a $12,000 pay cut per month for me.”
Physicians delayed about 50 surgeries so that McCann could attend session, he added.
McCann said he didn’t realize when he ran for the seat how many meetings there would be.
“I didn’t know we had to do this interim stuff. I was told, ‘Oh, it’s just two months,’” he said.
The person who made the “two months” comment, McCann said, was someone at his church who approached him last election season about running against then-Rep. Clark Stith, R-Rock Springs.
At first, McCann told the congregant he couldn’t run because he was too busy.
“But then I looked into his voting record and all that, and said, ‘Somebody’s got to do something,’” he added.
As to which facets of Stith’s voting record McCann dislikes, he said, “pretty much most of it.”
‘Should At Least Show Up’
Stith, a practicing attorney, told Cowboy State Daily on Friday that when he held that seat, there were occasions upon which he’d need to step out to handle court hearings that he couldn’t reschedule, but he can’t recall missing an entire interim committee meeting.
“Interim committee meetings are where the committee bills are shaped,” he said. “By the time the legislative session starts, if you have not gotten your constituents’ interests into a bill coming out of your own committee, you have basically lost your ability to change it.”
It’s a hyperbolic assertion, but the reality is that it’s much more difficult to change a bill during the session.
McCann’s two House committees have nine members each, plus five members each from the Senate side when they meet in a “joint” fashion in the interim. That means that 14 people can contribute to and vote upon changes to each bill.
During a legislative session, the 62-member House of Representatives gets the chance to vote committee changes up or down. The same goes for the 31-member Senate side, when bills surface in that chamber.
Stith voiced disappointment with McCann’s attendance record.
“Well, look, if you run for the Legislature you should at least show up to work,” he said. “It’s very disappointing that Darin McCann has decided not to show up to work.”
As to whether Stith would run for the seat again, his answer is: “We’ll see.”
McCann told Cowboy State Daily that now, knowing how demanding the Legislature is, he would still “absolutely” run again when up for reelection.
He will be up for reelection in 2026.
Chair’s Seat
As to Brown’s perspective, he was split.
On the one hand, Wyoming has a citizen legislature, meaning serving isn’t a main job. It’s a side job with per diem pay.
“Something (Rep. Steve) Harshman always told me in my freshman class, that (former Rep.) Fred Paraday taught him was, it’s God, family, job, legislature,” said Brown.
He recognizes that non-legislature forces interfere with serving, he said.
On the other hand, Brown added, “It’s sad for the voters of any representative or senator’s district, if their (delegate) doesn’t take their job seriously enough to know there’s more time to it than just being in session in January and February.”
YouTube Though
McCann in a follow-up text message noted that the committee meetings are available on YouTube.
He said he’s watched his own committee meetings on the same day they happen, and has watched the meetings of other committees as well.
Constituents can watch those meetings, and they can find his number and email on the Wyoleg.gov website, he indicated further.
“So, for anyone to imply that I am not representing my constituents is a stretch,” he said.
McCann said the interim committee meetings are “mainly for information” and less for voting.
It is correct that those meetings are largely for education; however, some of the key votes that happen during them are bill amendment votes.
Health And Transport
A freshman legislator, McCann is assigned as a member to two committees: Labor, Health and Human Services; and Transportation, Highways and Military Affairs.
During the legislative session, he attended both committees’ early-March meetings contemplating interim topics.
But once the session ended and the interim season started, McCann missed three meetings over the course of five days.
Those included a one-day Transportation Committee meeting on May 1 and a two-day meeting in the same committee Monday and Tuesday of this week, both in Casper. Plus a two-day meeting of the Labor-Health Committee June 23-24.
Labor-Health’s interim priorities are:
• Maternal medical care across Wyoming
• Rural emergency and medical services
• Restricting artificial intelligence use to determine insurance eligibility
• The relationship between mental health issues and drug/alcohol abuse
• Licensure for naturopaths
• Review of government agencies
Transportation’s interim priorities are:
• Transportation and highways
• Military affairs
• Reviewing reports from agencies, state and local entities
McCann voiced more optimism about being able to attend his final interim meetings this fall.
The Labor Committee’s last interim meeting is set for Oct. 16-17, a Thursday/Friday span.
Transportation’s final interim meeting is Oct. 20, a Monday, but McCann said he “may” be able to make that since it’s a one-day meeting, “but again, that’s a surgery day.”
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
