CHEYENNE — It is obvious that the Freedom Caucus members of the Legislature are eager to show off their new muscles, their power.
Whether this is good for the Legislature and the state as a whole is debatable.
But as caucus members and supporters will remind you — This is what the voters wanted.
They should be reminded that the Freedom Caucus agenda calls for no tax increases and smaller government.
Clan members also are eager to dig into state agencies for signs of fraud and abuse, akin to the Elon Musk program that probed and eviscerated the federal government.
As a start, caucus members of the nearly moribund Management Council voted in July for an audit of their own Legislative Service Office.
I went back and listened to the lengthy debate during that meeting. Sen. Darin Smith of Cheyenne was the sponsor of the amendment. Starting at essentially home base with the LSO audit is the right way to begin, he said.
(Smith subsequently resigned his senate seat to accept an appointment as U.S Attorney for Wyoming.)
Instead of hiring an outside independent firm to conduct a performance audit for the LSO, the caucus voted to have the Department of Audit, an executive branch agency, to do the work.
Sen Chris Rothfuss, a Laramie Democrat, protested that this was a violation of the separation of powers.
Pointing out that the audit issue was not even on the meeting’s agenda for the meeting, Rothfuss urged the caucus members to slow down and hold off a vote until the next meeting in October. This would give them time to study the issue and hear the opinions of Gov. Mark Gordon and more seasoned lawmakers.
But the committee voted to proceed, with Rothfuss and Rep. Trey Sherwood of Laramie - the only other Democrat on the committee - casting the only no votes.
During the lengthy debate, it was clear that some caucus members, notably Reps. Jayne Lien of Natrona County and Rachel Rodriguez-Williams of Park County, had done considerable research on he history of the management audit committee.
They also questioned the auditor reports from hamlets, towns and counties that showed sloppy bookkeeping and missing information.
The Dept. of Audit, which is responsible for 600 such audits, has no enforcement authority, department officials said. They issue letters to local boards outlining the irregularities, except in possible criminal cases when they notify the Division of Criminal Investigation.
Lien and Williams concluded that the committee’s job is to hold government responsible.
I didn’t watch the entire meeting on video. According to Wyo-File, the committee also voted to subpoena several local officials and to investigate the Weston County clerk.
Meanwhile in another interim committee, members also struggled with bills or proposals they had never seen before the meeting and which were not on the agenda.
The issue was a moratorium on cloud seeding, but the sponsors of the bills brought them at the last minute and did not reveal what all of them do or don’t do, according to Cowboy State Daily.
And finally, last week caucus members on another committee killed three bills to increase the gaming tax.
This is in line with their agenda position against taxes and government spending.
The general atmosphere of rushed confusion and lack of notice raises a question of the quality and the quantity of the interim committee work prepared for the February budget session.
At this stage it does not bode well.
Remember “Haste Makes Waste.”
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Contact Joan Barron at 307-632-2534 or jmbarron@bresnan.net
