CHEYENNE — Other than some sarcastic clapping, a meeting of the Laramie County Republican Party on Tuesday was fairly civil in the wake of previous meetings that led to arguments and infighting among some members.
It seemed business as usual as leadership approved new committee members and the payment of state party dues.
Executive Committee
In the executive committee meeting, party leadership reviewed the results of Friday’s Red State Rendezvous fundraiser.
That event was notably scheduled at the same time as a Freedom Caucus-backed Turning Point USA (TPUSA) fundraiser on the opposite side of Cheyenne and forced some party officials to make tough decisions about where to spend their time.
Party leaders said they sold about 100 tickets to the fundraiser and had made about $8,282 from the event, noting some money is continuing to trickle in via PayPal and Wix payments.
The party owed Laramie County Community College $3.992.13 for venue fees and food costs. Party chair Lorraine Quarberg estimated the county party has about $13,000 in its war chest after the fundraiser.
Party Treasurer Brenda Wilson did not allow Cowboy State Daily to view financial documents distributed to party leadership during that meeting.
Wyoming’s state Freedom Caucus Director Jessie Rubino confirmed to Cowboy State Daily on Tuesday that the TPUSA event raised $20,149 after expenses.
“This was after just three weeks of planning, which we consider a huge success,” she wrote via text message.
Central Committee
While the party’s central committee meeting proved relatively tame, precinct committee member Joseph Kibler told Cowboy State Daily previous meetings had become heated because of communication issues between groups of precinct members.
Sometimes members have stormed out of meetings altogether, he said.
“Everybody’s got their sounding box and they don’t talk to each other,” he said. “A lot of times, you’re so busy pointing fingers that we’re not willing to go, ‘OK wait, what’s my part in this?’”
Kibler, who moved to Wyoming from California in 2020, blamed much of the tension in the room on old conflicts stemming from precinct members who have spent many years representing the party.
“I’ve heard people in this room say, ‘Oh yeah, I used to be friends with so and so,’” he said. “They’re not friends anymore because of this room. The anger in this room goes deep.
“I’ve called out some people in this room to be accountable and do what’s right and to rise above and stop burning the ship.”
Party members appeared to get along during Tuesday’s meeting as they navigated a complex voting process to approve the payment of state party dues.
Some responded with sarcastic applause after Wilson complied with a request to raise the microphone up to allow others to better hear her remarks.
The assembly called for a roll call vote about whether it should pay state party dues. The manual poll of the more than 80 members in attendance led the party to approve the payment of $8,000.
During the meeting, members also approved new precinct committee members and collected about $300 in donations to pay monthly expenses.
Those Fundraisers
Laramie County Commissioner Linda Heath, who also serves as a county party precinct committee member, told Cowboy State Daily last month she believed former Laramie County Republican Party chairman and current state GOP Treasurer Dallas Tyrrell may have played a role in Friday’s conflicting fundraisers.
“Dallas definitely knew it was the same night,” she said. “I guess you are going to attend where your values are. If they decided not to come here already, then they were looking for another event.”
In response to Heath’s claim, Tyrrell said that he donated to the county’s event despite attending the Freedom Caucus fundraiser. He added that the fundraisers had not been booked to be competitive with one another.
“It’s tough this time of year to book events, find event space, so I think it just happened to be on the same night,” he said. “It is what it is, so I wish them all the best. Like I said, I donated to them and want them to be successful tonight.”
Jackson Walker can be reached at walker@cowboystatedaily.com.
