TORRINGTON — The chairman of the Wyoming Republican Party called a Natrona County GOP delegate to the front of the state party’s leadership meeting here Saturday to explain the party’s refusal to pay more than $30,000 in dues it owes the state party.
By the end of the biennium, the Natrona County Republican Party will have reached more than $50,000 in arrears, its chair Rob Hendry told Cowboy State Daily during a later phone interview.
Natrona County precinct committee people voted 76-24 in early September to continue a roughly six-year pattern of not paying dues to the Wyoming GOP.
Wyoming Republican Party Chair Bryan Miller asked for an explanation of the vote during the Saturday meeting, which two Natrona County party delegates attended.
“Would you mind coming up,” began Miller, “and talking to the body about that situation?”
Natrona County GOP state committeewoman Marcia Neumiller strode to the microphone opposing Miller’s and asked for a more specific question.
It’s About Respect
Miller continued: “The people here, they do pay their shares … (and the county has) a responsibility to explain to the body why the decision was made.”
Neumiller said the vote was due to the “never” respectful treatment by the state GOP toward the county party since 2019. She cited a lack of support for Republican candidates in Natrona County, and said the party is using its withheld dues to back those candidates itself.
A tense back-and-forth between the two unfolded, as about 100 people watched.
As a penalty, however, the county party does not receive the state party’s products, including data production, information support and networking.
The default also slashes the Natrona County party’s representation at the biennial state convention.
Deeper Divide
Hendry, who could not attend the convention due to a family obligation, told Cowboy State Daily the divide bears deeper philosophical strains than that.
“They just get punitive all the time,” said Hendry of party leadership, naming State GOP Dispute Resolution Chair Vince Vanata, State Party Vice Chair Bob Ferguson, and Treasurer Dallas Tyrrell, specifically.
Hendry spoke for himself personally, but said a lot of Natrona County GOP members also find state party leadership punitive and problematic.
“Some of our members stood up and said, ‘We just can’t trust you,'” he related from the September meeting. “A lot of us don't like the way they’re going after the county clerks.”
The state party sued the Laramie County Clerk in 2024 in a case that’s since concluded.
The Weston County clerk’s mishandling of the 2024 election led to a Republican-led legislative committee (not the party itself) to subpoena her in September.
She now faces criminal prosecution for failing to appear for that subpoena. She pleaded not guilty Friday in a Natrona County court.
Hendry said he also disagrees with Secretary of State Chuck Gray’s aggressive election reform agenda, by which Gray, a Republican but not a state party leader, has supported the advance of 14 draft election bills into the Feb. 9 legislative session.
The county clerks of Wyoming told lawmakers this month that they’re apprehensive about the slate of election bills, saying those could heap extra rules and obligations onto them during an already-busy 2026 election year.
‘Terribly Mistaken’
Vanata, who did not attend the meeting because it fell on his 39th wedding anniversary, said Hendry is “terribly mistaken” in the notions that party leaders are persecuting county clerks and that Vanata is spearheading a punitive attitude.
“I truly do not know what Mr. Hendry is talking about,” said Vanata in a Saturday phone interview. “He appears to be fantasizing about something which is not occurring.
"There is no agenda, there is no conspiracy (to persecute people), but there are bylaws which each of the counties are required to follow.”
There are also state laws that county clerks must follow, Vanata added.
The state party in August passed a resolution to work with the Natrona GOP to “bring them back into the fold,” said Vanata, adding that that could mean helping them coordinate fundraisers, but not reaching a settlement to lessen the dues.
Tyrrell in a Saturday interview at the meeting said he joined party leadership because he was in the Laramie County GOP delegation in 2020 when those members were excluded from voting at the state convention — and he seeks to resolve issues like these.
He also said that by not paying their dues and thereby allowing their state convention delegation to be reduced in number, the Natrona GOP are disenfranchising Republicans in their area.
Tyrrell said he, too, would like to see the county party restored, adding that he and other state party leaders have tried helping county party members coordinate fundraisers.
Ferguson, who was working the meeting, said he was unable to comment during the meeting but would later Saturday. Cowboy State Daily will update this story when he does.
You All Are A New Body
Miller noted during his spat with Neumiller that both the state and county parties have seen significant turnover in the past six years.
“This is a new body. You all are a new body,” said Miller, adding that he was disappointed to see prolonged fallout after he approached the party for resolution this summer.
Those communications fizzled after they happened, Hendry said in his own interview. He didn’t call Miller, but Miller also didn’t call him, he said.
“The biggest thing any county gets from being a part of the Republican Party is the power behind our name,” said Miller. "That is a huge thing.”
Republican nominees overwhelmingly outperform their Democratic and independent challengers across Wyoming political offices.
The voters, not the state party, choose those nominees during the primary election.
Going To National About This
Miller continued: “Something will need to be done (and) I have been working with the RNC on this.”
At the reference to the Republican National Committee, Carbon County GOP proxy delegate Joey Correnti asked whether the state party is sending legal fees to the national entity to fight this issue.
Correnti had earlier brought a concern from his county party over the $5,000 in legal fees the party has already paid this biennium, and its prolonged legal battles of recent years.
The Carbon County GOP, called to the front of the room about why it has not paid its dues yet, isn’t sure why it should keep paying toward legal battles that don’t involve it, Correnti related.
Hot Springs County Republican Party members who say the state GOP wrongly warped their leadership elections sued the state party this year. The latter suffered a legal setback Oct. 27 when a judge ruled that the state party “probably” would lose the case in the end.
Miller clarified that he’s just talking with the RNC, not paying them for legal services.
“I would still like to work with the county,” said Miller. “We just need to set up something, that we can sit down and talk.”
Neumiller agreed, saying, “We’re open to having communications, absolutely.”
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
