TORRINGTON — Referencing the Charlie Kirk assassination, Wyoming GOP leaders passed a resolution Saturday asking some state authorities to investigate and potentially discipline public employees who celebrate such killings.
A directive to the elected boards, it's a reference to the numerous online figures — some of them schoolteachers — celebrating conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s assassination after he was shot in the throat Sept. 10.
Detractors of the move said it violates the party’s own plank committing to uphold the freedom of speech.
Proponents of the resolution, conversely, said freedom of speech doesn’t mean freedom from consequences.
The party on Saturday adopted three other resolutions as well, all asking lawmakers or state agencies to act. Those are:
• A resolution asking the Wyoming Legislature to draft bills banning the mandate and use of any mRNA vaccines for humans, and prohibiting the sale, distribution, use or mandate of any mRNA vaccine in the state for veterinary medicine.
• A resolution calling it “critical” for the Wyoming Legislature to undertake election legislation prompting runoff elections for the top two contenders for statewide and federal offices, when none of the primary election candidates get more than 50% of the vote.
• A resolution asking the Wyoming Game and Fish Department and the state Livestock Board to enforce their regulations regarding privately owned buffalo running on privately owned deeded land.
The Charlie Kirk Resolution
Janae Miller presented the resolution to discipline public employees for “glorifying” murder, on behalf of the Niobrara County Republican Party.
“Even though we’re very much a red state,” began Janae Miller, “it’s disturbing how many people in public office and school systems, health care systems, feel it’s acceptable to make remarks about assassinations being appropriate if (the victims) don’t align with anti-conservative or anti-Christian values.”
Miller said the state party should “take a strong stand” on the issue.
But that conflicts with one of its core values, countered Joey Correnti of Carbon County.
“I get it. It happens and really shouldn’t,” he said, before addressing ambiguous language in the resolution about just whom it affects.
He cast the resolution as hypocritical.
“I don’t know when we started endorsing the regulation of free speech by government,” said Correnti. “In fact, our 22nd plank specifically prohibits it.”
Plank 22 commits to uphold free speech as “the freedom of the individual to express his or her beliefs, ideas and opinions without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction by government.”
Boards that encounter these alleged ethics breaches should contend with them locally, Correnti added.
“If this body wants to take a stand against unpalatable and abrasive, horrible presence of a human being and really go after him, this body should have come after me a few years ago,” said Correnti.
“There’s still time,” answered Wyoming GOP Vice Chair Bob Ferguson.
Someone in the audience murmured an astonished, “Ooooh.”
Karl Allred, of Uinta County, spoke in favor of the resolution, saying public employees should be held to a higher standard, especially teachers.
Marti Halverson, of Lincoln County, also spoke in favor.
In the First Amendment to the Constitution, she emphasized, the first five words are, “Congress shall make no law.”
The courts have used the 14th Amendment to apply the First Amendment’s protections to state governments, however.
Government employers can limit their employees’ speech, but some protections still apply.
The Vax Resolution
As amended, the mRNA vaccine resolution asks the Legislature to ban the mandate or use of mRNA vaccines in Wyoming, for humans and animals.
Scott Clem, of Campbell County, called this an affront to personal autonomy.
“I haven’t put it in my body. Don’t plan to,” said Clem. “When we start doing this kind of micromanaging others, power and control — ‘You shall do this according to the dictates of my own conscience’ — That’s when we run into trouble.”
Hugh Hageman of Goshen County disagreed, saying for livestock specifically, the concern is with the vaccines shedding into people’s food supply.
“And I’m all in favor of banning it,” he said. “It’s going to be in your food supply. So it’s no longer a choice then.”
Those Buffalo
The resolution regarding ranchland encroachments of bison, which Wyomingites often call “buffalo,” did not bring debate. It passed unanimously.
Fremont County Republican Party Chair Ginger Bennett brought the resolution.
She lamented that buffalo being run on private property “will not stay home” and said state agencies should enforce their jurisdiction over those animals when they occupy private, deeded lands rather than the lands of the Wind River Indian Reservation that the federal government holds in trust.
Maybe A Budget
The party passed a motion to have Mark Koep, of Crook County, distribute a survey to state party leaders to produce a list of seven legislative priorities going into the lawmaking session that opens Feb. 9.
Various members floated priorities as follows:
• Supporting the election reform bills the legislative Joint Corporations Committee has adopted.
• Addressing nuclear energy and nuclear storage.
• Addressing a school-choice program which is on hold via court order.
• Banning sharia law. The bringer of this priority referenced genital mutilation and bigamy, which are already illegal in Wyoming.
• Upholding private property rights.
• Removing “Biden-era social policies.”
• Banning all property taxes.
• Supporting runoff elections.
• Removing “porn” from libraries.
• Allowing members of major political parties who were not elected as precinct people to vote at those parties’ meetings, if the parties allow.
• Prohibiting taxpayer funding of government associations.
• Upholding the right to life.
• Protecting critical industries, lands, and resources from being sold to communist countries.
• Passing a budget on time.
• Studying the impact of data centers on people and power affordability.
Clem urged the budget priority.
“I think the No. 1 priority should be actually passing a budget,” said Clem. “This is the budget session, after all.”
The Legislature’s budget session falls on even-numbered years and is only 20 days long, whereas the general sessions of odd-numbered years are 40 days.
Not Going Nuclear Today
The Natrona County GOP proposed a resolution to support nuclear-friendly and overall energy-friendly policies, noting that’s also the will of President Donald Trump.
That’s a paradox in the generally Trump-friendly crowd, among which sat several detractors of policies that would enable more nuclear waste storage in Wyoming.
The Natrona County Republican Party also faced scrutiny Saturday when Wyoming Republican Party Chair Bryan Miller called for one of its delegates to explain why the county party is more than $30,000 late paying dues.
Kari Drost, of Weston County, said she, “just like a lot of people in this room,” has dedicated a lot of time and energy to the party’s goals, and would like to see the Natrona County GOP’s request postponed “until the chairman reports to us that (it) is in compliance with the rest of this body.”
Clem said he agreed with the notion that Natrona County should come into compliance, since its failure to pay dues slashes its representation at state conventions, but this isn’t the way to enforce that.
“However, I think that (approach) is a stretch, when we start voting on the substance of something,” he said. “When we start doing tactics like this then we bring personalities and stuff into it, which is unsightly.”
The nuclear resolution failed anyway, after Correnti urged the party to get more viewpoints from its county members, as part of survey efforts it has already started.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
