Some of the questions Gov. Mark Gordon took from lawmakers Monday while presenting his $11.13 billion proposed budget for the state involved data centers eyeing Wyoming business locations.
And some of the questions Secretary of State Chuck Gray took during his agency’s budget pitch were about a dispute with Gordon that the secretary said could land in court.
One lawmaker, Sen. Ogden Driskill, R-Devils Tower, said Gray’s budget would be more palatable if its tenets didn’t take the form of a “political football.”
‘Political Football’
The two officials on Monday presented different budget requests to the legislative Joint Appropriations Committee, which is set to meet through half of December and half of January to craft a budget bill for the lawmaking session that opens Feb. 9.
Speaking of his office’s $10.45 million budget proposal, Gray said his top priority among “exceptions,” or requests that aren’t part of rolling expenses, is the $125,000 cost to publicize a 2026 ballot initiative for an additional 50% property tax reduction.
State law requires the secretary to publicize ballot initiatives in newspapers in every county.
Gordon did not include Gray’s $125,000 exception request in his proposed budget.
Within a day of Gordon releasing his budget vision, Gray said he was “alarmed and deeply troubled” and claimed Gordon was “blocking the budget request” for the legally-required publication effort.
On Monday, Gray told the committee this may require “possible litigation against the governor’s office.”
That was when Driskill said Gray’s request might be more palatable “if it wasn’t turned into a political football.”
“It would be a lot easier if you’d say, ‘We really need the money,’ not, ‘Let’s turn it into an issue,’” added Driskill.
“We didn’t make it political,” parried Gray, who said he met with Gordon about his exception request before the state head’s budget vision emerged.
Both Gray and his policy advisor Joe Rubino suggested that Gordon simply doesn’t like the nature of the ballot measure.
Rubino said it is unprecedented to ask the secretary of state’s office to absorb the publication costs into its regular budget.
‘Theater Of Which He Wants The Lead Role’
Gordon in a later response statement to Cowboy State Daily said that his own budget talk spanned “weighty matters of our state,” yet “the Secretary of State has decided to fabricate a narrow political argument.”
For years, secretaries of state have managed their statutory duties without asking for additional money in their budget requests, Gordon continued, and they have always reverted — or given back — unspent money “far in excess of requests.”
Each elected official has a duty to know his statutory requirements, Gordon added.
“If the Secretary of state believes he cannot meet his statutory obligations with a budget from which he has historically returned money, then that raises budgeting questions only he can answer,” added the governor.
Gordon noted that the legislature, not the governor, determines the state’s budget ultimately.
Gray has now asked legislators for the extra money he seeks.
“Turning that basic process into a public spectacle is theater of which he wants the lead role,” Gordon concluded.
Here’s The Volley
Gray, in his own follow-up statement, accused Gordon of “playing politics with our budget” and “using the left-wing media to lie to the People of Wyoming in order to prevent publication of a ballot measure he disagrees with.”
It is “absolutely false,” said Gray, that his office has borne that added cost before.
The 2024 budget, which Gordon signed, contained a footnote allocating money for a similar publication expense.
Gordon’s approval in that instance came after, not before the legislative budget-writing process, however.
Gray continued, saying Gordon recommended approval for a similar exception request in 2022 from then-Secretary of State Ed Buchanan.
In that example, Gordon approved Buchanan's request for $60,000 ahead of the legislative process, in the autumn of 2020. The legislature granted a much larger figure for publication in 2022, of $509,000 - leaving Buchanan’s budget at about $9.03 million.
The large swing from $60,000 to a half-million-dollars, Gordon's spokeswoman Amy Edmonds told Cowboy State Daily, "just reiterates that this process is in the hands of the legislature. It's a pretty basic process."
Gray asserted that Gordon didn’t approve his pre-session request last month because “there is a new Secretary of State that has advanced conservative policies, and this ballot measure will be for a property tax reduction, which Gordon had repeatedly voiced his opposition to.”
He continued: “These publication costs have ALWAYS had an appropriation specifically for them because they are required... Hopefully, we will be able to correct it before it comes to (litigation).”
About Those Data Centers
Gordon on Monday delivered his proposed budget for the state to the committee.
He reiterated the budget narrative his office released Nov. 17, emphasizing economic diversification, the pursuit of state fire suppression and prevention efforts, the fortification of its water litigation powers, health care access, and attracting businesses while maintaining “core” industries.
“We have an unprecedented opportunity not only to participate, but to lead in making America the energy, technology superpower, if we have the courage and vision to seize this moment,” said Gordon.
Rep. Ken Pendergraft, R-Sheridan, asked Gordon about his headline-grabbing-statement of the past, that Wyoming should pursue an all-of-the-above energy strategy.
Gordon said he’s “kind of amended that talk” to now pursue “the best of all-of-the-above.”
Gordon in October derided some state leaders for discouraging a nuclear energy company from settling in the Cowboy State.
Wyoming is a prolific exporter of energy resources, he noted Monday.
A business type now seeking to benefit from the energy-rich state is data centers.
“In the case of artificial intelligence, it is maybe a bubble, but data certainly is not going to be going away any time soon,” said Gordon. “That demand for electricity has grown substantially.”
Rep. Jeremy Haroldson, R-Wheatland, voiced concerns about data centers dictating to Wyoming “how we build our electrons,” affecting communities.
Gordon said he supports a data-center-friendly policy framework in Wyoming, but only if the state maintains its autonomy in that respect.
“I think it’s key that Wyoming build the policy under which these projects can be built here,” said Gordon.
Those should include “making sure we don’t use excessive water” for the data centers, some of which he said “don’t use water now.” He said Wyoming should ensure the data centers drive economic development and that the policies under which they operate protect “our ratepayers” – those paying for electricity in Wyoming.
He said the policy-making for data centers should also be open and transparent.
Gordon said Wyoming should reject data centers “saying we’re doing it with ESG or whatever” – a phrase denoting anti-traditional-energy practices.
More From Gray’s Pitch
Gray during his request touted the revenues his office attracts, as the entity with which businesses register in Wyoming.
The Secretary of State’s office saw $130 million in business registration revenue in the last biennium, “on a budget of less than $10 million for the entire office.”
That represents a recent growth rate of 20% year after year, he added.
Wyoming is a magnet for business registrations due to its friendly policies. The Washington Post in 2022 cast the state as a haven for bad actors due to that same leniency, sparking legislative debate about “cowboy cocktails” — the practice of registering a business to a trust.
More From Gordon’s Pitch
Under questioning from Sen. Mike Gierau, D-Jackson, Gordon said Taiwan and Japan are both interested in natural gas.
President Donald Trump is seeking to fill that need with Alaskan product, but Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico could furnish that demand together, quickly, “because we don’t have as much infrastructure to build,” he said.
House Appropriations Chair John Bear, R-Gillette, asked about Gordon’s vision of putting $250 million into the state’s permanent savings, rather than its more available savings account, the Legislative Stabilization Reserve Account (LSRA).
That is to “further (the) service” Wyoming Treasurer Curt Meier oversaw with this year’s historically high investment earnings, says Gordon’s budget narrative.
Those earnings blew past projections, ending fiscal year 2025 at $1.86 billion.
Wyoming has been putting a “considerable amount of savings” into its permanent corpus recently, noted Bear — even while it faces scrutiny on how well it funds its K-12 education system, and pursues a full recalibration of that system this winter.
If the money were put into the LSRA instead of permanent savings, “we would be able to access that money should we get into trouble with the school foundation program with all these additional expenditures we’re looking at,” said Bear.
The LSRA is “certainly the backdrop that helped us get through the 30% drop in income we had during COVID,” said Gordon. But, he added, “I’ve been anxious to try to get some constraints on it.”
He indicated the permanent savings could insulate Wyoming from market volatility.
“Back in 2008, thank God we had coal,” said the governor. “Because our investments tanked.”
Bear answered, “You’ve given us a challenge to keep our hands off the LSRA. This committee will work very hard and diligently at that.”
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
