CHEYENNE — Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon never seemed to be a union guy.
But he acted like one when he vetoed an anti-union bill this session.
His denial of House Bill 178 raised eyebrows, particularly from the hard-right conservative Republicans who never fully trusted him. They said he was a RINO — a “Republican In Name Only.”
I never agreed with that definition. He seemed to be a normal conservative Republican who was critical of the ultra-right Freedom Caucus for its negativity.
The Freedom Caucus was a few votes short of the two-thirds majority required to override a gubernatorial veto.
So the governor's veto of “The Paycheck Protection Act,” as it was labeled, was not overriden.
A similar bill failed last year.
In his letter to legislators explaining his veto, Gordon targeted the out-of-state people trying to influence Wyoming lawmakers and people.
Several lawmakers commented on the different tone of this message compared to his usual cool rationality, according to a story in Cowboy State Daily about the outside influencers.
And people should expect another bill like it to be introduced next year for a third try. Because Americans for Prosperity (AFP) State Director Tyler Lindstrom has vowed to return it again next year.
And the AFP, founded by the billionaire Koch brothers, has become something of a juggernaut with chapters in all but a handful of states
It focuses on restricting union power along with promoting tax cuts and opposing environmental regulations.
Idaho, which became the 37th state to open an AFP charter in a brick and mortar office, also has an anti-union bill like Wyoming’s before its legislative session this year.
House Bill 178 would have prevented public employers from providing automatic deductions for political action and candidate committees, as well as for some nongovernmental organizations — including the Wyoming Public Employees Association and Wyoming Education Association.
Supporters of the bill said that service is not the proper role of public employers, like the state government.
That service, and expense, according to the bill’s proponents, is not the proper role of public employers.
Supporters of the current system claim it would cause considerable disruption for the employers and the employees if it were terminated.
The bill, however, also was in keeping with Wyoming’s reputation as an anti-union, right-to-work state.
The only professional workers allowed collective bargaining rights are firefighters Their leaders in the 1960s — in the last Legislature controlled by Democrats — were able to get through a law giving them those rights. The police representatives were invited to join in their efforts, but backed out, according previously published accounts.
At any rate, Betty Jo Beardsley, the Executive Director of the Wyoming Public Employee Association, WPEA, is relieved.
She said the governor was referring to the AFP in his veto letter to the Legislature.
Her visit, or visits, to the governor to ask him to veto the bill paid off.
“We got sucked into this,” she said during a phone interview, referring to the bill.
The WPEA is not a union like the AFL-CIO, she said. It is affiliated with a national service union in order to obtain information on national trends in salaries and the like.
WPEA has a diverse membership from all over the state in offices and community colleges and school districts as well as state employees in Cheyenne and elsewhere.
The state has handled the dues deduction for the association since 1962, when Cliff Hansen was governor.
During those years, Beardsley said, the organization has had some rubs with governors (Gov Ed Herschler was one) but fixed any and all disagreements.
Contact Joan Barron at 307-632-2534 or jmbarron@bresnan.net
