The Wyoming state House member representing the urban Riverton area lived outside his legislative district for months, according to public documents and statements.
Rep. Joel Guggenmos, R-Riverton, filed his routine ethics disclosure form with the Secretary of State’s Office on Dec. 30, listing his address as 18 Blue Spruce Ln, which is a few miles west of House District 55’s border and just within House District 33, which Rep. Ivan Posey, D-Fort Washakie, represents.
A Riverton resident filed a complaint about the mismatch earlier this year, Fremont County Clerk Julie Freese told Cowboy State Daily in a Friday phone interview.
Freese said she asked the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office to investigate the claim so that the facts of the situation would be clear, especially since the candidate filing window opens May 14.
Fremont County Undersheriff Mike Hutchison confirmed the agency has been asked to investigate, and declined to comment further.
Raised Rent
Guggenmos was first elected in 2024. At that time, his address was 1106 E. Adams Ave., within his district.
Freese told Cowboy State Daily that on Wednesday, Guggenmos informed her office that he’d moved back into District 55 to a home on East Madison Avenue.
“He had commented to staff that he’d sold his house and bought this other house,” said Freese.
“We’ll wait and see if it’s something we need to do in Fremont County, if it’s something we have to give to the Secretary of State,” added Freese, emphasizing that such questions are in the hands of the sheriff’s office and the Fremont County Attorney for now.
Guggenmos did not respond to multiple requests for comment Friday. He told WyoFile that he and his family remained in the home on East Adams until last autumn, then in September, his landlord abruptly raised his rent to six times what he had been paying.
The registered owner of that home did not immediately respond to a Friday voicemail.
GOP Stands Behind Him
Ginger Bennett, chair of the Fremont County Republican Party, sent an official statement Friday on the party’s behalf voicing strong support for Guggenmos and rejecting “any political motivated efforts to discredit him.”
“We applaud his honesty throughout this matter,” says the statement. “Faced with an unexpected significant rent increase on his family’s Riverton home in House District 55, Representative Guggenmos made the responsible decision to relocate temporarily with his wife to temporary housing offered by a family member until more suitable opportunity became available.”
The statement says Guggenmos returned to his district as soon as it was feasible, that he’d asked the nonpartisan Legislative Service Office (LSO) for guidance, “and has maintained a clear conscience, demonstrating the integrity that defines true public service.”
“This was never about evading residency rules but about navigating an unavoidable financial hardship while continuing to serve his constituents effectively,” the statement says.
The party said Guggenmos has built a “strong conservative voting record” in the Legislature and shown “principled leadership and unwavering commitment to conservative ideals.”
A Little Law
Wyoming law says that a state legislator who “fails” to live within his district leaves it vacant.
Vacancies trigger a replacement process.
But the Wyoming Constitution gives each legislative chamber broad discretion to determine whether members should be expelled or continue to serve.
Coupling that with a 2004 Wyoming Supreme Court decision addressing term limits, and concluding that state law can’t add more qualifications for office to those in the Constitution, the LSO opined in a 2022 legal analysis that it’s up to the state House to determine whether to expel a member who has changed addresses.
The Wyoming Constitution says House members must have lived in their respective districts for at least a year before being elected. It doesn’t say they must continue to live there during their term.
“Each House shall have power to determine the rules of its proceedings and … (whether) to expel a member,” says Article 3, Section 12 of the Wyoming Constitution, addressing the Legislature.
The LSO issued that memorandum Feb. 11, 2022.
That was after the Wyoming Republican Party raised accusations at its State Central Committee meeting that then-Rep. Dan Zwonitzer, R-Cheyenne, did not live in his district.
Four days after the LSO issued the memo upholding the House’s supremacy over the issue, the House voted 36-24 not to form a special committee to study the residency allegation.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
