GREEN RIVER--Yes, Libertarians organize.
They did so Sunday, in a state party convention at the Eagles hall in Green River. The demeanor was relaxed, the attendees were few.
But the indie-brand IPAs sat untouched and the punch-up jokes fell silent when Shawn Johnson, who sought and later unanimously won the party’s nomination for U.S. House, delivered a speech that left attendees electrified.
“The Democrats promise to manage your own life for you and your own good. The Republicans promise smaller government, and when they have the power, they grow it,” said Johnson. “The American people are left with the bill, the debt. With fewer choices, fewer freedoms, less trust in the system.”
He cast this moment as historic, as a moment in which faith in the two-party system is crumbling, leaving only frustration for the “political establishment,” but opportunity for a revival of the Founding Fathers’ policy ethics.
“We’re told that freedom is dangerous, speech must be dangerous, and privacy is outdated. We’re told economic choices belong to the bureaucrats and corporations,” Johnson said. “We’re told our rights are conditional. They’re rights to be restricted, granted, rationed - and suspended whenever the power decides they need to be suspended.
“But rights do not come from politicians or government agencies. They don’t come from the president. They belong to the individual,” he said. “They’re rights from being, inherently, human. And it’s the duty of the government to protect them, not to ration them.”
Johnson urged Americans to heed what he called modern warning signs of encroaching fascism and authoritarianism: a growing demand for censorship, expanding surveillance, and “political leaders who increasingly view dissent as a threat” instead of a cornerstone of this nation’s system of governance.
“We see government agencies exercising powers never imagined by our founding fathers,” Johnson said. “Authoritarianism does not announce itself. It arrives piece by piece: one emergency at a time. One exception at a time. One expansion of power at a time.”
Authoritarianism grows, Johnson continued, when people are told to trade their “liberty for security, freedom for convenience, and individual rights for political promises.”
Johnson cast the American governmental power as centralizing in an unprecedented volume. He said it falls to each generation to decide whether to tolerate that.
And he launched a stark policy stance of his own.
“The answer is not a stronger ruler. It’s not a more powerful bureaucracy. It’s not putting people in charge of the machinery,” said Johnson. “The answer is dismantling that machinery. Because the problem isn’t necessarily who holds the power. The problem is how much power exists to be held.”
Johnson isn’t messing around, he indicated.
While the Libertarian Party hasn’t been a major party in Wyoming since 2014-2015, it’s maintained a quiet influence.
Former state Rep. Marshall Burt, L-Green River, held a seat in the House for one term from 2021-22.
Riverton-based Libertarian candidate Bethany Baldes has run two close races for House District 55. She lost to two different Republican opponents, by a mere 53 votes in 2018 and 32 votes in 2020.
Johnson told the convention delegates it’s time to get serious.
While the Wyoming Legislature is around 93% Republican, multiple members have evident Libertarian streaks - such as Sens. Bob Ide (Casper), Evie Brennan (Cheyenne) and Cale Case (Lander), and Rep. Daniel Singh (Cheyenne).
Democratic legislators in Wyoming often break Libertarian on issues as well - as a means to stave off Republican social policy overtures.
“Now is not the time for the Libertarian Party to think small,” he said. “We’re often seen as a protest vote. Someone who can throw a wrench in the system. I think it’s the time to win.”
He said Wyoming’s rugged, courageous, hardworking, independent cultural temperament makes the state the perfect planting ground for a liberty revival.
“Wyoming doesn’t wait for Washington (DC) to get permission. We didn’t build our destiny on government programs. We built it on grit. On courage. On self-reliance,” he said. “And the people who settled this land did not ask bureaucrats how to live. They weathered blizzards, droughts, isolation and uncertainty.”
He added: “They endured. Because they believed in something more powerful than just comfort. They believed in freedom - and that spirit still lives here.”
On Nov. 3 Johnson will face Lisa Kinney or Elena Del Reel - whichever wins the Democratic nomination in the U.S. House race, as well as whoever wins the 10-way contest for the Republican nomination.
The GOP contenders are state Senate President Bo Biteman, Teton County philanthropist Steve Friess, former Superintendent of Public Instruction Jillian Balow, Secretary of State Chuck Gray, Casper-based veteran Kevin Christensen, David Giralt, Casper businessman Reid Rasner, former legislator Keith Goodenough, Moran rancher Frank Chapman, and Richard Dodson.
Who Is Johnson?
Johnson, formerly of Casper and now of Thermopolis was an Army combat medic for 21 years and was deployed to Iraq in 2003-2004. He served as a Natrona County Sheriff’s jail deputy for 13 years, and a Casper city councilman for two terms including one year as vice-mayor in 2019.
Then he went to law school and earned his J.D. He’s been a practicing attorney in Wyoming in the areas of family law and criminal defense for two years.
He ran for state House in 2020 and for Natrona County Commission in 2022.
On Sunday, no one challenged Johnson for the party nomination, but the vote system offered a vote for “no one” as an option. Meaning, the delegates could have chosen not to have a nominee rather than nominate Johnson.
“We’ve got a legitimate candidate this time,” Richard Brubaker, a major-office Libertarian candidate of numerous past election cycles, told Cowboy State Daily after the meeting.
Brubaker told the convention he’s not running for office this year. His ballot presence has in the past kept the party above the required vote minimum for minor party status.
Other Votes
The convention delegates also nominated three state House candidates to run under the Libertarian Party banner. Those are:
Ryan Shollenberger for Cheyenne-based House District 11, which incumbent Republican Rep. Jacob Wasserburger is vacating in January;
Carrie Satterwhite for Cody-based House District 50 - which incumbent Republican Rep. Rachel Rodriguez-Williams is leaving to run for Secretary of State;
and Joe Porambo for Midwest-area House District 58 - currently held by the Republican Rep. Bill Allemand.
While the highly decisive Republican and Democratic primary election falls on Aug. 18, the general election - where the Libertarians can test their electoral favor - is set for Nov. 3.
The party also elected Shollenberger to its executive board, and the board in turn reelected prior chair Zachary Padilla to serve as chair once again.
Rather than adjourn, the party recessed at the end of Sunday’s convention. The convention will reconvene for its second half June 17 at 6 p.m.
Until then, the Libertarian Party has an open call for its convention delegates to nominate political candidates to run on its ticket.
Statehouse
Shollenberger has a very busy campaign season ahead.
He’s slated to face whoever wins the two-way GOP primary race between Dan McIntosh and Paul Wing, along with Democratic contender Britney Tennant.
He told the convention he’s a longtime Libertarian originally from South Florida. He joined the Air Force in 2009, spent 12 years as an active-duty weather forecaster, traveled the world and was deployed twice: to Afghanistan and Colombia.
He joined the Air Force Reserve for one year about five years ago, then joined the Wyoming National Guard, where he serves in Lander as a field artillery officer.
He is a substitute teacher in the Cheyenne-based Laramie County School District No. 1, and he became a wildland firefighter as of last year.
He promised, if elected, to uphold individual rights, pursue school choice-friendly policies, protect and expand the free market, seek health care freedom, reduce unnecessary regulation and put “trust back into the hands of the people.”
Porambo also delivered a speech, via virtual link.
He ran without success for House District 58 in 2016 and 2020 against then-Rep. Pat Sweeney, R-Casper.
Allemand holds that seat now, and has a primary challenger in Bar Nunn Mayor Peter Boyer.
Porambo criticized both of them, casting Allemand as a bully and Boyer as tone deaf to the people’s outcry against government maneuvers that could have helped nuclear storage projects settle near Bar Nunn.
Porambo also derided the Legislature’s repeated increases in government spending. The Legislature increased spending yet again this year, he noted.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
