Guest Columnists

Points of view on Wyoming issues from Wyoming people.

Guest Column: Let Judges Do Their Jobs

Guest columnists Alaina Stedillie and Grant Lawson write: "Judges should be allowed to do their jobs, which is to apply the facts of each case to the governing law. This is the only way the system can work the way our Founders so wisely designed it."

CSD StaffMay 01, 2025

Guest Column: An Assessment Of The First 100 Days Of Trump’s Second Term

Guest columnist Ray Hunkins writes, "Trump’s most visible success has been in the field of illegal immigration belying the Biden Administration’s falsehood that he could do nothing to stem the flow of illegals without Congress passing legislation."

CSD StaffApril 29, 2025

Guest Column: Trump’s First 100 Days Are A Vast Improvement Over Biden

U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman writes, "If you want proof that the Trump administration is a vast improvement over Joe Biden’s presidency, we need only look to our Southern Border [where] daily border encounters are down by 93 percent and migrant crossings are down a whopping 99.99 percent."

CSD StaffApril 28, 2025

Guest Column: Don't Hand Your County Clerk's Duties To Someone In Cheyenne

Columnist Gail Symons writes: "Believe the county clerk who lives in your town, not the politician in Cheyenne making headlines by spreading distrust and disinformation."

CSD StaffApril 27, 2025

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a swearing in ceremony for Dr. Mehmet Oz as Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator in the Oval Office at the White House on April 18, 2025 in Washington, DC.

Guest Column: President Trump’s Bold Postal Reforms Must Meet Wyoming’s Needs

Frontiers of Freedom President George Landrith writes, "The solution is not perpetual taxpayer-funded bailouts. Instead, the Postal Service should adopt a hybrid model that preserves its essential functions while allowing private industry to handle the rest."

CSD StaffApril 22, 2025

Rep. Steve Johnson (left), Rep. Ken Pendergraft (right)

Guest Column: Entitlement and Nobility: Results Matter More than Roots.

Rep. Ken Pendergraft and Rep. Steve Johnson write, "The Wyoming Freedom Caucus doesn’t care how many generations you’ve been here — we care whether you’ll stand up for liberty, fiscal responsibility, and the Constitution."

CSD StaffApril 21, 2025

Guest Column: Stop And Be Curious About Those Older Folks

Gail Symons writes: "My dad and his siblings sat in our living room. In their early 80s, they made fun of each other and laughed about youthful escapades. That day, they were rambunctious. But I didn’t write anything down, and now it's too late."

CSD StaffApril 20, 2025

Guest Column: Social Security Customer Service Crisis Puts Spotlight on New Social Security Commissioner

AARP Wyoming State Director Sam Shumway writes, "SSA scrapped a service change last week that would have forced many Wyomingites to have to go in-person to a Social Security office for routine services that have been handled over the phone."

CSD StaffApril 17, 2025

Guest Column: Americans Elected Donald Trump - Not Liberal Judges

U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis writes, "When Democrats fail at the ballot box, they turn to the courts to accomplish their goals. They used the Justice Department to go after President Trump during the last four years - and they are now using unelected federal judges to block what they can’t stop in the executive or legislative branch."

CSD StaffApril 17, 2025

Guest Column: Wyoming’s Mental Health Crisis Deserves an Honest Conversation

Former Speaker of the House Albert Sommers writes, "After the Wyoming Freedom Caucus’s actions over the last 3 years of voting against nearly every effort to support mental health solutions, I was dumbfounded to read Cassie Craven’s opinion piece, 'It's Time For Elementary School Counselors In Wyoming.'"

CSD StaffApril 14, 2025

Guest Column: Maybe The Freedom Caucus Should Read The Good Samaritan

Guest Columnist Gail Symons writes: “You can’t claim to ‘protect life’ while voting against suicide prevention. Or say you value families while blocking hospice funding. And you certainly can’t promote ‘truth’ while spreading falsehoods about your colleagues and state institutions.”

CSD StaffApril 13, 2025

U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman, R-Wyoming, and Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray

Guest Column: Wyoming Deserves Common-Sense Election Integrity

Guest columnists Harriet Hageman and Chuck Gray write, “Passage of the SAVE Act in the Senate is critical to ensure that every state requires proof of United States citizenship to vote, thereby preserving the integrity and security of our elections. Common sense, and the people of Wyoming, demand no less.”

CSD StaffApril 10, 2025

Guest Column: Drafters of Legal Letter Chose Political Advocacy Rather Than Non-Partisanship

Guest columnist Ray Hunkins writes, "After the banner headline, 'The Rule of Law Matter,' the letter disappoints. In tone and substance, it is a political screed that assigns blame, but not to all who are guilty of intemperate remarks. Progressives get a pass."

CSD StaffApril 07, 2025

Guest Column: You Bet I Signed That Letter In Defense Of The Judiciary

Guest Columnist Susan Stubson writes: "Are there bad judges? No question. But the way to get rid of them is not to inflame the electorate with evidence-free claims and make threats to judges’ personal safety. There are mechanisms already in place to weed out rogues from within."

CSD StaffApril 04, 2025

Guest Column: The US — And Wyoming — Can Easily Fall Behind China With AI

Cheyenne attorney and former state GOP chairman writes, “If China continues to innovate at the pace they’re currently moving, and we allow infrastructure challenges to hold us back, they will win the AI race.”

CSD StaffApril 02, 2025

Wyoming Superintendent of Public Instruction was in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, March 20, 2025, to attend President Donald Trump's signing of an executive order to eliminate the Department of Education.

Guest Column: Trump Is Right — It’s Time To Trust Parents And Local Communities

Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder writes, “I fully support President Donald Trump’s executive order to dismantle the federal Department of Education. … This is not about eliminating education — it’s about improving it.”

CSD StaffMarch 25, 2025

Guest Column: Wyoming Needs To Fund Schools - But Also Remember Why They're There

Guest columnist Gail Symons writes: When World War II broke out, boys accelerated their high school graduations then left to join the fight. People made sacrifices to provide them an excellent education, though their lives often ended in very real sacrifices."

CSD StaffMarch 23, 2025

Guest Column: Gun Free Zones Do Not Work

Former US Attorney Kip Crofts writes, "Have you ever heard of a case where a person who woke up prepared to go to a school and use his gun to kill people, has been deterred upon getting there and seeing a sign that says, 'Gun Free Zone.' So he turns away and goes for a latte’ instead?"

CSD StaffMarch 23, 2025

Guest Column: Steel-Toed Boots And Freedom -- How Wyoming Workers Are Saving Themselves

Marcie Kindred, executive director of the Wyoming State AFL-CIO, writes, "A trona miner had approached me days earlier about holding a rally to protect mine safety regulations from federal funding cuts. 'Without MSHA, miners die,' he said plainly."

CSD StaffMarch 21, 2025

Guest Column: Al Simpson -- "Be Honest And Do What Is Right For The People We Represent”

Don Hardy, author of 'The Life of Senator Al Simpson,' writes, "I was 16 years old when a tall attorney looked at me and smiled. 'You don’t know it, Don, but I do: you are a salvageable human being.' That didn’t seem likely since I had just landed on a two-year district court probation."

CSD StaffMarch 20, 2025

Former Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead (left) and former U.S. Sen. Al Simpson (right)

Guest Column: Senator Al Simpson. A Wyoming Treasure.

Former Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead writes, "During this time of division it is a great loss to lose someone like Al who didn’t view people with opposing views as enemies or with hate. Al did not shun those with opposing views, but instead, he listened."

CSD StaffMarch 19, 2025

Guest Column: Wyoming Could Lead Nation With Election Integrity Reforms If Gordon Signs Bills

Secretary of State Chuck Gray writes, "Yesterday, at the White House, President Trump reiterated that proof of citizenship for registering to vote is one of the key election integrity priorities of his administration. Gov. Mark Gordon should listen to President Trump and sign HB156 into law."

CSD StaffMarch 17, 2025

Sen. Al Simpson (left), Mary Kay Hill (center), Sen. Ted Kennedy (right)

Guest Column: Al Simpson And The Press

Mary Kay Hill, Al Simpson's longtime press secretary writes, "Al had a relationship with the press. It was complicated. He experienced the highest peaks of media praise and suffered the valleys of media condemnation. He expected authenticity and he despised a double standard."

CSD StaffMarch 16, 2025

U.S. Sen. Al Simpson (left). Celia Wallace (center). Rob Wallace (right)

Rob Wallace: Al Simpson -- A Wyoming Kid Who Conquered The World

Guest columnist Rob Wallace writes of a photo in Al Simpson's room: "In the front row looking directly at Al were presidents Trump, Bush, Obama, Carter, and Clinton all laughing uncontrollably at something he had just said. It was the perfect memory of a kid from Wyoming who conquered the world."

CSD StaffMarch 14, 2025