Dave Simpson
Dave Simpson started his newspaper career in 1973 as a reporter for the Laramie Daily Boomerang. He moved on to editing posts at the Rawlins Daily Times and the Casper Star-Tribune. He then published newspapers in Colorado and Illinois for Howard Publications owners at the time of the Star-Tribune for 17 years.
Dave has written a weekly column about a wide variety of topics for 39 years, winning top columnist awards in Wyoming, Colorado, Illinois and Nebraska.
He and his wife Caryl are retired and live on an old wheat field east of Cheyenne. Their dog Mitch the latest in a long line of black Labrador Retrievers was rescued from the pound in Torrington.
Dave built his log cabin in the Snowy Range of Carbon County in the 1980s, where he spends as much time as possible every summer.
Latest from Dave Simpson
Dave Simpson: They're Not Worried About The Debt
Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "Some of the smartest guys I know aren't very concerned that our national debt topped $36 trillion last week. One told me, "'Why worry about it? We'll be dead before the (bio material) hits the fan.'"
Dave SimpsonDecember 16, 2024
Dave Simpson: She'll Never Re-Gift This Present
Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "My late father in-law, a great guy, once gave his wife a butcher knife and a meat grinder for Christmas. There was speculation in the family about what she might cut off and grind up."
Dave SimpsonDecember 09, 2024
Dave Simpson: Government Waste And Inefficiency? Where?
Columnist Dave Simpson writes, “In the past, lawmakers have been a lot more interested in getting re-elected than in cutting waste and inefficiency. Maybe it will be different this time."
Dave SimpsonDecember 02, 2024
Dave Simpson: The Ugly Cookies Taste Just As Good
Columnist Dave Simpson writes, “Whenever Gramps visits, cookies are to be baked, first with the assistance of one grand daughter, then two years later, with two. (Red hair, blue eyes, both cute as buttons.)”
Dave SimpsonNovember 25, 2024
Dave Simpson: What Was Your Favorite Whopper?
Columnist Dave Simpson writes, “Oprah Winfrey told us if we didn't vote for Kamala Harris, it could be the last time we ever get to vote in an election. Hoo-boy, what a knee-slapper that was.”
Dave SimpsonNovember 21, 2024
Dave Simpson: No Thanks Liz, We'll Go It Alone
Columnist Dave Simpson writes: “Liz Cheney's help apparently didn't help Kamala Harris. It was more like throwing an anvil to a drowning man.”
Dave SimpsonNovember 18, 2024
Dave Simpson: Was That A Nightmare, Or What?
Columnist Dave Simpson writes: “The liberal Lilliputians will continue their efforts to bring down Trump any way they can. But, from where I sit, Trump 2.0 looks pretty ding-dong good.”
Dave SimpsonNovember 11, 2024
Dave Simpson: Old Dave's On Injured Reserve
Columnist Dave Simpson writes, “Until further notice, I'm like a beached whale, washed up on our living room floor, with a bulky cast on my leg that's like having a 10-pound Walleye strapped to my calf, only stiffer.”
Dave SimpsonNovember 04, 2024
Dave Simpson: Where's The Pony In The Pile?
Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "What could a President Harris do to top the cabinet appointments of Joe Biden? I'm thinking that bald guy with the red lipstick who steals suitcases from airport luggage carousels would be a shoo-in for Secretary of Transportation."
Dave SimpsonOctober 28, 2024
Dave Simpson: Smile When You Call Us 'Far Right'
Columnist Dave Simpson writes, “Call us what you want – far right, farther right, right wing, whatever. It looks like good old conservative common sense to me.”
Dave SimpsonOctober 21, 2024
Dave Simpson: These Memories Last Forever
Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "“Travel as many miles as you have to, pay whatever you have to for a ticket, and stand in line for as long as it takes to see the musicians you love, in their prime, live and in person.”
Dave SimpsonOctober 14, 2024
Dave Simpson: Too Little, Too Late on Amendment A
Columnist Dave Simpson writes, “Given the sea change we saw in the legislative races in the August primary, let's see if a more conservative legislature can come up with something better than this flawed, last-minute constitutional amendment."
Dave SimpsonOctober 07, 2024
Dave Simpson: How Can The Election Be So Close?
Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "Do we live in a country where endorsements by Taylor Swift, Oprah Winfrey and Meryl Streep overpower the fact that 10 million illegal immigrants – some say as many as 20 million – have entered our country illegally, and have been set free?"
Dave SimpsonSeptember 30, 2024
Dave Simpson: The One Thing We Aren't – Surprised
Columnist Dave Simpson writes, “Let's just hope the Secret Service gets its unexpectedly incompetent act together before some nut kills the former president.”
Dave SimpsonSeptember 23, 2024
Dave Simpson: Forget The Election. Let's Go To Dodge.
Columnist Dave Simpson writes, “If you don't love “Gunsmoke” and Marshal Matt Dillon, played by the late James Arness, well, there must be something wrong with you, mister. Get some help.”
Dave SimpsonSeptember 16, 2024
Dave Simpson: Cheneys Opt For 'Radical Liberal'
Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "I figured there was nothing Liz Cheney could do to make me regret my three votes for her more than I already did. But, I was wrong. Good luck with those Democrats, Liz. They hated your dad, calling him Darth Vader.''
Dave SimpsonSeptember 09, 2024
Dave Simpson: The Freedom Caucus Suits Him Fine
Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "'The old cigar club is closed.' So said my crustiest Republican friend from Casper this week, about the results of the Aug. 20th primary election in Wyoming."
Dave SimpsonSeptember 03, 2024
Dave Simpson: Nobody Told Us We're Too Old
Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "Can two guys with a combined age of 146 years build a house high in the mountains of Wyoming? All by themselves? Without heavy equipment? Jury's still out on that."
Dave SimpsonAugust 26, 2024
Dave Simpson: Friends Don't Let Friends Vote Democrat
Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "I can't figure out how anyone could vote for these Republican Lite, Rockefeller Republican, milquetoast, go-along-to get-along Republicans. These it-can't-happen-here, ersatz Republicans who vote with Democrats, and some even used to BE Democrats."
Dave SimpsonAugust 19, 2024
Dave Simpson: They 'Doth Protest Too Much, Methinks'
Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "Plenty of opinions are flying around, as tends to happen in elections. But it strikes me as desperation to pin all this anger on the Freedom Caucus."
Dave SimpsonAugust 12, 2024
Dave Simpson: Our Guys Aren't On Gordon's List
Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "I agree with folks who suggest using Gov. Gordon's endorsement list as a guide on who NOT to vote for.”
Dave SimpsonAugust 05, 2024
Dave Simpson: You Call This The Thrill Of Victory?
Columnist Dave Simpson writes: "A guy beating on a woman for 46 seconds before she gives up in tears sounds pretty damn Draconian to me. Good thing our lawmakers passed a bill, despite the governor's misgivings, to keep this insanity from happening here."
Dave SimpsonAugust 02, 2024
Dave Simpson: Harriet Delivered When No One Else Could (Or Cared)
Cowboy State Daily columnist Dave Simpson writes, "Harriet cut through the red tape and somehow got the Forest Service to do what it should have been doing for years.”
Dave SimpsonJuly 29, 2024
Dave Simpson: You Only Get Fired On 'The Apprentice'
Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "“What does it take to get someone fired in this shockingly incompetent government? A dead former president? A dead candidate for president?"
Dave SimpsonJuly 22, 2024
Dave Simpson: Stay Tuned, Goldwater Republicans
Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "With only seven actual Democrats in the legislature currently, we have a wave of Born Again Republicans, who claim to have seen the light, experiencing a miraculous political party epiphany. Well, I'm not buying it."
Dave SimpsonJuly 16, 2024
Dave Simpson: Unfriend My Wife? Probably Not
Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "My finger may have mistakenly hit an option to declare myself offended, and perhaps put the social media lid on – who'd a thunk it – my wife.”
Dave SimpsonJuly 08, 2024
Dave Simpson: Bug Spray, Dish Soap And A Wine Chaser
Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "A mischievous bear is tearing things up in my neck of the Snowy Range this summer, and folks up there are on edge about it."
Dave SimpsonJuly 01, 2024
Dave Simpson: He Led The Band That Saved The Bridge
Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "Pat Mehle's expertise as an engineer, his machine shop magic, and his ability to organize his neighbors saved our bridge.”
Dave SimpsonJune 24, 2024
Dave Simpson: Kinder, Gentler Fan Wants Me Dead
Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "One reader from the tolerant left writes, 'Thank goodness people like you will die out soon, and a kinder, gentler people will be able to write pieces... Good riddance.'"
Dave SimpsonJune 17, 2024
Dave Simpson: What's A Republican Voter To Do?
Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "Mike Yin of Jackson was 'extremely confused' by my column last week. And I understand perfectly. I'd be confused too if I was a Democrat elected by Jackson Democrats."
Dave SimpsonJune 10, 2024
Dave Simpson: Rare Democrats Spotted In Casper
Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "What do Wyoming Democrats and Weak Sauce Republicans have in common? They both can't stand the Wyoming Freedom Caucus."
Dave SimpsonJune 03, 2024
Dave Simpson: The Trump Trial -- What A Disaster
Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "“Remember when convictions of black defendants in the south were reported with the words 'by an all-white jury?' If Trump is convicted, the media probably won't write 'convicted by an all-Democrat jury.'”
Dave SimpsonMay 27, 2024
Dave Simpson: Don't Be A Weak-Sauce Republican
Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "A transplant from Oregon expected to find Republican Red-State nirvana when he moved to Wyoming. That's not what he found."
Dave SimpsonMay 20, 2024
Dave Simpson: I'm Not Buying Any Of This Crap
Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "We're expected to believe that folks who don't want boys playing girl's sports, don't want porn in children's libraries, and don't want children switching genders, are all 'far right,' and don't want 'Wyoming solutions to Wyoming problems.' Not so."
Dave SimpsonMay 13, 2024
Dave Simpson: These Immigrants Loved This Land
Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "Here are two families with remarkable stories of hard work, love of country, and determination to succeed. Stories like this are everywhere in a country that from its inception has been the beacon of opportunity."
Dave SimpsonMay 06, 2024
Dave Simpson: They 'Don't Want No Zionists Here'
Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "Next time you see young, spoiled, antisemitic demonstrators on campuses battling police officers, think about President Biden's campaign to forgive college loans (many held by people earning big salaries today) by whatever means necessary."
Dave SimpsonApril 29, 2024
Dave Simpson: Going Cold Turkey On TV News
Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "Pole dancers, ant poison, life insurance. Avoid those three things and your spouse is less likely to kill you. This is according to research I've been doing watching true crime reality TV shows..."
Dave SimpsonApril 22, 2024
Dave Simpson: Let Me Get This Straight. The Problem Is US?
Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "Appearing on Bill Maher last week, Katie Couric said folks like us are driven by 'anti-intellectualism,' and we're jealous of elites like her. This, she theorized, is why so many of us voted for Donald Trump. And not just once, but twice."
Dave SimpsonApril 20, 2024
Dave Simpson: Exposed When The Tide Went Out
Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "If your lawmakers voted to kill gun-free zones, then voted against a veto session, bring it up next time they come asking for your vote."
Dave SimpsonApril 15, 2024
Dave Simpson: Who Are These Strange People, Anyway?
Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "People as nearby as Nebraska are already mowing their lawns. But we've still got the snowblower gassed up and ready to go, waiting for a Mother's Day blizzard. And the wind is howling like a banshee."
Dave SimpsonApril 08, 2024
Dave Simpson: Oh No! Another Adult In The Room!
Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "If the governor is the adult in the room, what does that make the rest of us? (Asking for a friend.)"
Dave SimpsonApril 01, 2024
Dave Simpson: Have The Republicans 'Gone Off The Rails'?
Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "Nah. The labels have changed, but the debate in the Wyoming Legislature isn't that much different from what we saw decades ago."
Dave SimpsonMarch 25, 2024
Dave Simpson: Gov. Gordon Protects Us From Ourselves
Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "Don't you get the feeling that the governor is rapping our knuckles for things most of us support wholeheartedly? That the guy who spoke at Harvard apparently thinks he deserves a more appreciative constituency?"
Dave SimpsonMarch 23, 2024
Dave Simpson: Smile When You Call Me A Non-Native
Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "We might be just as well off with lawmakers who live here because they made the wise decision to come here, not just because this is where their mothers delivered them."
Dave SimpsonMarch 18, 2024
Dave Simpson: I've Lost That Unified Feeling. Gone, Gone, Gone.
Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "A testy President Joe Biden poured salt in wounds during his State of the Union address. He once promised to unite our country, but now hates half of us worse than he hates Putin."
Dave SimpsonMarch 11, 2024
Dave Simpson: Is The Wyoming Senate Acting With ‘Absolute Idiocy?’
Dave Simpson writes, “I have long suspected that here in Wyoming, the legislative powers that be allow one house to be the good guys, passing popular bills, confident that the second house would ultimately kill them, usually in committee."
Dave SimpsonMarch 06, 2024
Dave Simpson: Sticking With Donald Trump Despite The Bloviating Jackass Moments
Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "Defending Trump can be tough at times, but it beats the daylights out of another four years of clueless Joe Biden."
Dave SimpsonMarch 04, 2024
Dave Simpson: Grab The Special Times Before They're Gone
Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "These are precious moments. Whenever my grandkids have a Hershey's Kisses peanut butter cookie, I'm betting they'll remember Gramps, and the good times we had. Grab those special times."
Dave SimpsonFebruary 26, 2024
Dave Simpson: Once Again, Rush Limbaugh Was Right
Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "Rush Limbaugh said the powers that be in Washington would do everything in their power to destroy Donald Trump, to destroy his businesses, to destroy his family, and to send the message that scruffy, no-account voters like us must never elect a person like this again. Rush was right."
Dave SimpsonFebruary 19, 2024
Dave Simpson: My Facebook Critics Got It Wrong
Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "A critical Facebooker asked how it was possible for me to be wrong about virtually everything. Every. Single. Thing. Another called my columns observations 'from the shallow end of the pool.' (I'll admit I laughed at that one)."
Dave SimpsonFebruary 12, 2024
Dave Simpson: Beating Up Cops? Hey, No Problem!
Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "The video last week of 13 thugs – apparently recently-arrived “guests“ in our country – beating and kicking the daylights out of two New York City police officers, shows just how far down the road to perdition we have come."
Dave SimpsonFebruary 05, 2024
Dave Simpson: So WE'RE Extreme? Are You Kidding Me?
Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "We hear plenty about 'far-right extremists,' but never far-left extremists. I say throwing open our southern border is the very definition of extreme."
Dave SimpsonJanuary 22, 2024
Dave Simpson: Got Enough Fries In That Happy Meal?
Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "The opinion that dangerous insurrectionists like us want to 'unravel democracy' was voiced by former Rep. Liz Cheney on CBS Sunday Morning. Talk like that got her defeated in the 2022 primary election by 37 points."
Dave SimpsonJanuary 15, 2024
Dave Simpson: Me? Hard Of Hearing? Impossible!
Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "The sure way to tell when it's time to go get your hearing checked is when your spouse yells at you to go get your hearing checked. That's when."
Dave SimpsonJanuary 08, 2024
Dave Simpson: We Can't Let The Never-Trumpers Get Away With This
Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "The Never-Trumpers pulled every trick in the book to stop Trump from draining their comfy swamp. But my guess is Wyoming, and Republicans across the country, will still vote for Trump for many reasons."
Dave SimpsonJanuary 01, 2024
Dave Simpson: 'Uptick?' 'Fair Share?' You're Killin' Me!
Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "If this is an illegal immigration 'uptick,' I'd hate to see what a surge looks like."
Dave SimpsonDecember 25, 2023
Dave Simpson: It Was A Merry Walleye Christmas
Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "We couldn't leave them home alone for Christmas. I told my mother I would drive the 420 miles, pick them up, and bring them down to our house for Christmas. Then after Christmas, I would drive them back home."
Dave SimpsonDecember 18, 2023
Dave Simpson: Wyoming Solutions To Wyoming Problems?
Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "If the governor really prefers 'Wyoming solutions to Wyoming problems,' why the heck is he touting carbon negative at Harvard and on 60 Minutes?"
Dave SimpsonDecember 11, 2023
Dave Simpson: The One Question Nobody Seems To Ask
Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "When the adults in the room start throwing around the terms 'sanctuary city,' 'gain of function,' and 'EVs,' we need to ask, 'What could possibly go wrong?'"
Dave SimpsonDecember 04, 2023
Dave Simpson: Fifty Years Ago Today, I Began My Career As A Newsman
Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "One day at the police desk, there was a blotter item about a guy dressed up as the Easter Bunny, threatening people with a gun at Third and Grand in Laramie...
Dave SimpsonNovember 27, 2023
Dave Simpson: The Place That Makes You Happy
Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "Picture a joyous black Labrador, ears flapping, racing through the golden prairie in hopeless pursuit of a jackrabbit. For me, this is the good life, pure and simple."
Dave SimpsonNovember 20, 2023
Dave Simpson: Wake Me When The Nightmare's Over
Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "Over the last three months, our country has borrowed $3 trillion."
Dave SimpsonNovember 13, 2023
Dave Simpson: My Sad Smoke Alarm Tale Of Woe
Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "At 2:41 am, we were awakened by a full-fledged, ear-piercing, all-hands-on-deck fire alarm, with the recorded voice of a lady yelling, “FIRE! FIRE! FIRE!” Every alarm in the house – 13 of them – was going off, and the dog was in a panic."
Dave SimpsonNovember 06, 2023
Dave Simpson: Not Exactly A Day At The Beach
Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "What on earth was Gov. Gordon thinking when he spoke at Harvard University last week, advocating something called “carbon negative?” How did he expect that to go over in carbon-rich Gillette?"
Dave SimpsonOctober 30, 2023
Dave Simpson: Watching House Republicans This Year Is Like Watching The Denver Broncos
Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "I don't lose sleep over government shutdowns, and so far I see life without a Speaker of the House as kind of refreshing."
Dave SimpsonOctober 23, 2023
Dave Simpson: Imagine If Trump Wasn't Running
Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "Imagine the panic that would be running through the Democratic Party right now at the prospect of rapidly-declining, stumbling, mumbling Joe Biden running against an energetic, effective advocate of most of the Trump agenda who won his last election as governor of Florida by a million and a half votes."
Dave SimpsonOctober 16, 2023