Joan Barron
Latest from Joan Barron
Joan Barron: Sure Hope You Can Find Your Birth Certificate By Next Election
Columnist Joan Barron writes: "I don’t think anyone wants to see illegal aliens voting in Wyoming elections, though the possibility is remote. But I also don’t believe that people want to disenfranchise residents who cannot comply with the new voter registration requirements."
Joan BarronMarch 29, 2025
Joan Barron: What About Accountability For New $7,000 School Voucher Payments?
Columnist Joan Barron writes, "What protection, readers have asked, is there to prevent a parent from taking the $7,000 school voucher and letting the kid sit on the couch and watch TV all day?"
Joan BarronMarch 22, 2025
Joan Barron: Alan Simpson Grew To Be A Statesman
Columnist Joan Barron, who has covered the Wyoming legislature since 1970, writes, "Calling themselves ‘just a couple of country lawyers,” Simpson and Herschler outsmarted the hot shot attorneys who flew in from New York and D.C. The trona industry won and the defeated eastern lawyers flew out of Cheyenne."
Joan BarronMarch 18, 2025
Joan Barron: More Wyoming Women Should Run For Election
Columnist Joan Barron writes, "The three senior women Senate leaders to watch are Tara Nethercott, a Cheyenne lawyer and majority floor leader; Sen. Cheri Steinmetz, a Torrington rancher; and Wendy Schuler, a retired Evanston teacher."
Joan BarronMarch 15, 2025
Joan Barron: Maybe Next Year Will Be Better
Columnist Joan Barron writes, "It was a good thing for the Legislature to quit two days early this year. That way the lawmakers could not do any more damage to the Legislature as an institution than they already have."
Joan BarronMarch 08, 2025
Joan Barron: Legislature Pedaling Back 50 Years
Columnist Joan Barron writes, "The recent movement to ignore the supplemental budget is clearly Freedom Caucus-inspired and is meant, at least partially, to target and embarrass Gov. Mark Gordon."
Joan BarronMarch 01, 2025
Joan Barron: The Silence of the Sponsors
Columnist Joan Barron writes, "“This was not the finest hour for the Wyoming House of Representatives.”
Joan BarronFebruary 22, 2025
Joan Barron: Freedom Caucus’ Top Priority Bill On Stage Next Week.
Columnist Joan Barron writes, "When the legislators return next week after their crossover long weekend, they will find Senate File 69 waiting in the house."
Joan BarronFebruary 16, 2025
Joan Barron: A Revised Tax Reform Bill Is A Test For Local Governments
Columnist Joan Barron writes, "What stood out was the lack of trust many legislators have with their local governments in regard to spending. There were no claims of fraud, just overspending or maybe not being transparent about where the money goes."
Joan BarronFebruary 08, 2025
Joan Barron: Whatever Happened To The Wyoming Caucus?
Columnist Joan Barron writes, "The traditional Republicans may be holding back in hopes that the extremist Freedom Caucus will go too far and will 'hoist itself on its own petard' to borrow a very old saying from Shakespeare."
Joan BarronFebruary 01, 2025
Joan Barron: Needed -- A 101 Course On Property Taxes
Columnist Joan Barron writes, "I think it’s clear that the lawmakers need to know precisely how the tax revenues from property taxes are spent other than that what they learn from their tax statements outlining the mill distributions."
Joan BarronJanuary 25, 2025
Joan Barron: It Was Like A Religious Ceremony But No One Was Singing
Columnist Joan Barron writes, "So the juggernaut is off with the leaders promising to pass 20 bills in the first 20 days of the session including the five priority bills. The House Freedom Caucus has shown its muscle."
Joan BarronJanuary 19, 2025