Eighth prospective U.S. House members pitched their candidacies to a Casper audience during a nearly two-hour-long forum. The candidates were asked about the record-breaking sums of personal and family cash that candidates were throwing into the race — and what that trend forecasts for access to office in Wyoming.
Campaign Finance
Current Secretary of State Chuck Gray used the question to address fellow big spender Reid Rasner, alleging that he’d spent “hundreds of thousands of dollars in false attacks.” Then Gray turned to his fellow heir of a family fortune, Steve Friess, who’s written the largest check to his own campaign, $2 million, so far.
Candidates who haven’t benefited as much from their own wealth and family largesse bemoaned the trend in Wyoming politics. “We’re creating a situation where millionaires and billionaires can buy their way into office,” said Kevin Christensen, a Bureau of Land Management retiree whose campaign has brought in about $13,000.
Roadless Rule
The candidates were mostly on the same page in their desire to get rid of the environmental protections. “The roadless rule was a Clinton-driven, left-driven attempt to hurt our public lands,” Gray said of a policy that comment-writing Westerners overwhelmingly want to keep.
Only Christensen clearly wanted to retain the policy, which has been in place for a quarter century. “Modify, but do not rescind the Roadless Rule,” he said.
Original reporting: Buckrail (Jackson WY) — read the source article.
