Platte County Elections Results November 4, 2008

The results are in, and for the state of Wyoming and Platte County, the GOP has a sweep.

It was hardly a surprise that Mike Enzi (R) and John Barrasso (R) , our state Senators, would keep their elected positions. They earned 76% and 74% of the votes, respectively.

Cynthia Lummis (R) captured the larger percentage of votes, winning our lone congressional seat, 126,016 to 100,724 (2572 to 1710 in Platte County) in a heated race with Gary Trauner.

Our new representative for State House District #3 will be Frank Peasley (R), in a close race against Terry Jones (D). The final votes for Platte County were 1522 to 1240. District #5 will continue to be represented by Matt Teeters (R), who earned 66% of the vote in Platte County. The state senate race was a blowout. Jim Anderson (R) defeated Jay Wright (D) with 67.5% of the votes in Senate District #2.

More locally, we now have an all-Republican County Commissioners Board, with Terry Stevenson (R) defeating incumbant Joe Reichardt (D), 2559 to 1843. He will join Tim Millikin and Dan Kirkbride.

The people elected for the Hospital District Board were Rick Bowen, John C. Bunker, Crystal Gamblin and Lori Modesett. Chuck Witte lost his position by 30 votes.

Wheatland will have Alan Madsen and Bob Shoemaker as city councilmen.
Guernsey will have Audrey Brown as a councilwoman for a four year term. Penny Wells and Cindy Frederick have been elected to hold two year terms.

Constitutional amendments A and B both passed, as did the Senior Citizen Tax Continuation.

Further results for school district positions, judges, resource conservation districts and the like can be viewed here, under "Election Results".

Although the news from the national stage was overwhelmingly positive for Democrats, the state and local winners reflect the fact that Wyoming is still a stronghold for the Republican Party. I hope that the elected officials will make thoughtful decisions, and I encourage them to remember the nickname of our state. We are the Equality State. Let that be reflected in your work for the people of Wyoming.

And to our Democratic candidates, I congratulate you for your tireless efforts of campaigning. In this state, you have the struggle of earning each and every vote, simply for having a "D" behind your name. I've been able to listen to many of you, and know that you have selfless desires for a better way of life for this and future generations. Keep believing in those dreams, and never forget the mantra: Yes we can!

Meet the Candidates, Part II

Terry Jones spoke next at the forum. He is the only person running for either a state house or senate seat that is from Platte County. He would represent House District #3. He has worked forty-two years for the railroad, has been in Wheatland for 16 years. For two decades he has been with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen Union, serving as Chairman for many of those years. He is endorsed by Wyoming Public Employee Association, NRA, AFL-CIO, Wyoming Education Association. His campaign issues discussed included property taxes, noting that Platte County may see their taxes increased the way others around us have, and would like to do something proactively before that happens. He discussed workman's comp, stating that currently your employer can absolutely stop workman's comp. He also discussed not letting land swaps happen and conserving our public lands. He noted areas where Democratic issues have succeeded in our state, including government transparency, the Hathaway scholarship, and the sales tax on food.

In the Q&A session, the current district map was discussed. Terry feels Platte County with a population of 8,000 people qualifies to have it's own district, noting that they will redistrict this county after the next census. He would like to be the voice of Platte County when this issue comes up. He was questioned about what issues face our children in Platte County. Terry felt strongly about education, starting with Head Start funding. He was asked about ideas to bring jobs into the county. Terry was hopeful that with good labor unavailable in Casper, that businesses may look to Platte County for their labor force, and he would like to provide the Wyoming Business Council with more funding to help promote business in Wyoming. He also stated that part of the problem is employers in the county not wanting to pay a salary beyond a certain level, $1200-1500/month. Questions about the nursing home situation were discussed briefly, and were deferred to our county commissioner candidate, Joe Reichardt.

Jason Wright, running for State Senate District #2, spoke next. He works in the IT department at the hospital in Douglas. He'd like to inject some new ideas into the legislature. He would like to push Wyoming into a leadership role on some important issues. He feels Wyoming, having the unique situation of having a small population and a budget surplus, would be able to adopt the first single payer healthcare system in the nation. He also is an advocate of preventative healthcare. He envisions if Wyoming had a single payer healthcare system, there would be a rush of businesses coming to the state for the advantage of not have to pay for health insurance costs to their employees. It would take the burden of healthcare costs and put it on society, and would allow them to be more competitive from this state.

Mr. Wright discussed was the idea of having having curbside recycling in Wyoming, and other forms of transportation to get around the state. In the Q&A, there was quite a bit of talk about using the rail system for traveling, also a state bus system and again a high speed rail, which would follow the current highway system. Jason Wright will be competing against Jim Anderson(R) on November 4th.

Russell Johnson of Veteran, WY is running for State House District #5, a position currently held by Matt Teeters(R) from Lingle, WY. He spoke about his two big issues, taxes and alternative energy. He believes taxes are a little misshapen where farmers, ranchers and some businesses are taxed on personal property. He proposes a state tax starting with over-the-median income, involving only the elite wealthy. For alternative energy, Wind and solar power are on his list of priorities. He is on a committee to start up a wind power district in his local area.

Joe Reichardt, one of three county commissioners for Platte County, spoke last. The county has many current issue, he said, but the situation with the nursing home is what is currently on people's minds. He wanted to make clear that Hospital District Board is responsible for the negotiations with Banner Health. He felt that Banner has been trying to get out of the nursing home business for awhile now, but feels that they signed a contract, and should take the profit and loss together. He stated that there were currently three possible outcomes. 1. Banner stays to run the hospital, and the nursing home closes. 2. Banner stays to run the hospital and nursing home, and they come up with an arrangement that would be acceptable for both sides for this to happen. 3. Another firm would take over and run both the hospital and nursing home. There was a lot of discussion regarding the nursing home, and Mr. Reichardt encouraged people to attend the meeting being held at the Cole Building in Wheatland at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, October 14th.

Our Party Chairman, Don Kneeburg, did a great job giving everyone the opportunity to speak while keeping within the time frames allotted. This forum was a great opportunity to learn a little more about these candidates.

There will be another opportunity tomorrow, October 14th, to pose questions and to hear more from these candidates and others at the 4-H building (Platte County Fairgrounds) from 7-9 p.m. Please attend and bring your questions in written form.

Platte County Democrats hold forum

It was a good afternoon in Wheatland as the Platte County Democrats hosted a Meet the Candidates event at the First State Bank Conference Center. I will update with information on what the candidates talked about by tomorrow. I'm grateful to the candidates for taking the time to talk to us, I am very pleased with our Democratic Party choices. Below are a few photos of the event. More soon...