Back in June, Drake Hill, chairman of the Wyoming GOP, decided something fishy must be up with Gov. Freudenthal's running of state government. After all, too many people liked Freudenthal and the GOP couldn't figure out a decent way to oppose his re-election bid. So, clearly, there had to be something wrong.
Hill's solution? Request "all documents and materials of any kind whatsoever" related to the building of a new state prison in Torrington, the hiring of any outside consultants, and all sole-source contracts Freudenthal has approved.
That would certainly turn up something, right?
Well, if not, Hill had a few
more requests:
Hill also asked state agencies to comb their records for all information concerning Freudenthal's use of the state jet; lobbying activities of his wife, lawyer Nancy Freudenthal; and records concerning the governor's brother, Cheyenne lawyer Steve Freudenthal.
It's about time the GOP got around to digging at Nancy Freudenthal. After all, Nancy Freudenthal is a very successful professional woman, ripe for painting with a Hillary Clinton smear campaign. Unfortunately for them, she's also smart enough to take steps to avoid any conflict of interest:
After the 2002 election, her law firm, Davis and Cannon, hired University of Wyoming law professor John Burman, an expert on legal ethics, as a consultant to advise the lawyer how she could continue to practice law without any ethical concerns.
"We believed we were too close to the issue," Nancy Freudenthal said in a recent interview in her law office.
Burman advised her to analyze potential conflicts on a case-by-case basis following the professional rules of ethics, she said.
"That's what I'm doing now," she said.
Unfortunately for Hill, not only didn't the documents contain a treasure trove of dirty linen, when the Republicans attempted to find a nefarious plot in Wyoming's recent purchase of several new airplanes, they got their ears boxed. The statewide Casper Star-Tribune editorialized that the ad was a "lie." (My apologies that old CST articles are almost impossible to find.) Even straight press stories tore the claim apart:
CHEYENNE - To hear the Wyoming Republican Party's radio ad, the airplane the state spent more than $157,000 to outfit sounds like some sort of luxury transport.
The pictures of the Cessna C208 Grand Caravan turboprop show something quite different.
The interior is spare, with a large cabinet and the state's aerial photography equipment taking up much of the space.
In fact, despite its description as "one of the planes in Governor Dave Freudenthal's $18 million fleet," the state has never used the plane to carry the governor or any other passenger.
Instead, it's used for aerial photography, surveying and mapping.
And, from there, it just got worse. First it came out that the state has spent over $120,000 responding to this request:
State agencies reported spending more than 6,300 hours - the equivalent three employees each working full-time on the request for more than a year - compiling records in response to the GOP's sweeping request.
Then it came out that the state GOP operation had brought in consultants from Missouri to analyze the records,:
The Wyoming Republican Party has hired a Missouri-based political consulting firm to review state government records it has requested from Democrat Gov. Dave Freudenthal's administration, the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle reported in a copyright story Friday.
opening the door for one of Freudenthal's best dismissive comments regarding the whole fiasco:
Freudenthal, who has called the Republican's sweeping records request a "witch hunt in search of a witch," on Thursday said bringing in the outside consultants is a first in Wyoming politics.
Freudenthal described GOP consulting firm John Hancock and Associates as "outside, hired-gun hatchet guys."
Then, last week, the Casper Star-Tribune front page carried the headline: GOP Sees Internal Dissension in which a former state party chair took Hill to task:
Meanwhile, Jack Speight, a Cheyenne attorney and former Republican state party chairman, said Wednesday he has been in private communication with Hill about his role as state chairman in the primary election "and where he's taking the party apparatus in the general."
"I've cautioned him that his role as state chairman is to showcase the Republican candidates in the best light possible and to get out the vote in the general election in the key Republican precincts and counties," Speight said. "And he should not take any role in publicly criticizing any Democratic candidate of any race without the approval of the particular candidate or their top staffer."
"Using vague innuendoes and incomplete facts and erroneous inferences to attack a Democratic candidate is not the Wyoming Republican Party way historically," Speight said.
All of which led Ray Hunkins, Freudenthal's now-official opponent this fall, to make the startling declaration that he would be responsible for his own campaign (!!) but he had a qualifier about the records request. While Hunkins says he had no role in seeking them, he won't be above using any dirt that might turn up. (Again, no thanks to the CST for ease of finding old links.)
Then, the Teton County Republican Chair added another nail to the coffin:
In a letter to his fellow Teton County Republicans last week, County GOP Chair Bill Scarlett distanced his organization from Drake Hill, chair of the Wyoming Republican Party, who has launched a withering campaign questioning the ethics of Gov. Dave Freudenthal. "While we are somewhat sheltered from the current round of personal attacks that the state GOP chairman has taken out against the governor, it has become a big enough statewide issue that I felt it is necessary to send a letter of response on behalf of our local party.
"I know I speak for the four Teton County members of the Wyoming State Republican Party when I say that we were never consulted nor were we asked to endorse this type of campaigning. We strongly believe in Ronald Reagan's vision of the future with the best days still in front of us and that we will continue to win with ideas and vision. The politics of personal destruction provides nothing for our party or for the political process."
Whoops!!!
The final insult may have been this morning's wonderful front page article about Gary Trauner, headlined "Into the GOP's Stronghold."
"We stand for the same things," he told Nicki Taylor, a self-described conservative Republican who discussed with Trauner her displeasure with NAFTA and outsourcing, church-state issues, and gas prices.
But even though they may both support fair wages, anti-pollution laws and religious freedom, Trauner says he doesn't think Taylor will vote for him. And when asked in a separate interview, Taylor said she was undecided.
In any case, this Labor Day, my husband who works for the University of Wyoming Outreach School is back at work, despite having already put in close to 70 hours last week as the semester geared up, because he, too, has fallen under the broad net cast by Drake Hill. He has until tomorrow to pull every single document related to the Outreach School's contract with eCollege, which provides their online course services. Frankly, I rather doubt Freudenthal even knows what eCollege is. But maybe I'm wrong.
In any case, I had a suggestion for my husband. Get a clean sheet of paper and write a simple message on it and then slip it into the whole raft of documents he is being forced to pull and hand over. My suggested message?
"Go Fuck Yourself" -- Dick Cheney