I've been following the Wyoming GOP central committee meeting all day, as the 71 members whittled the field of 31 applicants first down to ten, then five, then the final three.
Now why would I, an American Indian gal from Maine, do such a thing?
Because I already knew who was going to be the top dog, and wasn't any of the names tossed around in the immediate wake of Senator Craig Thomas' death two weeks ago. In fact, I speculated as much that very day at my home blog.
The big names everyone seemed to think would be placed on Gov. Dave Dave Freudenthal's desk included Colin Simpson, son of former three-term Republican Sen. Alan Simpson, former U.S. Attorney Matthew Mead, Lynne Cheney, Rep. Barbara Cubin, and Secretary of State Max Maxfield.
In the end, of those receiving early speculation, only Simpson and Mead submitted applications. Both, however, were still considered early favorites.
As for me, I picked the dark horse, former Assistant Attorney General for Environment and Natural Resources, Tom Sansonetti. See, in my years of obsessing over Abramoff and the corruption at Interior, I came to know quite a bit about Tom Sansonetti, and had been following his career as a lobbyist for Holland and Hart after he left the DoJ in 2005. I figured he was laying low, to see if any of the Congressional hounddogs picked up on his connections to Abramoff and other nasty doings at ENRD. You know, like his involvement with Kyle Sampson in the firing of Special Trustee Tom Slonaker, when Slonaker wouldn't testify that all was hunky-dory in Indian Trust Fund reform. Or his attendence at Italia Federici's September 24, 2001 dinner for Interior officials to get to know their favorite lobbyists, including Jack Abramoff. Or the many meals he shared with is close, and soon to be sentenced buddy, Steve Griles, at Jack's Signatures restaurant.
I could go on, but you get the drift. Even in his letter [pdf] requesting leniency for Griles, Sansonetti couldn't keep his lies straight; he claimed that as Transition Team leader for Bush-Cheney in 2001, he introduced Griles to Secretary Gale Norton. Norton, in her own letter, gushed about how she'd known Steve for over twenty years. In fact, the two had met while working in the Reagan Interior Department - Griles, in the Bureau of Land Management division, and Norton, as a department attorney, in Tom Sansonetti's Solicitor's office!
So why did I think Sansonetti, who isn't even a native Wyomingite, would make the cut? Because 1) he's the corporatist man, a lobbyist with BigEnergy clients, 2) he's the ultimate insider, a former Chairman of the Wyoming GOP and treasurer of the National GOP, and 3) he knows where the bodies are buried, and he needs to keep them that way, even as the current guard are falling left and right. There is way too much at stake, particularly regarding extraction leases and right-of-ways on federal land - the powers that be need a "professional", and Tom is their man.
So, I was correct, and Sansonetti is now one of the three finalists, having led the voting all day. The other two names to be forwarded are those belonging to State Senator and certified wingnut physician John Barrasso, and rancher, former Secretary of State, and Wise-Use advocate, Cynthia Lummis.
So what should Dave Freudenthal do?
I would be hard pressed to see him appoint Barrasso, who advocates criminalization of abortion and mandatory school prayer. Expecting that such extremism will be rejected in a red state has been the downfall of many, see Brad Carson v. Tom Coburn, Senate-Oklahoma.
Lummis, on the other hand, would present a different danger to a Democratic challenger. While rather conservative, it's of the traditional Wyoming libertarian variety, and besides, it's very difficult to unseat a Republican woman Senator, even in blue states (see Snowe, Olympia and Collin, Susan, R-ME.) Besides, Lummis has already won a state-wide campaign as Secretary of State.
So Tom Sansonetti is left. Frankly, I believe that there is enough Abramoff, Griles and Department of Justice dirt on Sansonetti that enough of it will stick come 2008. I certainly will be doing my damnedest. While voters all around the country have been kicking out Abramoff cronies from Congress and tribal governments, the Wyoming GOP just offered up one to represent them in Washington. What a gift to Progressives, Democrats and anti-corruption advocates everywhere. We shouldn't look such a gift-horse in the mouth, and neither should Dave Freudenthal.
(Note: I finished this diary a half an hour ago; I guess I just knew who the winners would be. Anyone need lottery numbers?)