WYGOP Potential Senators’ Forum

The things I sacrifice for this blog… namely my future as a typist since after today, I may very well get carpal tunnel. I am so tired from typing as much as I could during the debate, in addition to figuring out how on earth to organize those 20 pages into a somewhat readable blog. J It’s still ridiculously long… just skim? Skip to the end, if you must, to see my yes/no list.

There were four panels of 5-7 applicants each. Some panels were better than others, some questions were better than others. In general, the questions were actually rather disappointing and disorganized. No applicant on the same panel was asked the same question, so we couldn’t really compare like we wanted to. Plus, the liberal WY Public TV, WY Public Radio, and the Casper Star Tribune contributed the moderators… Not the best set-up, if you ask me.

Anyway, the first seven panelists were Case, Gamroth, Gray, Lewis, Luthi, Stratton, and Sansonetti. Notable notes:

• Case – Emphasized getting spending under control; focused exclusively on economic issues and wasn’t challenged at all on his (liberal) social views. That disappointed me.
• Gamroth – Basically got uninteresting questions; admitted that there’s a lot of fraud in the Bureau of Indian Affairs that needs to be reformed; shouldn’t give the enemy our plan by having a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq
• Gray – Started out strong on immigration concerning whether or not he thinks we should build a wall, “Yes I do. First of all I think we need 18000 border agents, [some fence, etc]. That puts all criminal illegal aliens back where they came from.” Then he undid all that good by stating, ” We need to have control on the borders but also understand that there are some jobs the immigrants can do.” What? Was also pretty dense in the lightening round discussing the Kyoto Treaty – “This is impossible to answer in 20 seconds… just say the US needs to do more to work with rest of world.” You start. Move away.
• Lewis – An older woman who kind of made me angry from the beginning. She started out by stating, “Wyoming has always been the front runner in giving women a vote, and having a woman governor, and now they have the opportunity to have a woman Senator.” Well, gosh. Now that you’ve told us how entitled you are because you’re a woman, FORGET IT! (Pet peeve, if you couldn’t tell.) I’m sure she’s a nice old lady, though. She did have this to say about same sex marriage: “Absolutely not. We are a moral nation. We are a Christian nation.”
• Luthi – Wants the Endangered Species Act to be more responsive to states and private property owners; Made a very solid statement on gun control during the lightening round: “I do not believe in it. I’m very strong in the second amendment and believe the federal government should stay out.“; Not as strong or admirable when asked about Libby’s trial, “I believe we can depend on the law system.” D’oh.
• Sansonetti – Received a lame free trade question (what Republican doesn’t like free trade?); then discussed tort reform and had what seemed like a pretty decent plan to make more use of the federal courts and their methodology to prevent frivolous cases
• Stratton – Did not seem overly competent. When asked about global warming, he mumbled something about being able to fit every person in the world (all 6.5 billion) in Delaware. He lost me there. Then he had no idea what lobbying was, let alone if it should be reformed. Once he talked himself in some circles to figure out what lobbying was, he said: “I believe that if a person believes in something, they probably don’t really need somebody to come up and offer them money to believe in it more.” … Smart guy, that Stratton.

Sansonetti seemed to be the clear winner of the first panel. He was confident, but down to earth and all his answers made sense. Luthi was close, but as Scott has mentioned before, his refusal to stand up on the wolves issues does not bode well for a future in Washington.

The second panel included Asay, Holtz, Lummis, Micheli, Collins, and Hunkins. Notable notes:

• Asay – None of his quotes really stand out to me, but he was well presented and we did get to talk briefly with him afterwards. The most interesting topic he discussed (in my opinion) was gun control, and he’s absolutely against it. Believes we have the right to express ourselves and therefore the right to lobby. Everything I know about him points to true conservatism and I think he would make a great candidate on the list we send to the Governor.
• Lummis - When asked about No Child Left Behind, argued for a more balanced system with state independence and federal auditing; Really messed it up (for me) with her answer to a question about Gitmo: “Prisoners have different due process rights than Americans. Military process needs to be monitored. US defense attorneys need to be involved. Military procedure needs to be protected, yet carefully scrutinized. It’s important that people not be detained indefinitely without knowing charges. Nevertheless these are enemy combatants and their status is not the same as Americans.” Well, which is it? Either they get American rights or they don’t! Hint: they don’t.
• Holtz - Unfortunately, most of his questions/answers were so uninteresting / unintelligible that I used those moments as breaks from typing. Oops?
• Micheli - He really made a good impression with solid answers (even about topics I couldn’t care less about). Concerning wild and scenic rivers (what?), he sarcastically said, “Just another opportunity for the federal government to impose.” I like that sense of humor. J Same sex marriage? “I believe in the sanctity of marriage and I believe that marriage should be between a man and a woman. Alternative lifestyles – that’s their prerogative.” Again, solidly conservative.
• Collins - Mumbler! I seriously could not handle it. More seriously, I’m sure that Mr. Collins is a very nice man, but presenting yourself as a “Missionary and Minister of the Gospel to the People of Wyoming” seems like a poor strategy. Okay, now that you’ve called us all heathens, you want to be our Senator?
• Hunkins - Presented himself well overall; concerning earmarks/pork barrel spending: “I would certainly vote to limit earmarks, vote for fiscal responsibility… I would not only vote for it, I would advocate for it to my colleagues in the Senate.” Had an amazingly strong statement concerning Afghanistan, “It’s is part of the war on terror and we have to win the war on terror. We have to defeat the enemy where we find the enemy before we find the enemy in our country.” Sounding pretty Senatorial there, Mr. Hunkins! J

Much better panel than the first. I really enjoyed Asay, Micheli, and Hunkins. Although none of them were specifically asked about abortion, I am almost positive that they are pro-family, pro-life individuals. Three-way tie, in my opinion.

The third panel consisted of Stevensen, Barrasso, Chamberlain, French, Fox, and Mead. Again, the questions kind of got on my nerves because they were somewhat uninteresting or poorly worded. Notable notes:

• Stevensen – Best answer ever during the lightening round in response to the wolves prompt, “Shoot ‘em.” That’s what I’m talkin’ about!
• Barrasso – Really interesting answer concerning ethics problems in Congress, mentioned that Craig Thomas came to Wyoming every weekend to avoid getting caught up in Washington. I love Wyoming. J
• Chamberlain – Supports free trade but not NAFTA. Eh? Also doesn’t think we should have a law making English our official language, but it should be the only language taught in schools. Um, are you just going to ask all the schools real nice? I think a law might help you there, buddy.
• French - I loved his response to the lightening round prompt of education: “I think we need to eliminate the federal board [department] of education.” Amen!
• Fox - Nothing to call home about, really, but had a decent answer concerning highway funding. Basically said we collect money in Wyoming, send it to Washington, and then they send it back to us to build highways, so let’s eliminate the middleman [Washington]. Sounds good to me.
• Mead - Great answer concerning healthcare reform: “The problem is the gap for the people who are working very hard and still cannot afford healthcare… So I think they have to step up and address that gap. To me that is the biggest issue.” Not such a great answer concerning abortion. He believes in a rape/incest exception. L

I wish Matt Mead weren’t such a dummy on abortion. There’s always the chance he could be convinced otherwise, but I’m not willing to risk that – even for 18 months. Barrasso is so amazing on every issue. I’m fairly confident that he will be on the list because everyone I’ve talked to LOVES him. But will the Governor pick him? Who knows.

Finally, the fourth panel. Obviously, I’ve been getting a little less detailed as we approach the end, haha. It was a very interesting forum, but a long one for sure. The fourth panel had the last 7 applicants (minus the six who didn’t even show up and aren’t even worthy of consideration now, as far as I’m concerned!) – Kruse, Paddleford, Young, Simpson, Sapp, Moore, Stith. Notable notes:

• Kruse – Seemed like a nice enough guy, but none of his answers really stood out to me for their brilliance or practicality. He talked a lot about Yellowstone… I feel like there are more concerns than that in the Senate.
• Paddleford - Common sense immigration response, but too often goes unstated: “First thing I would like to see is respect for the laws that we have on the books now… Any law enforcement agency doesn’t have the right to pick and choose which laws to enforce.”
• Young - I liked him overall, best answer was about Libby: “He should probably be pardoned.” Yes, he should.
• Simpson - Everybody’s favorite defense lawyer (not) got a question about tort reform. “Well it depends on whether you believe the Bill of Rights or the Declaration of Independence mean anything when they declare the right to a fair trial.” Oh give me a freaking break. My bad, I didn’t realize that the right to bring unlimited frivolous lawsuits to flood the courts was a constitutional right. Oh wait, it’s not really, is it?
• Sapp - Wasn’t the most educated candidate, but I think others would do well to listen to his comment about the ethical problems in Congress: “Ethics and politics… I think we as citizens, rather than just allowing people to do that, need to exercise our right to vote… and people who violate our system should be removed from office.” Hear, hear.
• Moore - Received the official dumbest question of the night about reinstating the draft. “No I’m not interested in reinstating the draft. I think we have an outstanding military force… and not just Congress but the whole country needs to support the troops and support what they’re doing. We’ve got men and women that are signed up, an all volunteer army and it’s the best in the world.” Exactly. Also specifically said that he is pro-life and believes life begins at conception.
• Stith - Clever response to the lightening round prompt of grizzly bears: “They represent a success story, no longer endangered, we have been able to have successful habitat for grizzly bears.” In other words, they’re ready to be OFF the list. Other than that, I wasn’t too impressed with Mr. Stith. A little too much smooth talking with a little too little content. (That’s a lot of littles.)

Whew, and that’s all of ‘em. Overall, I am feeling a lot better about our chances at having a good conservative replace Senator Thomas.

My list of approved candidates (given the information I’ve gathered thus far) is: Sansonetti, Asay, Micheli, Hunkins, Barrasso, French, Paddleford, and Young.

My list of absolutely not candidates: Simpson, Mead (even though I love everything about him… just not pro-life enough), Collins, Lummis, Case, Gray, Lewis, Luthi, Stratton. The rest are still pretty big question marks in my mind, but that doesn’t concern me too much since my approved list has grown so much.

I don’t have the energy to sort through the Casper Star Tribune articles about the forum, so if you’re interested in more reading about the form (haha), head on over!

I’m trying not to feel overly optimistic, but so far, things are actually looking pretty good… I hope!