Dear editor:

I read with great interest Mayor John Wetzel’s letter to the editor in the June 3 edition of the Powell Tribune. It is not lost on this legislator the grasp of intricacies involved in state and local issues. To belong to associations helps in networking and solving shared issues and concerns. Mayor Wetzel’s deep concern with House Bill 332 claiming to limit or even prohibit cities and counties from pooling their resources to work through associations is inaccurate.

If you read the bill, it does no such thing. Except that the bill would have prohibited membership in such associations to be paid with county funds. The bill died in committee.

Mayor Wetzel is correct that the Wyoming Constitution protects the rights of groups, including associations to participate in the legislative process. However, it seems to me, charging the taxpayer to pay for association dues is completely wrong, because sometimes, these associations lobby in direct opposition to the wishes of the people they represent. My first week in Cheyenne saw me invited to several dinners where the association lobby tried to persuade me on all kinds of issues, some directly contradicting the wishes of the electorate back home.

Through the eyes of the taxpayer and including myself, professional association dues are not paid by anyone else. Twice in my career I had to join trade unions. I paid every dime to these associations and in turn they represented me at the table during negotiations. Very similar to what Mayor Wetzel reports the associations do for him. Except the state (read that “taxpayer”) pays for his.

Sitting on the Corporations, Elections & Political Subdivisions Committee I heard testimony that these dues were far too expensive for individuals to afford. It is my experience in life that when someone else is paying the bill, it’s always too expensive. The taxpayers of Wyoming pay their own way, and so should its elected officials. That includes me.

I know exactly what my neighbor would say to me if I presented him with a bill for my membership in the National Rifle Association.

Representative Paul Hoeft

House District 25, Powell