Park County will have two chairpersons of standing committees in the 67th State Legislature which convenes Jan. 10 in Cheyenne. 

A tap of the gavel to Rep. Sandy Newsome, R-Cody, who will chair the House Travel, Recreation and Wildlife Committee, and to Rep. David Northrup, R-Powell, who returns to the chairmanship of the House Education Committee, a seat he previously held for three terms (six years).

It’s a big deal. There are only nine chairpersons of standing committees each in the House and Senate. Both Newsome and Northrup will be leading House committees.  That’s two chairs out of nine in the House.

In the last session of the Legislature — the 66th — it was somewhat unusual that Park County didn’t have a single county resident legislator in a chairman’s role.

That is noted, with some apology, to Rep. Jamie Flitner of Greybull, who chaired TRW in the House and did so admirably for the last two years. In her third term, Flitner, of House District 26, represents a sliver of constituents in the Garland area of east Park County as a small part of her majority Big Horn County district. That said, it is technically true that Park County had a committee chair, and Flitner was certainly accessible to those residents in the east end of the county. But it is also true there was not a single chair in either body who calls Park County home.

Committee chairs have a lot to say about how the legislative sausage is made. The chair sets the table for his or her committee’s work. After bills are successfully introduced and assigned to committees by leadership, the committee chair decides which bills are worked first, and in a major way, how bills are prioritized.

Both Reps. Newsome and Northrup have backgrounds which have prepared them to lead their respective committees. As Newsome heads into her third term in the House, representing HD 24, she has served for the last two years as vice chair of TRW.  She is also a longtime member and former chair of the Park County Travel Council, popularly known as the lodging tax board. 

Rep. Northrup has been there before when it comes to leading the House Education Committee. He was appointed to the education committee in his first term in the House in 2013 representing HD 50. In his second term, he was appointed vice chair of the committee, but very early in 2015, he was promoted to the committee chairmanship when then-chair, Rep. John Patton of Sheridan, died in office. Northrup served as chair for the next six years.

Northrup made an unsuccessful run for the state Senate in 2020. But he is back in the House now after redistricting moved his Willwood farming area into HD 25, and he was elected to serve again, representing his second House district. His previous role as chairman of Powell’s Park County School District 1 board further provides a background in public school education.

Two veteran legislators. Two soon-to-be committee chairs in the 67th Legislature. They are well prepared.