Ever since a panel of lawmakers recommended slashing Gov. Mark Gordon’s proposed budget by roughly $1 billion, the governor has been pushing back. And on Monday, he took his case directly to voters in Cody, contending that his $11.13 billion proposal zeroed in on critical items like roads, infrastructure and other things that families and individuals can’t necessarily do for themselves.

“I know people are going to look at it a little bit differently. That’s politics, and that’s the way we are,” Gordon said, “but we really tried to focus on what's essential.”

More conservative lawmakers — including members of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus — were among those who looked at the proposal differently. The Joint Appropriations Committee recommended a set of cuts to the University of Wyoming, the Wyoming Department of Health and other state entities, along with the elimination of the Wyoming Business Council. 

In his State of the State address last week, Gordon called on lawmakers to restore his recommendations and not just “cut to cut.” He appeared to allude to a previous shot he’d taken at the Wyoming Freedom Caucus as “Club No,” saying in his address that, “Using ‘no’ as a club is not how America became great.”

Rep. Paul Hoeft, R-Powell, videotaped a response on behalf of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus over the weekend in which he described the governor’s address as basically calling for “continued spending and growth in government.”

“Our position is straightforward: The phrase, ‘no fiscal crisis’ is not a mandate to spend more taxpayer dollars,” Hoeft said. “Just because we can spend more, doesn’t mean we should.”

He said the caucus’ top priority is to pass a responsible, sensible budget that limits growth and “right-sizes” state government.

The Wyoming Senate voted Tuesday to generally restore Gordon’s recommendations, while the Freedom Caucus-led House had stuck with the cuts as of press time Wednesday. That could set up challenging negotiations between the two chambers later in the session.

Support and criticism

The spread of opinions was also reflected at Monday’s forum in Cody, with the question and answer section featuring comments from those complimentary and critical of Gordon.

Bob Ferguson, the Park County Republican Party’s vice chairman, took issue with Gordon’s callout of the Freedom Caucus as “the caucus of no.”

“I honestly thought those were a little harsh coming from the chief executive,” Ferguson said, “because there’s not a government that exists that can’t cut somewhere.”

Other comments questioned if the state is doing enough auditing of its expenditures and asked why it’s underperforming on business development in spite of its investment in the Wyoming Business Council. Karen Jones of Cody expressed concern about too many public sector positions in the state.

“I wonder, if you are a fiscal conservative, why we have so many government jobs?” Jones asked.

Gordon responded that many public jobs are at the local government level, with state employees making up about 14% of the total workforce. Earlier in his remarks, the governor said there are 270 fewer state employees than when he took office in 2019.

Meanwhile, Park County School District 6 Superintendent Vernon Orndorff was among those to praise Gordon, while expressing concern about lawmakers’ proposed changes to the K-12 funding model.

“We’re allowing legislators to staff our schools the way they deem appropriate, and they're taking away the local control from our board of trustees to oversee that,” Orndorff told the governor. “So I hope that you continue to support education and we can continue to strive.”

“Rest assured I will,” Gordon said amid applause.

Q Blair of Cody also expressed concern about lawmakers.

“Recently, there has been a shift here in Park County: Our representatives seem inaccessible and disinterested in engaging with their constituents.  What can be done to bring access and accountability back to our community?”

“There’s an election coming up,” Gordon responded.

He noted that citizens can look up campaign contributions on the Secretary of State’s website, which “should tell you a little bit about how people are being moved one way or another.”

Gordon’s contributions

Reports indicate Gordon was the state’s most prolific donor in the 2024 election cycle, pouring $150,000 into his Prosperity and Commerce Political Action Committee (PAC), which backed multiple candidates who were running against Freedom Caucus-backed incumbents and endorsees. Gordon also gave $30,000 to the Wyoming Caucus PAC, a group that effectively served as a foil to the Freedom Caucus.

Vince Vanata of Cody, who is the Park County Republican Party chairman, pressed Gordon on his Prosperity and Commerce PAC contributions during the Q&A.

Following multiple years of double-digit property tax increases in Park County, “we also voted for legislators and senators who would cut our taxes and bring things in-line with some semblance of reality,” Vanata said. In contrast, he said Gordon’s PAC supported candidates “who were considered by many to be less than conservative.”

Vanata also contended that the executive and judicial branches should be restricting the amount of influence they have on the legislative branch.

However, Gordon countered that, “I’m a citizen, just like you, and everybody in this room has the opportunity to be able to give to any candidate or any PAC that they want to.”

He later added that he had no agenda beyond “just trying to make sure we had representatives who were trying to be doing the best things for Wyoming.”

Gordon also pointed out that he made a $150,000 contribution to then-presidential candidate Donald Trump — federal records show Gordon contributed a total of $161,000 to his PACs that year — “because I happen to think Donald Trump is a great president.”

The governor noted that his contributions were made “in the open,” contrasting them with the “ton of dark money that’s out there.”