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Statement issued on secret vote

By
Alexis Barker, NLJ News Editor

Public denied the right to comment

 
The News Letter Journal intends to continue with its lawsuit against the Board of Weston County Commissioners despite a Nov. 1 statement from the board revealing its votes for the replacement of former Rep. Hans Hunt more than a year after they used secret ballots to choose a new representative for Wyoming House District 2. 
Hunt resigned from his state House seat on Oct. 1, 2021, leaving a vacancy to be filled by the commissioners from Weston, Goshen and Niobrara counties. The three boards met in Lusk on Oct. 19 and hid their votes from the public when they selected J.D. Williams to replace Hunt. That led to objections being expressed by citizens both before and after the vote was taken.
The News Letter Journal also questioned the action, and requested on multiple occasions that the commissioners reveal their votes and the content of any discussions about the vote and the manner in which it was conducted. When the commissioners refused to answer any of the questions posed to them by the newspaper or constituents, the News Letter Journal invited a group of those citizens to join them as co-plaintiffs in a lawsuit to force the commissioners to reveal their votes and all communications pertaining to the action, and to  acknowledge that the secret ballot was a violation of Wyoming statute.
According to court documents, the board’s position as the governing body for Weston County makes it subject to the Wyoming Public Meetings Act and the Wyoming Public Records Act, and that is not being disputed by the commissioners, who also confirmed that the votes were “weighted in proportion to the number of commissioners on each board and the population of the county.” 
The documents also confirm, on behalf of the commissioners, that Commissioner Don Taylor revealed his vote to the public, stating that he was not in favor of the secret ballot.
But beyond confirming these facts laid out in the case filed by the News Letter Journal and others, the board denies any wrongdoing or violation of state law, and continued to deny any wrongdoing during its Nov. 1 statement, which was made at the end of its regular board meeting. 
“In choosing our method of voting, the commissioners of Weston, Goshen and Niobrara counties followed the example from the Republican Party Committee Precinct members who selected the three (3) replacement candidates during their meeting on Oct. 14, 2021,” Chairwoman Marty Ertman read. “It was never our intention to violate the Open Meetings Act or to deliberately hide our votes.” 
She also noted that board members do not regret voting by “written ballot.” 
“We do not regret this decision, but we do believe that we should have included our names on our ballots to verify for whom we cast our vote,” Ertman said, adding that any delay to reveal their votes was due to “not knowing how to handle the situation and nothing else.” 

She stated that the commissioners have always “represented our constituents with integrity and transparency.” 
Ertman then read the name of the person that each commissioner voted for and the reason they gave for doing so. (See the sidebar for each of the commissioner’s votes and reasoning.) She concluded the same way she began the statement, declaring that the commissioners would not take questions on the subject because of continued litigation, and adding that public comment on the topic was also not allowed.
Attorney Bruce Moats, who is representing the News Letter Journal, Kari Drost, Patricia Bauman and Raymond Norris as the plaintiffs, told the newspaper that he is pleased that the board released their votes but believed there was more that the group needs to acknowledge about the situation. 
“I am pleased that they released the candidate for whom each commissioner voted, but would have liked to see an outright acknowledgment that the secret ballot violated the Act,” Moats said in an email. “There was also no mention of the group text messaging by the Commissioners. The minutes indicated that there were a number of rules for the secret ballot and cites to three of them. I understand that the complete set of the rules has never been made public.” 
News Letter Journal Publisher Bob Bonnar echoed the thoughts of Moats in an email, stating that he would like to see the lawsuit continue with depositions of county officials.. 
“Without a doubt. There was no acknowledgment that the secret ballot was a violation of state law, and we must move forward to assure that future boards know without a shadow of a doubt that this was illegal,” he said. 
Bonnar noted that because of Ertman’s refusal to allow for questions or comments, no one was able to point out that the boards chose to follow the example of the Republican Party Precinct Committee and not the precedent set by state law and followed for appointments made by previous county commissions “when it is obviously the more transparent procedure of the two.” He mentioned that open voting processes have historically and consistently been used by the commissioners to make appointments, and said a deviation from that precedent shouldn’t have taken place without a public debate and vote on the process. 
While he agreed the commission had every right to not answer questions regarding the vote because of continuing litigation, Bonnar said it was inappropriate for Ertman to restrict public comment over the topic as a whole. 
“Members of the public — including the plaintiffs and their representatives — had every right to make a comment on the statement read by Chairman Ertman, regardless of the status of litigation. She had no right to make that choice for them,” he said. “Public comment periods are not restricted
to question and answer sessions — and public officials always have the right to not answer a question. However, public comment periods are also intended to allow the public to give feedback to elected officials — and put the public’s views on the public record.”
After reading the statement, Ertman directed all questions to Johnson County attorney Tucker Ruby, the board’s legal representative in this matter. However, when contacted by the News Letter Journal to answer questions about the statement and decision to forbid public comment, Ruby refused to provide any clarification or explanations. 
“Because there is ongoing litigation and the News Letter Journal is part of the litigation I do not have any comments and will not be responding to your questions,” Ruby said in an email. 
“That action effectively muzzled the public, and once again denied us the opportunity to make our own statement in response to the one read by Chairman Ertman — specifically reiterating the point that we believe the commissioners violated state law in this matter, and that the actions of the Republican parties of the three counties has no bearing on the matter whatsoever,” Bonnar continued.
He said the reading of the statement and refusal to allow public comment made judicial review of the commission’s actions even more necessary because he believes there is a need for the court to set the record straight.
“She used her power as chairman to willfully and deliberately distort the public record because the minutes of this meeting will include the commissioners’ misleading statements about the relevance of the GOP meeting, but will contain no counter-statement or anything to balance out the facts of this case — that the commissioners violated the law.” 
He said he was unwilling to let the public record indicate that the secret ballot was anything but a violation of state law, and insisted that the commissioners’ actions did not constitute a “misconception” or misunderstanding. 
In addition, Bonnar said that litigation must continue because through the course of the litigation process, it has been discovered that the board continues to violate at least one other portion of the open meetings law in holding what appears to be an ongoing and extemporaneous meeting via text message. 
“Given their continued disregard for the law in this instance, I think it is vitally important to move forward with our action to determine what other laws have been violated — or risk continued violation of those laws,” he said, noting that the text messages should be declared public record and copies should be made available to the public. 
“Their lack of honest and forthright communication to this point looks like deliberate attempts to spread false information and distort the public record, and today’s announcement continues that trend by trying to distract the public (now and in the future) with a bunch of nonsense about a Republican Party meeting,” Bonnar concluded. “They also still insist that there was no conversation about holding a secret ballot prior to them holding the secret ballot. That continues to defy logic, and I think a judge would agree.”
 
Commissioner’s votes and reasoning as stated 
in the Board of Weston County Commissioner’s 
press release read on Nov. 1. 
 
Commissioner Tony Barton: Voted for J.D. Williams. Based on the statements made by the candidates I felt that J.D. Williams would be a more impartial representative and would do what is right for all the constituents in Wyoming District 2. 
 
Commissioner Don Taylor: Voted for Allen Slagle. I thought J.D. Williams was a strong candidate but during his interview he stated, “I don’t want to be here and I’m voting for someone else.” After hearing that, I believed that Allen Slagle was the better candidate and one for whom my constituents would have wanted me to vote. 
 
Commissioner Nathan Todd:  Voted for Allen Slagle. During J.D. Williams’ interview he was the strongest candidate, but multiple times he stated, “he didn’t want to go to Cheyenne.” While I believe this was an attempt to appear as the best candidate by showing humility and a reluctant willingness to serve it affected my vote. 
 
Commissioner Ed Wagoner: Voted for J.D. Williams. All of my constituents that contacted me, expressed that they favored J.D. Williams as the best candidate, and I tried to vote in accordance with what had been expressed to me by my constituents. 
 
Commissioner Marty Ertman:  Voted for J.D. Williams. I believed he was a strong candidate and during the redistricting process I wanted Weston County to be entirely in one district, which would have made this representative not our representative. It did not make sense to have a representative from Weston lose their seat because of redistricting. Therefore, I believed it made sense to elect a strong candidate that would have stayed in District 2. Sadly, our work to include all of Weston County in one district did not happen, but I stand by my vote as I believe it was proper. 

 

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