2020 Person of the Year Nominee: Kari Drost

Walter Sprague
Art and Culture Reporter
 
Due to her hard work with the Weston County Republican Party, Kari Drost has been nominated as Person of the Year by News Letter Journal publisher Bob Bonnar.
“I’m a conservative first, and then I’m a Republican,” Drost says. “I think there are two things that define a true conservative and that Republicans should always stand on. First, and most important, is to do the right things. Nothing is more important. And that will always lead you to the second part. Personal freedom is how we are supposed to live. It is the ultimate expression of doing the right thing.”
With those in mind, Drost has been fighting for conservative values for most of her life. When the family lived in Connecticut, most of the conservatives were silent. She said that back east, you never talked about religion or politics. Most of the people who surrounded her acted like liberals.
“And they don’t want you to talk about those things,” she said, “Because I think they know that when people talk about religion and politics, most of them will agree together. Most people want to do the right things, and they want freedom.” 
But she expressed doubt that people truly understand what those concepts mean.
She said that you would never get that idea if all you saw were television shows. By watching the news, you get the idea that conservatives are few and far between.
“When we moved to Newcastle in the summer of 2016, we found out that this wasn’t the way things are,” Drost said, “Here, people did talk about politics. They talked about their religion. And one on one, I found out that I had a lot in common with the people around me.”
While it took a while for John (her husband) and Kari to find the right place in Wyoming, they finally settled on a ranch outside Newcastle near the Black Hills. And they fell in love with the whole package: the state, the county and the community.
“But I also found that the party wasn’t communicating conservative ideas very well.” Drost said, “The people had those ideas, but the elected officials weren’t representing them well.” 
This concern of hers had her search out the Weston County Republican Party, and she soon got actively involved. When Barry Peterson stepped down as the chairman during his move to Rapid City, S.D., the leadership asked her to be the chairperson about a year and a half ago.
“I found out that Wyoming had a Republican Party platform,” she said, “And it was like looking at what I believed was right.”
The party felt she was the right person to get those ideas out to the public and elect people who would stand on those values. Drost believes that we have an inner voice about what is right and what is wrong. She says that a good person will fight with himself when he is going wrong, and most of the time, he’ll come around to the right position. So, when Drost accepted the position of Weston County Republican Party chairperson, she decided that she would fight hard to put candidates who stood on those principles in front of the people. Drost believes that most people have many of the same moral values that she does.
“There’s an element in the party that is trying to make the Republicans more liberal,” she said, “That leads to more taxes, more regulations and more laws. All of these things take away our freedoms because they are wrong. It is my job to make sure that the people who get elected will represent the people in our community.”
With that in mind, when the last election cycle was underway, Drost said she felt it was necessary to get the people running for office in front of the voters. The people are smart and if you let those running for office talk to them and answer questions, she said, voters will know their true principles. Drost had found several people who held to her moral principles and who she believed would represent the people and stand against more government control.
“It’s not about being a nice person,” she continued, “You may be nice, but you may also be a nice liberal. If you call yourself a Republican, but you don’t hold to the party platform, I’m going to call you out on that. You will get exposed.”
But she said that the way she did it was by having people talk, such as at the Republican Forum held at the lodge in August. There, the candidates were able to get up, one by one, and speak. It wasn’t a debate. Each person was able to let us know who they were, what they believed. The citizens asked questions and then made up their minds about the candidates. The people could see through the candidates who didn’t hold true conservatism or lacked the courage to stand up for those principles, she said. She made it known who would sign onto the Wyoming Republican platform and who wouldn’t, which became a big topic for the candidates to answer.
“At the end of it, I think the people knew who was real and who was less
than sincere,” she said, “And the vote reflected that.”
She feels that her hard work during this election cycle was a success. With Chip Neiman, Don Taylor and Pam Gualtieri elected to their respective offices, Drost said she believes the public could see who was a real republican.
During this same time, she also fought to have this less populated county recognized and honored by the party. She fought hard for the state to have its annual Republican meeting come to Weston County. And, in November, the lodge played host to that meeting. The Wyoming Republican platform was brought forward, and the elected representatives could communicate their support for it.
“Our Constitution was built, by the framers, on doing the right thing,” she said, “It’s the same with the Wyoming Republican platform. It’s a moral document and one that should be stood on by Republicans. Otherwise, why even call yourself a Republican?”
With her leadership, Drost has been able to open up communications between the elected and the represented and make sure that more people who will genuinely represent the community get elected. Of all the things she could be proud of, she said, this is at the top of her list.