An affirmative partnership

O
n April 22, when testifying before the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyoming, held up a copy of the Gillette News Record as he emphasized the importance of carbon capture technology by describing the work done at the Wyoming Integrated Test Center in Gillette, some of which had won a prestigious XPRIZE, according to the story in Gillette’s local paper.
It wasn’t the first time I had seen a picture of Wyoming’s senior senator brandishing a copy of a Wyoming newspaper while testifying in the Senate or participating in an interview on national media. In fact, a year ago he referenced a story in the April 30, 2020, News Letter Journal about the threat of staff cuts at the local hospital as a result of pandemic restrictions during an interview with “The Hill.” Barrasso was demonstrating how a one-size-fits-all response to the coronavirus had harmed rural communities.
“There were still no cases of coronavirus in the community,” Barrasso said incredulously when I talked to him about it last week. He had used the story to illustrate to editor Steve Clemons that the hospital’s inability to do “elective” procedures because of the pandemic had deprived the hospital of much-needed revenue and also prevented individuals from receiving the care many of them needed.
“I call those essential procedures for many people,” Barrasso said. 
Since he had been a doctor long before he began representing us in Washington, D.C., people tend to listen when Wyoming’s senior senator says that COVID-19 was causing a different kind of medical crisis in his state, but it has always felt pretty good to have the senator use a story in the News Letter Journal to help him make a point in front of his colleagues or to a reporter questioning him about his stance on a particular issue.
I’ve always appreciated it when I’ve heard about him referencing any of Wyoming newspapers to help share our state’s story with decision-makers and opinion-shapers.
“I love using Wyoming newspapers on the floor of the Senate. I’ve done this for a long time, and I think it does have a bigger impact having it in my hand on the floor of the U.S. Senate. It’s an effective way to make a case, and show the impact of a policy at home and in our communities,” he explained. He said he regularly looks for stories from around the state to help the folks in the nation’s capital understand how their actions affect his constituents.
“I’m always looking for a good story or headline that applies to the topic of the day in Washington,”
 he stated.
As a marketing guy, I also appreciate that Senator Barrasso uses Wyoming’s newspapers to promote the state and its impact on the country’s energy and economy, and he also uses it to forge connections between the people he works with in D.C. and the communities he represents
in Wyoming.
“Occasionally there will be pictures in Wyoming newspapers of other senators from other states, and I’ll take that copy to them personally,” Barrasso said, noting that such connections never hurt when he’s looking for cooperation or understanding on issues important to Wyoming.
The collection of Wyoming newspapers that arrive in his office each week also helps his interns and other staff members stay connected to the Cowboy State.
“I have young people from Wyoming who work in the office in D.C., and they want to know what is going on in their hometown. We can share something from the local paper with them as well,” Barrasso said.
One of the things that has always impressed me the most about Senator Barrasso is his commitment to making it back to Wyoming every week to attend events and visit his constituents. I’ve always been amazed that he has been able to “come home” — as he says — so consistently for so many years, and I again got to feel kind of good about what we do when he told me that our local newspapers have been a big help in that endeavor.
“I am home every weekend, and have offices around the state. I always read the newspaper of the community I am going to head to. I rely on them,” he said, noting that he gets to about three or four communities around the state each week. 
“My staff uses [community newspapers] to see if there are events we need to be at,” he said. “It gives us ideas, too.”
The senator consistently attends health fairs around Wyoming and has more recently attended a handful of COVID vaccination events in the state. The longtime doctor has been pleased to be able to visit with healthcare workers and volunteers at those events, but said he doesn’t have the idea to include them in his travels until he reads about a vaccination event.
“I hadn’t even really thought of it until I saw it in the local newspaper,” he said, noting that local papers provide a double benefit because coverage of his attendance at a vaccination clinic helps highlight the need for vaccines and may encourage people to get vaccinated who might not
have otherwise.
“You try to use the newspaper to help them help the community,” the senator told me. “It’s an affirmative partnership.”
I was pretty tickled to hear him say that because I’ve always been a true believer of this newspaper’s unique position as the “fourth estate,” and have always felt the partnership between NLJ and the government entities we cover is important for our communities — even if it isn’t always comfortable or pleasant.
And while I wasn’t surprised to learn that Senator Barrasso goes online every morning to catch up on the latest happenings in Wyoming from the Casper Star-Tribune’s website — his hometown newspaper — the old editor in me was probably most pleased to hear him confess that he still likes it best when he gets his news the old-fashioned way.
“I prefer the newspaper in my hand, to read it that way,” he nodded.
I’ve got to think it is a lot easier — and safer — to use our print edition on the floor on the U.S. Senate to make a point than it is to wave around a laptop, so I’d say that’s another win for the good guys.