United States Senator Election: Gary Trauner

NLJ: Please tell us why you want to hold this office, and what you intend to accomplish if elected. Please be specific about your goals and objectives, so our readers can measure your progress over the course of the term. Also tell us what qualifications and characteristics you possess that will help ensure that your stated goals can be achieved. (The same question was posed to all candidates for the General Election.)
Gary Trauner
Who am I? I am a father, husband, businessman and entrepreneur who has a deep record of leadership in business and community service. I have leadership experience in education as the former chair of the school board; I have leadership experience in healthcare as the former COO of a regional hospital here in Wyoming; I have leadership experience in infrastructure as the current chair of a Wyoming Water and Sewer District and I have leadership experience in the private sector — having started and run several businesses in Wyoming. I’ve got a reputation for results thru leadership, integrity and working with everyone and anyone to solve dysfunctional situations.
Who Am I not? I’m not a career politician; I have no ties to any political party hierarchy. I’m not beholden to any corporate donors, so I’m only about the people of Wyoming. And I’m not someone who relies on fear and division to get ahead. 
My goal is simple: to restore trust to our political system in Washington, D.C. Therefore, I would focus on fixing the root causes of bad policy and DC gridlock, including:
I would put country before party and focus on putting Wyoming (and American) families at the forefront. George Washington’s biggest concern in his Farewell Address in 1796 was that people would put party before country, corrupting our system. Blind allegiance to party leads to division, acrimony and bad policy. Sadly, there is no magic bullet to fix this. The only way to effect change in this regard is developing personal relationships with everyone and anyone who is willing to put country before party. It takes leadership ability, courage and integrity to do this and to find others with the same traits and then to work together to get things back on track.
I would work to remove the influence of money in politics, especially dark money. “Big money” skews our policies and laws, resulting in seniors paying more for their drugs on Medicare and Wall Street hedge fund managers paying lower tax rates than Wyoming teachers, miners and ranchers. “Big money” prioritizes policies that put corporate profits over real people. “Big money” results in widening inequality, lower tax collections, and a ballooning national debt. It is the underpinning for the unresponsiveness of politicians to their constituents and the deep discontent that many feel with our system. The best move would be a constitutional amendment limiting corporate, PAC and dark money in politics and overturning the Citizens United decision. Absent that, I would work to change laws to limit the timeframe for raising money, reduce the impact of lobbyist, and provide full transparency on all donors to political entities and candidates.
I would ensure elected officials play by the same rules as the rest of us. No access to special pensions, healthcare or harassment rules. Aligning the interest of elected officials with the rest of us would align their incentives for passing laws that benefit the rest of us instead of just themselves and their financial patrons.