You are the Third Side

Last week’s legislative town hall in Newcastle featuring House Speaker Chip Neiman and State Sen. Cheri Steinmetz is a perfect example of what happens when substantive public discussion collides with click-driven media coverage.

Both legislators belong to the Freedom Caucus, which has proposed significant state budget reductions and backed property tax relief that will inevitably force local governments to confront spending cuts. Weston County residents deserved a chance to ask serious questions, and that's what they were given.

There were pointed exchanges, real disagreements and even moments of tension. But there was also something increasingly rare in modern politics: elected officials standing in front of a room, answering questions directly, explaining their reasoning and inviting continued dialogue.

In other words, democracy functioning as intended.

Unfortunately, reasonable discussion rarely generates clicks, so when statewide media parachuted in to cover the event, the headline told a very different story:

“Weston County Residents Grill Wyoming Lawmakers On Tax Cuts.”

That framing was not accidental. It was designed to stir indignation and suggest a room full of angry taxpayers dressing down two out-of-touch lawmakers.

That is not what happened.

What the headline — and the social media promotion that followed — failed to disclose is that most of those questioning the lawmakers were not simply “residents.” They were local officials and government employees: a county commissioner, a mayor, a school board member, a high school principal paid by taxpayers, a member of three separate local boards and local party officials.

That context matters — a great deal.

It is one thing for taxpayers to question tax relief or oppose spending cuts. It is something else when the people raising objections are the same individuals responsible for building, defending, and benefiting from government budgets. In other words, there is a difference between taxpayers and taxspenders.

Of course fire districts, school administrators, municipal officials and board members are alarmed by reductions in revenue. That reaction is understandable — but it is not the same thing as a spontaneous uprising of ordinary residents opposed to lower taxes.

The Cowboy State Daily headline blurred that distinction entirely, leaving readers with a misleading impression of who was speaking and why. They even reported that a letter from Upton Mayor Nick Trandahl in support of the Wyoming Business Council was read by "Marty Hartman, a longtime Upton resident," when it was in fact read by County Commissioner Marty Ertman, a longtime Newcastle resident who challenged Steinmetz for the Senate seat in 2020.

That is what Rush Limbaugh would have called classic drive-by media behavior: drop in, extract conflict, frame it for maximum heat and move on without regard for accuracy or local context. The goal is not understanding; it is engagement.

By contrast, the News Letter Journal recorded the entire town hall and made it available on our YouTube channel — not clips, not snippets, but the full meeting — so voters can watch, listen and decide for themselves.

And when they do, many readers will likely find themselves — once again — on the Third Side.

That is the side that recognizes that some level of budget reduction is appropriate, and that state agencies and local governments in Wyoming have not always demonstrated strong stewardship of the resources they have been given. Wyoming is struggling with abandoned Main Streets, deteriorating infrastructure, and the steady export of 70% of its high school graduates — outcomes that demand honest, even uncomfortable, conversations about priorities and performance. Those outcomes demand honest, even uncomfortable, conversations about effectiveness, efficiency, and priorities.

The Third Side also recognizes that local impacts are real, that not all cuts are painless and that blunt instruments can cause damage if wielded carelessly.

Both things can be true at the same time.

The Freedom Caucus has, for the first time in decades, forced a second side of the story into the open — questioning assumptions that government budgets must always grow, that inefficiencies are unavoidable and that asking “where did the money go?” is somehow radical.

Statewide media largely echoes bureaucratic opposition to that second side of the story, and would like to pretend that a Third Side doesn't even exist. And as last week’s coverage demonstrates, they are often complicit in ensuring that only one version of events reaches the public.

That is precisely why this newspaper will continue promoting The Third Side, and why we remain committed to providing full recordings of public meetings whenever possible.

Because you do not have to pick a team. You do not have to be outraged. You do not have to accept someone else’s framing.

Watch the video. Consider the arguments. Weigh the tradeoffs. Then find the Third Side for yourself — on school spending, property taxes, UW funding, the Wyoming Business Council and every other issue discussed that night.

The Third Side is where most Wyomingites already live. It’s time we occupied it openly — and insisted that both public officials and media find their way to it as well.