Wyoming History in the Making: Cindy Hill attempts to return to her office prior to the District Court entering a final order.

Superintendent of Public Instruction Cindy Hill attempted to return to her office today, in spite of the district court having not yet entered a final order following remand by the Wyoming Supreme Court.

Hill, whose husband is a lawyer, was jumping the gun in doing so, and probably is well aware of that.  The district court judge presiding over the matter has informed the parties that a hearing will be heard on March 18, which is unlikely to actually result in an immediate order.  Typically, such hearings are convened to determine if further proceedings are necessary or for the court to determine what remains to be done. The court might require the winning party to circulate an order at that time, but the State will still have the opportunity to object to it.  Even if this matter proceeds very rapidly, it would be my guess that no order will be entered until mid April, if not considerably later.  And what the framework of that order will be is not yet known.

After failing to reoccupy her office, Hill and her supporters drove to the district court, which isn't far away, and sought to check to see if an order had been entered, which of course it would not have been.

Lex Anteinternet: Y Cross, UW, CSU, Donations, Money, and Lost Oppor...

Lex Anteinternet: Y Cross, UW, CSU, Donations, Money, and Lost Oppor...: About 14 years ago the Denver owners of the Albany County Y Cross ranch donated it to the University of Wyoming and Colorado State Univers...

Wyoming History in the Making: Hill Bill Special Legislative Session dead for now

The bill to extend the legislature's stay in Cheyenne into a Special Session died today when the bill failed to be acted on in time, in part because leadership chose to let it die rather than act in what they regarded as haste.

So, for now at least, no Special Legislative Session is on the immediate horizon.

Febaruary 28: Wyoming Supreme Court rejects Hill rehearing

The Wyoming Supreme Court, in a 3 to 2 decision, rejected the Petition of the State of Wyoming to rehear its recent decision in the case filed against it by Cindy Hill.  This leaves the existing decision standing, sending this matter back to the District Court for entry of an order.  If the statute is not amended, which it appears likely to be, this will return Hill to her prior duties.

Wyoming History in the Making: 2014 Legislature now likely to go into special session.

It now appears to be a near certainty that the Legislature shall convene a special session, immediately following the termination of the budget session, this year.

All special sessions are historic events.  This one may be particularly notable as it arises in such unusual circumstances.  The expressed goal of the special session, should it occur, would be to pass new legislation to fix the bill that resulted in changes to the state's education department, and more specifically to the role of the elected head of that department.  The Supreme Court found the statute passed last year to be unconstitutional and the Governor's office has authorized a petition for a rehearing.  The Legislature now seems disinclined to wait for the results of the rehearing.  Whether the Legislature will also consider a bill of impeachment for Cindy Hill remains an open question.

Wyoming History In The Making: Enzi out raised Cheney in the last quarter.

A recent article in the Casper Star Tribune reveals that Mike Enzi's campaign raised more money than Liz Cheney's in the last quarter, prior to her dropping out of the race.  And not only is that the case, but her campaign was, by that time, deficit spending.  Of those contributing in the last quarter, only 48 were from Wyoming, while over 400 were from out of state.  Enzi did take PAC money, while Cheney, who said she would not, did not.

This is the second of a recent set of articles I've read in which analyst looked at Cheney's campaign as to why it seemingly failed.  The most surprising one was in The New Republic.  Typically these articles never really seem to grasp Wyoming politics and come to what seem to me to be erroneous conclusions.  TNR's author seemed to think that Cheney had put Enzi in a bad spot by expecting, the author maintained, Enzi not to run and that Cheney would simply be an inevitable choice.  Once he ran, Wyomingites, the author maintained, were offended by the cheekiness of the assumption.  The most recent article in the Tribune quotes some analyst stating that the Cheney funding misfortunes were not a factor in her dropping out.  I suspect neither of those points were correct.

Rather, what I think is obvious from inside the State is that Cheney never seriously had a chance, but failed to recognize that. Enzi is a popular politician.  Moreover, there was never any real reason to feel that Cheney had any widespread support.  This is not to say that she lacked support completely, that would not be true, but it was never widespread.

She seems to have overestimated what the Cheney family name would mean, which perhaps is not surprising but shows a level of disconnect with the State.  Wyomingites can be enthusiastic about some candidates, but generally they tend to focus in on their effectiveness or perceived effectiveness and often don't really have any genuine love for the candidates themselves. For that reason, I suspect that Dick Cheney's place in the State is a little more subtle than outsiders, including Liz Cheney who really basically amounts to an outsider, suspect.  Dick Cheney rose to the House from Wyoming under fairly unique circumstances and ultimately that worked out very well for him, but it might not mean that people ever held him up personally as somebody that they hugely admired.  That he was successful was something that people admired, but I don't know that people ever strongly thought of him as a "native son" as outside pundits like to portray.  With Liz Cheney her long residence outside of the State, her being a Virginia lawyer married to another Virginia lawyer, and her need to demonstrate that she had roots in the state, which had to be demonstrated through her mother rather than her father (Dick Cheney is not from Wyoming, but Nebraska, coming here as a teenager) tended to point that out.

My suspicion is that once the tale of the tape started to come in funding wise, and it became obvious that Enzi was out pollling her and was going to continue to do so, she made the wise choice and dropped out, but in a manner that keeps her options over, should her political fortunes later look a bit better.

Wyoming History In The Making: EPA Stays Riverton EPA ruling. February 13, 2014.

At the bequest of the business counsels of both Tribes, and the State of Wyoming, the EPA has stayed its ruling that held that Riverton was within the boundaries of the Reservation.

While they no doubt approached it from somewhat different angles, this was a wise decision for all, as it gives time in which for this matter to develop legally, as well as to adjust to any potential consequences should the decision later be upheld.

Wyoming HIstory In the Making: "Hill" Bills intorduced, and one passes Senate. February 13, 2014.

Two bills seeking to address the situation by the Wyoming Supreme Court's ruling that the restructuring of the state Department of Education was unconstitutional have been introduced, and one has passed so far.

One bill simply seeks to reverse the prior bill, essentially restoring the situation to the status quo ante.  The other, however, the one that passed, seeks to form a committee to study the decision, in anticipation of a potential Special Legislative Session, passed the Senate.

The History Press, Bookstore, On This Day in Wyoming History

The History Press, Bookstore, On This Day in Wyoming History



The printed sequel to this website, with some additional text, and some new photos, is soon to be published.  Handy for those who might need a paper daily reference to the State's history.

The 2010 State of the State Address

Governor Mead's 2010 State of the State Address was delivered on this day.

Wyoming History In The Making: Janaury 30, 2014. Attorney General to ask for Hill rehearing.

The Attorney General of Wyoming indicated that the State would file a petition for a rehearing in the Hill case.

Rehearings are very rarely granted, and its even rarer for the justices to reverse themselves.  However, I have seen them do both, and have even seen an instance in which the court took a matter up on its own initiative and reversed itself.  The State must feel that with a 3 to 2 decision, it may be able to craft an argument to convince at least one justice, a gamble which in legal terms it is probably worth the State's time and effort to take.

As a practical matter, Mrs. Hill was elected in 2010 and her term of office is four years.  This position will accordingly be up for election in 2014 and Mrs. Hill has declared for gubernatorial campaign.  It will take some time for a rehearing petition to even be considered, which would probably place the decision on that question into late February at the earliest.  If the petition were to be granted, chances are high that the question wouldn't be heard until April or May, and the decision might not be made until June or July, by which time her term will nearly have expired, presuming that the Legislature doesn't determine to act on a Bill of Impeachment, which has not yet been filed but which was at least being considered.

Wyoming History in the Making: January 28, 2014 Wyoming S.Ct finds for Hill, 3-2

In a 3 to 2 decision, with a blistering dissent, the Wyoming Supreme Court struck down the decision restructuring the state Dapartment of Education in 2014WY15.pdf.

While Hill has, not without justification, declared this to be a victory, it isn't as complete as Hill may like to believe.  the Casper Star Tribune has come out urging the Legislature to try again, stating:

Now, Hill can not and must not be off the legislative agenda for the
session. Legislators, it's time to get to work. It's time to craft a
bill that can keeps Cindy Hill away from the Education Department -- one
that will survive a Supreme Court review.

The Supreme Court's
decision is not the victory Hill or her supporters pretend it is. By a
one-vote margin (and with a stinging dissent) the court left wide
latitude for the Legislature to write -- and narrow, even -- the job
description of the superintendent. It essentially said lawmakers went
too far with Senate File 104, the legislation that stripped Hill of most
of her powers, and said lawmakers broke the constitutional requirement
that demands the superintendent have "general supervision of the public
schools."

The Tribune further stated:

Cindy Hill has proven she's not not a good leader. She proven it time
and again in her short term as head of the department, as evidenced by
the number of employees who left rather than deal with Hill.

Her
return to the Department of Education is bad for the department, bad for
Wyoming education, and hence bad for Wyoming's children.

The Constitutionality of the Legislature's statute always seemed questionable to me, which doesn't say anything about Hill one way or another.  As for Hill, the Legislature recently undertook hearings on her conduct in which employees of the Department of Education testified against her, and the Legislature is considering impeaching her.  Employees of the department are now justifiably concerned over what her return means.  Hill is running for governor in an almost certainly doomed quixotic bid for that office.  This reprieve, while perhaps brief, gives her the opportunity to show that she can effectively and rationally run this office, but it will require her to have much different personal leadership behavior than she had before.

Lex Anteinternet: Keeping a Swimming Pool at NCHS

Lex Anteinternet: Keeping a Swimming Pool at NCHS: I was on the Natrona County High School swim team in 1978-1979 and 1979-1980.  I might have been in 1980-1981 as well, my senior year, but ...

Lex Anteinternet: Governor Hunt's World War Two Correspondence, Hear...

Lex Anteinternet: Governor Hunt's World War Two Correspondence, Hear...: The American Heritage Center at the University of Wyoming has digitized Wyoming Governor Hunts papers , including correspondence he .received or sent concerning the Internment Camp at Hear Mountain.

Included in these, is a surprising example of somebody writing to the Governor to inquire about receiving a "Japanese girl" for work at her ranch home.  She was willing to pay wages, but still, its not something I'd expect to have found anyone inquiring about.  A surprising thing to read.

Lex Anteinternet: Watching the Morph. How the news gets spun by the...

Lex Anteinternet: Watching the Morph. How the news gets spun by the...: Wyoming has a very large Indian Reservation, the Wind River Reservation, which is home to part of the Shoshone Tribe* and also home to the ...

Wyoming History in the Making: January 6, 2014, Liz Cheney drops out of U.S. Senate race.

Liz Cheney dropped out of the primary campaign for the U.S. Senate citing a health concern within her family.  While some rumors indicate that one of her children has developed diabetes, always a serious disease and a particularly worrisome one in children, no official news has disclosed what that concern is.

Cheney, the daughter of former controversial Vice President Dick Cheney, mounted a controversial historic challenge of popular incumbent Mike Enzi.  Seeking to find a ground to stand against Enzi, she tacked to the right of Cheney in a campaign which drew a lot of attention, but at the time of her withdrawal was clearly failing.

While an internal party challenge to a sitting incumbent member of Congress from Wyoming isn't unusual, one that is such a serious effort is.  It is undoubtedly the most expensive such effort ever mounted in the state, and it started stunningly early.  While Cheney failed to gain enough adherents by this stage to make her primary election likely, she did polarize the GOP in the state, which seems to be emerging from a long period of internal unity, and which also seems to be beginning to move away from the Tea Party elements within it, much like the national party is. This could be the beginning of an interesting political era within the state or at least within the state's GOP.

It also served to bring up distinct arguments about who is entitled to run in Wyoming, with Liz Cheney's campaign apparently badly underestimating the degree of state identity born by many Wyomingites.  Voters appeared to not accept Cheney as a Wyomingite based upon her long absence from the state and appear to have also misinterpreted Wyoming's long re-election cycle for her father as a species of deep person admiration, rather than an admiration of effectiveness.  Late in the campaign she was forced to introduce television advertisements which did nothing other than to point out her family's connection (through her mother, her father was born in Nebraska and spent his early years there) to the state and which were silent on her career as a Virginia lawyer married to a man who is still a Virginia lawyer.

All in all, this early primary effort will likely remain a fairly unique historical episode in the state's history, but potentially one with some long term impacts.

New Feature: Wyoming History In The Making

In addition to continuing to post items on individual episodes of Wyoming's rich history here, we will are also starting a new feature in which we'll note something of significant present historical interest.

This is a bit tough, we realize, as many, many stories turn out to be hugely historically significant without that being realized at the time.  When the Chinese and Japanese fell into war in 1932, for example, who would have appreciated the extent that this would play into the global tragedy of World War II, or that it would lead to the fall of the Nationalist government in 1947, giving rise to Red China.  It turned out to be enormously significant, but at the time it was probably most viewed as a big, but not earth shaking, tragedy.

Anyhow, we'll try to note some stories from time to time that we think will at least have some historical value. That is, they'd be the type of thing you would expect to find on this website in some future daily entry.

Navigation calendar now up.

We have now added a navigation calendar to this site, so that people looking for any one day may easily hit on that date in the calendar and bring it up.

We are indebted for this feature to This Day In U.S. Military History, which provided the html for this feature to us.