Note: The following came in from a Wyoming Democrat. While we attempt to share work that reflects the WDP platform, you may come across some words that are not exactly what WDP would have written. Perhaps you will agree with what you read below, perhaps not. Your mileage may vary.
The following is from Dave in Carbon County. -ed.
Greetings, Friends! This is a little long, but I hope you’ll bear with me. First, I am copying two letters I sent to our D.C. congressional delegation. The first was sent when they all released statements decrying former president Trump’s election interference felony conviction in New York. The second was sent after Attorney General Merrick Garland testified before Congress that unfounded conspiracy theories were not healthy for our judicial system.
Second, I am attaching Senator Barrasso’s response. Neither Senator Lummis nor Representative Hageman have responded, though I expect they will.
Finally, I am attaching my reply to Senator Barrasso. I do enjoy an exchange of ideas with our elected officials; unfortunately, that isn’t what is going on here. -Dave
First Letter
Dear Senators Barrasso and Lummis and Representative Hageman,
Donald Trump is a convicted felon. He was indicted by a grand jury comprised of registered voters and convicted by a jury comprised of registered voters in the district in which he committed his crime. I am currently on jury duty in Carbon County. This is the second time. I was called for a jury last time but have not been summoned this time. I take this responsibility seriously, as I am sure the jurors in both of Donald Trump’s cases did.
Your comments about Donald Trump’s conviction as reported in WyoFile, the Casper Star Tribune, and Cowboy State Daily are truly disappointing. Either you believe in the rule of law, or you do not. Either you believe citizen jurors do their duty or you do not.
Apparently, you do not.
You elevate the man over the system that has served us well, and you are wrong.
I know you try to have the best interests of Wyoming in mind when you make your political decisions, but you have let the nation down with your unbridled support of a man convicted of paying hush money to a one-night stand then covering it up by falsifying business records to keep voters from knowing the truth prior to an election.
You are sadly off-base, and I am concerned about the way your unfounded lack of confidence in our judicial system will infect young people in our state. How can we expect them to respect our judicial system when their elected representatives in Washington do not?
In a dysfunctional congress full of sycophants like Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lindsay Graham I would hope the Wyoming delegation would be more like the candidate running for senate in Maryland, Larry Hogan, who prior to the conviction said “Regardless of the result, I urge all Americans to respect the verdict and the legal process. At this dangerously divided moment in our history, all leaders — regardless of party — must not pour fuel on the fire with more toxic partisanship. We must reaffirm what has made this nation great: the rule of law.”
Unfortunately, none of you has risen to that level of mature leadership.
Pax,
Dave Throgmorton
Rawlins, Wyoming
Second Letter
Dear Senators Barrasso and Lummis & Representative Hageman,
When I read this paragraph in Attorney General Merrick Garland’s opinion piece in today’s Washington Post
“(Attacks on the Justice Department) come in the form of conspiracy theories crafted and spread for the purpose of undermining public trust in the judicial process itself. Those include false claims that a case brought by a local district attorney and resolved by a jury verdict in a state trial was somehow controlled by the Justice Department”
I thought of the three of you.
I hope you are rethinking your position on the election interference case in New York and are crafting a message saying the rule of law can’t be respected only when you win a case; it also must be respected if it doesn’t go your way.
Pax,
Dave Throgmorton
Rawlins
Senator Barrasso’s reply
Dear David,
Thank you for taking the time to contact me.
I strongly disagreed with the handling of the case against President Trump by the New York State court in Manhattan. This case was always about politics and not about the law.
It is unacceptable for the U.S. judicial system to be abused to go after and attack political opponents. Elections should be decided in the voting booths, not in New York courtrooms.
Again, thank you for contacting me.
John Barrasso, M.D.
United States Senator
My Reply
Dear Senator Barrasso,
I agree that it is unacceptable for the U.S. judicial system to be abused to go after and attack political opponents, but simply asserting that happened in former president Trump’s felony conviction for election interference in a New York court doesn’t make it so. You need to back such a bold accusation with credible evidence, and you have not.
I also find it unacceptable that a Wyoming politician feels compelled to denigrate the integrity of two citizen-juries in a complex case in a New York court. I stand by what I said in my initial letter: either you believe in the rule of law, or you do not. Either you believe citizen jurors do their duty or you do not.
You have confirmed that you do not, and it is disappointing.
Pax,
Dave Throgmorton
Rawlins
That’s it! I just don’t want our congressional delegation to think that everyone in Wyoming thinks like they do; there is a loyal opposition keeping watch.
Pax,
Dave