You know you must be winning an argument when your opponents ignore the debate and go right to the personal attacks.
I understand Evidence-based Wyoming Legislative Analysis Tool makes individual legislators angry. Thus, I work hard, removing all possible sources of bias, fixing errors when discovered, and taking full blame when the mistakes lead to publishing incorrect data. I want the tool to be a science experiment that anyone can reproduce if they are so inclined.
That said, I stand behind my work. I guess folks are taking notice too. That or the conservative cause I fight for is making its case and winning. Heck in the last week, two leading liberal legislators have taken to attacking me personally.
Let’s start with a forum on Wednesday where voters confronted Rep. Lindholm with my work. Rep. Lindholm’s response reportedly said that I was just some geek in a basement in front of a keyboard in my underwear eating Cheetos.
There’s just so much wrong with that, to start, I hate Cheetos.
Rep. Lindholm must have a short memory. He even forgets I was initially excited when he was first elected. He’s forgotten he failed to respond to my numerous requests for information on block-chain technology and corresponding legislation. He’s also forgotten I am a former Campbell County GOP Chairman. Oddly, he forgets I served on the Wyoming GOP ‘Committee to Win’ with Rep. Lindholm himself.
Additionally, I’m not the stay at home type for politics or work. I’ve run for HD-3 twice, losing by 100 votes each time, more on that in a bit. I’ve also worked on several statewide campaigns for US House, US Senate, and Wyoming governor candidates. I am part owner of three businesses, two of which service clients in NASCAR and other major motorsports series across the globe.
I am a software engineer by trade and a conservative political hack by night. I fight for conservative principles and want to see Wyoming remain the great state it is. My biggest fear, having grown up on the east coast, is seeing the slow creep of liberalism take root here in Wyoming. Unfortunately, the leadership of Speaker Harshman, Rep. Barlow, and Rep. Lindholm is making that happen.
Rep. Lindholm, you’re a decent guy, we disagree quite a bit on policy, that’s it. For me, and perhaps many voters, your actions on SF-70 is the final nail in the coffin. That’s why Chip Neiman needs a turn in the legislature. I think he will do a better job then you have.
Next up is Rep. Jared Olsen, and a bit of a surprise, as I thought we have a contentious but friendly relationship. At the Wyoming GOP State Convention, we had a long talk about some of my blog posts. Neither of us could sway the other’s opinion much, but some facts were corrected. It even prompted a blog post indicating that. In that post, I left out that Rep. Olsen said he was happy with where he was ranked, grouped with “good legislators” in his words. I did that as I have no particular ax to grind with him and consider him while liberal, the most conservative legislator we can get from that part of Cheyenne. In my opinion, that statement may harm him in his reelection bid. Well, no good deed goes unpunished.
Somehow my name came up in a Facebook conversation regarding my work on Evidence-based Wyoming. While I haven’t’ seen the discussion myself, I have had calls from Cheyenne relating that Rep. Olsen threw me under the bus. According to the report, Rep. Olsen said I’m just bitter because I lost two elections.
There is some truth to that. But not in the way Rep. Olsen suggests. Losing those elections motivated me. When I lost my runs for HD-3 against Eric Barlow, I saw the warning signs that his politics would begin the slow creep of liberalism I don’t want to happen in Wyoming, and sadly that’s what’s happening. Those defeats motivate me to work as hard as I can for the conservative values most Wyomingites share.
Politics is a contact sport, so you have to be ready to get hit if you climb into the ring. I get that. It’s just too bad to see otherwise decent people sink to personal attacks when they are arguing with facts they can’t refute or know they can’t win.
