State Treasurer Mark Gordon
Gordon was appointed to serve as Wyoming’s treasurer in 2012 after the death of Joseph Meyer. Two years later, he was elected to the position. Now he seeks to be the replacement for Republican Gov. Matt Mead.
Gordon has said he said his focus would be on setting up a business-friendly environment in Wyoming. “I think we’ll do so because we don’t have regulatory burdens, and the next governor is going to have to make sure we don’t expand regulation and we push back against federal overreach.”
Wyoming Rising members have shared Gordon’s fundraising letter that contains the provocative claim that the Obama administration was “miserable”. We dispute his claim that President Trump’s policies are putting “our economy back on track” – a claim that is widely believed to be false. In an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released in January, the public chose “wrong track” to the question, “Is the nation headed in the right direction or off on the wrong track?” by a margin of 52% to 36%.
Gordon states, “I’m not going to be afraid to make tough decisions, and I’m always going to finish what I start. I’ll go into office knowing some things just are not for sale, whether it’s our conservative values, your tax dollars or our financial freedom. That’s why I’m running for governor of Wyoming.”
Mary Throne
A Cheyenne Democrat, Throne served in the Wyoming House for ten years, and as the House Minority Floor Leader for three of those.
As governor, Throne said she would focus on breaking out of the state’s boom and bust economy. “I’ve been frustrated for a long time now because I just feel like Wyoming doesn’t take control of its own destiny, and that now is really a time for action.”
She said people need to be able to talk to each other and figure out how to get things done. They need to create jobs, keep Wyoming as a nice place to live, take advantage of what the state has as well as keep its basic services. She said it is troubling that some people are attacking education because the price of oil dropped.
“People in Cheyenne are hunkering down and waiting for the price of oil to come back,” she said. “We can’t base our future on it coming back.”
Throne and Gordon on Medicaid and Taxes
Gordon’s detractors on the far right have accused him of not being a “true” conservative, pointing to, among other things, his position on the board of the Sierra Club in the 1990s, a donation to John Kerry’s presidential campaign, and support for the Rocky Mountain Institute as examples of his democratic leanings. Some conservatives have even opined that there’s not much difference between Mark Gordon and Mary Throne.
That opinion carries little weight when one starts to look at the issues. While Gordon may be far more moderate than is comfortable for the ultra-conservative, he and Throne have a different stance on any number of issues, including taxes and Medicaid expansion.
Read more: https://www.wyomingrising.org/2018/10/25/throne-and-gordon-on-medicaid-and-taxes/