Cheers, Challenges And Some Boos As Hageman Resumes In-Person Town Halls

BUFFALO — Wyoming Republican U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman returned to hosting in-person town halls around the state Thursday to a split crowd here that was both rowdy and receptive.

About 200 people piled into the old gymnasium at the Bomber Mountain Civic Center nearly a month to the day from when Hageman temporarily stopped holding in-person events that had devolved into chaos.

This time around, Hageman required people to register ahead of time and check in. Also, any questions for the congresswoman were written down when people checked in and not taken from the crowd.

Hageman was challenged about that in one of the written questions she read Thursday night.

“Why are you afraid to have your constituents speak at this meeting?” she read after drawing the question out of a box.

The answer to that is simple, Hageman said. Those who deliberately disrupted the other town halls “really ruined that for everyone.”

Hageman said she doesn’t mind people who disagree or don’t like her or her politics, but she won’t tolerate unruly behavior that ruins the chances for others to attend and listen.

“This year is definitely a change,” she said about the vitriol in the political discourse around Wyoming and the United States. “People don’t want a respectful exchange of ideas. There has been a concerted effort (to disrupt), and it’s obvious tonight.”

While not as chaotic as the town hall in Laramie on March 19 that drew hundreds of people, along with a protest of Hageman before the town hall, Thursday’s event in Buffalo got unruly at times, but it never got out of control.

The Deportation

Perhaps the closest the meeting got to getting out of hand came when Hageman read a question from someone about the deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia to El Salvador.

He’s been alleged to be a gang member and the legal fight over whether he was deported illegally and should be allowed back into the United States has been fierce.

Hageman was asked if she would pressure the Trump administration to return Abrego Garcia, and the crowd erupted when she bluntly said no. She said he’s a gang member and a criminal and that the administration is acting appropriately.

A large number of people in the audience gave her a standing ovation for that response, while another contingent loudly protested, yelling that she’s against “due process.”

“If you’re going to use somebody as your poster child, I don’t know that I would’ve picked him,” she responded. “But what I will say is that as far as immigration law goes, the president and the executive branch have an enormous amount of authority.”

Hageman said she’s confident the U.S. Supreme Court will have the final say on the controversy, and that it will rule in favor of the administration.

The congresswoman also was fed a loaded question about Wyoming’s support for the president.

“You keep saying in the press that 70% of Wyoming voters support Trump,” she read from the question. “So, 70% voted for him, but can you honestly say that 70% support this dumpster fire of an administration? No one signed up for this.”

“Well, I would disagree,” Hageman replied to a loud ovation from her supporters. “This is exactly what I signed up for. And I think a lot of people agree with me.”

About Those Judges

Another question that riled up the crowd was about the controversy over district court judges overturning Trump administration initiatives, which Hageman has been vocal in denouncing.

She said the root of the problem is district court judges who are meant to preside over their own areas are instead acting alone to make national policy and law, which she said they don’t have authority to do.

“Our district courts are acting as a U.S. Supreme Court, but they’re acting alone,” she said, adding that even the actual Supreme Court justices can’t act alone.

“You at least have to convince five out of nine people” with the high court, she said. “We have judges, and these people filing these lawsuits know what judges to go to — they’re forum shopping, which is illegal in and of itself — but that’s what they’re doing.

“They’re getting one district court judge in one location to make a decision that applies to every single one of use nationwide.”

The RMP And Regulations

Another important issue Hageman said she’s working on in Washington, D.C., is to dismantle the Rock Springs and Buffalo resource management plans permanently. 

They’re now suspended, but killing them outright “is something that is incredibly important,” she said.

Most critical is the Buffalo RMP, which will kill the coal industry in the Powder River Basin.

“The Buffalo RMP is even more damaging, in the sense that what it did was basically say we’ll do no more coal mining in the entire Powder River Basin by 2041,” Hageman said.

That’s a killer because mining companies have to start permitting eight to 10 years out, so to keep mining “they have to be entering into contracts right now.”

Hageman also said one of her main frustrations is the rampant overregulation of everything in the federal government.

She said $2 trillion a year is spent on making new government regulations, or about $16,000 for each household in the U.S.

It’s a “burden” that’s become oppressive, she said.

The Final Verdict?

John Fields was one of the first to arrive and get a seat in the gymnasium Thursday.

He said he submitted a question for the congresswoman and was told her office would respond in the next few days.

“I’m really worried about our democracy,” he said. “I’d like to hear her opinion. Basically, Congress is giving away its power and giving all power to one man.”

He said he wants Hageman to promise to “take back that power.”

Gary and Cheryl Roth of Buffalo said attending the town hall instead of doing something else Thursday was a no-brainer decision.

Sporting his MAGA hat, Gary said he thinks Hageman “is doing a good job, and I just want to see what she has to say.”

He also called the efforts to disrupt her previous town halls “bullshit, and that’s another reason why I came too, to support her all we can.”

Cheryl said she would “like to see civility.  There’s no reason for that screaming and yelling and disrupting.”

Hageman will continue her town hall gatherings as Congress is in its Easter recess at 6:30 p.m. Friday at the Dayton Community Center.

Greg Johnson can be reached at greg@cowboystatedaily.com.