Joan Barron
Latest from Joan Barron
Joan Barron: Legislature Pedaling Back 50 Years
Columnist Joan Barron writes, "The recent movement to ignore the supplemental budget is clearly Freedom Caucus-inspired and is meant, at least partially, to target and embarrass Gov. Mark Gordon."
Joan BarronMarch 01, 2025
Joan Barron: The Silence of the Sponsors
Columnist Joan Barron writes, "“This was not the finest hour for the Wyoming House of Representatives.”
Joan BarronFebruary 22, 2025
Joan Barron: Freedom Caucus’ Top Priority Bill On Stage Next Week.
Columnist Joan Barron writes, "When the legislators return next week after their crossover long weekend, they will find Senate File 69 waiting in the house."
Joan BarronFebruary 16, 2025
Joan Barron: A Revised Tax Reform Bill Is A Test For Local Governments
Columnist Joan Barron writes, "What stood out was the lack of trust many legislators have with their local governments in regard to spending. There were no claims of fraud, just overspending or maybe not being transparent about where the money goes."
Joan BarronFebruary 08, 2025
Joan Barron: Whatever Happened To The Wyoming Caucus?
Columnist Joan Barron writes, "The traditional Republicans may be holding back in hopes that the extremist Freedom Caucus will go too far and will 'hoist itself on its own petard' to borrow a very old saying from Shakespeare."
Joan BarronFebruary 01, 2025
Joan Barron: Needed -- A 101 Course On Property Taxes
Columnist Joan Barron writes, "I think it’s clear that the lawmakers need to know precisely how the tax revenues from property taxes are spent other than that what they learn from their tax statements outlining the mill distributions."
Joan BarronJanuary 25, 2025
Joan Barron: It Was Like A Religious Ceremony But No One Was Singing
Columnist Joan Barron writes, "So the juggernaut is off with the leaders promising to pass 20 bills in the first 20 days of the session including the five priority bills. The House Freedom Caucus has shown its muscle."
Joan BarronJanuary 19, 2025
Joan Barron: Freedom Caucus Calling For Unity Is “The Big Switcheroo.”
Columnist Joan Barron writes, "The biggest surprise to me was the declaration that the Freedom Caucus will strive for unity this session. This is a real switcheroo for a group that banned traditional Republican lawmakers from their caucuses."
Joan BarronJanuary 11, 2025
Joan Barron: Wyoming Secrecy LLC Laws Create Absolute Nightmare For Federal Courts
Columnist Joan Barron writes, "Why can’t the Legislature do more to lift the corporate veil on the identity of Limited Liability Companies who choose to register here? Or why can’t the state do a better job of enforcing the laws it has?"
Joan BarronJanuary 04, 2025
Joan Barron: A New Years’s Eve Party to Remember
Columnist Joan Barron writes, "He got overly amorous and ended up falling in the bathtub. I maintained that I did not push him; he wasn’t hurt and behaved himself thereafter."
Joan BarronDecember 29, 2024
Joan Barron: A Dark Chapter In The Push For Women's Rights
In January, 1973, the Wyoming Senate voted to ratify the ERA. “Supporters in the gallery cheered and rushed outside to crown the nearby statue of Esther Hobart Morris with a garland of gold carnations."
Joan BarronDecember 21, 2024
Joan Barron: The 2025 Wyoming Legislature Is An Aberration
Columnist Joan Barron writes, "After 50 years of tracking the Legislature I have no clue about what the new class will do when they gather next month for the general and budget session."
Joan BarronDecember 14, 2024
Joan Barron: The Fight Over Triple Trailers -- The Undemocratic Initiative Process
Columnist Joan Barron writes, "If you add up the number of ballot questions Wyoming voters approved over the years, the number is mighty puny. This was the intent of the legislators who passed the initiative and referendum law in 1968."
Joan BarronDecember 07, 2024
Joan Barron: Bob Tanner Was A Gutsy Lawmaker
Columnist Joan Barron writes, "We have 52 sales/use tax exemptions. The amount of money the state is losing through sales tax exemptions is in the billions with a B.”
Joan BarronNovember 23, 2024
Joan Barron: The Boys Won The Presidential Election
Columnist Joan Barron writes, "Democrats were expecting women to unite and vote for Kamala to demonstrate opposition to the position of the GOP and its candidate, Donald Trump on women’s productive rights. But that didn’t happen."
Joan BarronNovember 09, 2024
Joan Barron: Getting The Public In On Legislative Votes
Columnist Joan Barron writes: "Despite all this pursuit of more transparency, nothing was said during the committee meeting about recording votes on bills in the committee-of-the-whole, which is the meeting of the House or Senate to discuss bills that have been reported out of committees."
Joan BarronNovember 03, 2024
Joan Barron: The Fourth Estate May Finally Win Something
Columnist Joan Barron writes, "The fourth estate will keep the one fragile scrap it has left of journalist privilege: photojournalists will still be allowed to shoot photos from the corridors or halls outside the Wyoming Legislature’s senate and house."
Joan BarronOctober 26, 2024
Joan Barron: Former Tea Party Head Predicts Property Tax Ballot Issue Won’t Pass
Columnist Joan Barron writes, "With the general election drawing nearer, the activity to support passage of the '4 Property tax reform' ballot proposal is almost nil."
Joan BarronOctober 19, 2024
Joan Barron: It’s “Save Weston County” Time
Columnist Joan Barron writes, "What colors this development is the support of the whole idea by the Wyoming Freedom Caucus. This is the group gaining power in Wyoming. That’s why I think it’s too early to dismiss this as sheer folly by a bunch of wackos."
Joan BarronOctober 13, 2024
Joan Barron: Wyoming's Gaming Growth Resembles Other Economic Booms
Joan Barron writes, "You could compare the explosion of the gaming industry to the development of coal mining in the Powder River Basin in the 1970s."
Joan BarronOctober 05, 2024
Joan Barron: That Hemp Prosecution Was A Mess
Joan Barron writes, "If you lived in Cheyenne and Laramie County and listened to the chattering on the streets when felony charges were filed —particularly among the young crowd—you knew the Palm-Egle case could be a prosecution disaster that would be thrown out of court."
Joan BarronSeptember 29, 2024
Joan Barron: Media Credentials Don't Mean Anything Anymore
Columnist Joan Barron writes, "What do media credentials from the Legislature Service Office get you? Well, not much anymore. In short, they have about the same status as a lobbyist or a bus driver from Greybull."
Joan BarronSeptember 21, 2024
Joan Barron: The Saga Of State Sen. Cal 'Fast Lane' Taggart
Columnist Joan Barron writes about the Wyoming Legislature’s fight against the 55 mph speed limit that drew the national news media to Cheyenne. And state Sen. Cal 'Fast Lane' Taggart led the way.
Joan BarronSeptember 14, 2024
Joan Barron: A Year Before College Well Spent
Columnist Joan Barron writes, "I’ll bet your average plumber makes more money than a regular English graduate. And that may be one reason more people than ever are questioning whether college is worth the time and expense."
Joan BarronSeptember 07, 2024
Joan Barron: Interim Committee Work Dampened By The Prospect Of New Legislative Leadership
Columnist Joan Barron writes, "The Freedom Caucus has openly stated its status as anti-government, anti-tax, anti-spending and other antis as well. All these antis can have a paralyzing influence on legislative business."
Joan BarronSeptember 01, 2024
Joan Barron: The Two Party Solution
Columnist Joan Barron writes, "The Wyoming Republican Party’s party’s center — the moderates, the traditionalists — is in danger of becoming irrelevant. Their power is being siphoned away by the party’s hard right wing."
Joan BarronAugust 24, 2024
Joan Barron: No More Ballots In Shoeboxes, Please
Columnist Joan Barron writes, "It appears Wyoming voters will not be confronted with hand-counted ballots this year. That fate was a possibility for a spell there when Republicans of the hard right variety questioned the validity of pre-election balloting tests..."
Joan BarronAugust 17, 2024
Joan Barron: A Vietnam War Protestor’s Trial in Cheyenne
Columnist Joan Barron writes, "Vietnam War protestor Randy Kehler died late last month at age 80 at his home in Massachusetts. His obituary in the New York Times makes no mention of the Wyoming federal court case or of his residence in Encampment."
Joan BarronAugust 10, 2024
Joan Barron: Radical Tax Reform Bill Could Be A Legislative Hammer
Columnist Joan Barron writes, "The state is always bumping up against the constitutional dictate of equal and uniform whether it’s taxes or schools. How can you have a uniform and equal form of taxation that affects Teton, Laramie and Niobrara Counties the same?"
Joan BarronAugust 04, 2024
Joan Barron: Don’t Expect A 1968 Democratic Repeat
Columnist Joan Barron writes, "Pundits recently pointed out similarities of the 2024 Democratic party shakeups and what happened in 1968. True, there are some eerie resemblances to the violent upheaval that surrounded the August 1968 convention."
Joan BarronJuly 27, 2024
Joan Barron: “Don’t Be a Patsy”
Columnist Joan Barron writes, "This is the time to be skeptical as we enter what promises to be a tumultuous election year. One where we will encounter lots of political news, including misinformation, false information and the occasional new wacko conspiracy theory.
Joan BarronJuly 20, 2024
Joan Barron: Gambling -- We’re In The Big Time Now
Columnist Joan Barron writes, "[The Freedom Caucus] probably would oppose creating a professional Gaming Commission. The hard right folks would rather we be another Vegas. Elections have consequences."
Joan BarronJuly 13, 2024
Joan Barron: It's Official, Esther Hobart Morris Will Stay In The Basement
Columnist Joan Barron writes, "The movement [to move the statue of Esther Hobart Morris back out in front of the Capitol] apparently ended when the governor and the four other elected state officials agreed that Esther should be inside."
Joan BarronJuly 06, 2024
Joan Barron: The Worst Job In State Government
Columnist Joan Barron writes, "As Denver school finance consultant John Augenblick once said: 'School finance is like a Russian novel. It’s long, it’s boring and in the end everyone gets killed.'"
Joan BarronJune 29, 2024
Joan Barron: No Middle Ground On School Vouchers
Columnist Joan Barron writes, "It is reasonable to expect a move next year to expand the preschool subsidy program for low income children. I doubt if it will be successful given the newness of the 2023 law that authorized Education Savings Accounts. But eventually it will happen."
Joan BarronJune 22, 2024
Joan Barron: Snippets From A Reporter's Notebook
Columnist Joan Barron writes, "The Democrats were a wild bunch during the session in 1958. They carted the shaggy stuffed buffalo from the capitol rotunda to the lawn outside and began riding it. Some were bucked off."
Joan BarronJune 17, 2024
Joan Barron: A Timely Tribute to a Beleaguered Politician
Columnist Joan Barron writes, "Wyoming’s Lester Hunt, who died 70 years ago June 19, is getting a lot of attention this year. Presentations and panels in Lander, where Hunt lived, with more to come in Cheyenne."
Joan BarronJune 09, 2024
Joan Barron: It’s Time To Lure The Tourists
Columnist Joan Barron writes, "You know it’s summer travel time season when you find big magazine ads from state tourism organizations. Having precious little to brag about in a state that is long, flat and brown mostly, the Nebraska crew decided self- mockery was the key."
Joan BarronJune 01, 2024
Joan Barron: Hugely Unpopular Proposed Book Policy
Columnist Joan Barron writes, "A local newspaper poll recently showed amazingly strong opposition to the Cheyenne school board’s proposed new policy on books."
Joan BarronMay 26, 2024