Haroldson: Governor Gordon Unconstitutionally Plays Politics with People’s Lives
March 25, 2024
Tell a liberal you favor lower taxes, and
they’ll respond by asking you if you want to go without paved roads, running
sewers, and other critical infrastructure.
It’s a straw-man argument, of course. Everyone
wants basic public goods and services to be well funded and functional.That’s
why I’ll always support funding the constitutional and necessary functions of
government. Our nation’s founding fathers knew that these things, like post
offices, are necessary for a functioning society.
What our founders didn’t envision was a
government that ballooned over 30% in five years, one so huge that it could
fund businesses to compete with your neighbor’s feed store, or so detached from
reality that it believed it could save and spend better than the people can.
For these, and many other reasons, I joined 20
of my colleagues in the Wyoming House in voting against what constitutes the
largest budget in Wyoming history.
For this, the Governor has chosen to
dangerously put lives and livelihoods in my district in jeopardy with one swish
of the pen.
The Governor issued a line-item veto to remove
funding for an aging water tower in my home of Wheatland- a water tower that is
in such poor shape, it could breach at any moment, destroying ten or more city
blocks in its wake. Within the area of this aging tower are countless homes,
many businesses, a school, and more.
I believe that we should always attribute to
misunderstanding what could otherwise be attributed to malice- and I’ll never
impugn someone’s motives for cheap points.
Governor Gordon is playing politics with
people’s lives– and he even said so himself.
In his veto letter, the Governor stated
clearly that the reason for removing funding for the water tower was due to my
vote against the budget:
“Following
the lead of local legislators who voted against the budget thereby indicating
their regard for the inclusion of this project in the budget, I have removed
this provision.”
Not only is this move reckless and
retributive– it is also likely unconstitutional.
Known as
punishment by appropriation, Gordon’s line-item veto violates Equal
Protection principles as set out in the 14th Amendment to the U.S.
Constitution. The state of Wyoming cannot deny funding to a city because its
representative voted against the budget.
At the end of the day, this personally
targeted veto would be funny if it weren’t a life threatening, unconstitutional
move.