Dear editor:

I read with astonishment a Cody newspaper story of last week entitled “Travel Council enters into partnership with Sunlight Sports.”

Seems the Park County Travel Council will somehow award $17,000 in taxpayer money to this area vendor for “outdoor activity guides.” That is strange in that there are already MANY sites/offices/guides in which a person can access that show them how to recreate in the Cody area. One is the Wyoming Game & Fish Department website, the G&F Regional Office, climbing guides of Cody rock routes, many hunting magazines, Yellowstone Park hiking guides, Buffalo Bill Center of the West and fishing guides.  

Several questions must be answered and the first question must be this: Why wasn’t this “partnership” with a payday offered to all of Cody’s vendors? There are several vendors who have expressed interest and who are not only writers, but fish, hunt, hike, shoot and are always up in the hills or waterways. 

Second question: What are the exact qualifications of the vendor –— Wes Allen and his wife — for this paying position? He certainly is not the “Lone Ranger” of this information!    

Owning a sports shop does not necessarily mean you are an expert in “outdoor activities” (or that you even do them) let alone write about them or be a professional photographer. So how did Mr. Allen and his wife get this $17,000 contract that others wanted? 

The answer is this: Mr. Wes Allen and his wife are immediate family members of a longtime Park County Travel Council board member — Sandy Newsome. Newsome is also the representative for House District 24. After talking with a board member of the Travel Council, it is learned that she pushed this “partnership” with her immediate family member before, but it was shot down.

The minutes show Newsome some months later brought up the motion a second time to enter into a “partnership” with her brother-in-law/sister, but other members deemed it inappropriate for her to do so, so another member brought forth the motion. 

It is illegal and unethical to use political influence to enrich one’s family. That is nepotism.

The Travel Council needs to pull back this proposed contract and open up the interviews to ALL Cody vendors and interested persons — especially those who are better qualified.

Mr. Allen has stated in the Enterprise that by entering into a “partnership” with the Travel Council that will enrich downtown merchants, of which he is one! 

When an elected official uses their influence and engages in “influence peddling” to enrich their family, this is wrong.

My first call tomorrow morning will be to the governor’s office.  And I encourage others to do the same. 

 Scott Weber

Cody