Dear editor:

I’d like to respond to Robin Berry’s recent letter to the editor regarding the Park County Republican Party Central Committee and its duly elected precinct committeemen and committeewomen. I have been involved in the Republican Party in Cody since 1992. I’ve held several positions with the local Republican Party, serving as president of Republican Women for two terms, a precinct committeewoman on and off for 32 years, a state central committeewoman for several terms, chair of the Park County Republican Party for two terms, as well as the secretary for the state Republican Party. I work at the polls every election and am a dyed-in-the wool Republican.

 The Park County Republican Party Central Committee is no longer what it has historically stood for. The grassroots cause which we were elected to promote by our neighbors have been set aside. The local party has now become a party of meaningless resolutions which are nothing more than formal statements of opinion. Those resolutions hold little significance to anyone but their authors and those who vote for them at party meetings. 

Precinct committee members are elected every two years to get out the vote.  In the past, precinct committee members were encouraged to canvass their precincts and bring neighborhood issues to quarterly meetings which coincided with the quarterly state Central Committee meetings. Of course, more central committee meetings were held when prominent issues or elections came up. 

The idea of holding monthly central committee meetings is relatively new. Previously, only the executive board met monthly to brainstorm ideas to discuss at meetings. The most important role for committee members used to be meeting with their neighbors, seeking out and vetting candidates and walking the neighborhoods for the candidates from our party to get them elected. We also raised money to donate to Republican candidates in the general election.

The job of a Republican committee member is extremely important because committee members are elected by the registered Republican voters in their neighborhoods to represent their viewpoints. Elected precinct committeemen and women are the liaison for their neighbors to the local Republican Party, even if the leadership of the local Republican Party doesn’t agree with their viewpoints and wants to silence them. They are elected by their Republican constituents in their precincts, and no one has the right to remove them in a way that is contrary to the Wyoming statutes, as happened last fall when 22 precinct reps were arbitrarily removed by the local party.  

I ask, do you know your precinct committeeman or woman? Have they engaged you, asked what your concerns are? If your answer is “no,” then I suggest that you get involved and help. We are losing sight of the true purpose of the Central Committee.

This is an issue statewide and at the state level. Please find your way back to common sense. It’s not too late to save our state and country.

Geri Hockhalter

Cody