Yesterday, the BI ran part one of an interview with gubernatorial candidate Pete Gosar. Below is part two of that interview.
Many of the leaders in the LGBTQ community say that the fight for civil rights in Wyoming isn’t over, what do you think needs to be done regarding this issue now that Wyoming has passed one milestone?
I think when you live in the Equality State; you have to live up to it. Today, people can be fired for being a member of the LGBTQ community, and that ‘s just not fair. We have a constitution that’s pretty straightforward. It says that rights applied to one are applied to all and right now that’s not the case. So we need to continue to advocate those within the community and those of us outside the community to say, ‘we’re going to live up to that equality motto.’ And we can perfect this union by allowing all folks, regardless of race, color, creed or sexual orientation to have the full set of rights that anyone else has. It’s pretty straightforward to me, and I think that the Fourteenth Amendment says equal protection under the law.
You said you think about people first and foremost when making decisions. How is that different from current leadership in the state?
Well I think you just look at Medicaid expansion. For me, that’s 18,000 working men and women in Wyoming that need healthcare. I think you have to do it right away. Not only for folks that need healthcare, but for folks that rely on hospitals that are dangerously close to shutting their doors. As a kid who grew up in Western Wyoming, you understand the importance of healthcare and what happens when a health facility isn’t available, especially in the winter. I think about those folks, and then I think about people that already have coverage. We have the highest premiums in the country. By and large, because we have uncompensated care that’s through the roof. We have one in seven without health insurance. Uncompensated care isn’t just written off. It’s included in the cost of services. And so, when an insurance company comes in, they have to raise premiums because it’s higher in Wyoming. It makes our businesses uncompetitive.
You said that federal overreach is a good talking point, how do you think your opponent uses this as a talking point?
Well I think if people look at the law suits, 30-some lawsuits, we’re on the side of the federal government in many of them. I think that’s not clearly known. I think it makes a nice talking point, but it doesn’t really address the issue. Each one of those suits is independent and I think that when people find out that we’re in a suit in Idaho on appeal, that the state of Idaho is not involved in, maybe we should have a discussion about return on investment and the frivolousness of lawsuits. What are we getting and what are we paying? There’s accountability at the university. There’s accountability at the state. How come there’s no accountability at the governor’s office? Show us the books. I think that there’s been a lot of lawsuits where we continued and it was a foregone conclusion and yet we continued. I want to know how many dollars and how much time did we spend when we could’ve helped with a person’s healthcare. We could’ve reduced the cost of a school lunch. We could’ve helped with education or a myriad of things in Wyoming. I think that we need to have that discussion.
A lot times the governor has said that the lawsuits you mention are seeking the best interests of Wyoming coal. Do you think that’s true, and if elected, would you pursue as much legal action on behalf of the coal industry?
You’re not the governor of the coal industry, you’re the governor of Wyoming, and you have to pursue legal action when it’s a last resort for the people of Wyoming. You’re their chief advocate. But I think when you’re not an attorney, when you live in the real world; you always negotiate as your first step. And when you look at the boundary issue on the Wind River Reservation, there was an opportunity for the governor to negotiate. It didn’t happen. When you go to a legal case, you lose control of that outcome. I think it’s tough to negotiate, but most often it’s a better solution for the people of Wyoming.
Looking back on your campaign thus far, what issue or issues do you think your campaign has brought to the forefront of Wyoming political rhetoric?
Well I don’t know if we’ve brought any particular issue up other than a willingness to engage. Wednesday nights, we take any question, any time. We’ve asked for more debates and I’ve been at every one that I could possibly make, and the other candidates have not. Politicians have an obligation to answer questions for people. Especially with the technology that exists today. I live stream on my iPad. I go door to door. And you get a feel for Wyoming that way. And you don’t just go to those people that are like-minded, you also talk to people you might disagree with and try and find out ‘Where am I missing it? What are you seeing from Wyoming that I don’t see?’ I think that is a really essential piece to being a governor or running as a governor. When you lose sight of people and it becomes the good old boys running the show once again, people lose hope in their government. They lose faith that they have any impact. I think maybe the 46 percent, or whatever the number was that participated in the primaries is a telling number. I think that if you go out and ask people, there’s more collective wisdom out there, and there are solutions that have come to me at people’s doorsteps that I don’t believe have been tried and that I wish would be. As a governor, I certainly will.
What do you think of the current state of both politics in general and politics in Wyoming?
If you look at national politics, there’s never solutions. There’s always just trying to further one aim or another. And I think you see that in the governor’s litigious nature, with the 31 lawsuits. There’s no solution. For me, that’s what it’s always about. Politicians come and go, but policies matter. Solutions matter. Designing a healthcare system that’s the best in America and the world in a rural healthcare setting, that’s something that we should be working on. Not trying to get the best deal for Medicaid. Medicaid’s a part but it’s only a part. We need to think bigger in education and healthcare and many other places. When I look at where I think the troubles are, I think there’s a limited ability for politicians to be honest, because I think that there’s always risk. Politicians that I’ve met are always risk-averse. I always think that there’s a limit to the access that people have to politicians, and that’s a problem. You get so much from people. I’ve gotten so much from my interactions at people’s doors or on Wednesday nights or wherever I’ve been than they’ve ever gotten from me. Having the ability to allow the people access is important. Taking a position and sticking with it, and not poll testing what you think, is also missing. I think people will ask for it sooner rather than later and I hope they ask for it November 4.
By Joel Funk, Adam Croft
