
John Black, an employee of the Wyoming Senate, listens in on first day speech as he guards the side door to the Senate chambers during during the first day of last year's legislative session.
Wyoming lawmakers are the least conservative they’ve been in five years, a new report from a top conservative group in Washington says.
However, a close review of the survey shows some oversights in the compilation of the numbers, including key differences in how the group evaluated members of the House and Senate.
Numbers released this week by the American Conservative Union – which oversees the influential Conservative Political Action Conference – shows members of the Wyoming Legislature scored a lackluster 52.6 percent on its annual review of state legislatures across the country, a slight decrease from the more than 53 percent average seen in 2018.
Nobody scored higher than 90 percent on the 2019 rankings, the first time that has occurred in the five-year history of the rankings. Meanwhile, just six state lawmakers – Sens. Bo Biteman, Anthony Bouchard and Tom James, as well as Reps. Roy Edwards, Chuck Gray, and Dan Laursen – scored higher than 80 percent on the ACU’s rankings, the smallest such group since the organization began tracking Wyoming lawmakers in 2016.
Cheyenne Republican Rep. Dan Zwonitzer (23 percent) was the lowest-scoring Republican, while Democratic Sens. Liisa Anselmi-Dalton (Rock Springs) and Mike Gierau (Jackson) were the highest-scoring Democrats, coming in at 35 percent each.
“In the 2019 session, a group of Wyoming lawmakers appeared to lose sight of the Western values of limited government and individual liberty,” ACU Chairman Matt Schlapp said in a statement.
It was another down year for the Wyoming Legislature which, despite its Republican supermajority, has failed to score above 61 percent since the ACU began rating Wyoming lawmakers in the wake of the 2015 session.
“We find it very interesting to compare how different states tackle issues and how the views of government held by lawmakers vary within states over time, and vary from state to state, Luke Schneider, a public affairs and policy analyst for the ACU Foundation’s Center for Legislative Accountability, wrote in an email. “We strive to maintain a very precise scope and rely on the exact same set of principles for every rating guide.”
The context of the numbers are important, however.
The ACU’s annual ratings are guided by a consistent set of principles centered on fiscal and economic policy, social and cultural issues (think support for the Second Amendment, religious freedom, school choice and pro-life causes) and “government integrity” issues like transparency and election security. Still, the pieces of legislation evaluated by the ACU every year can vary widely in their content and sometimes fundamentally conflict with the ACU’s stances.
The selection is also arbitrary: legislation to prevent crossover voting – a key policy positions for Wyoming conservatives – was absent from both sets of rankings, while the popular Wyoming Works Program – a grant program for career and technical education that easily passed both chambers – was criticized by the ACU in its rankings for “socializing” higher education costs.
Another piece of legislation to clean-up the language in the state’s Build Wyoming Program – which received nearly unanimous support in both chambers – was described by the ACU as “placing taxpayers at greater financial risk and reducing state investment income” in its ratings, despite a lack of a definitive answer from the Legislative Service Office in its fiscal note of whether this would actually occur.
There are also different standards for the House and Senate,which were each evaluated on a different set and number of bills: Where the Senate was evaluated on 20 pieces of Legislation before them in 2019, the House of Representatives was subject to 30.
As a result of this, the state’s overall score was fairly low, there were marked differences between the House and the Senate in their final ratings. In 2019, Senate Republicans averaged a score of 64 percent on the ACU’s ratings, significantly higher than the 51 percent scored by House Republicans. A similar standard was seen among Democrats, with House members averaging 14 percent less conservative than members of the Senate.
Partly to blame for this may be a number of key omissions between both chambers. The most notable example may have been a controversial corporate income tax which, while voted for by most members of the House of Representatives, was absent from the scoring sheet for members of the Senate, who rejected it.
Legislature Day One

Rep. Tyler Lindholm, R-Crook, reads over documents as he waits for the morning's proceedings to begin Tuesday during the first day of the 65th Wyoming legislative session in Cheyenne. Lindholm voted in favor of a bill to open up mail-in ballots in Wyoming. The bill failed to make it out of committee.
Legislature Day One

Members of the public crowd the gallery of the house of representatives chambers during the first day of the sixty-fifth legislative session Jan. 8. Rep. Richard Tass, R-Buffalo, and Rep. Scott Clem, R-Gillette, are sponsoring two bills that seek tighter restrictions on abortion.
Legislature Day One

Secretary of State Edward Buchanan addresses the Wyoming House of Representatives during the first day of the sixty-fifth legislative session Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2019.
Legislature Day One

Rep. Steve Harshman, R-Natrona, addresses the Wyoming House of Representatives in his opening speech as speaker of the house during the first day of the 2019 legislative session in Cheyenne.
Legislature Day One

Speaker Steve Harshman addresses the Wyoming House on Jan. 8. At the rate the House is working through bills, Harshman told Senate President Drew Perkins, at least 100 Senate files could die without being debated on the floor.
Legislature Day One

John Black, an employee of the Wyoming Senate, listens in on first day speech as he guards the side door to the senate chambers during during the first day of the sixty-fifth legislative session Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2019. Black has worked for the senate for six years and served as the press secretary to Gov. Stanley Hathaway in the 70s.
Legislature Day One

Rep. Eric Barlow, R-Campbell, addresses the Wyoming House of Representatives in his opening speech during the first day of the sixty-fifth legislative session Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2019.
Legislature Day One

Re. Charles Pelkey, D-Albany, glances around a fellow representative to see the Natrona County choir better during their singing of "The Star-Spangled Banner" during the first day of the sixty-fifth legislative session Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2019.
Legislature Day One

Rep. Tyler Lindholm, R-Crook, sports a pair of panda socks during the first day of the sixty-fifth legislative session Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2019.
Legislature Day One

Rep. Cathy Connolly, D-Albany, addresses the Wyoming House of Representatives in her opening speech as the minority leader during the first day of the sixty-fifth legislative session Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2019.
Legislature Day One

Natrona County choir students line up next to the wall of the senate chambers before singing the national anthem during the opening of general house session on the first day of the sixty-fifth legislative session Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2019.
Legislature Day One

Rep. Eric Barlow, R-Campbell, addresses the Wyoming House of Representatives in his opening speech during the first day of the sixty-fifth legislative session Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2019.
Legislature Day One

Rep. Mike Yin stands with the rest of the Wyoming House of Representatives for an opening prayer Tuesday, the first day of the 65th legislative session.
Legislature Day One

Rep. Cathy Connolly, D-Albany, addresses the Wyoming House of Representatives in her opening speech as the minority leader during the first day of the sixty-fifth legislative session Jan. 8. A bill Connolly sponsored to raise the state's minimum wage to $8.50 and hour failed on its first reading 36-23.
Legislature Day One

Members of the public crowd the gallery of the house of representatives chambers during the first day of the sixty-fifth legislative session Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2019.
Legislature Day One

Rep. Chuck Gray, R-Natrona, pins his name tag back onto his jacket before the afternoon general session reconvened during the first day of the sixty-fifth legislative session Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2019.
Legislature Day One

Sen. Eli Bebout, R-Fremont, laughs during the first day of the sixty-fifth legislative session Jan. 8.
Legislature Day One

Members of the Wyoming Senate take their seats during the first day of the sixty-fifth legislative session Jan. 8.
Legislature Day One

Rep. Hank Coe, R-Park, listens to a speech during the first day of the sixty-fifth legislative session Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2019.
Legislature Day One

Sen. Ogden Driskill, R-Crook/Weston/E. Campbell, swears in as the Wyoming Senate's vice president during the first day of the sixty-fifth legislative session Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2019.
Legislature Day One

Rep. Cathy Connolly, D-Albany, addresses the Wyoming House of Representatives in her opening speech as the minority leader during the first day of the sixty-fifth legislative session Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2019.
Legislature Day One

Rep. Jim Roscoe, an Independent freshman lawmaker from Lincoln County, folds his hands while listening to a speech Tuesday during the formal opening of the legislative session.
Legislature Day One

Rep. Hank Coe, R-Park, listens to a speech during the first day of the sixty-fifth legislative session Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2019.
Legislature Day One

Rep. Cathy Connolly, D-Albany, grins at Tyler Lindholm, R-Crook, as they clap following a speech by house speaker Rep. Steve Harshman, R-Natrona, during the first day of the sixty-fifth legislative session Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2019.
Legislature Day One

Rep. Sara Burlingame claps following a speech Tuesday in Cheyenne. Burlingame, a freshman, had experience with the legislative process as director of an LGBTQ advocacy group.
Legislature Day One

A note on Rep. Steve Harshman's, R-Natrona, desk during the first day of the sixty-fifth legislative session Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2019.
Legislature Day One

Rep. Art Washut of Casper sits at his desk in the Wyoming House of Representatives chambers Tuesday during the opening of the 65th legislative session. Washut is serving his first term in the Legislature.
Legislature Day One

Sen. Lynn Hutchings, R-Laramie, talks with Sen. Ogden Driskill, R-Crook/Weston/E. Campbell, during a recess during the first day of the sixty-fifth legislative session Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2019.
Legislature Day One

Rep. Sara Burlingame, D-Laramie, claps following Rep. Cathy Connolly's, D-Albany, speech during the first day of the sixty-fifth legislative session Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2019.
Legislature Day One

The Wyoming House of Representatives welcome the Natrona County High School choir during the first day of the sixty-fifth legislative session Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2019.
Legislature Day One

A man takes a photo of the Senate during the first day of the legislative session. The House and Senate were more than $70 million apart on their separate budget bills at the close of business Feb. 1.
Legislature Day One

Andy Schwartz, D-Teton, and Cathy Connolly, D-Albany, look at a frame of photos of members from the forty-second legislature in 1973 during recess on the first day of the sixty-fifth legislative session Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2019.
Legislature Day One

Sen. Cale Case, R-Fremont, talks with a fellow senator during the first day of the sixty-fifth legislative session Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2019.
Legislature Day One

Rep. Steve Harshman, R-Natrona, talks with representatives Albert Sommers, R-Sublette; Tyler Lindholm, R-Crook; and Art Washut, R-Natrona; while in recess during the first day of the sixty-fifth legislative session Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2019.
Legislature Day One

Rep. Andy Schwartz, D-Teton, and Rep. Cathy Connolly, D-Albany, look at a frame of photos of members from the forty-second legislature in 1973 during recess on the first day of the sixty-fifth legislative session Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2019.
Legislature Day One

Rep. Cathy Connolly addresses the Wyoming House of Representatives on Jan. 8. Connolly is backing three bills meant to address the state's gender wage gap.
Legislature Day One

Secretary of State Edward Buchanan addresses the Wyoming House of Representatives during the first day of the sixty-fifth legislative session Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2019.
Legislature Day One

The water bottle of Rep. Sara Burlingame, D-Laramie, on her desk in the Wyoming House of Representatives chambers during the first day of the sixty-fifth legislative session Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2019.
Legislature Day One

House Speaker Rep. Steve Harshman, R-Natrona, goes over bills during the first day of the sixty-fifth legislative session Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2019.