Teaching 8th-graders about the election process

WORLAND - Wanting to take advantage of a busy statewide election this year, Worland Middle School social studies teacher Joe Winkler invited two of the four governor candidates to speak to his eighth-grade students and the public.

Winkler said he invited "progressive" candidate Mary Throne and "conservative" candidate Mark Gordon to come and speak to the students. Throne has accepted the invitation to speak at 10:15 a.m. Friday morning at the WMS Auditorium.

He said Gordon initially accepted but then had to decline. Winkler said that on Monday he was notified that Gordon's campaign was unable to send a representative. Winkler said Washakie County Commissioner Terry Wolf has agreed to speak on behalf of Gordon and conservatism for the Friday event.

Winkler said he wants his students to see there is more to politics than what they are seeing at the national level and wants them to hear from the progressive and conservative sides.

Prior to Friday's public event, Winkler said he will be speaking to his students on Thursday about the the basics of the election and the Constitution (with Constitution Day Monday) along with ways people can participate in the political process in a respectful way.

Friday's event, he said, is an opportunity for his students and the public to "hear the two sides presented in a respectful manner, in a civil discussion."

THE CANDIDATES

Throne easily won the Democratic nomination during Wyoming's Aug. 21 primary election. She defeated three other Democratic challengers for the party nomination, with 12,948 votes.

Throne, of Cheyenne, grew up on a ranch on Wild Horse Creek in Campbell County. In the early 1990s she moved to Cheyenne where her husband and she have raised their three sons. She is an energy attorney.

In a questionnaire for the Northern Wyoming Daily News in August, Throne said she was running for governor because "when I started in the state legislature, there was a collegial approach to solving Wyoming's problems, and people were willing to look beyond party labels. Over the past decade, I've seen Cheyenne become more and more like DC, with partisan loyalties trumping creative solutions. Wyoming can be more than a boom and bust state, but that won't happen if we rely on the same old problems from years past. I'm running for governor because today's problems deserve better than yesterday's solutions."

Gordon, a rancher from Buffalo, currently serves as state treasurer. He won the Republican nomination during the Aug. 21 primary election with 38,951 votes, defeating five other Republican candidates.

In the Northern Wyoming Daily News questionnaire, Gordon said, "Wyoming is at a crossroads right now. We're facing a lot of change here in the state, across the country and around the globe. That's why it is more important than ever to have a proven conservative leader with the knowledge, experience and dedication to fight for Wyoming and its people every single day. I have a broad range of experience in the fields and industries among the most important to our state – from running a family ranch; working for the energy industry; protecting the state's interests against federal overreach; and safeguarding taxpayer dollars as treasurer."

The event is free and open to the public.

Also running for governor in the November general election are Libertarian candidate Lawrence Gerard Struempf of Laramie and Constitution Party candidate Rex Rammell of Rock Springs.