CASPER, Wyo. — Election season is underway and Oil City News has sent a list of questions to candidates for the Wyoming Legislature out of Natrona County who have filed to run in the primary election in August.
These questions are designed to give our readers a better understanding of the people behind the names on the ballot. Below, get to know Robert Johnson, who is running for the House District 57 seat in the Wyoming Legislature:
1. Who are you? (Name, where you’re from, employment, hobbies, etc.)
I am Robert Johnson. Born in this state with deep homesteading family roots. Raised in this great state. Went to college at the University of Wyoming as a Division I scholarship athlete and team captain. Worked at the trona mines for a service company. Worked in the oil fields for a service company. Helped start a successful business. Taught at St. Anthony Tri-Parish School for nine years. Coached at Natrona County High School for 20 years. Taught at Casper College for seven years. I started my family here and watched my three children grow to love this state as they went through school. I am a legal analyst and deal with laws every day. I love this state. I want my children to have a reason to stay. I can’t let Republicans turn it into a wasteland. It is why I am running.
2. Why have you decided to run for office and what do you hope to accomplish should you be elected?
One-party Republican rule is leaving this state in a mess. Republicans are fighting with each other over bad policies. Most party members take orders from back-east social warrior elites who write poorly worded, anti-Wyoming bills that violate our state constitution. Republicans take privacy rights from women. Republicans legislate religious beliefs into state law. Republicans want to take decisions that should be local away from local authority. Wyoming Republicans need to be confronted. They need to be stopped by people who really love Wyoming for what it is, not for what the east elite social warriors want to make it.
Also, the state desperately needs a privacy law. It is weird that a state like Wyoming doesn’t codify the privacy protection of its own citizens.
3. How do you plan on accomplishing your goals?
The most important is to point out the ruling party’s avoidance of real facts, science, and Wyoming’s actual future. Most Republicans barely raise a whimper when ridiculous anti-Wyoming things are introduced by other Republicans, or when a Republican lies (like about “winning the last election”), or when protecting the vulnerable in our population is inconvenient. Something must be said.
I will also introduce a privacy protection bill that ought to pass.
4. What experience do you have that qualifies you for the office you are seeking?
I work with laws every day. I research them. Compare them to their court decisions. From that perspective I can see what good governance is and what it does. I also know a bad and poorly written law. Wyoming has recently passed several of those, written by lobbyists and back-east elite social warriors.
5. Do you feel you could be a good steward with taxpayer dollars? Why or why not?
Yes, because being a good steward is getting actual value for the money. Republicans think cutting is the only way to regulate, which is shortsighted and silly when dealing with complex issues. Oversight is making sure money is spent to provide the best value for the most people in Wyoming.
6. On the issue of transparency, where do you stand on ensuring all public business is conducted openly and in a manner that encourages public attendance?
This is a trick question, right? We live in a democracy under a constitutional federal republic. The only way public business should be conducted is with utmost transparency. It is the only way for informed participation from the voters.
7. Do you believe the office or board position you seek has been open and honest with the public? If yes, how can the entity remain open and transparent when conducting public business moving forward. If no, what changes would you implement to ensure that all future dealings are open and transparent?
For the most part, yes, I believe the legislature tries to be open and transparent. They seem to do a decent job, as far as I know. As for secret party meetings — ha! Complete violation of what government in this country and this state stand for.
8. If you were presiding over a meeting and a topic was being discussed that you didn’t fully understand, would you ask for a more detailed explanation during the meeting or would you seek the information after the meeting?
This question depends on whether there must be a decision made on a particular issue or if the presentations are there to provide informational reporting or presenting. The details necessary to make an informed decision require as much factual, peer-reviewed, and honest information available. Theoretically, going into the meeting would require being somewhat informed on the topic; isn’t that why there are agendas? If information is being presented for the first time, that is a time to ask for detailed explanations and information.
9. Should you be elected, or reelected, do you plan on seeking any major policy changes in your chosen office? If yes, what would those changes be? If no, why not?
If protecting privacy and reinstating a violation of personal privacy is a policy, yep.
The main values that should exist in Wyoming are: minding your own business, helping those who need help, and protecting the weak and marginalized. Those are the values I was taught growing up in the Cowboy State. They are cowboy values. They absolutely should be policy and if they are not, then those changes must be made.
NOTE: All primary candidates who filed to run for a seat in the Wyoming Legislature were sent questionnaires at the same time and Oil City News will publish responses in the order they are received. Candidate responses are only edited for clarity and style.
If you are a candidate and did not see the questionnaire in your inbox, please email news@oilcity.news. Oil City News sent questionnaires to Natrona County candidates running in the primary for municipal, county office or a seat in the Wyoming Legislature based on email addresses shared by the Natrona County Clerk’s Office; if you would prefer the questionnaire sent to a different address, please let us know.
