"97 Klu Klux Klaucus Members, Including WY's own Cynthia Lummis Oppose Susan Rice"

Racist House Repubs oppose an African-American Susan Rice based on their mindless racism!

97 House Republicans in opposing Rice's potential nomination to replace Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State, even though her public statements about the incident originated from unclassified talking points provided by the intelligence community.

Both Obama and Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein have defended Rice, arguing she was using the best intelligence supplied to her at the time.

Under the Constitution, only the Senate has the power to give advice and consent to the administration on nominees. But the wet-brained republicans like Lummis and her racist friends think they won the election. How in God's name anyone could vote for Lummis is beyond me, as she is a living and breathing sockpuppet, doing whatever her master's tell her to do. The woman is incapable of an original thought, but sure loves her farm subsides and BLM leases!

"Washing one's hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless
means to side with the powerful, not to be neutral." -Paolo Friere-

Medicare- Facts and Fiction!

Republican attacks on President Obama's plans for Medicare are growing more heated and inaccurate by the day. Both Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan made statements last week implying that the Affordable Care Act would eviscerate Medicare when in fact the law should shore up the program's finances.

Both men have also twisted themselves into knots to distance themselves from previous positions, so that voters can no longer believe anything they say. Last week, both insisted that they would save Medicare by pumping a huge amount of money into the program, a bizarre turnaround for supposed fiscal conservatives out to rein in federal spending. The likelihood that they would stand by that irresponsible pledge after the election is close to zero. And the likelihood that they would be better able than Democrats to preserve Medicare for the future (through a risky voucher system that may not work well for many beneficiaries) is not much better. THE ALLEGED "RAID ON MEDICARE" A Republican attack ad says that the reform law has "cut" $716 billion from Medicare, with the money used to expand coverage to low-income people who are currently uninsured. "So now the money you paid for your guaranteed health care is going to a massive new government program that's not for you," the ad warns.

What the Republicans fail to say is that the budget resolutions crafted by Paul Ryan and approved by the Republican-controlled House retained virtually the same cut in Medicare.

In reality, the $716 billion is not a "cut" in benefits but rather the savings in costs that the Congressional Budget Office projects over the next decade from wholly reasonable provisions in the reform law.

One big chunk of money will be saved by reducing unjustifiably high subsidies to private Medicare Advantage plans that enroll many beneficiaries at a higher average cost than traditional Medicare. Another will come from reducing the annual increases in federal reimbursements to health care providers — like hospitals, nursing homes and home health agencies — to force the notoriously inefficient system to find ways to improve productivity.

And a further chunk will come from fees or taxes imposed on drug makers, device makers and insurers — fees that they can surely afford since expanded coverage for the uninsured will increase their markets and their revenues.

NO HARM TO SENIORS The Republicans imply that the $716 billion in cuts will harm older Americans, but almost none of the savings come from reducing the benefits available for people already on Medicare. But if Mr. Romney and Mr. Ryan were able to repeal the reform law, as they have pledged to do, that would drive up costs for many seniors — namely those with high prescription drug costs, who are already receiving subsidies under the reform law, and those who are receiving preventive services, like colonoscopies, mammograms and immunizations, with no cost sharing.

Mr. Romney argued on Friday that the $716 billion in cuts will harm beneficiaries because those who get discounts or extra benefits in the heavily subsidized Medicare Advantage plans will lose them and because reduced payments to hospitals and other providers could cause some providers to stop accepting Medicare patients.

If he thinks that will be a major problem, Mr. Romney should leave the reform law in place: it has many provisions designed to make the delivery of health care more efficient and cheaper, so that hospitals and others will be better able to survive on smaller payments.

NO BANKRUPTCY LOOMING The Republicans also argue that the reform law will weaken Medicare and that by preventing the cuts and ultimately turning to vouchers they will enhance the program's solvency. But Medicare is not in danger of going "bankrupt"; the issue is whether the trust fund that pays hospital bills will run out of money in 2024, as now projected, and require the program to live on the annual payroll tax revenues it receives.

The Affordable Care Act helped push back the insolvency date by eight years, so repealing the act would actually bring the trust fund closer to insolvency, perhaps in 2016.

DEFICIT REDUCTION Mr. Romney and Mr. Ryan said last week that they would restore the entire $716 billion in cuts by repealing the law. The Congressional Budget Office concluded that repealing the law would raise the deficit by $109 billion over 10 years.

The Republicans gave no clue about how they would pay for restoring the Medicare cuts without increasing the deficit. It is hard to believe that, if faced with the necessity of fashioning a realistic budget, keeping Medicare spending high would be a top priority with a Romney-Ryan administration that also wants to spend very large sums on the military and on tax cuts for wealthy Americans.

Regardless of who wins the election, Medicare spending has to be reined in lest it squeeze out other priorities, like education. It is utterly irresponsible for the Republicans to promise not to trim Medicare spending in their desperate bid for votes.

THE DANGER IN MEDICARE VOUCHERS The reform law would help working-age people on modest incomes buy private policies with government subsidies on new insurance exchanges, starting in 2014. Federal oversight will ensure a reasonably comprehensive benefit package, and competition among the insurers could help keep costs down.

But it is one thing to provide these "premium support" subsidies for uninsured people who cannot get affordable coverage in the costly, dysfunctional markets that serve individuals and their families. It is quite another thing to use a similar strategy for older Americans who have generous coverage through Medicare and who might well end up worse off if their vouchers failed to keep pace with the cost of decent coverage.

Mr. Romney and Mr. Ryan would allow beneficiaries to use vouchers to buy a version of traditional Medicare instead of a private plan, but it seems likely that the Medicare plan would attract the sickest patients, driving up Medicare premiums so that they would be unaffordable for many who wanted traditional coverage. Before disrupting the current Medicare program, it would be wise to see how well premium support worked in the new exchanges.

THE CHOICE This will be an election about big problems, and it will provide a clear choice between contrasting approaches to solve them. In the Medicare arena, the choice is between a Democratic approach that wants to retain Medicare as a guaranteed set of benefits with the government paying its share of the costs even if costs rise, and a Republican approach that wants to limit the government's spending to a defined level, relying on untested market forces to drive down insurance costs.

The reform law is starting pilot programs to test ways to reduce Medicare costs without cutting benefits. Many health care experts have identified additional ways to shave hundreds of billions of dollars from projected spending over the next decade without harming beneficiaries.

It is much less likely that the Republicans, who have long wanted to privatize Medicare, can achieve these goals.

A version of this editorial appeared in print on August 19, 2012, on page SR10 of the National edition with the headline: Truth and Lies About Medicare.

This is what we do know about what Republicans intend overall:

Romney/Ryan budget:
- would not balance federal budget for 28 or more years
- would revoke tax breaks such as mortgage-interest deductions, and others

Romney/Ryan Medicare:
- would require seniors accept fixed payments
- would require citizens at age 55 choose vouchers, private insurance, or Medicare
- vouchers would not necessarily cover Medicare
- would raise qualifying ate to 67 by 2034
- would cap spending at $7,400 per person
- would require average senior pay $1,200 to $2,400 a year

Romney/Ryan tax policy:
- would keep Bush tax cuts
- would ADD $4.5 trillion in cuts through 2022
- would replace six-tax-rates with two: 10% and 25%
- would eliminate alternative minimum tax
- would cut corporate taxes
- would repeal tax breaks for low-income families with children
- would increase taxes for bottom 1/5 of households
- would increase taxes average $1,000 for households earning $10,000 to $20,000
- would cut taxes $265,000 over 10 years for those making $1 million and more a year
- would lower or eliminate tax on capital gains, interest and dividends, etc.

Romney/Ryan Medicaid
- would cut aid for poor, disabled, and health care for children
- would transfer remaining funding to states as block grants
- would repeal expansion of aid in current law
- would repeal Affordable Care legislation

Romney even suggested vouchers to replace VA care.

Nothing isn't expendable with the Republicans!

Best wishes always,
Bill Harasym

"Washing one's hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless means to side with the powerful, not to be neutral." -Paolo Friere-

Why Congresswoman Cynthia Lummis:R-WY wants 2 KILL Medicare

Why does Congresswoman Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) want to KILL Medicare along with all the Republicans in Congress? Think of the influx of new cash to healthcare companies through premiums and government vouchers. Pure GOLD!
Visit me at http://www.harasymforcongress.us/
Memo to Republicans: snap out of it! Americans love Medicare and there is nothing you're going to do to change that. When you seriously start talking about defense spending cuts, then we'll do the Medicare negotiations. And Social Security is off the table for one important reason, it is not responsible for our debt, but Congress is, so maybe the time in Congress should end? Yep, we think so!

ALEC and ExxonMobil Push Loopholes in Fracking Chemical Disclosure Rules - ProPublica

"ALEC and ExxonMobil Push Loopholes in Fracking Chemical Disclosure Rules!"

A Consol Energy gas drilling rig outside Waynesburg, Pa. (Mladen Antonov/AFP/Getty Images)

by Cora Currier  ProPublica, April 24, 2012, 2:06 p.m.

• One of the key controversies about fracking is the chemical makeup of the fluid that is pumped deep into the ground to break apart rock and release natural gas. Some companies have been reluctant to disclose what's in their fracking fluid. Scientists and environmental advocates argue that, without knowing its precise composition, they can't thoroughly investigate complaints of contamination.

Disclosure requirements vary considerably from state to state, as ProPublica recently charted. In many cases, the rules have been limited by a "trade secrets" provision under which companies can claim that a proprietary chemical doesn't have to be disclosed to regulators or the public.

Impact

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• Focusing Public Attention—and Staying With a Story Relentlessly

Drilling Regulatory Staffing in Your State

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• Search for how many wells have been drilled and how many gas regulators are in your state.

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• What is Hydraulic Fracturing? Anatomy of a Gas Well

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• Fracking: The Music Video

One apparent proponent of the trade secrets caveat? The American Legislative Exchange Council, better known as ALEC, a nonprofit group that brings together politicians and corporations to draft and promote conservative, business-friendly legislation. ALEC has been in the spotlight recently because of its support of controversial laws like Florida's "Stand Your Ground" provision.
This weekend, as part of a story on ALEC's political activity, The New York Times noted that the group recently adopted "model legislation" on fracking chemical disclosure, based on a bill passed in Texas last year. According to The Times, the model bill was "sponsored within ALEC" by ExxonMobil, which runs a major oil and gas operation through its subsidiary, XTO Energy. The advocacy group Common Cause, which provided the documents on ALEC's lobbying efforts to The Times, describes model legislation, in many cases identifying by name the company that proposed it to ALEC's task forces.
ALEC has recently removed its list of model bills from its main website, and did not respond to requests for comment. A spokesman for XTO Energy confirmed that the company is a member of ALEC, but he did not provide details on the company's involvement with the disclosure bill.
The spokesman said ExxonMobil supports "full disclosure of the ingredients and additives in hydraulic fracturing fluids," but added that when vendors request it, ExxonMobil has "respected the trade secret status of their products." Last year, the company began voluntarily uploading chemical disclosures to FracFocus, a clearinghouse website run by the Groundwater Protection Council and the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission.
In a recent blog post, ALEC claimed that legislators in Pennsylvania, Illinois, Indiana, New York and Ohio have introduced versions of its model bill, but many of those states vary in the level of disclosure required and how they handle the trade secrets provision. Laws in 11 states require at least partial disclosure, and the Bureau of Land Management recently drafted disclosure guidelines for drilling on federal land.
These laws have been relatively well-received by environmental advocates, though the trade secrets issue remains a concern for some. In Ohio, for example, proprietary chemicals don't have to be disclosed to regulators or the public. In Pennsylvania, they are disclosed to regulators, and the public can request information on them from the state Department of Environmental Protection on a case-by-case basis.
The Texas law, which ALEC cites in the post as its template, codifies the trade secrets exemption, and who can challenge it:

The "trade secret" exemption (p. 3)

Otherwise, Texas' law requires that companies post disclosure forms for each completed well on the FracFocus site. They must disclose all chemicals but only report the concentrations of those that are hazardous. The law also requires that the companies give the total volume of water used in fracking.
The Environmental Protection Agency cannot regulate fracking in order to protect groundwater, because in 2005 Congress exempted fracking from the Safe Drinking Water Act, which controls how industries inject substances underground.
According to ALEC's blog, the model disclosure legislation is designed to promote "responsible resource production" and "aims to preempt the promulgation of duplicative, burdensome federal regulations" from the EPA, in particular. ALEC has consistently opposed any federal control over fracking. In 2009, the group adopted a "Resolution to Retain State Authority Over Hydraulic Fracturing."


ALEC and ExxonMobil Push Loopholes in Fracking Chemical Disclosure Rules - ProPublica

Official BullShit from Congressman Cynthia Lummis- When I am home in Wyoming, the top concern I hear about is out-of-control federal spending.

Official BullShit from Congressman Cynthia Lummis-

When I am home in Wyoming, the top concern I hear about is out-of-control federal spending.

December 27, 2011 William Harasym 200 Smith Street, Apt. 410 Sheridan, Wyoming 82801-3842 Dear William: Thank you for contacting me regarding the federal budget.  It is good to hear from you. With $15 trillion in national debt hanging over the future of our children and grandchildren, President Obama and the Democrats in Congress have failed to take meaningful action to control government spending.  Past Republican Congresses and Administrations did their fair share of overspending.  But this does not excuse Democrat leaders for making a bad fiscal situation demonstrably worse.  Since President Obama took office, he and the Democrats in the House and Senate have presided over a failed $1.1 trillion economic stimulus bill, the release of $350 billion in Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) funds, and annual trillion dollar deficits. I really am an idiot and have no clue about economics, but just parrot what my masters tell me to say, even if it's false---just sayin'!  My Republican colleagues in the new Republican Majority in the House have selected me to serve on the House Appropriations Committee, which sets specific federal expenditures for government agencies and departments. Specific expenditures of our government must stay within the confines of allocations set by the budget resolution. This is a blueprint of government spending for the current year, as well as a projection for the decades to come. The President's budget proposal submitted to Congress in February would spend $3.8 trillion this year, the highest percentage of Gross Domestic Product since World War II. Over ten years it includes $8.7 trillion in new spending; nearly doubling the size of government since the day he took office. It would also collect $1.6 trillion in new taxes and add $13 trillion to the nation's debt over 10 years. This propels our country on a path to bankruptcy and I plan to stand with my Republican colleagues in demanding spending reductions or other budgetary concessions whenever possible. Raising the debt ceiling before August 2nd provided the Republicans with the leverage to demand immediate cuts instead of handing over a blank check. The Budget Control Act ensures Congress cuts government spending more than any increases in the debt limit. The first $900 billion increase in the debt limit was accompanied by $917 billion in cuts over 10 years. The Budget Control Act also set up a Joint Committee of Members of Congress to recommend at least $1.2 trillion in spending cuts before any additional increases to the debt limit. Since this Committee was ultimately not successful, we now face an automatic sequestration process which will enforce across-the-board cuts to lower our government's spending. Overall, the Congressional Budget Office projects the measure to save $2.117 trillion over 10 years, which puts us on a path to reversing the current spending trajectory and making progress towards greater fiscal responsibility. House passage of the Fiscal Year 2012 Republican budget, "The Path to Prosperity," is a good framework for the fiscal path I will insist on moving forward. This blueprint preserves and strengthens health and retirement programs. It streamlines the tax code, halts Washington's sprawl in favor of a smaller, leaner federal government, and it empowers America's job creators to start hiring and to grow the economy. Additionally, 'The Path to Prosperity' cuts $6.2 trillion in government spending over the next decade alone. This historic proposal is a clean cut from the reckless budget policies of the past. When I am home in Wyoming, the top concern I hear about is out-of-control federal spending.  I will use my seat on the Appropriations Committee to ensure the people of Wyoming's concerns will be expressed loud and clear.  I have not requested a single earmark since taking office and I am happy to say that my Republican colleagues in the House have decided to follow suit by banning earmarks in the next budget cycle.  I support legislation putting an end to the automatic pay raises given to Members of Congress every year.  These are all important steps towards changing the culture of spending in Washington, but tinkering around the edges of our spending addiction will not solve the problem. Achieving lasting budget balance will not be possible unless Congress is forced to make tough decisions, including reform of our unsustainable entitlement programs.  Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid are plagued with trillions in unfunded liabilities and will eventually collapse under their own weight if they are left unchanged.  Action must be taken sooner rather than later if we are to preserve these programs for future generations and avoid impacting current retirees that have planned their retirement around a promise of government benefits. Under the new Republican Majority, I am committed to advancing budget alternatives that put faith in individuals, small businesses and private sector investment to get us out of the recession, not big government spending.  I will continue working to restore fiscal sanity to a federal budget that, if set on the trajectory proposed by President Obama, will bankrupt the Treasury for our children and grandchildren.  Thank you again for taking the time to write to me.  I value your input.  If you haven't done so already, I would like to encourage you to visit my website at www.lummis.house.gov.  There you can sign up to receive my newsletter, and have access to a wealth of other information.  I won't flood your email box, but I will provide you with updates once in a while about activities in Washington that affect our lives in Wyoming.  I hope you will sign up so that we can stay in close touch, and I look forward to seeing you in Wyoming. Sincerely, Lady- Z Cynthia M. Lummis Member of Congress

Wyoming Delegation: Rep. Cynthia Lummis among Richest Members of Congress

Wyoming Delegation: Rep. Cynthia Lummis among Richest Members of Congress


Cynthia Lummis first won election to the Wyoming House of Representatives in 1979. She was just 24 years old at the time, making her the youngest woman in Equality State history to serve in the legislature.
Since then, the Republican from Cheyenne has spent 24 years in elected office, climbing the political rungs through both chambers of the Wyoming Legislature to the state treasurer’s office, and then to the halls of U.S. Congress.

Cynthia Lummis' rise in Congress is preceded by her success as a businesswoman and investor. Her 2007-2008 financial disclosure forms reported an estimated net worth between $20 million and $75 million. (Photo from Lummis' Facebook — click to enlarge)

Though it is not widely known, Lummis’ rise in politics has been matched by her ascent as a businesswoman. While working as a lawyer and elected official in Cheyenne, she quietly built her personal wealth through a number of real estate ventures she pursued with her husband and law partner Alvin Wiederspahn, who has been a board member of several banks.
Even before Lummis began her political career, her family was known in Cheyenne for owning the Arp and Hammond Hardware Company, along with several large ranch properties southeast of town.
But election to the U.S. House in 2008 shed more light on Lummis’ personal finances, showing that the self-described rancher and small business owner may be one of the richest lawmakers in the Capitol.
In 2007-2008, Rep. Lummis’ financial disclosure forms reported a net worth between $20 million and $75 million, landing her spot No. 15 on RollCall.com’s list of the 50 wealthiest members in both houses of Congress.
Those numbers may make her net worth appear to be larger than it actually is, because the form used by Congress allows lawmakers to report their wealth within broad ranges; if an asset is over $1 million, there are only four boxes to check: $1-5 million, $5-25 million, $25-50 million, and over $50 million. (Click here to learn more.)
Lummis’ more recent disclosure forms have reported lower values, putting her total net worth for 2010 between $5.5 million and $24 million. Still, that ranks her as the 29^th richest member of the U.S. House.
On paper, Lummis’ reported wealth dwarfs that of her fellow Wyoming members of Congress: Senators Mike Enzi and John Barrasso, both Republicans. According to financial disclosure statements filed with the Clerks of the House and Senate in 2010, Barrasso’s net worth is between $2,713,015 and $8,747,000, and Enzi’s is between $440,067 to $1,878,000. The Center for Responsive Politics ranked them as the 34^th and 66^th wealthiest senators, respectively.
Sen. Enzi’s biggest asset may be the three-story Washington D.C. home he bought in 1997 for $360,000, and which D.C. tax authorities valued at $874,000 in 2008.
The bulk of Sen. Barrasso’s money is his portfolio of Vanguard investment funds, valued between $2 million to $7.25 million in 2010. He earned a salary of $306,000 for his last year of work at Casper Orthopedic Associates in 2007.
If Lummis’ median estimated wealth of $14.75 million is accurate, she could be easily counted among the wealthiest 1 percent of all Americans who have more than $9 million in assets.
Lummis wrote about moving cows in Platte County during a weekend home from Washington in a recent press release. But it would be a mistake to cast her as an ordinary ranch woman. Her career trajectory and her financial balance sheet reveal an ambitious, intelligent woman from a wealthy family who gained political clout through her work on key state issues like tax revenue and the management of billions in state money.

Wealth in Property

Most of Lummis’ wealth is locked up in her shares of Arp and Hammond Company, Lummis Livestock Company, and Old Horse Pasture Inc. In 2007, she reported these three large family land companies to be worth between $5 million to $25 million each, which attracted the attention of Rollcall.com and other news outlets.
Lummis revised the values of the companies in her 2009 disclosure form,putting them between $1 million and $5 million, which dropped her out of the top 20 rankings of the wealthiest members of Congress.

Rep. Cynthia Lummis' financial disclosure form shows that a large portion of her income comes from businesses jointly owned by her and her husband Al Wiederspahn. (Form courtesy of Opensecrets.org — click to enlarge)

While the exact value of these companies is unknown, the real estate footprint is part of the public record. Records from the Laramie County Assessor’s office show that Lummis is part or full owner of over 14,000 acres in Laramie County assessed at $2,735,244 in 2011.
Lummis Livestock paid a distribution ranging from $48,000 to $50,000 to Cynthia Lummis from 2007-2009, but paid nothing in 2010. One parcel owned by Lummis Livestock contains a gravel pit that could be generating income.
With her husband Wiederspahn, a Cheyenne Lawyer and former board member of Rocky Mountain Bank and First National Bank of Wyoming, Rep. Lummis owns the Colony Building and the Carey Block in downtown Cheyenne, along with a warehouse at 1112 Dunn Street. Those three properties were assessed at $1,114,100 in 2011.
Wiederspahn also owns Equipoise Corporation, a real estate and historic preservation development firm valued between $1 million to $5 million. Through Equipoise Corporation, Wiederspahn owns a three-story apartment building with 11 bathrooms at 912 Country Club Avenue in Cheyenne, plus a lot at 410 Randall Avenue. The latter property was to be the site of The Irwin, a luxury condo building that has not yet been built. Those properties are valued at $618,253 in 2011.

A map of the property near Cheyenne owned by the Lummis Family. (Graphic by Guy Padgett with data from Laramie County Assessor — click to enlarge)

Equipoise also owns an 80-acre parcel at the foot of the Wyoming Range in Lincoln County, near the Star Valley community of Etna.
County tax assessment records show Wiederspahn and Lummis own 1,600 acres of ranchland in Platte County, located on Cooney Hills Road west of Wheatland near the Laramie Range. They own another 1,200 acres in Albany County.
Wiederspahn and Lummis’ primary residence is on Bent Avenue in Cheyenne, valued at $314,277 in 2010. Lummis also owns a condo on New York Avenue in Washington, D.C. valued at about $501,440 according to tax assessment records.
Lummis’ assets and those of her husband have not grown extravagantly since her election to Congress, though she did manage to pay off two ranch mortgages between 2008 and 2009 valued between $1.1 million and $5.25 million.
In 2010, Lummis reported between $115,000 and $250,000 in real estate income from the Colony Building, the Carey Block, and the warehouse at 1112 Dunn. Though not reported in the disclosure statement, she also earned a yearly salary of $174,000 as a member of Congress.

State Treasurer 1999-2007

Lummis’ power may have reached a peak during her years as state treasurer, when she was responsible for the investment and diversification of the massive windfall Wyoming saw during the natural gas boom.
During her two terms as state treasurer from 1999 to 2007, the state had received over $6 billion in revenue. Lummis oversaw the growth of the state’s investments from $3.5 billion to $8.6 billion, and led the conversion from mostly fixed income funds to a diversified portfolio.
As one of the five members of the State Land and Investment Board, she championed a strategy to put 50 percent of state investment funds into equities. Up to that point, the fiscally conservative state had kept most of its investments in fixed-income bonds.
During the course of Lummis’ term she helped choose fund managers like Cheyenne Capital Fund, which invested $257 million in state money, and State Street Global Advisors, which invested $952 million by December 2006.
Lummis’ treasurer’s report for 2006 shows other large investments were made through Fisher Investments and Capital Guardian Trust, which managed $350 million each. Western Asset Management and Lehman each managed over $330 million in fixed income funds. Friess Associates and GAMCO (Gabelli) each managed over $180 million in equities. Subsequently, donors connected to Lehman, Friess, and GAMCO all gave money to Lummis’ congressional campaign.
The array of new investments created a modernized growth portfolio that many hoped would help equalize the boom and bust cycles of mineral revenue that wreak havoc on the state’s budget. As Lummis said in her closing treasurer’s report for 2006, “Perhaps no State Treasurer will have as unique an opportunity as I to effect such significant change on Wyoming’s investment portfolios using modern institutional portfolio theory.”
She later wrote a chapter called “Combating the mineral curse: the case of Wyoming” in the book Sovereign Wealth Management for the World Bank. The publisher, Central Banking Publications, flew Lummis on a one-night all-expenses paid trip to London, according to her 2010 financial disclosure form.
In Lummis’ 2008 run for Congress against Democrat Gary Trauner, her campaign materials touted her role in the state’s $4 billion investment growth that occurred during her two terms as treasurer. Gov. Dave Freudenthal told the Casper Star Tribune that the energy boom, not Lummis, should be credited for the growth.
Whether or not the credit can be given to Lummis, it’s clear that the state’s portfolio has been growing in the right direction overall. As of June 30, 2011, Wyoming’s investments had a market value of $14.4 billion.
The increased exposure to growth also brought increased risk, and there have been some setbacks. In 2009 the state portfolio declined in value from $11.5 billion to $10.9 billion, an unrealized loss of $600 million on paper.
Even so, the portfolio is up nearly $6 billion since Lummis left the state treasurer’s office. That growth has been good for Wyoming, but it has also been good for the fund managers. For example, Cheyenne Capital Fund initially collected a yearly management fee of $1.9 million when it was chosen to manage state funds in 2003. Cheyenne Capital Fund founder John Fitzgerald said the company’s formula for calculating management fees is complicated, but usually comes out to about 1.55 percent annually, which is in line with the industry average. His fund charged the state a $2.9 million fee in 2010.

Business and Politics

Over the course of her career Lummis has been involved in many major transactions and policy initiatives, and several of her efforts have resulted in criticism.
In particular, Lummis’ connections to royalty in kind have drawn media scrutiny. As reported by WyoFile, Lummis voted in 2005 to commit Wyoming’s 50 percent interest in mineral royalties from federal lands to the royalty in kind program in the Department of the Interior, an experiment that ended in controversy after a lack of oversight by the Minerals Management Service caused the government to lose hundreds of millions in royalties.
The accounting problems arose during the Clinton years, but were left uncorrected during Bush’s tenure when Wyoming’s Rejane “Johnnie” Burton was director of the federal Minerals Management Service. Burton resigned from that job in 2007, before reports of major corruption in of the service’s Lakewood, Colo. offices surfaced in September of 2008.

Rep. Lummis poses in front of a stack of government regulations. Questions surfaced after Lummis hired Johnnie Burton as a field representative in her Cheyenne office in January of 2009. Lummis had a long association with Burton, who served in the state legislature and chaired the Wyoming Department of Revenue from 1995-2002. (Photo courtesy of Cynthia Lummis' Facebook page — click to enlarge)

After the Lakewood scandal broke, Lummis hired Burton as a field representative in her Cheyenne office in January of 2009. Lummis had a long association with Burton, who served in the state legislature and chaired the Wyoming Department of Revenue from 1995-2002.
In June 2010 Lummis’ Democratic challenger David Wendt criticized her continued employment of the controversial former Minerals Management service director. Burton then defended her record in a July 2010 article in the Casper Star Tribune, saying the press had crucified her. She said that she had initiated an investigation of the Lakewood office in 2006, and that the royalty in kind program had made money for the government.
Lummis paid Burton a yearly salary of $50,000 for her work in Cheyenne in 2009 and 2010, but that was reduced to a salary of $19,000 for January to September 2011. As of this writing, Burton continues to work in Lummis’ Cheyenne office.
Lummis also attracted media scrutiny in June 2011 when the Associated Press reported that several fund managers hired by Lummis during her tenure as state treasurer had gone on to contribute to her congressional campaigns in 2008 and 2010.
As shown below, this was not illegal, and may have been a case of political fundraising as usual.
The Associated Press article noted that donors to Lummis for Congress included John Fitzgerald of Cheyenne Capital Fund and several of his associates. Contributions from the Fitzgerald family amounted to $15,800 from 2008-2010.
As treasurer and member of the State Loan and Investment Board, Lummis had made several moves that benefited Cheyenne Capital. She voted for an investment of $125 million in state money with Fitzgerald’s fund in 2003, and then voted to invest another $100 million with the company in 2004.
In both cases she argued that Cheyenne Capital was the best manager, and subsequently the fund has had an internal rate of return of over 12 percent. (See Cheyenne Capital Fund – Private Equity Commitments and Investments for more information on the fund’s performance.)
Gov. Freudenthal voted against investing with the fund both times, but the measures passed anyway.
Then in 2006, Lummis signed a confidentiality agreement with Cheyenne Capital Group, which sealed their records to the public to protect industry secrets. That agreement was overturned earlier this year by a Freedom of Information Act request made by the Associated Press.
Lummis originally met Fitzgerald in the late 1980s through her husband’s banking interests. Fitzgerald was a lawyer for Kirkland and Ellis when he represented a consortium of equity firms that was headquartered in Cheyenne. Wiederspahn was a board member of Rocky Mountain Bank at that time, and worked with the consortium as it looked for assets to purchase.
In an interview with WyoFile, Fitzgerald said he may have met Lummis once through Wiederspahn at that time, but that he didn’t do any business with her until years later when she called him as state treasurer looking for equity funds to invest in.
While she was treasurer, Fitzgerald invested state money allotted to Cheyenne Capital Fund with several other private equity managers. After Lummis left the treasurer’s office, many of those managers donated to her 2008 congressional campaign, including Paul and Paula Balser of Ironwood Partners in New York ($8,100 from 2008-2011), James Gordon of Edgewater Funds in Chicago ($2,300 in 2008), and J. Martin of Platte River Ventures in Denver ($2,300 in 2008).

Rep. Lummis speaks in Washington D.C. on the launch day of the 10th Amendment Task Force. Some of the biggest individual contributors to her campaign are managers of private equity and large-scale investment funds who she's been associated to in the past. (Photo courtesy of Cynthia Lummis' Facebook page — click to enlarge)

According to watchdog groups, managers of Wyoming’s larger investment funds also donated to Lummis, including the Jackson-based Foster Friess family of Friess Associates ($9,200 in 2008), Mario Gabelli of GAMCO ($3,300 in 2008 and 2009), and Theodore Roosevelt IV of Lehman Brothers and Barclays Capital ($3,157 in 2008 and 2009). In most cases, Lummis was only one among dozens of candidates that these fund managers contributed to at regular intervals.
Since Lummis left the state treasurer’s office in 2007, she had no authority to invest additional funds with the managers or change their compensation. Of the fund managers who made donations to her congressional campaigns after 2008, none of them donated to her campaigns for state treasurer in 1998 or 2002.
Contributions from all managers with ties to Cheyenne Capital totaled over $31,000, a small amount compared to the $1,530,454 total she raised for 2008.
Other sectors represented a much larger portion of her funding. For example, Lummis received over $177,000 from political action committees (PACs) and individuals connected with the energy and natural resources sector.
Aside from the stir caused by the fund manager donations, Lummis has had run-of-the-mill donors for a Wyoming candidate. In her fundraising efforts for her 2010 race she raised over $780,000. More than $279,000 of that came from individuals, while another $412,000 came from PACs.
Lummis held three fundraisers at the Capitol Hill Club in Washington. The events took place on March 11, June 17, and September 28, and helped net major contributions from oil industry and sugar industry PACs.
Notable donors who gave the individual limit of $2,400 included John Fitzgerald, manager of Cheyenne Capital Fund and Seneca Equity Partners; Diemer, Henry, David, and Susan True, all members of the Casper oil family; Jim and Mari Martin, Casper oil investors; Cheyenne businessman Tim Hu; Robert Model of Cody; and R. and Carol Holding of the Sinclair oil company.
Several of these individuals have a long history of supporting Lummis. In her 1992 race for Wyoming Senate, Lummis received contributions from Holding, Hu, and True.
PAC contributions for 1992 included Exxon, Arco, Texaco, Marathon, Burlington Northern, Chevron, Conoco, and many other interests.
Her list of campaign contributors for the 2002 treasurer race read like a who’s who of Wyoming Republican politics: Alan Simpson, Diemer True, Tom Stroock, Eli Bebout, Robert Peck, Judy Catchpole, Ray Hunkins, Cliff Hansen, Jim Geringer, and many others.

A Regular Wyoming Politician

Unlike Sen. Enzi, Cynthia Lummis does not appear to use her political connections or campaign funds to directly enrich her family.
As reported by WyoFile in September, Sen. Enzi’s campaign paid $70,910 to his son’s wife Danielle Enzi for her work as campaign manager from July 2010 to July 2011. Watchdog groups and some members of Congress frown on the practice of elected officials paying their relatives with campaign funds or otherwise, which can turn running for election into a way to build up family wealth. A Department of Energy stimulus grant paid Sen. Enzi’s son Brad $128,000 in consulting fees for his work on carbon storage study related to the slow-moving Two Elk power plant project.

Lummis speaks at a GOP Women's press conference on healthcare reform on July 24, 2009. Research shows that the finances of Lummis and her family are largely unconnected to her political activities. (Photo from Lummis' Facebook page — click to enlarge)

Campaign disbursement reports show that Rep. Lummis pays Wiederspahn $900 quarterly to rent an office space in the First National Bank of Wyoming Building at 2015 Central Avenue in Cheyenne, plus reimbursements like $300 for office expenses, and occasional large ticket items such as $1,000 spent on postage. Total rent and reimbursements paid to Wiederspahn were $10,592 for 2009 and 2010, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Lummis’ daughter Annaliese Wiederspahn served as deputy campaign manager for her 2008 House race, before taking on the role of campaign manager in 2010.
Lummis for Congress paid Ms. Wiederspahn no salary for her managerial work, though she received $14,603 in reimbursements for mileage and expenses in 2009-2010. Lummis’ campaign expenditure reports can be found here.
Lummis for Congress also spent $161,876 on a loan repayment to Cynthia Lummis for money she loaned to her own campaign in 2010, plus $15,000 to Lummis for an unspecified expense in 2009.
Alvin Wiederspahn’s wealth seems to be largely independent of his wife’s political activities. In 2003, he partnered with Mick McMurry of Casper and Robert Jensen of Cheyenne in restoring the historic Plains Hotel in downtown Cheyenne.
McMurry was a major early player in the discovery of the Jonah natural gas field near Pinedale, and Jensen was Chief Operating Officer of the Wyoming Business Council at the time.
Wiederspahn also served on the board of directors of the First National Bank of Wyoming. The company is based in Laramie, but has branches in Cheyenne and Fort Collins.
In 2004, Lummis and Wiederspahn purchased shares of First Capital West Bankshares, the holding company of First National Bank of Wyoming. The president of the corporation is Timothy Borden, a banker and small-engine foundry owner from Steamboat Springs, Colorado.
Rep. Lummis’ financial disclosure statements indicate that the debt to Timothy Borden is held by Lummis’ spouse, Alvin Wiederspahn. From 2009 to 2010 the amount owed to Borden dropped from a range between $500,000 and $1 million to between $250,000 and $500,000. So even amid the global economic downturn, Lummis and Wiederspahn have maintained their ability to pay down debts.
Despite WyoFile’s repeated attempts to reach Rep. Lummis’ offices for comment on this article, neither she nor her staff offered a response.
However, Tammy Hooper, Chairman of the Wyoming Republican Party, provided a statement on Lummis’ investment record as state treasurer: “We’re appreciative of her efforts and always have been. (Cynthia Lummis had) an intuitive ability to invest Wyoming’s money well when she was treasurer, to the benefit of the state and the citizens of Wyoming.”
Hooper noted that Lummis’ fiscal experience of balancing the state budget on a yearly basis has informed her current work in Washington: “She’s carrying that forward to how the government is spending the money, and where it’s spending its money, and she’s trying to tackle the deficit spending.”
While Lummis has a much higher net worth than the average Wyoming voter, Hooper said that distinction is irrelevant to how the representative does her job.
“I don’t think that her personal wealth determines or impacts her decision making to do what’s best for the country and for the people she represents in Wyoming. You’re elected to do the job, which is to represent the people,” Hooper said.

This story by Gregory Nickerson who is a University of Wyoming-trained historian and writer from Big Horn. He has worked on documentary films in Nicaragua, Yellowstone, and Philadelphia, and held jobs as a museum curator and hunting guide.
This story is part of an occasional WyoFile series about the finances, records and political work of Wyoming’s congressional delegation. Read the previous installment: Rising From the Right: Barrasso’s climb in senate follows increasingly conservative course

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