Democratic Parties Host Labor Day Event

On September 5, the Johnson and Sheridan County Democratic Parties hosted a joint Labor Day event at Kearney Hall near Story. Special guest speaker was Wyoming Democratic Party National Committeewoman Kim Bartlett.

In addition to advocating for Wyoming at the national level as Committeewoman to the DNC, Kim is a recipient of the Nellie Tayloe Ross Award, has served as the Chair of Hot Springs Democratic Party, and was a candidate for House District 28.

Johnson County Democratic Party Chairman, Greg Haas welcomed the large crowd and spoke a few words before introducing the guest speaker.

He said there have been many conflicts over the centuries, between unions and political parties, unions and government, unions and others as well. There were a lot of ups and downs. He added that organized labor has been in decline, especially in Wyoming.

He added, “Maybe I’m supposed to talk about Labor Day and why we are here.”

He said he was also here to hear from some Wyoming Democratic candidates, and to hear from guest speaker Sue Bartlett.

Bartlett thanked the Sheridan and Johnson Democrats as well as Committeewoman Tracy Spartz Campbell for inviting her to speak. She said that Campbell asked her to speak on her transition from Republican to Democrat, and the Prop 1 Property Tax Initiative.

At a Democratic National Committee meeting in Austin, Texas, she said she attended a training on storytelling, and she had been communicating her story all wrong.

She said she grew up in a Republican home in Oklahoma. She said that a mother’s political party has the most impact over a person’s thinking. She said in her family, they were not afraid to vote for whichever candidate they felt was the better one.

She said “I’ve always questioned, and I’m not afraid to change my mind, if evidence proves me wrong, or if you have a better argument than I do.”

She talked about running for office and knocking on doors to talk to people about their concerns.

“You may be thinking, why is she telling me this, and how in the world does it this relate to Prop 1 residential property tax ballot initiative?”

She had a handout about Prop 1, and how it would affect many of the entities that depend on the revenue to function. The figures she presented were from Hot Springs County but would be similar in other counties around the state as well. These included but were not limited to libraries, emergency services, museums, predatory animal control, and Ag Extension services.

She added that she attended the 2024 National Democratic Convention in Chicago, where she met Kamala Harris.

After Bartlett’s speech, several candidates talked to the crowd about why they felt they were the best candidate. James Byrd, Lisa Kinney, and Bryan McCarty, as well as Billy Montgomery from Gillette were all in attendance. Residents of several other counties, Hot Springs, Natrona, Campbell, and Washakie attended the program.