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Micheli

Gubernatorial candidate Ron Micheli stopped in Jackson on Tuesday, saying Wyoming needs a leader like him with experience and leadership abilities.

A fourth-generation rancher and a Republican from Fort Bridger, he calls himself a small-business man. Micheli served 16 years in the state Legislature and was director of the state Department of Agriculture from 1995 to 2003.

Experience in the private and public sector qualifies him for the highest office in the state, he said. He has been on the road campaigning since Feb. 11, spending only five days at home in the last five weeks.

Big government was one of the first topics he addressed in an interview.

“We desperately need in this state a leader who is not afraid to be a conservative,” Micheli said. “Our state budget tripled in the last seven years.”

“That is not sustainable,” he said. “We cannot continue with that kind of growth in state government.”

He agreed that some growth is necessary in boom times, when energy production accelerates, for example. But he questioned whether recent expansions are justified.

“Does it have to triple in size?” Micheli said of state government.

Wyoming also has to push back on federal incursions on states’ rights and state sovereignty, he said.

“We need a governor who understands the 10th Amendment and is willing to fight for that,” he said.

That part of the Bill of Rights reserves for the states those powers not granted to the federal government.

“That’s the issue everybody wants to talk about,” he said, “Washington’s impacts on our economy and our lifestyle.”

The candidate said he is committed to the Wyoming lifestyle, which he characterized as “the traditional family lifestyle,” and Wyoming conservative values.

Intrusions come from all directions, including in the area of natural resources and endangered species, he said.

“It’s the constitutional right of the states to manage the wildlife,” including endangered species, Micheli said. He “absolutely” believes that species should be preserved, he added.

“The focus should be on state management,” he said of rare animals and plants.

Micheli said federal cap-and-trade legislation that would seek to limit the emission of greenhouse gasses “could bring our mineral industry to its knees.” He said residents should understand the contributions of the minerals industry to state revenue and that the low tax structure in Wyoming is a result of energy development here.

He said United Nations studies on global warming and climate change have been “fairly debunked.”

“I think it’s minimal,” he said of human contribution to climate change. “I do not believe we are in a global warming trend.”

Micheli said he is not recommending everybody go out and pollute.

“That isn’t to say we shouldn’t try to be responsible stewards,” he said of his beliefs.

Micheli said he is a strong supporter of Second Amendment gun rights and thinks health care should be reformed at the state level.

Removing state-line restrictions on health insurance, increasing “portability” of insurance coverage and limiting legal claims against doctors are state-level changes he supports, he said.

He also supports more local control of education, something that has been slipping as the state has taken on capital construction responsibilities. Local control is beginning to slip from curriculum planning in a slide that could see parents becoming less and less involved with their children’s education, he said.

As a resident of western Wyoming, Micheli said he understands the pattern of federal ownership and what’s involved in places like Teton County, where residents deal on a regular basis with federal officials for permits, access and other similar issues.

Micheli is a 1970 graduate of the University of Wyoming and with wife Patty has eight children.