Shortly after being sued for defamation in July, the political action committee affiliated with the Wyoming Freedom Caucus sent out additional mailers, doubling down on claims that landed the PAC in court.
That prompted two Sweetwater County lawmakers to file an amended legal complaint this week, seeking to strengthen their legal argument ahead of an upcoming deadline in the case.
Reps. J.T. Larson (R-Rock Springs) and Cody Wylie (R-Rock Springs) filed the lawsuit after the WY Freedom PAC accused the two lawmakers of voting “to remove Trump from the ballot” in mailers and text messages to voters.
However, the Wyoming Legislature has never in its history considered, debated nor voted on any proposal to remove former President Donald Trump from the ballot in any election, in any state.
While the PAC previously told WyoFile it equates a vote on a budget bill footnote as a vote against Trump, the suit alleges the PAC knew its statements were false and therefore made them with actual malice — a legal standard in defamation cases involving public figures or officials.
The amended complaint also argues that such false statements are especially damaging in a conservative state like Wyoming.
“Support for Trump is so strong in Wyoming House District 17, Wyoming House District 39 and across Wyoming that whether one supports Trump has become a proxy for whether a person is a true Republican,” the amended complaint states.
Successful incumbent Rep. Cody Wylie gets a hug from Lisa Ryberg as he eyes the primary results on a big screen in the Sweetwater County Courthouse on Aug. 20, 2024. (Angus M. Thuermer Jr./WyoFile)
Both Larson and Wiley won their reelection bids against Freedom Caucus-backed opponents in the primary, but the suit alleges the statements caused harm to their reputations and one of their private businesses.
Other lawmakers including Reps. Landon Brown (R-Cheyenne), Lloyd Larsen (R-Lander), Ember Oakley (R-Riverton) and Dan Zwonitzer (R-Cheyenne) were also targeted by similar mailers but have not filed legal challenges. Oakley and Zwonitzer lost their reelection bids to candidates aligned with the Freedom Caucus.
Freedom Caucus leaders have defended the mailers.
“This is lawfare by liberals trying to keep conservatives from being effective,” Freedom Caucus member John Bear (R-Gillette) previously told WyoFile.
Background
The post-lawsuit mailers were delivered to more than 2,000 households in Sweetwater County in early August, according to the amended complaint. Their language and imagery differ from the original mailers, but still point to a vote on a budget footnote.
During the 2024 budget session, lawmakers clashed over which elected officials should have the authority to represent the state’s interest in litigation. That debate came after Secretary of State Chuck Gray joined Ohio and Missouri’s Republican secretaries of state in filing an amicus brief that advocated for overturning a Colorado court’s decision to remove Trump from that state’s ballot because of his role in inciting the Jan. 6, 2021 riots at the U.S. Capitol.
Secretary of State Chuck Gray exits the House of Representatives on the opening day of the 2024 legislative session. (Ashton J. Hacke/WyoFile)
The Joint Appropriations Committee responded by adding a footnote to the budget limiting the secretary of state’s ability to sue on Wyoming’s behalf
“No funds appropriated under this section shall be expended without specific legislative authorization for the secretary of state or the office of the secretary of state to initiate any litigation or participate in any litigation initiated in a court outside of Wyoming in which the state, the secretary of state or the office of the secretary of state is not a named party,” the footnote read.
Some lawmakers argued the footnote was about separation of powers and ensuring the state’s chief executive — the governor — remained the one office with the authority to speak on behalf of Wyoming in a courtroom.
That included Rep. Clark Stith (R-Rock Springs), an attorney, who is now counsel for Larson and Wylie in the case. (Stith lost his reelection bid in August.)
Meanwhile, Freedom Caucus members argued that the secretary of state’s office needed the ability to act quickly. Others said the budget wasn’t the place for such a footnote, and it was ultimately left out of the final budget bill passed by both chambers.
Post-lawsuit mailers
“When LIBERAL bureaucrats in Colorado tried to stop President Trump from appearing on the primary ballot, Conservatives in Wyoming stood on principle,” the post-lawsuit mailers state. “They fought all the way to the Supreme Court and won.”
The mailers — which appeared as two versions, each targeting Larson or Wylie respectively — accuse the plaintiffs of casting “a NO VOTE when it was time to fight. He sided with the radical left in opposing any funds to fight the deep state in court.”
A picture of the plaintiff appears to the left of the text, while the now-famous photograph of Trump following the July assassination attempt takes up most of the right side of the mailer, blood streaking the former president’s cheek with his fist in the air.
J.T. Larson (R-Rock Springs) at the 67th Wyoming Legislature’s 2023 general session in Cheyenne. (Mike Koshmrl/WyoFile)
This combination of statements and imagery is where the complaint’s “false light” claim rests. That claim, a more obscure privacy law than defamation, deals with communication placing someone in a false light, among other things.
The mailer casts Larson and Wylie “in a false light in the public eye,” the complaint states, by associating the lawmakers “with not only the ‘radical left’” but also “as an enemy of Trump and on the side of Trump’s would be assassin.”
To counteract this “disinformation,” the amended complaint states both Larson and Wiley had to spend “substantial additional sums of money” during the primary election season to secure their Republican nomination.
“Countering the false, defamatory statements also required each of the Plaintiffs to meet in person with voters in their districts more than would have been otherwise necessary,” the complaint states. “Specifically, Plaintiffs had out of pocket costs for fuel and travel to go door to door explaining in person to many registered Republicans in their respective districts that, contrary to the claims in the defamatory texts and mailers, they had not voted to remove Trump from the ballot, that they had not voted no on any proposal to keep Trump on the ballot and that they supported Trump.”
The complaint also includes statements from two Sweetwater County voters who said the text messages and mailers made them view the two lawmakers negatively.
The PAC has until Nov. 4th to file a response.
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