Freedom Caucus leader accuses Wyoming Gov. Gordon of breaking spending law

CHEYENNE—Gov. Mark Gordon and two past Joint Appropriations Committees failed to follow a state law governing spending, Rep. John Bear alleged Monday in a statement sent to several news outlets.

The governor, meanwhile, is standing by the budget recommendations Bear called into question, and told WyoFile they are both constitutional and in alignment with the law. 

Bear, R-Gillette, said he discovered Gordon’s alleged transgression after taking over as chairman of the Legislature’s House Appropriations Committee, which is now mostly made up of Wyoming Freedom Caucus members. Bear, the former chairman of the group of hard-line Republicans, is now the bloc’s chairman emeritus.

“After being sworn in to the 68th Legislature, I and my colleagues on the House Appropriations Committee got right to work investigating Wyoming’s budgetary obligations, restrictions, reserves, and more,” Bear wrote in a statement titled “There’s a new sheriff in town.” 

“We have learned a lot,” he wrote. “We have also uncovered inconsistencies between state spending law and practice by the governor and former legislative appropriators.”

Bear pointed to a piece of 2016 legislation that changed the state’s spending policy. More specifically, Bear said the law prohibits the governor from recommending an appropriation of the state’s rainy day fund, known as the Legislative Stabilization Reserve Account, that exceeds 5% of the balance of that account as of the first of the fiscal year in which the recommendation is made. 

“This law is about living within our means — something our governor has touted with each budget provided to the Legislature during his tenure,” Bear wrote. “Unfortunately, the governor has on more than one occasion recommended appropriations from the rainy-day fund well in excess of the 5% limit laid out in statute.” 

His statement did not specify how the money was used. 

In his State of the State this year, Gordon described a devastating wildfire season and its fiscal effects on the state’s coffers. 

“The direct firefighting cost exceeded $55 million. This fully depleted the funds you appropriated to firefighting, my contingency account, Homeland Security’s contingency funds, and virtually all of the governor’s authority to borrow from the Legislative Stabilization Reserve Account — the LSRA,” Gordon said. 

“My Chief of Staff responded to the Representative’s concern on Friday and offered to work with the Appropriations committee on this matter,” Gordon wrote WyoFile in a statement Monday. 

“That offer still stands. We submitted a balanced budget with substantial savings and we have cooperated with the Joint Appropriations Committee as they have worked the budget since November. Perhaps Representative Bear should be more interested in helping the people of Wyoming recover from devastating wildfires than running his next campaign.”

In his letter, Gordon’s Chief of Staff Drew Perkins told Bear the governor’s budget recommendations were “within the requirements of the Constitution and applicable statutes.” 

Perkins previously served as a lawmaker and chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. 

Without naming names, Bear also accused former Appropriations Committee members, including “sitting lawmakers,” of not making the “deviation” known during the 2019 and 2024 legislative sessions. 

Rep. Lloyd Larsen, R-Lander, who was an appropriations member in both 2019 and 2024, had words for the “new sheriff” à la “The Andy Griffith Show.” 

“Just because Andy went to Mt. Pilot for the day and left Barney in charge, doesn’t necessarily mean that all his observations are accurate,” Larsen told WyoFile. “And he needs to be careful about the one bullet he is carrying in his pocket.”

Larsen said Bear’s accusations call into question “the honor” of past appropriations members, who always had frank conversations with the executive branch.

“Never was the governor trying to pull the wool over our eyes,” Larsen said. 

This is a breaking news story and it may be updated.

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