Beyond anecdotes
….
The new health care commission is intended to look beyond anecdotes
and innuendo about how to best deal with Wyoming’s 78,000 residents
without regular health care “so we can have a fact-based discussion,”
Freudenthal said.
Wyoming’s new wolf law, intended to prepare the state to manage
wolves if they’re removed from the Endangered Species List, is a good
compromise between meeting the state’s obligation and protecting
residents, Freudenthal said.
“The notion that this is a shoot-on-sight bill is not true. The
notion that this is a preserve-every-wolf bill is not true,” he said.
“This strikes a balance.”
Freudenthal took the opportunity to take a poke at Paul Hoffman, the
Cody chamber’s former director who now works for the Interior Department.
The governor said he spoke with Hoffman while the Legislature
debated the wolf question because Freudenthal wanted something in
writing from Interior spelling out what would be acceptable to the
federal government.
Hoffman said he couldn’t put anything in writing, Freudenthal said.
“So if there was any doubt he had drifted to the dark side …”
Eventually, though, Hoffman and others at Interior redeemed
themselves somewhat, giving guidance about necessary details in the wolf
bill, Freudenthal said.
“He has his job to do,” Freudenthal said.
The governor recently had a chance to visit with some members of the
armed forces from Wyoming. Freudenthal observed troops in the state and at
training operations in Louisiana.
“We have some amazing young people in this state … prepared to
serve this country,” Freudenthal said.
No matter what one’s political views are on the prospect of war in
Iraq, Freudenthal said, Wyoming citizens will stand behind their troops.
“These young people deserve our support,” he said.
While many of the state’s young people are involved in the military
elsewhere, Freudenthal said it’s incumbent that the rest of Wyoming’s
residents work to make the state “the kind of place these people are proud
to return to.”
That means improving the health of the economy, providing job
opportunities and offering a safe climate.
“And most of all,” he said, “a place where we care a lot about each
other.”