www. LovellChronicle.com
March 11, 2010 I The Lovell Chronicle I 7
MAXFIELD
Continued from page 1
health department had put
that way down at the bottom
of the list as far as priority
goes because of the fact that
it was so small here and the
Powell hospital is so close
and we really didn't have
the service area here. But
when we went we showed
'em that there was 100
miles that you guys had to
cover to bring people back,
and for anybody who has
come down offthe mountain
or ridden in an ambulance,
20 miles is pretty far."
SECRETARY OF STATE
Service as Wyoming's
secretary of state has
been a dream come true,
Maxfield said. He said he
realized early on that, as
one of the five top elected
officials, he could make a
major difference.
"I fell in love with what
I saw in the position of
secretary of state," he said,
noting that he first ran for
the office in 1994 but lost.
He was later elected to
two terms as state auditor
and successfully ran for
secretary of state four years
ago.
"It's truly something
I've set my heart and my
eyes on for a long time,
and without my wife,
Gayla, I would never have
accomplished this."
When he first took
office, Maxfield said, he had
a lot of ideas about things he
wanted to do, but he found
out that expectations and
reality are sometimes two
different things. He said he
promised on the campaign
trail that he would bring
Wyoming into compliance
with federal guidelines
for voting so Wyoming's
voting system would be in
line with what the federal
government was asking.
'vVe made that happen
within 11 months after I took
office," he said, adding that
any of his accomplishments
in office are due to the hard
work of his staff.
"I've got the best
staff, bar none,':he said.
"None,of the things we've
accomplished, and i believe
we've accomplished a great
deal, could have happened
without our staff."
Maxfield ticked off a
list of accomplishments
during his first three years
in office:
• He said the secretary
of state's Web site has
received national acclaim
and is interactive, allowing
people to do business
with his office directly via
computer without having
to "do the paper trail back
and forth" or come into the
office. He said the site has
made things much more
convenient in the areas
of agriculture, liens and
business.
• The Wyoming
Secretary of State's Office
processes more than $20
million in a biennium,
Maxfield said, noting that
most of the business comes
in $50 and $100 increments.
And the staff must "turn
around" the paperwork in
just five days by state law.
"We've implemented
some new ways to fast track
that," he said, "and our fscal
tracking mechanism we've
put into place has, I think,
made us more responsible
in the way we report to the
public."
• Maxfield said he
had no idea when he was
running for office how
important a role the office
plays in fighting business
fraud. Within three days
of taking office, he said, he
received calls from USA
Today, Forbes and Sen. Carl
Levin of Michigan because a
national study showed that
Wyoming was one of the
top three states for illegal
money laundering.
"When I got that news,
I said 'not on my watch," he
said, and he worked with
the Wyoming Legislature to
enact legislation to help his
office deal with some of the
companies that were using
Wyoming's good name to
do illicit business in the
state. "And trust me," he
added, "it was happening
everywhere."
With the legislation in
place, Wyoming has driven
more than 4,000 companies
out of Wyoming. He said
his office has interacted
with the U.S. Department
of the Treasury, which is
trying to come up with an
overall plan for the country
on how to handle business
registrations.
"And the last thing
Wyoming needs is a'one size
fits all' from Washington,"
he said. "So we've tried to
stay ahead of it with the
legislature to make sure
that doesn't happen to
our state. We don't want
federal guidelines imposed
on us. I believe with the
legislature, with what
we've started to do and
with our commitment we
can solve this problem on
our own."
It is a problem,
Maxfield said, noting that
thousands of companies
are using Wyoming as a
point of contact for money
laundering.
• The secretaryofstate's
office has developed a new
campaign finance program
through which candidates
above the county level
may file on line, and after
the filing date has passed,
a citizen will be able to
check a Web site in regard
to campaign financing -
where the money comes
from, how it is spent and
how much campaign money
a candidate has.
Maxfield said he has
several goals for his next
term of office:
• Keep going after
business fraud.
• Increase education
in the area of seams by
working closely with the
media and getting the
word out whenever a new
seam is discovered. He said
a down economy brings out
the worst in seams, because
people want to believe when
they're told something will
improve their lives.
• Continue to
investigate complaints
through the new Division
of Compliance in the
secretary of state's office.
He said the office recently
prosecuted a man in Cody on
19 counts of fraud and said
the man made more than
$1.6 million selling false
securities to fellow church
members and friends.
• Continue to "guard"
Wyoming's bucking horse
symbol, noting, "The
bucking horse belongs to us,
and it's really important"
to fight to keep Wyoming's
trademark.
Maxfield said he would
be proud to serve another
four years as secretary of
state.
"Every day when I go to
that magnificent building,
the capitol, I'm humbled," he
said. "I always feel blessed
that Wyoming voters have
made it possible for me to
serve. People die around
the world for the right to
vote and it's a treasure.
And I'll never forget that.
I consider a vote to be a
treasure. Today I ask for
your treasure, I ask for your
vote to allow me to serve as
your secretary of state for
four more years.
"If I'm allowed to do
this I promise that I will
continue to work for you
and I will always honor
your vote."
PETERSON
Continued from page 1
"We talked about the
burn rate and how fast
schools could be built," Pe-
terson said.
Meanwhile, the House
had restored $52 million
for school capital construc-
tion and added $10 million
to local government and
$4.1 million to the Devel-
opmental Disabilities Pro-
gram.
Senate amendments
added $12.9 million for the
purchase of a new state li-
quor warehouse but cut
$12.1 million from the bud-
get by having state employ-
ees participate in funding
the state retirement fund.
The Senate also cut $7.9
million by freezing the
school transportation reim-
bursement program at cur-
rent levels.
Senate Appropriations
Committee Chairman Phil
Nicholas (R-Laramie) pro-
posed cutting each body's
recommendation in half-
chopping the House budget
increase to $31.8 million
and the Senate's cuts to
$3.4 million, and after con-
ference committee :wran-
gling, that's essentially
what the two houses con-
curred on.
FINAL COMPROMISE
Under the final com-
promise, Peterson said,
the legislature added $1.5
million to the budget for
developmental disabilities
funding, $27,500 for an ep-
ilepsy program, $149,828
for a law clerk for a district
judge in Sublette County,
$15,000 for funding for the
blind, $21.9 million ex-
tra for school capital con-
struction (two projects, in-
cluding the Powell school),
$6.5 million for local gov-
ernment, $12.9 million for
the liquor warehouse and
$200,000 to fund new sex
offender laws. The com-
promise also kept intact
the Senate's $12.1 million
cut by requiring state em-
ployees to participate in
the retirement program
but eliminated the cut
in school trazisportation
funding.
Local government is
taking a big hit, Peterson
said. The governor rec-
ommended $60 million in
funding and the JAC add-
ed $20 million more. The
House had recommended
an additional $10 million
in funding, but the confer-
ence committee trimmed
that increase to $6.5 mil-
lion.
"That's still quite a hit
for cities, towns and coun-
ties," Peterson said. "When
you add in SLIB money, di-
rect distribution, commu-
nity facilities money and
business ready communi-
ties money, they went from
$441 million over the last
biennium to $124 million
in this budget."
One thing that con-
cerns Peterson is that the
legislature included $89
million in federal Ameri-
can Recovery and Rein-
vestment Act money in the
budget including $28.3 mil-
lion for the Dept. of Health,
$27 million for major main-
tenance at the Universit;y
of Wyoming, $17 million in
major maintenance at com-
munity colleges, $13.5 mil-
lion in tuition mitigation
funding to hold off tuition
increases at UW and the
community colleges and
$2.2 million for the Dept. of
Family Servies.
"We blame the cities
and towns for spending
one-time money on ongoing
operations, but we did the
same thing," Peterson said.
"We're using ARRA money
to the tune of $89 million,
and that just broadens the
gap between revenue and
reality. My guess is that
unless we get a handle on
spending, that's going to
come back and bite us in
two years.
"I was very conserva-
tive and voted against any-
thing that would cause us
to dip into savings. Every-
one said it was a rainy day,
but I wasn't convinced and
neither was the governor."
Peterson said that,
during the interim, the
JAC will study ways to in-
volve the public and more
legislators in the budget-
ing process and study the
Wyoming retirement fund,
Abandoned Mine Lands
funding, School Facilities
Commission funding and
external cost adjustments
for school funding.
Peterson and Rep.
Elaine Harvey (R-Lovell)
have been named co-chair-
men of the Select Commit-
tee on DevelopmentalDis-
abilities.
7
You're Invited i]
to the second i:iii!i!i!i!iii!i!!!!
Hazard Mitigation i,:
Meeting
for Big Horn County residents
iiiiiii!i!iiiiiiii!il;ii
Thursday, March 18 ....... ................
1:30 pm !!!i!!!i!i!i!!!!ilili::
Big Horn Federal, Greybull i!iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
ii!00!00!i!i!iiiii!i!i
Come help prepare the Pre-disaster iiiiiiiiiiiiliiii!i .....
MitigationPlanforBigHornCounty. !ii!ii!iliiiiiiiiiiii[
Come help iiiiiiiiiii!ililiiiiiii
• Identify potential hazards !iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiill
• Protect people and property ii!iii!iiiiiiiiiii!!!
• Developgoalsand strategies iliiii!iiiiliii!ill
• Plan actions to reduce threats iiii%ii
iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
YOU know the county. Your help is neededi[i!i!i!i!i!!i!i ......
=::::::::::::::4::
Everyone is invited. iiiiiii!iiiiiiii!!i
:iiii:iiiiiii!i!iiiiiii!i
Call John Hyde, 548-2516, for more information. i;;iiiiiiiiiiiiiiii'i
:iiiiiii:
iiiiiiiilililili :
Coe to address
chamberkMonday
school District No. 2
Supt. Dan Coe is sched-
uled to be the speaker at
the Lovell Area Chamber
of Commerce general mem-
bership meeting Monday.
Coe will talk about the
0roject to remodel Lovell
High School.
The no-host luncheon
is scheduled for noon at the
Mustang Country Grill in
Lovell.
G0P chairman booked for
Lincoln Day Dinner
BY NATHAN OSTER
The Big Horn County
Republican Party will hold
its annual Lincoln Day Din-
ner fundraiser Saturday,
March 27, starting at 5:30
p.m. at the Herb Asp Com-
munity Center in Greybull.
Diana Vaughan, the
state Republican par-
ty chair, will be the main
speaker and Dan Coe of
Lovell will emcee the event.
Republican candidates
for state and county of-
fice have been invited to a
meet-and-greet session that
will kick the evening off at
5:30 p.m.
Dinner will follow at
6:15 p.m.
The fundraiser will also
feature live and silent auc-
tions.
Join the Madness with Big Horn Federal
March 18th and 19th
Updated Brackets and Scores
for NCAA Men and Women
Horn
00ral
• Powell"
Cody •
Lovell
