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Guest Column: Gary Trauner

Well, I’m just back from our family summer vacation. We had a great time, although re-entry has been a bit slow. So, while searching for a topic for this column, a current events story that has nothing to do with politics or public policy caught my eye – and got me thinking.

We have lost the courage of leadership and accountability in our society in general, and this has spread to our political leadership as well. Generally speaking, we no longer have the guts to simply “do the right thing.”

The story that caught my eye was none other than Barry Bonds’ pursuit of the all-time home run record currently held by Hank Aaron. [more]

guest column: gary trauner

As I write this column, I am frantically preparing to head overseas for a two week family trip. In between packing, searching for the voltage converter (probably gathering dust somewhere in my 13-year-old’s room along with everything else he has hidden away), and trying to figure out what clothing will keep me cool in the Middle East, I’ve been doing some thinking.

I guess this thought process began with a Russian guest who stayed with us a couple of weeks ago (and who I wrote about in my last column). It strengthened while my family and I dined with a Ukrainian women’s group who were here in America to learn more about women in politics. And it has been developing more and more as I prepare to head to a troubled part of the world. [more]

Guest Column: Gary Trauner

My family and I went to the airport last night to meet a group of Russian delegates who are visiting the United States to learn more about how we care for our natural environment, wildlife and “special places.” We volunteered to host one of these delegates at our house for the next week, and are excited to learn more about our new friend’s country, home and culture.

Our guest (I’ll call him Valdimir, not his real name) is a wildlife biologist who specializes in the study of birds. As one can imagine, on the drive back to our house through Grand Teton National Park, Vladimir (in his halting English) had numerous questions about Wyoming, our economy and how we manage and protect our wildlife and natural environment. In return, we asked him similar questions about his homeland. Our discussion got me thinking about Wyoming’s struggle to balance energy and economic development with conservation and resource protection. [more]

Guest Column: Gary Trauner

In a previous column, I wrote about what role government should play in America. I’d like to take some time today to discuss the role of an equally important institution in our society today – the media.

The role of the media, or the press, was viewed as critical from the earliest stages of our country’s new democracy. Thomas Jefferson was savaged by the press during his Presidency, yet he remained a staunch believer in the necessity of a free and critical press. In 1787, he wrote: "The basis of our governments being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter. But I should mean that every man should receive those papers and be capable of reading them."

Jefferson knew that democracy is hard work. It requires people to pay attention and to be informed in order to make sometimes difficult decisions about the government that it elects to run our country. He also knew that all governments tend to hoard information, because information is what allows them to control ordinary people. The lessons still hold to this day. [more]

Guest Column: Gary Trauner

As a businessman and financial manager, a recent story about Northwest Airlines’ emergence from bankruptcy got me thinking about the plight of everyday working Wyomingites and the balance, or lack thereof, in our economy.

This story brings to mind United Airlines and so many others before it: a poorly run company enters bankruptcy, breaks its written commitments to its employees, puts the burden of these retirement commitments on our government, and reorganizes. And when its time to emerge from bankruptcy, we find, as in the case of Northwest, the very people who ran the company into the ground stand to receive stock worth nearly $300 million, while the employees who built the company and conceded to reduced pay and benefits in an effort to save the company stand to get back roughly 20% of what they gave up. As the USA Today states, “management will see pay that was cut during the bankruptcy restored, will keep raises they received in the interim, plus get bonuses and stock in Northwest…Northwest pilots, meanwhile, have seen pay rates cut 24% on average. And, …[f]light attendants and ground workers also took pay and benefits cuts.”

Many “conservatives” call for increased personal responsibility, including toughening our nation’s bankruptcy laws. However, these same folks don’t seem to have a problem when a large corporation declares bankruptcy, unloads the pensions it promised to its workers (in writing) on the federal government, continues to pay its executives obscene amounts of money and is allowed to continue in business. This is hypocrisy of the worst kind. [more]

Guest Column: Gary Trauner

Wyoming and much of the intermountain West is currently experiencing an economic boom. Jobs are hard to find and state coffers are filling up. And although the benefits of this “boom” are incredibly uneven (this is the 1st recovery in modern history where corporate profits consume the lion’s share of the economic “recovery” while wages have stayed relatively stagnant), it is hard to imagine that there might be hard times in the future.

Which brings me to the issue of free trade and outsourcing of jobs. This issue not only affects Westerners today, it will have a crucial impact on their future and their children’s future.

It seems as if today’s strongest proponents of free trade believe that corporate profits and cheap prices are the only results that matter, minimizing the impact on people. Trade does not exist in a vacuum. It is a complex issue that defies simple, ideological answers. [more]

Guest Column: Gary Trauner

“Once you get to DC, you’ll be like everyone else. You’ll care more about the money then representing me.” Those words from a businessman in Casper were hurtful to someone who prides himself on his honesty and integrity. Yet they were pretty typical of my discussions around Wyoming, and a sad indication of the current state of our politics and the supposed “leaders” we have elected to office.

It seems as if everyone complains about the impact of money on public policy, but few are willing to think about what we need to do to truly fix a system that most people know deep down has been corrupted from the founding father’s original intent.

The simple truth is we have an electoral system where money creates, at the very least, the perception of corruption; where the integrity, and actions, of any representative can be questioned based on who makes large donations to their campaign. Even more sadly, many of our elected officials are so influenced by the money they need to continually raise that they make the words of that Casper businessman ring true. [more]

Guest Column: Gary Trauner

In my last column on healthcare, I wrote about the sorry state of our healthcare system today. My conclusion? We need, and can afford, a system that provides basic, quality, affordable healthcare for every single American. Period.

But how do we get there?

Well, after talking to ranchers, small business owners, working fathers and mothers and the rest of the people in Wyoming, I think we need to start with some basic high-level guiding principles. [more]