Wyoming Transparency Commission (WTC) is a volunteer organization of Wyoming Citizens that tracks the actions of WY elected officials to ensure that our Wyoming Ethics, Transparency and Accountability laws are being followed. WTC provides factual information, using open-source research.
While our state has been attempting to provide transparency and accountability to its citizens, it is our opinion that there is still much work to be done in this area. A clear-cut example is the Ethics Disclosure forms that are required from the state’s five (5) elected officials and each member of the Wyoming legislature (§ 9-13-108. Disclosure required). These are due annually on January 15th, and require the following information:
(i) A list of all offices, directorships and salaried employment held by the person filing the form in any business enterprise, but excluding offices and directorships in a nonprofit corporation where no compensation is received for service;
(ii) A list generally describing the sources of, but not the amount of, the member’s income.
In other words, the disclosures are to provide information necessary for citizens to be able to determine if their elected official has any conflicts of interest. Currently a citizen can only access these disclosures by filing a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) with the WY Secretary of State, and then pay a fee for any copies. WTC finds this completely unacceptable; clearly the law was written to create transparency, not to create a hoop that citizens must jump through to get straightforward information that they deserve to know about their representatives.
WTC editors and contributors are a collection of Wyoming citizens who want to make a difference in our state by providing transparency in some of the darker corners of state government that we believe require full-strength sunlight. We are committed to this because we feel it is necessary to help provide, where and when we can, the best future possible for our children and grandchildren – and yours as well.
WTC does not represent or endorse any political party or special interest group. This is one of the only websites run by Wyoming citizens and provided for Wyoming citizens – with no strings attached. We do not ask for donations, or any kind of membership. We do, however, hope you will utilize this site often and help us hold all of our state officials accountable by contacting them on the issues that are important to you, and sharing that information with family and friends. In the future we intend to offer newsletters for those who are interested in receiving our research in their email boxes.
Lastly, Wyoming Transparency Commission strongly encourages constitutionally-committed citizens, after they peruse our site, to seriously consider running for office, or finding and supporting new candidates, if they conclude that their representative(s) are not up to the job of being transparent and accountable to those who voted for them.
