NTRODUCTION

The Wyoming Democratic Party is the party of the people--the party of inclusion, not exclusion. In the words of Andrew Jackson our commitment has been, "to those who are the humble members of society--The Farmers, Mechanics and Laborers."

As the oldest political party in America, now celebrating our 150th anniversary, we are sustained by the efforts and contributions of Thomas Jefferson, Franklin D. Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy who nurtured our political past. We have a bright future. We are the party of freedom, progress and change. We ask only that change be for the good of all people and be within the framework of the Constitution of this State, the Constitution of the United States, change that includes our Bill of Rights and our American way of life.

With these abiding values, we proclaim it is time to redraw Wyoming’s political landscape. It is time to elect additional Democrats who will work to create a vision centered on our people. And, Democrats who have the courage to act on that vision.

We believe with Hubert Humphrey that the moral test of our government is how it treats:

-Those in the dawn of life, our children;

-Those in the twilight of life, our elderly; and

-Those in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy, the handicapped.

THEREFORE, in order to carry out these goals, we hereby adopt this platform.

Support For Our President:

We support the efforts of the current national administration to continue to improve the economy, to address children’s issues and to improve the quality of life for all Americans.

We support the President’s peace efforts throughout the world and in particular efforts in the Middle East, Bosnia and Northern Ireland.

Economic Growth:

We call for the Wyoming Legislature to show fiscal responsibility by adopting policies that stimulate and promote balanced and sustainable economic growth. The Wyoming Democratic Party believes the development of coalitions among business, labor, education and the environmental community is essential to secure a strong economy. Our Party also believes this diversity is necessary to ensure the success of the Wyoming Business Council.

We hold the Council and Governor accountable to efforts to create quality jobs with quality employers, who will share their economic good fortune.

We hold the Republican Legislature and Governor Geringer responsible for the exclusion of labor, Democrats, educational and environmental interests from the Business Council. Such exclusions destroy the spirit, the intent and the effectiveness of the Council.

Education:

We strongly believe the failure of the Republican Legislature to fully embrace the Wyoming Supreme Court’s mandate to reform education in all of its key aspects, from curriculum to funding, is a failure of will by the leadership of the Legislature, by the Governor and by the Superintendent of Public Instruction.

Environmental Protection:

The Democrats of Wyoming request the Environmental Protection Agency and the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality severely prosecute illegal disposal of hazardous, toxic wastes, including agricultural waste.

Nuclear Waste Facility:

The Wyoming Democratic Party believes the building of a nuclear waste storage facility directly infringes on the rights of citizens of Fremont county and the State of Wyoming to live in an environment free of toxic waste and free from the fear of nuclear leakage into the environment.

The citizens of Wyoming have historically and emphatically resisted threats to our culture and habitat. The building of a facility that is temporary and not permanent is dependent upon trust in the federal government, upon trust among the multiple state governments and private enterprises in order to ensure that the facility is temporary.

The Wyoming State Democratic Party STRONGLY believes it is the duty and the responsibility of the residents of Fremont county and the State of Wyoming:

• To protect our environment from hazards created by man;
• To preserve the one element that sets Wyoming aside from all others, its natural resources and clean environment;
• To provide a safe and secure environment for our children and our children’s children; and
• Be allowed to voice their opposition to the proposal of nuclear storage in the of a statewide vote.

We call for the repeal of the so called "Paycheck Protection" amendment, W.S. 22-25-102(h), to the Election Code which limits a person’s right to full participation in the political process, and we oppose all other attempts to interfere with an agreement between an employer and an employee concerning payroll deductions.

Separation of Church and State:

We reaffirm continuation of our commitment to the separation of church and state and the imposition of any religious belief on our citizens whether on the state or national levels.

We believe in creating balanced and sustainable economic growth that promotes and expands business and job opportunities, while maintaining and enhancing our citizens’ quality of life. We encourage and support an economic partnership among agriculture, businesses of all sizes, education, the environment, industry, labor and state and local governments. Therefore, we resolve to:

Economy

Actively recruit industries and businesses that will employ residents in jobs that pay salaries and provide benefits that will raise Wyoming’s per capital income to the national average or higher;

Promote businesses and industries to grow our economy by adding value to products that incorporate Wyoming resources, yet retain the rural nature of our state;

Encourage state officials to enforce Wyoming’s constitutional provisions prohibiting monopolies and to investigate price-fixing and market manipulation;

Infrastructure

Upgrade our telecommunication system to globally competitive;

Transportation

Develop a safe, affordable, adequately funded air and ground transportation system; adequate funding for training and equipping of all emergency response personnel along all transportation routes in Wyoming; and Bring Amtrak passenger service back to Southern Wyoming.

We join together as Democrats to support collectively what we cannot do individually. Together, our efforts will build a society that supports;

Revenue

• Efforts to develop an equitable taxation system for Wyoming that includes the extractive industries, non-extractive industries, businesses and private property owners;
• An end to severance tax breaks for mineral companies which do not result in sufficient demonstrated levels of increased production and employment to offset losses in the tax revenue;
• An open discussion of ALL revenue options;
• Less regressive tax options;
• Access of county officials to all pertinent natural resources production data for assessment, taxation and auditing purposes;
• An increase in the number of state auditors of the mineral extraction industries;
• State land rentals/purchases to produce maximum dollars as required by the Wyoming Constitution;
• An end to tax exemptions unless the exemptions serve the vital social and health needs of the state; and
• Federal tax relief, the closing of tax loopholes to ensure all Americans pay their fair share.

We believe in and support:

• Quality education as a fundamental right;
• Opportunities for lifelong learning;
• Permanent, stable and equitable sources of funding for all children from the earliest grades through higher education;
• An equal basket of educational opportunities that encourages all children to develop to their fullest potential;
• Ample, appropriate resources for at-risk, special problem and talented students as well as early intervention programs;
• Academic freedom at all levels;
• Maintenance of public funds solely for public schools and not the use of public funds for tuition or support of private or parochial schools;
• Small schools and small class sizes with every child in Wyoming guaranteed equality in educational opportunities no matter the size of the district, its location or its economic base;
• Increased funding for innovative and productive technology with low student/computer ratios in all public schools;
• Vocational education and school-to-work programs;
• All employees in public education to be compensated for their experience, knowledge and professionalism in recognition of their value as public school educators whose salaries to be competitive with participation in career and professional advancement including statewide opportunities for continuing education;
• The right of all educators to negotiate collectively and the right to due process;
• The certification process to ensure maintenance of high quality standards in teaching and for administrative personnel;
• Ongoing cooperation between the University of Wyoming, our Community Colleges and our secondary schools;
• An education funding bill that meets the fairness and equality criteria dictated by the Courts yet does not penalize any school district, regardless of size;
• Our participation in nationwide programs to promote safe schools to prevent teen pregnancy, AIDS, substance abuse and the rehabilitation of substance abusers;
• Congress to continue to fund the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Science Foundation, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the national Department of Education and Goals.

Wyoming citizens have the right to clean air and clean water, the right to live in the absence of exposure to toxic, hazardous or nuclear contaminants.

Environment

We support:

• Compliance with and enforcement of the Wyoming Environmental Quality Act, the Clean Water Act and the Federal Clean Air Acts;
• Repeal of Wyoming’s Environmental Self-Audit law;
• Recycling and using biodegradable materials and mandatory deposits for all beverage containers;
• Reauthorization of the Endangered Species Act with no substantial weakening of the Act;
• Protection and improvement of wetlands and wildlife habitat areas as part of our commitment to nature;
• Comprehensive land use planning and associated zoning designed to protect environmental quality;
• Establishment of International environmental standards with compliance by the United States;
• Continued designation of Yellowstone National Park as a World Heritage Site;
• The American Heritage River Initiative.

Further oil and gas leasing in the Bridger-Teton National Forest; and Republican Congressional attempts to weaken an already fragile environment through legislation to dismantle or cripple the Environmental Protection Agency, the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act and our nation’s support of developing nation’s environmental protection efforts.

Hazardous Waste

We oppose:

The disposal and storage of out-of-state nuclear or other wastes in Wyoming; The targeting of minority and low-income communities as potential sites for polluting industries and we demand immediate attention to cleanup activities of such areas.

State Campaign and Political Reform

Recorded roll call votes in the Wyoming Legislature on any motion to any bill or amendment, whether in an interim or standing committee, or during consideration in Committee of the Whole, Second and Third Readings in the House and the Senate;

An ethics initiative to clearly define and to prohibit conflicts of interest, to require full financial disclosure, to establish effective investigative and enforcement procedures and to cover all elected and appointed officials as well as public employees;

Legislation:

• To include penalties for noncompliance with Wyoming’s Open Meeting Laws;
• To prohibit a legislator from switching party affiliation during his/her term;
• To require financial disclosure by all lobbyists of the interests they represent;
• To require reporting by lobbyists of all direct and indirect expenditures made by them on behalf of the interests they represent;
• To limit campaign contributions;
• To establish reasonable ceilings on campaign spending
• To provide for appropriate disposal of unspent campaign contributions; and
• Reform the electoral process to facilitate initiatives and referendums and to enact recall procedures.
• National Campaign and Political Reform
• Full financial disclosure by all lobbyists with identification of the interests they represent;
• A national ethics law that includes full disclosure for all elected officials;
• An anti-nepotism law;
• A law to require all moneys remaining in a campaign after an election be sent to the federal government to help with reduction of the national debt;
• A law to require the campaign money of one candidate shall not be spent on behalf of another candidate;

• Establish a national primary on the first Tuesday following the first Monday in September; and
• Repeal of the federal Hatch Act.
• Line-Item Veto
• Prior to Governor Geringer, the line-item veto was used only on Appropriations or Budget bills. Governor Geringer used this veto in the 1997 Education Reform Law, which was not a Budget or Appropriations Bill. We do not support this use of his veto power. We call for limitation of the Governor’s line-item veto power.

The Wyoming Democratic Party recognizes the invaluable contributions of organized labor to our economy. Organized labor makes a positive contribution to economic development. Repressive laws and attitudes that inhibit collective bargaining and the right of workers to fully participate in the economic structure of the state contributes to Wyoming’s poor economy. Therefore, we support:

• Industrial democracy for all workers by repealing Wyoming’s so-called "right to Work" law;
• The extension of collective bargaining for all employees in both the public and private sectors;
• Condemnation of Wyoming’s "Employment At Will Doctrine" and the passage of a law requiring ‘just cause’ for job termination of any worker;
• Increasing Wyoming’s embarrassing minimum wage of $1.60 per hour;
• Increasing the federal minimum wage to a level that assures working people a decent standard of living above the poverty line;
• The proposed constitutional amendment to prevent the use of the Worker’s Compensation Fund for any purpose other than protecting injured workers;
• Restoration of Worker’s Compensation benefits so the system ensures that injured
• workers have full and complete treatment, rehabilitation and financial
• support enabling them to maintain a decent standard of living for
• their families until they are able to return to work;
• Adequate unemployment benefits for Wyoming’s displaced or laid off workers;
• Efforts to reduce Wyoming’s dismal on-the-job death rate, currently at more than twice the national average, by insisting on adequate funding for agencies charged with the effective enforcement of health and safety laws, regulations and appropriate training;
• Requirements to license or certify workers whose jobs affect public health and safety; Fair trade agreements which include comparable wages, humane and healthy working conditions, human rights, collective bargaining rights and environmental protection;
• Keeping public services in the public sector and public control of public programs;
• Better laws to provide our state with the ability to enforce standards of equal employment opportunity, including equal pay for equal work.

Rights

The Wyoming Constitution states in Article 1, Section 2 "In their (the people’s) right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, all members of the human race are equal".

Therefore, we support:

• Full preservation and enhancement of the Constitutional rights of all citizens;
• Maintenance of the constitutional right to privacy;
• The constitutional rights for women to reproductive choice with no restrictions on her choice;
• The right of our citizens to keep and bear arms; and

The protection of and honoring of full Tribal sovereignty.