EVANSTON — The Uinta County Republican Party held its convention and caucus the evening of March 5 at the Roundhouse in Evanston. The convention’s intended itinerary was to elect delegates to send to the Wyoming Republican Party Convention in Cheyenne in April, and to address bylaws and resolutions.

After an approximately five-hour meeting, only the delegate elections were accomplished, as old, divisive party business remained an unresolved point of contention.

State convention elected delegates are: Nathan Lester, BJ Stokes, Dixie Maxfield, VaLynne Stoddard, Rowdy Dean, Scott Dickerson, Eric South, Brent Hatch, Jim Maxfield and Jay Anderson.  Party Chair Joy Bell, State Committeeman Ron Micheli, and State Committeewoman Patty Micheli will also serve as delegates at the state convention.

Anderson is the elected delegate to the National Republican Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in July. There is also a list of alternates elected to step in if a delegate is unable to attend. 

Bell, who is currently halfway through a two-year term as party chair, estimated that Uinta County has approximately 5,000 Republicans.

“It’s an inclusive group,” she told the Herald after the convention. “We have moderate people, and more conservative people, with everything in between and trying to get everyone on the same page. The convention showed there is much dissension in our party. It’s indicative of trouble in the party in Uinta County.” 

While Bell maintains that it was a cordial event, she said “it had the capacity to go off the rails. Everyone felt the need to protect their interest, and drawing a line in the sand.” 

That line, and which side constituents land, is whether the county party should be on the hook to pay for legal defense fees from the 2021 lawsuit levied against four active members: Karl Allred, Elizabeth “Biffy” Jackson, Lyle Williams and Jana Williams.

A civil suit — which was initiated after criminal charges were declined to be filed by special prosecutor Michael Crosson following a Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) — was brought by several other party members: Jon Conrad, Danny Eyre, Wendy Schuler, Ron Micheli, Clarence and Clara Vranish and Troy Nolan. The suit alleged that the defendants acted illegally by voting for their own reelections in March 2021.

Both sides of the litigation agreed that the defendants had been unsuccessful in their reelection bids as precinct committee members, yet they cast votes as if they were and for their own best interest. Despite not pursuing criminal charges, Crosson stated, “the letter of the law was probably violated, this conclusion is not absolute,” likely due to unspecified wording of the bylaws.

In July 2022, the Third District Court’s eventual ruling regarding the matter declared that “the election at the March 16 [2021] meeting was proper.”

“Some want to have a conversation about it, others do not,” Bell said. “We need to present the facts. We’ll address it in May after the state convention. The conversation needs to be had — the whole party and Uinta County will be better when we get it resolved.”

Although Bell said she was impressed with the caucus’s turnout of committed delegates, and pleasantly surprised with the overall decorum, she added, “It set the tone, and it highlighted where we need to heal. Politics are very difficult right now. We need to move forward with unity, but I don’t know what unity looks like.”