By Noah Brenner
Jackson Hole Daily
August 28, 2006

Gov. Dave Freudenthal stressed his achievements in conservation, economic diversity and helping Wyoming's children and families Saturday at a campaign stop in Jackson. Freudenthal, joined by his wife and two daughters, rang the bell to open the farmers market on the town square and gave a short speech at a breakfast stop in Miller Park.

Freudenthal was introduced to a crowd of approximately 75 people by Felix Buchenroth, former head of the Teton County Republican Party.

In his speech, Freudenthal began by talking about personal attacks from the Wyoming Republican Party. "Right now we are getting mud thrown at us," he said. "We won't go there."

He then focused on three areas where he said he differs from his opponent Ray Hunkins.

The first topic Freudenthal touched on was protection of the Wyoming Range, which drew a cheer from the crowd. He compared his desire to protect the range to that of Hunkins, who has said he does not believe that any areas outside the national parks and wilderness areas should be off-limits to drilling. "There are remarkable places throughout the state that we need to preserve, whether it is through withdrawing leasing or with no surface occupancy restrictions," he said.

The second, was the Children and Families Initiative, which consists of programs aimed at improving access to health care, child care, education, and substance-abuse treatment, and increasing economic opportunities. "We can't just say we care about the next generation - we have to act on it," Freudenthal said.

Freudenthal touted the Business Ready Communities grant program, which allocated about $800,000 to Imagine Jackson to buy a building and bring a robotics firm to Jackson. "The idea is you don't wait for the boom to be over and the economy to go bad before you diversify the economy," he said.

Freudenthal noted that the Imagine Jackson grant was controversial locally, but said those issues were, at heart, local issues, and "if local elected officials supported it, it is not my place to second-guess them."

Comments from Teton County residents throughout the morning focused on health care, housing, property taxes and economic development, he said in an interview after his speech.

"They were more interested in the childcare issue than other places in the state," Freudenthal said. "This is a county that continues to grow and get a younger population profile." County residents also complain about the Wyoming Department of Transportation more than any other place in the state, he said.

Freudenthal said Teton County strategically is very important to his campaign because it is large and tends to be more liberal than the rest of Wyoming.

'There 10 or 11 counties in the state where, if you do well, you can win the race," he said. "This is one of them."

Leslie Petersen, who organized the event said given the rainy weather, she was very pleased with the attendance. "I think it demonstrates the support he has," she said.