The Mini
September 28, 2006
Buffalo, WYO — Governor Dave Freudenthal came to Buffalo not expecting the warmest welcome, but he was pleasantly surprised. There were a lot of people who turned out to talk with him, and a lot of positive feedback. The Mini finally got a chance to sit down with the Governor after his library presentation.
Not two minutes into our interview his cell phone rings and the Governor looks at the number calling and says, “Excuse me, I have to take this.” Like a bug on the wall we hear, “Bill, hi, how are things there? Good … good, glad to hear it. Well, I think we are doing pretty well …. “ When he hangs up we ask if that was one of the West’s other favorite Democratic governors. He smiles, “Bill Richardson? Yes, it was.”
That leads to our first question, what do your fellow Governor’s think of your election and your present popularity in a state renown for its conservative stands? Are they thinking this is a wave of the future? Modestly he insists he was just the last guy left standing that day, that on that particular day he just got more votes. He claims no magic formula for his success except his belief that all politics is local and that you must improve peoples lives at a local level.
Asked if Wyoming and certain northern counties were growing too fast and suffering from such growth, the Governor said, “It’s not a case of growing too fast — the Legislature is not responding fast enough. Just last year we got them to gear up — we are drastically behind. It’s an education process. We had to educate the Legislature that we can’t just wait. We are accelerating now.”
“The problem is,” The Mini posed, “as fast as you allocate infrastructure funds, they are already spent and there is another infrastructure need right behind that one.” Gov Dave shakes his head as he has already heard this before. “Look, we started behind and now we are catching up. All the candidates now understand the problem and supporting infrastructure spending. We are watching, and plan to remind them of that at the right time. But we also need a different way of allocating funding so it gets where it needs to go when it is needed. If we go by a formula and fund by the program … that’s what we need to do in.” He added, “We have the money.. .. And we are still saving 40 cents out of every tax dollar collected in the permanent Wyoming Trust Fund.”
Wyoming has health care issues for small business and families. Do you see the state expanding on the Health Fairs? “No, I think that’s more the hospitals’ thing. We are trying to get kids covered, make sure we have doctors, and insurance. Those are the things we need to work on in the next years to come.”
What about campaigning with your daughter, Hillary? The Governor’s face lights up, “This is what it’s all about! We have two daughters and they are both campaigning with us. I grew up in an agriculture family and this is as close as it gets. In an agricultural family we worked side by side all day. This is what it’s all about.”
