Week of 11.16.11 - Wednesday, November 16, 2011 - Planet Jackson Hole

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By Patrick Dolan
Hort Spitzer (left), a member of the Jackson Hole Tea Party, with T.R. Pierce, chairman
of the Teton County Republican Party, at a potluck on Nov. 8.
Tea Party hosts potluck dinner
Attendees mingle, discuss organization, sign petitions.
While there were no Ben
Franklin impersonators or people
dressed as Uncle Sam, the Jackson
Hole Tea Party (JHTP) met last
week for a potluck dinner and invited
the Teton County GOP to talk
politics and discuss common
ground. There were political pamphlets,
a cash bar, an attractive
young woman handing out political
pamphlets, and a table with
roasted chicken, potato salad and
cookies.
“The mainstream media has
done a fantastic job of painting the
Tea Party as a bunch of subhuman,
knuckle-dragging, assholes,”
said Bill Smith, an active
member in the JHTP community.
While he does not approve of the
press coverage for Tea Party
groups, he hopes this can change
with education and more informal
potlucks.
Of the crowd of about 60 at The
Virginian Lodge Convention Center,
most appeared to be over 50years
old. They were cordial, but
according to the bartender, “not
very big drinkers.” Party aside,
JHTP invited Teton County Republicans
to talk about issues and
strategize for the coming election.
Nancy Clancy, a friendly member
of JHTP, said they hope to get
the country back to the vision of
the founding fathers and hope to
influence the election next year.
Unwilling to name any names,
Clancy said there are “those in the
legislature from Jackson who are
not holding to our core values. To
be a Republican means you vote
on Republican values.”
T.R. Pierce, chairman of the
Teton County Republican Party,
was on hand sampling potluck
treats and mingling with the
crowd. Most men came dressed in
western formal: dark, pressed blue
jeans, a button-up shirt, cowboy
boots and a cowboy hat. The
women dressed close to the same,
but with accents of turquoise and
silver jewelry, gaudy belt buckles,
and an occasional denim skirt.
Pierce said that in Teton County,
the Republicans share the same
core values with JHTP and it
makes sense for the two groups to
meet.
“I have people in my party that
steer clear of the Tea Party and I
have some people that were here
tonight,” Pierce said. “Here in
Teton County, I want us to be a
party that is inclusive and not exclusive.”
Pierce believes JHTP
would like to appeal to all political
“Regardless of the party,
we want honest, open
and transparent
government.”
- Hort Spitzer
appetites, Democrats, independents
and Republicans alike. “I
think it’s more them shying away
from us than the Republican Party
shying away from them,” Pierce
said.
Several Republican elected officials
attended, including Paul Vogelheim,
of the Board of County
Commissioners, and State Representative
Keith Gingery, of Jackson.
There was not a large showing of
Democrats, but Hort Spitzer, a
member of JHTP’s executive committee,
said they are always welcome.
“This is not a Republican organization.
This is a change-government
movement,” Spitzer said. He
said he also understands that
“there’s probably some reluctance
for people to step outside the twoparty
system.”
Spitzer said that JHTP is looking
forward to next year’s elections to
see what will come of the Tea Party
campaigns on a national level. He
said, “We are on the kick finish
now to get across that line to
change what’s happening in
Washington. Regardless of party,
PATRICK DOLAN
we want honest, open and transparent
government. And we’ll follow
them after they are elected.”
JHTP claims three core values,
leaving social issues aside. According
to pamphlets, they value
a Constitutionally limited government,
fiscal responsibility, and
free markets. Right now, with a
national debt of 15 trillion dollars,
keeping government costs down,
according to attendees, is important
for Tea Partiers nationwide.
Spitzer pointed out that most
people in JHTP are older and living
a financially comfortable life.
“I feel lucky, with all this grey hair
I won’t be around when [the
young] have to pay,” Spitzer said,
referencing upcoming generations
needing to take on government
debts.
Since JHTP formed in May,
Spitzer said four individual committees
meet weekly and the mailing
list has grown to more than 450
e-mail addresses. (I signed-in at
the potluck and am now counted
in their numbers.)
“We’ve gone through some
learning curves, in terms of organization,”
Spitzer said. For instance,
how does JHTP organize the people
who sign-up for its mailing list?
The organization of petitions is
being examined too. At an information
table, signatures were solicited
for three separate petitions
intended to be sent to Congressmen
from Wyoming. Each petition,
on subjects ranging from gun
control to illegal immigration to
solar energy, had separate signature
sheets but were ultimately
piled together, possibly confusing
which signatures belong to which
petition.
Richard Lewis, co-chair of
JHTP’s executive committee, said
that while most people signed all
petitions, JHTP is looking into any
possible mix-up of signatures. He
said the petitions “will not go out
to any senators or representatives
unless we can connect all names
to the correct petition.”
6 November 16 - 22, 2011 l JH Weekly l www.JHweekly.com updated daily
Props&Disses
By Jake Nichols
Education reform begins with year-round school
“Summer learning loss” is the buzz phrase of the month. First
Lady Michelle Obama has been championing the idea and her
husband got an earful from Steve Jobs, before he passed, on
how crummy the American education system is. Numerous
studies show again and again that kids get dumber over the
summer.
A new report released by the RAND Corporation, one of many over
the past few decades, indicates that summer learning loss is real and its
cumulative effect over 12 years of schooling puts American students behind
their counterparts. According to a study conducted by Harvard’s
Program on Education Policy and Governance, the U.S. graduating high
school class of 2011 students ranked behind 31 countries in math proficiency
and behind 16 countries in reading proficiency.
The evidence is irrefutable. No matter how effective other school reforms
may be, the traditional 175-day school calendar creates an inefficient
system of learning. How can any educator or parent say they
support a robust education system and then walk away from that investment
every summer?
Pardon, parents, but TCSD#1 is not your daycare. Too bad, teachers,
but it’s time to get a real job that doesn’t offer 175 days off each year.
Sorry, students, but your contribution to the seasonal workforce is not
significant enough to fret losing. Ivy League grads need your summer
cashier’s job, anyway.
Jackson Hole Wildlife Foundation goes wireless
Pat Dave Coon on the back the next time you see him. Tell Gail Jensen,
“Thanks for caring about the valley’s wildlife.” Coon and Jensen
took notice of and pity on migrating elk that struggled to navigate
a stretch of useless barbed wire along Highway 22
near Bar Y Estates.
The Jackson Hole Wildlife Foundation
(www.JHWildlife.org) came quickly to the rescue with fencing
pliers and work gloves. The valley non-profit has been intricately involved
with promoting ways the community can live compatibly with wildlife.
The Foundation’s “Give Wildlife a Brake” campaign maps high roadkill
areas and is responsible for the portable signage warning motorists of
wildlife crossings.
JHWF also removes obsolete fencing throughout the valley. This past
summer, the organization celebrated 150 miles of total fence pulled since
1996. A new nature mapping campaign was also launched recently.
Trained volunteers will observe
and record wildlife
with the hope that JHWF will
then be able to create a database
useful for guiding future
land management decisions.
JHWF will host an open
house on Thursday, Nov. 17
Hanging elk.
at Wild By Nature Gallery
from 3 to 6 p.m. It’s a chance
to meet JHWF’s new executive
director Leigh Work.
The former Teton Science School grad holds a Master’s degree in Environmental
Management from Yale School of Forestry and Environmental
Studies in 2004.
The Town of Jackson is anti-free speech
Town attorney Audrey Cohen-Davis appeared before
Wyoming Supreme Court on Nov. 10, to explain why it was
proper for the Town of Jackson to secure a restraining order
against pro-life demonstrators from Operation Save America
(OSA).
Pastor Mark Holick, of Spirit One Christian Ministry in Wichita, led a
group of 40 or 50 pro-life demonstrators in Jackson, last May. The group’s
tactics, which included graphic images of aborted fetuses and labeling Dr.
Brent Blue as a murderer, did not sit well with our community.
Locals derided Holick’s band, shouting obscenities from their vehicles
and, on at least one occasion, physically assaulting the church group. Jackson
locals might not have cared for the message, but their volatile and infantile
pushback was equally appalling.
To keep matters from boiling over, a restraining order was granted barring
OSA from marching on the town square during Elk Fest. The Town
of Jackson has managed to delay the flash pot, it hopes to avoid. When
prosecuting attorney Steve Weichman later dropped all charges, OSA saw
that as an admission of guilt.
“To not rule on this would create a blueprint for the squelching of protected
speech in the future,” Jack Edwards, attorney for OSA, told Justice
E. James Burke.
Burke relied, “The U.S. Supreme Court has said there’s no place in the
law for issuing restraining orders without notice that deprive people of
their basic freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment.”
The right to free speech is bestowed upon American citizens who might
choose to exercise it in your town, in your streets, and in your face.
JH WILDLIFE FOUNDATION