May 22—CHEYENNE — When Taft Love v. Sen. Anthony BouchardWhen R-Cheyenne planned to run for his seat in Senate District 6, the incumbent president was less than pleased.
“He was annoyed by that decision,” Love told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle on Wednesday.
Love announced his candidacy for Senate District 6 on May 14, a few weeks after informing Bouchard of his intentions. Love said it’s important to “make sure your opponent knows you’re there.” And Love could tell Bouchard was disappointed.
So far, four candidates, including Love, have announced their intention to represent Senate District 6, and the incumbent president has not yet announced his reelection plans. Love said that when Bouchard announced his run for Senate, he “immediately took shots at him.”
“To me, that says a lot,” Love said, adding that he had no intention of retaliating. “I really don’t intend to go back and forth on that stuff.”
Maintaining political peace
Love may have the most name recognition of his three opponents, as he is chairman of the Laramie County Republican Party. One of his biggest tasks as chairman, he said, is building a working relationship between his county and the Republican Party.
Tensions rose in 2022 when the Wyoming GOP Central Committee voted against seating Laramie County’s 37 delegates. The state Central Committee decided a week earlier in a 15-8 vote that the state’s largest Cowboy county had violated party bylaws during the delegate election process.
Love said he was asked by other members to “help bridge the gap.” He said there had been miscommunication and fighting within the party, with emotions often running high during heated debates.
“I was asked to try to close that gap, and then reunite the state party, or at least build a working relationship, so that we can all move forward as a state,” Love said. “We have been very successful in bridging that gap.”
Laramie County not only participated in the state convention again this year, but also hosted the multi-day event. Love said the entire convention went “very smoothly,” and he was proud to be the guest chairman.
It really helped restore communication and respect in civil discourse, Love said. He prioritized raising everyone’s voices and providing thorough explanations behind any decision-making processes.
“It clears up a lot of miscommunication and a lot of misinformation that’s spread based on raw emotions,” Love said. “Once everyone is heard and understood, the decision-making process usually becomes a lot easier.”
If elected senator, Love said these were the values he would bring with him to the Capitol. Instead of focusing on political ideologies, he is more interested in working on the issues of the day.
“Depending on the issue, I may join different groups at that time,” Love said. “But I am very conservative by nature.”
Since being elected chairman of the Laramie County Republican Party, Love said people have continued to put him in one box or another.
“I really don’t like boxes,” Love said.
Teacher support, education
Love served on the Laramie County School District 2 Board of Trustees for 10 years, serving as board chair for two of those years. LCSD2 transitioned to a four-day school week under his leadership, resulting in an 18% increase in student achievement over the next three years, Love said.
LCSD2 also hired a private sector business manager, who successfully renegotiated contracts and delivered between $600,000 and $800,000 per year in savings. This new surplus went toward purchasing educational materials and building additions to schools in eastern Laramie County.
On a national level, Love said funding is always an issue for the K-12 public school system. The Legislature was rocked over education funding after Wyoming stopped receiving revenue from federal coal leasing bonuses.
The state is bound by a Wyoming Supreme Court decision to fund all schools equally, and lawmakers are still figuring out ways to fund certain projects within the education system. One of the top concerns for school districts is keeping up with population growth, especially in the southeastern corner of Wyoming. School buildings are not large enough to accommodate the number of students enrolled, Love said.
“The school systems never seem to feel like they are funded efficiently enough or effectively enough,” Love says. “The legislature is trying to do as much as possible.”
Protection of state industries
Wyoming’s coal and oil industries fuel much of the state’s spending budget, and state officials continue to battle the federal government over environmental policies that threaten to shut down the federal government. While acknowledging that Wyoming’s economy is still heavily dependent on mineral revenues, Love said he also believes the state should be open to exploring green energy opportunities.
“I don’t know how many people remember, but Wyoming has lost tens of thousands of jobs in the coal industry,” Love said.
Wyoming industries have an opportunity to lead in areas like nuclear, solar and wind energy, he said, but the transition to green energy won’t happen overnight. His position on the issue is to protect and preserve the Cowboy State’s coal and oil industries, while also exploring renewable resources.
“We must allow time to build the infrastructure and design the products needed to be efficient in the green energy and electricity industries,” Love said.
Hannah Shields is a state government reporter for the Wyoming Tribune Eagle. She can be reached at 307-633-3167 or hshields@wyomingnews.com. You can follow her on X @happyfeet004.
