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Enzi mum about third term
By Michael Johnson
This document was published online on Monday, February 18, 2008
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| Sens. John Barrasso (left) and Mike Enzi wait for dinner during Saturday’s county GOP Lincoln Day Dinner. Both were keynote speakers for the event. (Photo by Ken Blackbird) |
As hard as they tried, Park County Republicans failed to prompt Sen. Mike Enzi to announce his re-election plans.
Enzi, whose term expires this year, and Sen. John Barrasso were the keynote speakers for the county's annual Lincoln Day dinner Saturday night in Cody.
Enzi spoke first in the role of introducing Barrasso. During his speech, he explained why he won't yet announce his plans.
“I don't like long campaigns and the people of Wyoming don't like long campaigns,” he said. “I was elected to do six years worth of work, not four years of work and two years of campaigning.”
Despite chants of “Mike, Mike, Mike,” Enzi refused to concede.
“When you make the announcement, your life changes,” he said. “The other side feels obligated to shoot at everything you do. The people on your side think everything you do is all for the campaign. It makes it difficult to get things done, and I still have much more to do this year.”
Enzi later clarified why he would not announce his plans.
“We have legislators who are working really hard and getting things done. They don't need anyone making an announcement at this time to take attention away from the work they're doing,” he said. “I've been working on legislation that won't allow money to be raised for campaigns until six months before an election. That would curtail campaigns and keep people working.”
Enzi also spoke about his efforts to keep Yellowstone Park open for winter use.
“I've been fighting to keep Yellowstone open since I took office,” he said. “In August they said they were running out of money and wanted to close the park. I checked into it and found out they had a biologist running the accounting operation. It was a shoebox operation. They handed him a bill and he wrote a check for it. They didn't seem to have a budget.
“When I got to Washington I asked them for a budget. I asked them for details and they didn't have it,” he added.
Enzi said park officials also earlier told him they wanted to close the park to study bison, and then later came the Sylvan Pass avalanche issue.
“It's always been an attempt to interrupt snowmobiling and other recreation in the park,” Enzi said. “We have fought it off every time. They've lowered the number of snowmobiles in the park and now they say those figures aren't even being met. The reason is because things are too uncertain. People aren't going to invest in snowmobiles if you can't use them.
“I believe they intentionally build uncertainty so people won't visit the park and then they use that as a reason to close the park in winter,” he added.
Barrasso said the east gate of the park should stay open for winter use.
“We should not be shut out of Yellowstone,” he said. “The law says the park is for the use and benefit of the people. To me that's clear and we should keep the east gate open.”
Barrasso said he's had a representative attending winter use mitigation meetings in Billings. While he's pleased the meetings are taking place, he wishes more people could be involved. Currently, only government officials are allowed to attend the meetings.
“I'm for an open process,” he added.
Barrasso praised Shut Out of Yellowstone for keeping pressure on the Park Service.
“What the Cody community and the county have done for this issue is what America is all about,” he said. “It's people organizing, speaking up and fighting for their rights.”
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