Two Sweetwater County lawmakers seeking reelection filed a defamation suit Thursday against a political action committee affiliated with the hard-line Wyoming Freedom Caucus over mailers that attack them over a vote they say never happened.
The Wyoming Legislature has never in its history considered, debated, nor voted on any proposal to remove former President Donald Trump from the ballot in any election, in any state. But political mailers and text messages sent by WY Freedom PAC claim otherwise, as WyoFile first reported last week.
More specifically, the PAC told voters that Reps. Lloyd Larsen, R-Lander; J.T. Larson, R-Rock Springs; Cody Wylie, R-Rock Springs; and Dan Zwonitzer, R-Cheyenne, voted to remove Trump from the ballot.
And recently, similar mailers targeting Rep. Landon Brown, R-Cheyenne, hit mailboxes in Laramie County this week.
“If it was critical of my voting record, that would have been fine. I wouldn’t have said a word,” Wylie told WyoFile. “But this is just blatantly creating lies to try to affect the election cycle.”
Wylie and Larson are the two plaintiffs in the case. Both are running opposed in the Republican primary. Rep. Clark Stith, R-Rock Springs — House speaker pro tempore and a prominent member of the traditionalist Wyoming Caucus — is their attorney.
The lawsuit alleges the PAC knew its statements were false and made them with actual malice — a legal standard in defamation cases involving public figures or officials.
“Wyoming Freedom Caucus has indicated its intention to continue making these false statements concerning Wylie and Larson, despite an oral request from Wylie and Larson that it stop making such statements,” the complaint states.
Stith contacted Kari Drost, the PAC’s chairman, on Wednesday, according to the suit.
“Counsel for Plaintiffs requested that Defendant stop making statements concerning Cody Wylie and JT Larson that they had voted to remove Trump’s name from the ballot or had voted no on keeping Trump on the ballot,” the complaint states. “Ms. Drost refused saying ‘we will continue making those statements.’”
The lawsuit is seeking financial damages of at least $50,000 for each plaintiff and alleges that Wylie’s local construction company has suffered damages.
Wyoming Freedom Caucus Chairman Rep. John Bear, R-Gillette, previously told WyoFile the statement on the mailers was in reference to a budget bill footnote intended to bar the Wyoming Secretary of State’s office from using state funds to engage in out-of-state lawsuits.
Bear said the vote over the footnote was “effectively” a vote for or against Trump being on the ballot.
Reached by phone on Thursday, Bear said he hadn’t seen the complaint.
“We haven’t been served yet, so we’re not even sure it’s legit,” Bear said.
“This is just like the Democrats trying to keep Trump off the ballot,” Bear said. “This is lawfare by liberals trying to keep conservatives from being effective.”
Drost said she was unaware of the suit when WyoFile contacted her Thursday.
“A lawsuit sounds a lot like ‘lawfare’ and what the left is doing to try to shut Donald Trump up,” Drost wrote in an email. “Are you telling me the leftists in WY are trying to do the same to shut me and the WY Freedom PAC up?”
The lawsuit was filed in the 3rd Judicial District in Sweetwater County.
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