CHEYENNE -- Wyoming candidates for governor this year spent a lot of money, including chunks of their own, but none came out of the election with crushing debt.
Gov.-elect Matt Mead spent $1.2 million of his own money on the Republican gubernatorial primary election. He spent zero of his personal dollars on the general election.
With four major Republican candidates for governor, campaign donations were spread thin and all of the candidates felt the pinch, Mead said.
The former U.S. attorney for Wyoming will be assume his new duties as governor Jan. 3.
State Auditor Rita Meyer, who lost the primary election to Mead by 714 votes, said she had some personal travel expenses left, but people stepped up and cleared that up.
"I'm very grateful to everyone who helped me do that," she said. "It's tough enough to lose an election, but to be left with debt is just another bitter pill."
"We were very careful about spending. We spent only what we had," she added.
State Auditor-elect Cynthia Cloud chose to keep Meyer's top staffers -- Vicci Colgan, chief of staff, and Carolyn Teeter, chief administrator, Meyer said. Both are at-will employees.
Meyer said neither was active in her campaign for governor.
"It's a pretty seamless transition," she said.
Meyer's future is in the private sector. She has taken a position with Casper businessman Mick McMurry effective Jan. 1 in a new organization dealing with permitting and the potential production for uranium development.
She will have offices in Casper and Cheyenne, the latter at the Jonah Financial Center.
She will continue on the University of Wyoming College of Business advisory board and has accepted an offer to serve on the regional board for Rocky Mountain Power.
Meyer said she had five great job offers but a couple involved moving out of state.
"I'm very, very fortunate to be able to stay in Wyoming," she said.
Avoiding temptation
Ron Micheli, a former legislator, director of the Department of Agriculture and rancher, said he and his wife, Patty, agreed from the beginning they were not going to go into debt. They did spend about $80,000 of their personal savings on the GOP primary campaign for governor.
Although he was heavily outspent, Micheli said he was pleased that more than 2,500 people contributed to his campaign.
Micheli said he and his wife were aware of the temptation to pump more and more money into a campaign, a move that led past candidates into debt.
"We saw it time and time again," he said. "We vowed we were not going to do that."
Micheli continues to be a full-time rancher in Uinta County.
As for the future, he said he wouldn't mind serving on a state board, but he doesn't want to head another state agency.
He moved to Cheyenne in 1995 to run the Department of Agriculture for the eight-year administration of Gov. Jim Geringer.
Colin Simpson, the outgoing House speaker and Cody attorney, said he spent $70,000 of his own money in his quest for the GOP gubernatorial nomination. He said he didn't incur any debt.
"I'm back to practicing law and spending time with my family and practicing my profession," he said.
Simpson said he has no current plans to run again for political office.
On the Democratic side, gubernatorial candidate Leslie Petersen said she spent about $20,000 of her own money on travel mostly.
"The schedule was so intense that I couldn't stay with people easily. I had to have wireless Internet, and I had to be able to stay up late answering all the questionnaires and election editions and all that," Petersen said. She has no debt, however.
"Right now I'm just enjoying my family and the holiday season," she said. "Right now I'm just coasting."
She said she did not step back into serving as chairwoman of the state Democratic Party. Chuck Herz will continue in that capacity. New officers will be elected in April, and the Democrats can decide then who they want as chairman.
Petersen agreed to be party treasurer. She said Jodi Guerin, a former mayor and city council member in Laramie, has been named vice chairwoman of the Democratic Party.
Guerin chaired Petersen's gubernatorial campaign and has a bright future politically, Petersen said.
File early next time
Pete Gosar of Laramie said he spent a few thousand dollars of his own money on his campaign for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, which Petersen won.
"We're a big believer in non-deficit spending," he said.
He is a pilot for the Wyoming Department of Transportation and is writing letters to the editor that are critical of the state's congressional delegation.
Gosar, like Petersen, filed to be a candidate for governor at the last minute. He said that if he runs again for political office he will get in the race early.
Incoming Superintendent of Public Instruction Cindy Hill, a former Cheyenne junior high principal, beat out Republican incumbent Jim McBride to win the GOP nomination and went on to win the general election. She said she had no loans for her campaign.
Her campaign committee report with the secretary of state's office listed nearly $128,000 in contributions from Hill and her immediate family.
Hill's Democratic general election opponent, state Sen. Mike Massie of Laramie, said his campaign finished "in the black," thanks to an infusion of donations after his televised debate with Hill and a Casper Star-Tribune story that dealt with questions over the circumstances of her departure from the Cheyenne school district.
"It came in a bit too late" to be put to good use through media buys, Massie said.
"I gratefully appreciate every dollar," he added.
After all the bills are paid, he said he will offer to return large donations and will contribute whatever is left over to charities in Laramie.
Massie said he invested about $1,000 in his campaign but it cost him $20,000 in lost pay when he took a leave of absence from his job.
He works for a nonprofit organization for preschool education, a job he returned to two days after the general election.
"We were a typical middle-class family running a statewide campaign," he said. "We knew we couldn't match Cindy Hill."
McBride said he cashed in a $10,000 IRA to help pay for his campaign. Hill, he said, outspent him in the primary by about 4 or 5 to 1.
He said he has interviewed with Gov.-elect Matt Mead's transition team for a position in the new administration.
McBride, who served 26 years in the Air Force and retired as a full colonel, also cited his experience as a school district superintendent as well as six years as Wyoming state superintendent as qualifications for various state department director positions.
He and his wife, he said, moved to Wyoming to be near their children and grandchildren.
"The reason we moved here is the reason we want to stay," he said.
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