By Jim Stanford on March 9, 2010
Pete Jorgensen at the Capitol.
No more Re-Petes.
State Rep. Pete Jorgensen, D-Jackson, said Monday he won’t seek re-election for House District 16.
“I think it’s time,” Jorgensen said. “I’m hoping we can get a good person to fill the seat.”
Jorgensen, 75, a retired highway engineer, served four terms in the Legislature. He established himself as a watchdog on the Appropriations Committee, which controls the purse strings of state government spending.
The former University of Wyoming trustee took on legislators from both parties in resisting projects he deemed lavish or frivolous. He gained a small measure of notoriety in 2004 for opposing the use of state funds for construction of luxury boxes at War Memorial Stadium in Laramie.
His skepticism was pivotal in the state’s jettisoning of a plan, hatched by Republican leaders in 2005, to build a $28 million graduate school of business and corporate training center in Jackson — a boondoggle that looks even more foolish in light of the economic collapse on Wall Street. U.S. Rep. Cynthia Lummis, then state treasurer, was among the architects of that plan, along with state Sen. Grant Larson, R-Jackson.
Jorgensen was a champion of open government and Wyoming’s public lands and wildlife. He used to say he represented only one special interest in Cheyenne — the public interest.
Teton Dems now have two sets of big shoes to fill; Gov. Dave Freudenthal announced last week he won’t run again this fall.
The Teton County Democratic Convention is March 20. Candidates have until May 28 to file to run in primaries.
Posted under Democratic Party, Environment, Politics, Wyoming Legislature
