Republicans in two Wyoming counties have voted to rescind recognition of Rep. Liz Cheney as a member of their party.

The Republican parties for Park and Carbon counties both unanimously voted in support of the move, which is symbolic and representative of the far right’s continued frustration with the congresswoman following her vote to impeach former President Donald Trump.

“You will no longer be recognized as the official Republican Congressional Representative by the Park County Republican Party,” Martin Kimmet, the chairman of the Park County Republicans, wrote in a letter Thursday to Cheney.

Park County acted first with the letter. Carbon County Republicans voted Saturday, taking it a step further by unanimously backing a formal resolution.

“Park County set up the ball, Carbon County spiked it,” Joey Correnti, chairman of the Carbon County Republican Party, told the Star-Tribune. “And now other counties, I say by the end of the week you’ll have at least three or four other counties that are having meetings that will pass a similar resolution.”

Correnti said that at least one person from the Republican parties in Uinta, Big Horn, Laramie and Weston counties – which all have meetings in coming weeks – have requested copies of Carbon County’s resolution.

That resolution conveyed the same message as Park County’s letter.

“Representative Elizabeth Lynne Cheney, will officially no longer be personally recognized by the Carbon County Republican Party as a “REPUBLICAN” Representative,” the letter reads.

The first two clauses of the Carbon County resolution acknowledges that it can’t Cheney’s political affiliation. State law bars such a move.

Even so, Correnti’s hope and prediction is that the resolution will eventually be adopted by the Central Committee of the Wyoming Republican Party. Cheney’s censure took a similar path: A few counties led the way before nearly all followed suit. Finally, the state party acted to censure her.

Cheney says her vote to impeach Trump after the Jan. 6 insurrection, and her repeated criticisms of his attempts to undermine the 2020 presidential election, put principle – and the Constitution – above party. On Jan. 6, she blamed Trump for the riot at the Capitol. In the resolution that censured Cheney, the state party without evidence blamed members of the anti-fascist movement (Antifa) and the Black Lives Matter movement for instigating the violence.

“Liz will continue to fight for all the people of Wyoming,” spokesperson Jeremy Adler said. “She knows that she and all elected officials are bound by their duty under the US Constitution, not by blind loyalty to one man.”

During Trump’s term, Cheney voted with him on policy 93% of the time. That’s a higher percentage than Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar (who recently endorsed state Rep. Chuck Gray’s bid to unseat Cheney), Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz and a number of other lawmakers who have criticized Cheney’s vote to impeach Trump.

Cheney has received solid grades from prominent conservative groups, including the Susan B. Anthony List, the National Rifle Association and the Heritage Foundation.

But the votes in Park and Carbon counties, Correnti explained, were about more than Cheney’s voting record.

“This has very little to do with Donald Trump, except for he was her focus when she started to ignore the voices of the Wyoming Republicans or the Wyoming voters in mass,” he said.

Both the Park and Carbon letters to Cheney ended almost identically.

“In short, and in the immortal words of the 45th President of the United States of America, Donald J. Trump…”You’re Fired!””

© Copyright (c) 2021 Casper Star-Tribune

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