His transformation of state treasurer’s office deeply impressed entrepreneurs
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Tony Gagliardi, Wyoming State Director, [email protected]
or Tony Malandra, Senior Media Manager, [email protected]
CHEYENNE, Wyo., Oct. 1, 2018—The political action committee for Wyoming’s leading small-business association today announced its endorsement of Mark Gordon for governor.
NFIB Wyoming PAC made the endorsement after surveying its members and considering Gordon’s answers on a questionnaire. “His responses to questions on the challenges and concerns of small-business owners were excellent and given an A grade,” said Tony Gagliardi, NFIB’s Wyoming state director. “He fundamentally gets the difficulties small businesses have in remaining solvent and operational, a knowledge he knows first-hand from running a ranch with his wife.”
Gordon also was the choice for governor of 80 percent of NFIB members surveyed. Mary Throne, his opponent only received 8 percent. Two minor party candidates received 7 percent and 5 percent.
It is, however, his accomplishments as state treasurer that most impresses small-business owners, according to Gagliardi. “He has transformed the office, and as a result, improved returns on state investments, secured better protection of state savings, and increased transparency and access to state financial data for the public,” said Gagliardi. “In growing the state’s portfolio by $5 billion, he has positioned Wyoming to benefit further from investment income in the years to come. His accomplishments led to Wyoming’s No. 1 ranking in the United States for transparency and third in the world among all sovereign funds. No wonder his counterparts elected him the western regional vice president of the National Association of State Treasurers and the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute named him one of the ‘Top 100 Most Significant and Impactful Asset Owners and Public Executives.’”
Small-business owners will always have a suspicious, and sometimes adversarial, relationship with their government, said Gagliardi. But, “every once and a while when a public servant the quality of Mark Gordon comes around, it rekindles an entrepreneur’s belief that there are still good people competently doing the public’s job.”
During her terms in the Legislature, Mary Throne supported every attempt to raise taxes, increase penalties on employers for various rules violations, and was not open to working with the business community. Her NFIB voting record for the 2014 session of the Legislature was 57 percent, and for 2016, 50 percent. She did not serve in the 2017/18 session. She also failed to return NFIB’s candidate questionnaire and did not respond to requests for an interview.
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For more than 75 years, NFIB has been advocating on behalf of America’s small and independent business owners, both in Washington, D.C., and in all 50 state capitals. NFIB is nonprofit, nonpartisan, and member-driven. Since our founding in 1943, NFIB has been exclusively dedicated to small and independent businesses and remains so today. For more information, please visit nfib.com.
National Federation of Independent Business/Wyoming
P.O. Box 1890
Cheyenne, WY 82009
866-639-1846
www.nfib.com/wyoming
Twitter: @NFIB_WY
