Well, it may not be completely accurate to say that Cynthia Lummis is a rising star: after all, she's been a strong presence in Wyoming's public life for many years. But, watching her on the campaign trail this past few months preparing for the State's August 19th Primary, where she neatly dispatched several strong Republican candidates; Buffalo area rancher-businessman Mark Gordon, impeccably-credentialed former nuclear sub commander Bill Winney, and Green River Physician, Michael Holland, I couldn't help but be impressed.
These were not fluff candidates. All demonstrated a substantive grasp of the issues, both national and local. Gordon, whose campaign managed some very impressive commercials which quickly developed his statewide name recognition, raised $828,000; $650,000 of it his personal resources, in the Primary. Winney, according to an unattributed Wyoming Tribune-Eagle article appearing on Wyoming News.com, brought in $124,000, while Holland hadn't reported raising any money for his campaign as of the writing of that article. Lummis? She raised $370,000 through June 30, including $67,000 she donated to her own campaign.
In a campaign fundraising letter dated June 14, 2008, Lummis said “we believe strongly that our campaign best represents Wyoming's center-right political philosophy . . .” She went on to list these items:
- “Freedom from oppressive taxation,
- Responsibility for the moral integrity of our nation,
- Economic security built through a renewed culture of savings and fiscal discipline,
- Energy independence achieved through a portfolio of innovation, conservation, efficiency, and production,
- Immigration controls that secure our borders and encourage legal immigration while cracking down on illegal workers in America,
- Security, because a strong national defenses is the cornerstone of what keeps America safe and allows us to be great.”
Cynthia Marie Lummis Wiederspahn was raised in Laramie County, Wyoming, on a ranch just outside Cheyenne's city limits. It's alleged that she is still active in the operation of her family homestead, Lummis Livestock, although, with her many other duties and responsibilities, I can't imagine that she is totally immersed in its daily activities. The Ranch was begun in 1919, when her great-grandfather, a hardware store owner, bought the property from a business partner. The land lies next door to a refinery and has a stone barn built in the latter 19th Century. It is a prime commercial and/or industrial site, and will bring millions on the market should the family ever decide to sell it.
Lummis was educated at Trinity Lutheran School and public schools in Cheyenne. As a child, she was active in the 4-H Club and raised Hereford calves for showing at the annual county fair.
Bright and tenacious, after finishing high school Lummis attended the University of Wyoming, where she earned not one but two bachelor of science degrees; the first in animal husbandry in 1976, the second in biology in 1978. Elected to the Wyoming Legislature in 1979, she also attended law school, receiving her Juris Doctor degree in 1985. She served a total of fourteen years in the Wyoming House and Senate, and also clerked for the Wyoming Supreme Court. That's a position available only to the best and brightest of law students aspiring to become lawyers.
Though she is still known by her maiden name, she has been married since 1983, to Cheyenne attorney Alvin Wiederspahn. Born in 1949, a former Democrat member of both houses of the Wyoming legislature, he served with Cynthia in the House from 1979-1983, when they married. Lummis and Wiederspahn also own ranches in Wheatland and in Lincoln County, Wyoming. Wiederspan plies his trade on Central Avenue in Cheyenne. He's listed in the Yellow Pages under Attorneys - Corporation, Banking Partnership & Business Law.
The couple has one daughter, Annaliese, who, in 2007, graduated from Haverford College, a small private coed liberal arts college in Haverford, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia, and worked a bit in New York City before returning to Wyoming to help with her mother's Congressional campaign.
Lummis was honored by the Small Business Administration as the "Women in Business Advocate of the Year 2005", an award given to a public official who promotes women's business ownership. That same year she was named by the UW College of Agriculture as one of two “Outstanding Alumni”. In 2003, Lummis did fundraising for the construction of Johnson Lummis Hunkins Plaza in downtown Laramie, Wyoming.
In 2007, Lummis was among thirty-one Wyoming Republicans to file their names with the Republican State Central Committee for consideration as the successor to U.S. Senator Craig Thomas, who died in office. She was one of the three finalists whose names were submitted by the Committee to the governor, but Democrat Governor David Freudenthal, under Wyoming law, made the final selection, and in June 2007, he appointed Republican State Senator John Barrasso, from Casper, to the post. Rumors had it that there was “bad blood” between Freudenthal and Lummis.
