Former sheriff seeks county commissioner position

The tough times Sweetwater County is experiencing are what motivated Dave Gray to run for election for county commissioner.

“My fear is the economy is going to be in bad shape for two to four years,” Gray said. “It concerns me.”

He said the announcement that the state could cut every job and release every inmate and still face a significant budget deficit got his attention, believing the shortfall to local government in the coming years.

The Democrat is not stranger to county politics. He served as Sweetwater County Sheriff for one term from 2003-2006. Prior to that, he had worked with the Wyoming Highway Patrol. Most recently however, Gray spent the last 13 years working in the oil and gas industry, retiring last November.

Gray sees opportunity in the struggling local economy as well as with national politics. Gray believes the commissioners should be more active in trying to recruit manufacturing jobs to the area, with a particular emphasis on firearms manufacturers. Following Weatherby’s relocation to Sheridan, Gray thinks other firearms makers could be persuaded to move to Wyoming, specifically to Sweetwater County. Gray cites the area’s attitude towards both the Second Amendment and law enforcement. He also sees the fact that the county wasn’t impacted by protests as another selling point in a relocation pitch.

“We don’t hate firearms. We don’t hate firearm manufacturers,” he said.

Gray also thinks Rocky Mountain Power should reconsider its decision to close area power plants, saying the move puts a large number of jobs at risk. He believes solar and wind power generation can’t replace the coal-fired generators already in place because of the amount of land needed to produce power on par with the Jim Bridger Power Plant. He said he enjoys the open spaces Sweetwater County has to offer and would hate to see them marred with wind turbines or solar farms.

Gray said he supports access to public lands and believes the state purchasing lands from Occidental Petroleum would be a safe deal to keep public access to Bureau of Land Management parcels.

He also thinks the county should work to get right-of-way agreements with land owners whose lands county roads pass through to protect them from legal problems.

Gray said he has experience working with county budgets during his time as sheriff and has worked on the Wyoming Board of Parole’s budget during the last two years as a member of the board. Gray believes the county should adopt a biennium budget calendar similar to the state’s budget process. He also believes the commissioners should start budget discussions much sooner than they do.

Gray said the county is going to face some difficult challenges in the future and said he is willing to make tough decisions if needed. He hopes voters also look at the experience each candidate provides, not just their party affiliation when they visit the polls.