Barbuto selected as county treasurer

Rock Springs resident Joe Barbuto will be the next Sweetwater County Treasurer, filling the remainder of Robb Slaughter’s term.

The Sweetwater County Commissioners voted 4-1 to appoint Barbuto following public interviews they conducted with candidates recommended by the Sweetwater County Democratic Party.

Barbuto started his term Wednesday.

Slaughter announced plans to retire in June, with his final day as the county treasurer being July 1. Because the elected position is partisan and Slaughter is a Democrat, the Sweetwater County Democratic Party was tasked with providing three candidates for the Commissioners to chose from. Joining Barbuto in vying for the job were Meghan Jensen and Mike Masterson. Of the three, two are ranking members of the Democratic Party, with Barbuto being the chairman of the Wyoming Democratic Party and Jensen being the chairperson of the Sweetwater County Democrats. Masterson is a longtime Democrat and a retired trona mine worker.

Masterson, who was nominated during the Sweetwater County Democratic Party’s meeting Thursday, said he wouldn’t accept the nomination if selected, saying Jensen and Barbuto were the better candidates.

“You have some good choices in front of you and I’m the third best,” he said.

This led Commissioners Roy Lloyd and Lauren Schoenfeld to express disappointment in Masterson being selected as a potential candidate when another interested applicant was an option.

“It would have been awesome to have three candidates who would have taken the position,” Lloyd said.

Initially, only Barbuto and Dave Gray, the Sweetwater County Sheriff from 2003 to 2006, were the candidates who had sent a resume to the county party’s leaders. At the start of the Sweetwater County Democrats’ meeting Thursday evening, the party’s leadership was forced to call for open nominations amongst the meeting’s attendees as it had to provide three candidates to the Commissioners. Jensen and Masterson were nominated and accepted their nominations, though Masterson later said he likely would not seek election if chosen. The requirements to be a county treasurer in Wyoming only consist of a person being of voting age, being a resident of the county they’re seeking election in and not having a felony record.

With Jensen accepting a nomination, State Committeeman RJ Pieper took over the meeting.

Jensen said she had spoken with a number of Democrats to generate interest in applying for the position, but said many she spoke with could not promise they would not change their party affiliation to Republican after being chosen. Jensen also said the party receives a large amount of support from people within the county, but many prefer to keep their party affiliation to themselves - something they could not do if they sought the nomination.

Slaughter personally asked Barbuto to consider being the next county treasurer. Barbuto said Slaughter had spoken with him in May before Slaughter announced his plans for retirement and Barbuto said he hadn’t considered being a county treasurer prior to his discussion with Slaughter.

Gray applied because he had heard there wasn’t a large number of people interested in applying and wanted to help fill the field. Gray’s application was submitted the evening before the meeting.

Party members used a rank-choice ballot to select the candidates. The system assigns a point value to each candidate, with higher ranked individuals receiving more points than those lower on the ballot. Barbuto, Jensen and Masterson were then nominated.

After interviewing candidates, the Commissioners discussed their preferred choices for the position. Commissioner Mary Thoman disagreed with Masterson’s assessment that he was the third best candidate, saying she liked the varied experience he brought and was disappointed he was not interested.

“Mr. Masterson, you’re the master,” she said.

Schoenfeld supported Jensen because she did not like the fact that Barbuto didn’t have longterm employment listed with anything outside his position with the State Democratic Party. Barbuto works as a consultant outside of his duties as chairman of the state party, which involve contract employment that ends once the contract expires. Barbuto said his most recent contract job concluded at the end of June. Schoenfeld also liked Jensen’s experience in accounting and the longevity she has had with employers.

When the group voted to appoint Barbuto, Schoenfeld was the sole vote in opposition.