Cynthia Lummis

Cynthia Lummis
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Wyoming's At-large district
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 2009
Preceded by	Barbara Cubin
Wyoming State Senator
In office 1984–1994
Wyoming State Representative
In office 1979–1982
Personal details
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Al Wiederspahn
Residence	Cheyenne, Wyoming
Alma mater	University of Wyoming
Profession	Attorney, Rancher
Website	http://lummis2008.com/

Cynthia Marie Lummis Wiederspahn, known politically as Cynthia Lummis (born September 10, 1954), is the Republican U.S. Representative from the U.S. state of Wyoming. She is a lawyer and rancher in Cheyenne and served from 1999-2007 as the 29th state treasurer, in which capacity she managed over $8 billion in annual funds and was elected president of the Western State Treasurer's Association.

Education

Lummis was educated at Trinity Lutheran School and public schools in Cheyenne. She was active in the 4-H Club and raised Hereford calves every year for showing at the annual county fair in August. Lummis Livestock outside Cheyenne, which she still manages, began in 1919, when her great-grandfather, the owner of a hardware store, bought the property from a business partner. The ranch has a stone barn built in the latter 19th century. Lummis and Wiederspahn also own ranches in Wheatland and in Lincoln County.

After high school, Lummis enrolled in the University of Wyoming in Laramie, her state's only four-year institution of higher learning. She obtained two bachelor of science degrees in animal science in 1976 and in biology in 1978. While she was a legislator, she received her Juris Doctor degree in 1985 and also clerked for the Wyoming Supreme Court.

Career

Lummis was a member of the Wyoming State Senate from 1982-1994 and the Wyoming House of Representatives from 1979-1982. Thus far, she is the youngest woman, at twenty-four, to have been elected to the Wyoming House. Lummis is also the first woman to have served on the popular Cheyenne Frontier Days rodeo board. She won the title "Miss Frontier" in 1976.

In the legislature, Lummis concentrated on issues of taxation and natural resources. On leaving the Senate, she served as transition director for Republican Governor Jim Geringer and then worked for two years in Geringer's office. In that capacity she spearheaded the Governor’s Open Spaces Initiative and edited Wyoming’s Open Lands Guidebook. She also served on the board of the Institute for Environmental and Natural Resources at the University of Wyoming. She is a former interim director of the Office of State Lands and Investments.

State revenues increased sharply during her tenure, and investment income increased. Elected state treasurer in 1998 and unopposed in 2002, she was ineligible to seek reelection in 2006 because of Wyoming's term limits law. She was succeeded by fellow Republican Joseph B. Meyer, previously the Secretary of State.

Lummis' affiliations include the American Women's Financial Education Foundation, the advisory board of the Center for the Rocky Mountain West, Cheyenne's Vision 2020, the Wyoming Business Alliance, and the Wyoming Stock Growers Agricultural Land Trust.

As state treasurer, Lummis was cited by the Small Business Administration as the "Women in Business Advocate of the Year 2005". The award is given to a public official who promotes women's business ownership. That same year Lummis was honored by the UW College of Agriculture as one of two "Outstanding Alumni".

In 2003, Lummis was a fundraiser for the construction of Johnson Lummis Hunkins Plaza in downtown Laramie in Albany County, where a statue has been erected in honor of Louisa Gardner Swain, the first woman ever to have voted in a general election in the United States.

On June 14, 2007, Lummis was among thirty-one Wyoming Republicans to file their names with the Republican State Central Committee in Cheyenne for consideration as the successor to U.S. Senator Craig Thomas, who died earlier in the month. She was chosen as one of the three nominees by the committee submitted to the governor for final selection, and Governor Freudenthal, under Wyoming law, made the final selection on June 22, 2007, to appoint John Barrasso, an orthopedic surgeon and a state senator from Casper. Lummis had considered challenging Barrasso in the 2008 special election to complete the remaining four years of Thomas' term, but instead announced her successful candidacy for the U.S. House.

2008 Congressional Race

Lummis, who carried the support of pro-life and economic conservative voters in Wyoming, won the November 4, 2008, general election for the right to succeed fellow Republican Representative Barbara Cubin of Casper. In the August primary election, Lummis defeated businessman and rancher Mark Gordon, who outspent her 4-1, along with fellow candidates Bill Winney and Michael S. Holland.

In the general election, Lummis faced Democrat Gary Trauner of Wilson in Teton County, who criticized Lummis because she has supported privatization of Social Security and has also suggested raising the retirement age for receiving such benefits; Trauner has called instead for consideration of imposing the FICA tax on income over $100,000, which is currently exempt.

Lummis defeated Trauner by a margin 53-43 percent statewide, although she lost her own Laramie County. Trauner had the support of Democratic Governor Dave Freudenthal, with whom Lummis has had political and personal differences. With all 490 precincts reporting, Lummis received 126,016 votes to Trauner's 101,036. Libertarian David Herbert garnered the remaining 10,685 ballots.

Trauner had nearly toppled Cubin in the 2006 election.

Personal life

Though she uses her maiden name, she has been married since 1983 to Cheyenne attorney and businessman Alvin Laramie "Al" Wiederspahn (born 1949), himself a former Democratic member of both houses of the Wyoming legislature. The two were House colleagues from 1979-1983, when they married.

The Wiederspahns have a daughter, Annaliese Wiederspahn, who graduated in 2007 from Haverford College in Haverford, Pennsylvania. They are members of Trinity Lutheran Church in Cheyenne. Lummis' father-in-law was former Laramie County Coroner Arling Wiederspahn (1916-2007), a Democrat and a funeral home owner.

See also

• United States House of Representatives election in Wyoming, 2008

References

• http://uwacadweb.uwyo.edu/stroockforum/Forums/All_Speaker_Bio's/Cynthia%20Lummis%20Bio%202004%20SP.htm
• http://216.109.125.130/search/cache?p=cynthia+lummis&fr=yfp-t-501&toggle=1&ei=UTF-8&u=www.sba.gov/idc/groups/public/documents/wy_casper/serv_wy_06515.pdf&w=cynthia+lummis&d=VAyVI_mdOhRy&icp=1&.intl=us
• http://uwadmnweb.uwyo.edu/uwyo/vol4/04/lummis.htm
• http://www.laramieboomerang.com/news/archivemore.asp?StoryID=1936
• http://uwadmnweb.uwyo.edu/UWAG/05Alumni.asp
• http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2004/08/01/news/wyoming/9f75e0f2b930f0f387256ee20075e758.txt
• http://www.trib.com/articles/2006/12/06/news/casper/e8931203d1f164178725723b0082f05a.txt
• http://www.oldwestmuseum.org/cfdhist.htm
• http://www.wyomingnews.com/articles/2007/06/15/local_news_updates/18local_06-15-07.txt
• http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2007/06/22/news/wyoming/97fa4abe13f99414872573020006d353.txt

External links

• Congresswoman Cynthia Lummis official U.S. House website

• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission
• Profile at Vote Smart
• Profile at SourceWatch Congresspedia