By Jessica Cockrell March 7, 2007 It was the morning of Thursday, February 15th, room 1299 in the Herschler building. Governor Freudenthal delivered a brief speech to me and 43 other students from all over Wyoming. We had been there all week, learning about leadership and government first hand. When the Governor stood for questions, hands shot into the air. My question was one of the last he took. I rose, looked him in the eye where he stood not a yard away from me, and asked him about SF 118. His answer surprised me. "Oh, I'll sign it." he quickly replied. I had been expecting the opposite. He later modified his statement with "probably", but he sought to give all those in the room the impression that he agreed with us in supporting it, though he added "There are a few things that worry me, but it's a good bill." I don't know if the others were convinced, but I sensed he was tailoring his message to please his audience- even to the degree of dishonesty. His veto of this bill is, of course, incontestable proof of that. We certainly learned some things about leadership and government! They say politicians don't speak truly. It's become a proverb. I say that if we, the people who hold the power to choose our own officials, would truly rise in outrage when someone we have elected lies to us, things would change. If we don't actively demand integrity, it'll never be seen in our capitol. So I write my letter. Perhaps it's on the longer side. I can't use enough words to demonstrate my horror at personally witnessing the truth of the adages. My governor stood a few feet from me, and lied to my face. Shall I tolerate this in silence? Should you? |