Sommers, Albert

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Albert Sommers has served in House District 20 as a WY Representative for Lincoln and Sublette Counties from 2017 to the present.  He has received a negative score for Representation and Competence.  While we are still assessing his score for Integrity, his two negative scores already rank Sommers as Low Trust.

He is up for reelection in 2024.

“This bill disallows public school teachers from teaching sexual orientation and gender identity themes to children from kindergarten through the third grade and directs school boards how to interact with parents. This type of teaching is not happening in Wyoming schools; moreover, the bill strips local control.”

From https://cowboystatedaily.com/2023/02/26/albert-sommers-im-focused-on-wyoming-solutions-not-out-of-state-influences/

Overall, Sommers scores a (–) for Representation because of his abuse of power as described under Public Conduct below.

Attendance

It appears that Sommers missed 7 votes across 3 days in 2023 General Session:

• 1/19/23 – 3rd reading for HB47; HB69;
• 2/13/23 – Committee of the Whole vote on SF158;
• 2/17/23 – 3rd reading for SF29; Concurrence vote for HB7; HB96; HB104.

Public Conduct

Sommers is the Speaker of the WY House.  As such, he has significant power.  We believe he abused this power by suppressing bills that Wyoming citizens desperately wanted to be heard by the House and voted on.  Some of these bills had already made it half way through the legislative process and had passed out of the Senate, but he kept them in his drawer and refused to allow them to come to the House Floor for Introduction.  These bills are:

• SF86 Voter identification-concealed carry permit;
• SF0111 Child abuse-change of sex;
• SF0117 Parental rights in education;
• SF0143 Wyoming freedom scholarship act-2;
• SJ0001 Amending Wyoming’s act of admission for leases and earnings;

It is uncertain if Speaker Sommers suppressed the above bills because he personally opposes them, or if it was a cowardly act because of the controversy surrounding some of these bills.  Either way, Speaker Sommers place his personal preference or comfort above every Wyoming citizen.  These qualities are abhorrent for any legislator, much less Wyoming Legislative Leadership.

Another cowardly act by Sommers was his abstaining from bringing any disciplinary action against Representative Karlee Provenza for her post that called on the domestic terrorist group Antifa.  See more here.

Sponsorship History

In 2023 Sommers was the primary sponsor of 9 bills, and co-sponsored 26 bills and 1 joint resolutions.  Favored sponsorship topics appear to be agriculture.  For more details, see his legislator webpage.

Committee Assignments

2023-Management Council – Chairman
2023-House Rules & Procedure – Chairman
2023-Mental Health & Vulnerable Adult Task Force
2023-Select Water Committee
2023-Legislative Artwork Donation Program Committee
2023-Colorado River Basin Forum
2023-CSG National – Governing Board
2023-CSG West – Executive Committee

Sommers scored a (–) for Constitutional Competence with an average of 35.5% on the constitutional issues listed below.

For more on the bills used to analyze these scores click here.  Special hat-tip goes out to Evidence Based Wyoming for use of their statistical tool to generate the following vote scores:

Conflicts

Still being assessed…

Employment/Income

According to Sommers’ 2023 State Elected Officials Financial Disclosure available at Wyofile, he reports:

• Co-manager – Sommers Ranch, LLC
• Co-manager – Sommers Herefords, LLC
• Salaried employment – Wyoming House of Representatives/State of Wyoming
• Income earned from “Any security or interest earnings” and “Real estate, leases, royalties”

Memberships/Civic Organizations

Green River Valley Cattlemen’s Association
Wyoming Stock Growers Association
Sublette County Historical Society
Green Valley Museum
Boulder Community Center
Pinedale Fine Arts Council
UW Alumni Association

Campaign Contributions

The table below shows all campaign contributions reported by the WY Secretary of State for Albert Sommers and Albert Sommers, Jr.

From 2012 to 2022 Sommers received approximately 60 contributions that total approximately $53,828.  Of the 60 donations, approximately 16 were from PACs &/or campaign committees.  The total amount received from PACs &/or campaign committees was $11,250.

Noteworthy contributions are:

• $2,000 from CONPAC Contactors PAC
• $400 from Deloitte PAC
• $1,000 from WY Medical Society PAC
• $75 from True family dynasty member

Click the arrows at the top of columns to sort the data by name, date, $ amount, etc.  (Data is publicly available records obtained from the Wyoming Secretary of State’s Wyoming’s Campaign Finance Information System.)