Greater Cheyenne Chamber of Commerce Business Journal Q3 2015 | Page 19

The Need to Lead:
The Necessity of Business & Politics

By: Tara Nethercott, Vice Chairman of Governmental Affairs of the Greater Cheyenne Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors

The Governmental Affairs
Committee, Action and
Advocacy, has been off to a
great start in 2015, addressing a
number of community concerns
from state Medicaid expansion to
local trash fee rates.

Notably, at the most recent
Action & Advocacy meeting, one
of these community concerns
that was brought forth was the
concept of a candidate school.
The issue was thoroughly
discussed and it was determined
that the community was in need
of such a resource and thus a
subcommittee has been formed
to begin the groundwork for the
school.

The purpose of a candidate
school is to provide an
opportunity for local citizens
considering running for political
office to gain a working
knowledge of the local political
process. More specifically, the
candidate school would serve as
an educational forum to teach
candidates the procedure for
filing the appropriate paperwork
and financial records, election

time frames and laws governing
candidates, how to raise funds,
how to campaign, and other
general candidate election
information.

The discussion around the
creation and implementation of
the candidate school highlighted
a greater need in the communitythe need for quality candidates to
run for office. Not only is there
an identified need for quality
candidates but quality candidates
from the business sector. Both
small and large business owners
are accustomed to producing
progress and results as the
entrepreneur’s livelihood depends
on it. The entrepreneur’s resultsdriven expertise is a vital skill
that is required of our political
candidates and is essential for
the future of our local and state
governments.

This identified need for quality
candidates in our community is
not a criticism of our currently
elected governing bodies,
as we are fortunate in this
community to have many
well-qualified, committed and

“The discussion around the
creation and implementation
of the candidate school
highlighted a greater need in the
community- the need for quality
candidates to run for office.”

accessible leaders. A frequent
criticism of our local and state
elections, however is that many
of the candidates, qualified
or not, run unopposed. This
is unacceptable. Thus, this
articles serves as a call to the
local business community and
Cheyenne Chamber members
to run for office. Many of you
are committed public servants
already serving on a variety of
boards and civic organizations
– devoting time to both business
and community – I urge you to
continue in public service, but
rather as an elected official.

For those entrepreneurs who
are less involved because of
the time constraints of running a
business, a case can clearly be
made for the necessity of making
time to run for office in order
to be instrumental in ensuring
a political atmosphere that is
focused on strategic economic
growth and development for the
future of our communities and
businesses.

Hopefully, the candidate school
will serve to alleviate potential
candidates’ tentativeness and
confusion concerning the
electoral process, which in turn
will allow for more qualified
candidates running for office.
If you would like to learn more or
would like to get involved contact
the Greater Cheyenne Chamber
of Commerce at [phone].

Q3 2015 BUSINESS JOURNAL

l PG 19