Writer and two Western Govs will address Wyo. Democratic convention

The Wyoming Democratic Party is making it awfully difficult not to spend money at the state convention.

First, they recruited Wilson-based author and screenwriter Bill Broyles as the luncheon speaker. Broyles has written extensively for Esquire, The Atlantic and New York Times. He was the founding editor of the feisty and entertaining Texas Monthly magazine. His book "Brothers in Arms" is a fine account of his experiences as a Marine infantry lieutenant in Vietnam. He was the co-creator of the TV series, "China Beach," and wrote screenplays for "Apollo 13," "Cast Away," "Jarhead," and "Flags of Our Fathers." A great batch of screen credits – I’ve seen all of these films and liked them. Broyles won an Oscar for "Apollo 13."

He seems to be able to sneak social commentary into all his work. One of the cool things about "Cast Away" was how useless Tom Hanks (the castaway) found all of the junk he was marooned with on the desert island. He’d spent his entire career working for a company (FedEx) that transported beach balls and paperwork across the oceans. He almost died doing it – his fellow crew members did. Bill’s wife Andrea is an artist. One of her monoprints, which is described on her web site as "an abstracted set of wings," was the image on the FedEx box in "Cast Away." Variations of the wings were made into sculptures which represented the work of an artist character in the film.

Bill Broyles will speak at the convention luncheon on Saturday, May 24. I may have to pop for the $50 ticket and one for my wife so I can hear him speak about his work. It's all for a good cause -- defeat of Republicans in local, state, and national elections.

At that night’s banquet, Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer and Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal are the featured speakers. Banquet tickets are $100 apiece, a little rich for my blood. As much as I’d like to hear Gov Bri and Gov Dave, I may have to give the budget a rest that night and head to the taco shop downtown. The two Govs represent a line of Democrats that tracks along the spine of the Rockies from Canada to Mexico: Mont., Wyo., Colo. (Ritter) and New Mexico (Richardson). And more to come. Schweitzer is the guy to talk to about coal gasification and clean-coal technology. He also knows his beeves, as he was raised on a cattle farm near Havre and got his undergrad aggie creds at CSU in Fort Collins before heading back to Montana.

Said WyoDem Chairman John Millin:

"We are fortunate to have such magnificent speakers for one of the most exciting conventions in our state's history. This has been an incredible year with the visits by the two major candidates on the eve of our county caucuses and the record voter turnout at the caucuses. We are thrilled to have an award-winning author and two Western Democratic governors on hand to address the delegates."

People can purchase tickets for either event by contacting the Wyoming Democratic Party at (800) 729-3367 by May 19.