Gubernatorial candidate Hageman visits

Wyoming native Harriet Hageman stopped into the Independent Record on Tuesday morning to chat about her run for Governor of the Cowboy State.

Hailing from a fourth-generation Wyoming family, Hageman is a nationally recognized expert on regulatory burdens and how they affect all the facets of Wyoming life. As an attorney, she has fought the Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife and has represented countless individuals for water rights and private property rights.

One thing Hageman is most passionate about is education.

With a family of educators surrounding her, including her own mother, Hageman believes our children’s education is critically important.

“Kindergarten through fourth grade is the foundation of education,” she said. “Right now we have a huge curriculum that is taking away from the core subjects (reading, writing, math) and we need to get back to those basics in the student’s early years.”

Hageman believes leadership begins at the top and she feels the governor should be involved in school funding discussions, where the money comes from, where its spent and how do we provide the best education possible.

“Prioritization is an issue,” she said. “Right now, about 50 percent of our education funding goes toward administration and overhead. The governor should absolutely be part of that discussion.”

Wyoming knows what is best for Wyoming’s children, and Hageman feels strongly that the Federal Department of Education should not be dictating what we teach, but rather, the curriculum should be set by each individual state.

“Our school dollars should be focused upon the classroom, including providing adequate teacher pay and benefits to attract and retain the best teachers in the country,” she said.

Reformation of Wyoming’s healthcare system is also one of her priorities, seeking to keep seniors in their homes for as long as possible, providing a better quality of life in their Golden Years.

Hageman said Wyoming’s flexibility with healthcare is limited right now due to a plethora of medical requirements.

“We need to be working with our college system in Wyoming to develop programs focused on geriatric care,” she said. “I spoke with Central Wyoming College about creating programs focused on home health care.”

If there were more trained home health care providers, the elderly could remain at home longer, reducing the cost of long-term care.

When it comes to Wyoming’s economic development, Hageman said everything needs to be transparent.

“There has to be accountability, responsibility and effective development,” she said. “We have to look at our end goals. We need to know what those goals are.”