Mark Gordon (politician)

Background

Gordon is a son of Mr. and Mrs. Crawford Gordon, ranchers from Kaycee^[1] in Johnson County in north central Wyoming. Reared on the Gordon Ranch, Gordon is still affiliated with the 48 Ranch Partnership in Kaycee.^[2]

He graduated from St. Paul's School, an Episcopalian boarding school in Concord, New Hampshire, and Middlebury Collegein Middlebury, Vermont, where he met his first wife, the former Sarah Hildreth Gilmore. The couple married on March 7, 1981 in the Second Congregational Church in Greenfield, Massachusetts, where her parents resided.

Upon returning to Wyoming, Mark and Sally settled on the family ranch in Kaycee where his passion for agriculture grew, as did his role in the operation. The couple was also involved in several business start-ups.

In his 20s, Gordon's involvement in ranching continued, but he saw that the land stewardship of ranchers was not being valued nationally. Due to his commitment to open space and wildlife and his first-hand knowledge of ranchers' leadership in conservation he sought to build a bridge between the environmental and ranching communities. This led to involvement with the Sierra Club[1]. Eventually he grew away from the group and after his wife was killed he focused on raising his two daughters who were four and two-years old at the time.

Gordon met his current wife, the former Jennie Muir Young, in 1998 and they were married in 2000. Together they own the Merlin Ranch east of Buffalo, also in Johnson County, Wyoming.[2] In 2000 they expanded their operation to encompass the lands owned by the Ucross Foundation. In 2009, their ranch received the Society for Range Management Wyoming Section "Excellence in Rangeland Stewardship" award.[3]

He was employed by Apache Corporation, a Houston-based oil and gas fortune 500 company until his unsuccessful run for Wyoming’s sole US House seat in 2008. Subsequently, Gordon was nominated to, elected, and served as a Class B Director of the District 10 Federal Reserve Bank in Kansas City, Missouri until his appointment as Wyoming Treasurer in October 2012 following the passing of Treasurer Joe Meyer.

His wife, Jennie currently serves on the board of the Wyoming Stockgrowers Agricultural Land Trust.

As State Treasurer, Gordon has had success modernizing and professionalizing the Office of State Treasurer. Working with voters and the Wyoming Legislature, Gordon helped craft an amendment to Wyoming’s Constitution which would allow the Legislature to designate certain funds of the State to be invested in stocks as well as bonds. The amendment passed in 2016.

Under Gordon’s leadership, Wyoming’s portfolio has grown from $15 billion to nearly $21 billion. Gordon has been recognized by the Sovereign Wealth Institute as one of the top 100 most impactful and influential investors globally. In 2016, under Gordon’s leadership, Wyoming’s portfolio was ranked 3rd in the world for transparency by the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

As a member of the National Association of State Treasurers, Gordon was elected Western Regional Vice-President in 2013. In 2016 he was elected Secretary/Treasurer of that organization.

Congressional race

In 2008, Gordon was an unsuccessful candidate in the Republican primary for the United States House of Representatives for the at-large seat now held by fellow Republican Cynthia Lummis, also a former state treasurer and the wife of a Democratic former state representative, Alvin Wiederspahn. His congressional candidacy drew criticism from many of the state's conservatives, who questioned his past political contributions to the Democratic National Committee and such individual Democrats as presidential nominee John Forbes Kerry of Massachusetts (also a St. Paul's School graduate) and that party's congressional nominees in 1996, 2004, and as recently as 2006. Had Gordon defeated Lummis for the congressional nomination, he would have faced the same Democrat, Gary Trauner, to whom he had contributed two years earlier.

Bill Cubin, son of former U.S. Representative Barbara Cubin and chairman in 2008 of the Natrona County Republican organization, said that "It doesn't make sense to give $2,500 to the Democratic National Committee and support John Kerry over George W. Bush, out of step with Wyoming voter attitudes." A flier by an unknown author which circulated in 2008 "awarded" Gordon the "Academy Award" for "Best supporting Republican role in the Democratic Party."

However, former U.S. Senator Alan K. Simpson of Cody, considered a moderate Republican, defended Gordon's candidacy though he stopped short of an outright endorsement because he is also friendly with Lummis. Nevertheless, former U.S. Senator Malcolm Wallop did endorse Gordon as did the late Joseph B. Meyer, who was serving as state treasurer at the time. In the primary, Gordon garnered the endorsements of the Wyoming's two most prominent statewide newspapers: The Casper Star-Tribune and the Wyoming Tribune Eagle. Though polls and the financial advantage rested with Gordon in the primary campaign, he nevertheless lost the party nomination to Lummis.

Appointment as state treasurer

Governor Mead said that his selection of Gordon as the state treasurer over two other candidates proposed by the Wyoming Republican State Central Committee is based on Gordon's financial background and his long-term commitment to the state. The treasurer manages the state's $15 billion in investments. Severance taxes on energy production are particularly important to the state budget.

Gordon was sworn in as treasurer on November 1, 2012, by Wyoming Supreme Court Justice William Hill.

Gordon was elected to a full term as treasurer in the 2014 Republican primary election. Gordon declined to run for Cynthia Lummis's seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2016, the same seat he ran for in 2008, and is instead eyeing a run for Governor in 2018 when Incumbent Matt Mead retires.