Chris Yager

Recently, I wrote an opinion piece voicing some concerns about City Council candidate Harry Pollak. I questioned whether his political goals align with those of most Sheridanites, and I also had concerns about his temperament and ability to lead.

Well, Harry didn’t like that very much and replied with this:

I wrestled with whether or not I wanted to respond. Ultimately, I decided I always enjoy a good challenge.

What’s humorous is that Harry’s response gives credence to my concerns and only affirms my criticisms.

First of all, let’s quickly address a few things that stood out.

“Defimation” is spelled “defamation.” By liable, I think you intended “libel.” “Your” should have been “you’re.” “First Amendment” should be capitalized, and “keyboard” is one word.

Sorry, I hate to be an English teacher. Just a friendly, helpful writing tip: The same AI technology you use for graphics also does an outstanding job of copy editing anything you want to write.

Another piece of advice?

I’d fire your campaign advisor.

Look, unlike some people, I’m humble and have no ego. My Substack? It’s new and growing, but it has a very small audience and reach. An article from little ol’ me is not going to cost you the election.

What you should have done is just ignore what I wrote. You don’t share it. You don’t bring attention to it. By doing that, you give it air and life and increase its reach.

I don’t respond well to anyone who attempts to intimidate or bully me. You may have had some success using these tactics on others, but you’ll find they won’t work here. Over the span of my life, I’ve learned there is only one way to deal with these kinds of people. Ignoring them or backing down is not part of the equation.

Yes, I am indeed familiar with the First Amendment and the meaning of libel and slander. And as an advocate of the First Amendment, I’m sure you are aware that it provides incredibly broad and important protection for journalists and commentators who want to criticize candidates for public office. Numerous decades-old decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court have upheld and recognized this right.

Since your arrival in Sheridan, there have been several documented incidents of you making allegations against officials and calling for resignations. You have exercised and fought for your right to speak before boards and on social media.

That First Amendment applies to everyone. Not just you. Your ability to criticize others is not exclusive to you, nor does it protect you from criticism.

Let’s not be a hypocrite.

Your outrage and response to a letter in The Sheridan Press is what prompted me to write my article and voice my concerns.

Your very response to me only illuminates some of what I wrote. You want to get involved in politics, let your voice be heard, and express yourself. Great. You have exercised that right frequently and forcefully. But when it comes to being on the receiving end, you have a crash-out.

If you want to be a public figure or politician, you have to give up control over what people think and say about you. People will have opinions. They will oppose you. They will challenge you.

Welcome to the club.

As far as my integrity goes? If my integrity is judged by having the courage to speak up about a blowhard who wants to enact drastic changes in my community by taking a wrecking ball to an important tax and the nonprofits it benefits, I’ll take that as a compliment.

Mr. Pollak is currently a candidate for the Sheridan City Council. He is an enthusiastic, card-carrying supporter of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus. Harry moved to Sheridan from California back in 2021. He has been involved in the Sheridan County GOP and several political causes, and Sheridan has not been the same since.

Harry is sure an interesting fellow. He touts himself as a man of the people who fights government overreach. He is supposedly a proven leader who is level-headed and brimming with integrity.

Pollak has a history of showing up at county commission, city council, and school board meetings to voice his concerns and objections about this and that.

But he doesn’t seem to hold himself to the same standards as others. He loves to criticize and micromanage local politicians and boards. But he doesn’t like facing the same questions he often poses to others.

On October 10, 2026, The Sheridan Press published a letter to the editor from a local resident who was critical of Pollak.

Two days later, on Pollak’s Facebook page, he stated, “The Sheridan Press posted an op-ed last Saturday. I responded with a rebuttal that they won’t publish until Thursday. The Press is complicit in spreading lies and defaming me.”

What a response.

I always find it humorous when someone can dish it out repeatedly, but when it is their turn, they shrivel up and melt. Politics, even at the local level, is not for the weak. You are constantly under a microscope and a subject of criticism. If you want to enter the arena, it is time to pull up your big-boy pants.

The Sheridan County GOP

First, let’s address Harry Pollak in his position as the treasurer of the Sheridan County Republican Party, a post he has held for a few years.

I have no knowledge of what kind of job he has done in fulfilling his duties. I can only report on what I observed when I attended the Sheridan County GOP Central Committee meeting in September. What I saw was alarming.

A treasurer’s report was submitted for approval. However, the report only included expenditures from the prior month. There was no information on money spent since the last approved treasurer’s report.

This opened up a can of worms, which devolved into many minutes of back-and-forth arguing between factions in the party. Other issues came up, including a request for an audit, as well as a website receipt that was not properly formatted.

To his credit, Pollak repeatedly stated he was an open book and that the finances could be viewed by anyone at any time. No one seemed to be implying that any funds had been spent inappropriately. But there were concerns over transparency.

Pollak seemed not to understand the problem with failing to disclose expenditures since the last meeting. It sounded as though, at some point, these meetings had occurred monthly, and he had gotten into the habit of reporting expenses from the previous month because that was all that had changed. However, when the meetings started occurring less frequently, he didn’t adjust accordingly and continued reporting only the expenses from the prior month.

There also seemed to be concerns over other reports or information that had been provided to the chairman but not disseminated to the committee as a whole. There were conversations about the formatting of a website receipt that did not meet IRS guidelines.

Throughout much of the back-and-forth, Pollak was defensive, grew increasingly angry and confrontational, and didn’t want to own up to anything he might have mistakenly done. His responses to what appeared to be sincere and legitimate concerns were less than impressive and inspired little confidence.

After the meeting, one of Harry’s cohorts threatened two party members who had raised concerns about financial transparency.

If you struggle to be proficient and competent as the treasurer of the local GOP, are you capable or deserving of serving the community?

Putting Sheridan First

Pollak’s campaign motto is “Putting Sheridan First.”

The problem is, I do not think a rigid ideologue is capable of putting this community first. Why? Because his rigid agenda and belief system will always come first. The people and needs of Sheridan will come last.

Harry claims he wants to prioritize infrastructure. What does that mean exactly? Well, I’m not quite sure. It’s a nice platitude. It sounds good. But I haven’t seen anything on his Facebook account detailing what it means.

Let’s say it might mean roads. Roads are important. We all need them. It appears the city’s Streets Division had a 2026 budget of about $7.3 million. Over half of that funding comes from a capital facilities penny tax. However, approximately $1.4 million, or roughly twenty percent of the Streets Division budget, comes from the GPET tax.

That would be the same tax that Pollak despises and wants defeated.

I’m not exactly sure how Pollak wants to put Sheridan first and prioritize infrastructure and roads with large budget cuts.

Pollak has yet another platitude: “Community Preservation.”

Well, that sounds good, too. Sounds great. What does it mean? What makes Sheridan special, and what do we need to preserve and maintain? One person might say we need to preserve the character and history of our town. Another person might advocate for public services. Yet another might value supporting local businesses.

So how does Pollak feel about these things?

Well, Pollak supports cutting funding to the Sheridan Arts Council, Sheridan County Historical Society, Downtown Sheridan Association, and Sheridan Community Land Trust. Seems like that could be harmful to the character and history of Sheridan.

Hey, what about public services? Pollak wants to cut funding to the Advocacy & Resource Center, Compass Center for Families, Habitat for Humanity, and the Child Development Center. Well, that sounds harmful to public services.

But surely, Harry Pollak supports Sheridan businesses, right? He would support cutting funding to the Sheridan County Chamber of Commerce. All of his printed campaign materials were also purchased online and not from local businesses.

I wonder how Harry feels about artificial intelligence and data centers. He sure loves filling the internet with ridiculous campaign AI slop.

The Big Lie

In his campaign ads, Pollak says, “They lie and say they need the 5th cent for essential services” and “It’s forced charity and its picking winners and losers.”

I’ve addressed this before, and I’m not going to spend a lot of time on it here.

Pollak repeatedly claims that local governments allocating taxpayer funds to nonprofits that provide services is unconstitutional.

This is false. It is blatantly untrue. So much for “Facts Not Fear.”

Sheridan’s nonprofit community helps make this community great. These organizations offer vital services to populations in need. No one is picking winners. No one is wasting your tax dollars on these entities. Without some of these organizations, government would be forced to step in and provide the services itself. That would likely come at an even greater expense to taxpayers.

I have no problem with sharing this great community with people who want to move here to enjoy it. But when you move here, maybe acclimate yourself to our way of life and values. Don’t shove your differing beliefs down our throats.

I don’t think Harry has it within him to put Sheridan first. He is going to put his belief system first. That means cutting taxes, spending, and support for groups, regardless of who gets hurt by it.

He can claim he wants to put Sheridan first, work together for a stronger Sheridan, and build a better Sheridan all he wants. However, everything he has offered up only weakens and sets back this community.

Running this community requires leadership that is able to put its ego aside and work together with others to solve difficult problems. Nothing Pollak has ever demonstrated shows he is either willing or capable of doing so. Sheridan deserves better.

Well, God bless those adorable little Freedom Caucus members. They might have had their back ends handed to them in the primary election, but they are still holding on to control of the Wyoming Republican Party. For now.

Following the Wyoming GOP’s State Central Committee meeting last month, the group formally announced its support of Wyoming Proposition One. That measure will, of course, be voted on by Wyomingites in the general election just a few weeks from now. If the measure passes, approximately $92.6 million will be saved by many Wyoming homeowners who will see their property taxes decrease by 50%.

On the surface, that sounds great, doesn’t it?

There is only one problem. That is $90-95 million not going to local governments, fire departments, and schools.

It sounds great to have your growing property taxes decreased to the level you paid back in maybe 2017 or 2018. But governments don’t get to rewind the clock, either. They don’t get to reduce the pay of their employees or pay less for vehicles, equipment, or employee health insurance.

I’ve already detailed how some counties could absorb this reduction in tax collections more easily than others. Here in Sheridan, a lot of the county’s value comes directly from homes, rather than things like mineral deposits. So, after already experiencing a 25% cut in property taxes, this new cut would be devastating for a county that is rapidly growing.

Of course, one of the old Republican tropes is that government is bad and wastes all of our money. They have great disdain for government. Well, until, of course, they need it for something. My Republican Party excels at making claims that it either doesn’t believe or doesn’t really stand by.

I love Republicans who criticize big government and socialism while, at the same time, collecting Medicare and Social Security. Republican business owners happily got in line to accept money from the Paycheck Protection Program. The same goes for Republican ranchers who have the ability to take advantage of many federal assistance programs.

The federal government occasionally excels at wasting our money as politicians cleverly hide funding requests for some pet project in the middle of a totally unrelated bill.

But the smaller the government body gets, the easier it is to monitor and observe the spending going on.

The claim that local governments put our tax dollars into burn piles and waste them is unfounded. People are great at making claims, but when it comes to actually coming up with a concrete example of how money is being wasted, you hear crickets.

I’ve seen a few prominent local Republicans make completely false claims regarding the size and spending of school administrations. I really get a kick out of Republicans who point out the salary of some poor soul and claim they are making too much money!

Why in the world are we worrying about someone making a living? I thought the free market that you love and hold near and dear is supposed to help decide the value and worth of someone. We aren’t supposed to attack or question billionaires and how much they are taxed, but heaven forbid a nonprofit director makes $30,000 more than what we deem necessary.

If you are a middle-class Freedom Caucus member, you have been left behind in this economy through no fault of your own. But the problem was never that you paid taxes that were too high. The problem is that the government has been under the control of corporations and billionaires who have rigged the game so that the middle class cannot earn as much money as they deserve.

You correctly diagnosed that there is a problem. But the treatment you prescribed is only going to make your condition worse and worse.

Taxes have become such a dirty word that you are convinced they should be cut at any cost. We’ve seen corporate tax cuts devastate the wealth of the middle class for the last four-plus decades.

Now Wyoming Republicans and Freedom Caucus members want to rip money away from firefighters, teachers, law enforcement, and other essential government employees and functions.

Actions have consequences. Reducing the budgets of local governments will come with a cost. There will be real-world impacts as governments and schools lose the ability to deliver some services.

I understand that there are a lot of government employees in Wyoming. But I also understand that the massive size of the state, with a population spread out all over, requires more government than we would like in order to deliver basic and essential services.

Voting “yes” on Wyoming Proposition One is going to do more harm than good.

That basically sums up the efforts of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus since they rose to power. While they might have the best of intentions, their solutions to problems being faced by Wyomingites do more harm than good.

I’m looking forward to the day when the Freedom Caucus is in the background and the adults in the room are coming together to find real solutions.

I’ve spent the last few days laughing at MAGA social media influencers who are now busy explaining that there is no affordability crisis and that everything with the economy is just fine and dandy.

These individuals all seem to claim the same thing: restaurants are full, airports are full, and Disney theme parks are packed.

These claims might be true, but they are not evidence that people are not experiencing an affordability crisis. Both things can actually be true at the same time.

The United States has been experiencing what economists call a K-shaped economy. While the term became popular during COVID, the underlying economic divide began widening back in the 1980s. The pandemic made those differences even more apparent.

What is a K-shaped economy?

Simply put, a portion of Americans are prospering while others are struggling.

Right now, if you are in the top third of income-earning households in America, you are bringing in at least approximately $125,000 a year. Many of these households are doing well. Their stock portfolios look great. They are eating out, purchasing new vehicles, and taking vacations. This group includes much of the upper-middle class and the wealthy.

Then there are the other two-thirds of Americans. This includes much of the traditional middle class, working class, and lower-income Americans. While some are doing fine, millions are experiencing serious financial difficulties.

Surveys indicate that a majority of Americans describe themselves as living paycheck to paycheck. Thirty-seven percent cannot cover an unexpected $400 expense entirely with cash or its equivalent. Consumer sentiment is near historic lows, while the University of Michigan’s measure of current economic conditions recently reached an all-time low.

For the American economy to be vibrant, the middle class needs to be earning money and spending it. Unfortunately, too many households are finding it increasingly difficult to do both.

The economy continues to grow, but a disproportionate share of consumer spending is coming from higher-income Americans. Because the economy is still growing, we are being told that everything is just fine.

No, it is not.

All the warning signs are there, but many are being ignored.

Because of the cumulative effects of inflation, rising living expenses, and decades of uneven wage and productivity growth, many Americans do not have the disposable income needed to participate fully in the economy. This means less eating out, fewer vacations, delayed vehicle purchases, and fewer opportunities to save or invest.

Restaurants are reporting declining customer traffic. Many chains are struggling, and some have filed for bankruptcy. Even McDonald’s and Wendy’s have faced challenges attracting price-conscious consumers.

Since 2019, movie theater attendance has dropped approximately 37%. The share of new-vehicle buyers earning less than $100,000 annually has declined significantly. Las Vegas has also experienced falling visitor numbers, with evidence that more budget-conscious travelers are pulling back.

Of course, factors other than affordability contribute to these trends. But taken together, they illustrate the changes occurring in consumer behavior.

All of this is related. Many middle-class Americans have had to cut back on wants in order to afford needs.

Credit card debt is rapidly growing, as is the number of Americans falling behind on loan payments. Bankruptcies and foreclosures are increasing. Meanwhile, high housing costs and borrowing rates continue to make homeownership difficult for many prospective buyers.

The consequences extend beyond individual households. Consumer spending accounts for roughly two-thirds of the American economy. When millions of middle- and lower-income Americans have less financial flexibility, it affects businesses, economic opportunity, and the ability of future generations to build wealth.

A strong stock market and crowded vacation destinations do not necessarily mean the average American household is financially secure.

Unfortunately, many Americans do not seem to understand that we are experiencing two very different economic realities. Nothing is going to change until everyday Americans recognize that the problem exists.

We cannot fix an economy that isn’t working for millions of Americans if we refuse to acknowledge that there is a problem in the first place.

Yesterday was an interesting day. For the first time in my life, I became the victim of a crime.

In June, a new neighbor moved into the apartment downstairs. After hearing some of his wild tirades weeks later, it became obvious he had severe mental health issues. Based on years as a probation officer working with the mentally ill, it was clear to me there was a problem. At one point, I heard him mention not liking cops and thinking people were after him.

So I did my best to avoid him like the plague. I’d only give him the occasional wave if I saw him outside as a courtesy. I’ve never had any conversation with the man.

Yesterday, I left the apartment with my son to get him to school. We watched as the neighbor threw up his blinds and stared at us from the window. He left the window and, a few seconds later, appeared on his patio. As we pulled into the street, he stood by the corner of the building, staring at us.

His behavior was alarming. We discussed it on the drive, but he had done it before.

After dropping my son off at school, I pulled back into my parking spot minutes later. At the same time I was getting out of my truck, the neighbor emerged from the door I had to go through.

He was angry. He was pointing a handgun in my direction. We were only eight feet away from one another.

The neighbor said, “You just couldn’t let it go, could you?”

I don’t remember exactly what I said, as I was stunned and fixated on the gun.

He then said, “Just a second.” He turned around to go back into his apartment. As the door shut, I jumped into my vehicle, screeched out of the parking lot, and raced to the police department, which is only four or five blocks away.

A few hours later, my neighbor was safely taken into custody by the Sheridan Police Department. In his apartment, they found the gun, lots of ammunition, and drugs. He is going to face a few misdemeanor charges. I have asked the property management company to evict him, and I am obtaining a protection order today.

I have no idea what was going through his head or what his intentions were. I do know what happened was unprovoked. Did he plan on scaring me or shooting me? We might never know. But having an angry, mentally ill person pointing a gun at you from close proximity is the kind of event that makes you count your blessings.

I’m mostly grateful he didn’t do it in the presence of my son. I don’t want him to ever experience anything like that.

Since that ten-second interaction, I’ve replayed it in my head over and over, thinking about all the different ways it could have played out. What if, for some reason, he had not stepped back into his apartment?

As interesting as that story is, there is more—something that should alarm everyone.

I was told by the police officer who took my report that, weeks earlier, my neighbor had gone to the police department. He indicated to them that he was a danger and asked them to keep his firearm. He turned over his gun, and the police department kept it.

A week later, the man returned to the police department and asked for his gun back.

Apparently, there doesn’t appear to be a statute or mechanism that allowed the department to do anything other than give the firearm back to a mentally ill man.

Eighty-eight percent of Americans support keeping firearms away from individuals with a mental illness. This is one of the simplest and most common-sense gun control measures that can be enacted to keep society safe.

Yet Wyoming has no legislation in place to oversee this issue.

That is negligence and incompetence.

It is extremely frustrating that there was an opportunity to keep this gun away from the man and rule him incapable of possessing a firearm. This was avoidable. It was preventable.

Now it is something I have to live with and keep in my memory for the rest of my life.

Wyoming needs to do better.