TORRINGTON – Russell ‘Pinky’ Walter’s position on the Goshen County Board of Commissioners is shaping up to be one of the most hotly-contested local seats up for grabs this election season. Walter has vowed to run for the seat, which he was appointed to in 2019, and the field of challengers grew to three this week.
Cecil Sauer threw his hat in the ring last week, joining Justin Burkart and Aaron Nab. Sauer interviewed for the seat last year when Walter was appointed, and unsuccessfully ran for a spot on the Eastern Wyoming College Board of Trustees in 2018.
The Goshen County Primary Election is scheduled for Aug. 18. Countys Republicans will pick one of the candidates to send to the general election in November.
According to Sauer’s campaign page on Facebook, he’s a “Christian Conservative Republican who believes in the Bible and the Constitution. I believe in small government and big freedom. When our budget does not balance, we need less government – not more taxes.”

Sauer said he believes the time is right for him to take a role in county government. While the county hasn’t openly discussed raising property taxes, Sauer said a big part of his platform is making sure they don’t.
“I just felt like I needed to step up and be part of the county leadership,” Sauer said. “There have been rumblings of raising property taxes and I don’t think that’s necessary. I think we need to manage the money we’ve got instead of raising property taxes.
“I think with all of the financial strains right now, with the crop prices and cattle prices, and when you add COVID-19 on top of all that, I don’t think now is the time to be raising property taxes.”
Sauer said he believes the biggest issues facing the county are the county budget, and the state of the county’s dirt roads.  
“The budget is the biggest one,” he said. “The other thing I would like to see continued improvement on is the roads. There has been improvement on the roads in the last year, but I think we can continue to improve.”
If he’s elected, Sauer said he will seek to give county residents a bigger voice in the county’s government.
“There is a perception amongst a lot of people that their opinion doesn’t matter, and that their opinions are not being heard, especially when it comes to the issues we’ve just talked about,” he said. “I’d like to see that change. The county commissioners are supposed to work for the community and a lot of people don’t feel they’ve had their voice heard.”