Eli Bebout
Encyclopedia
Eli Daniel Bebout is a veteran Wyoming
Wyoming
Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...

 politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

 and a member of the Wyoming State Senate. He represents District 26 from Riverton
Riverton, Wyoming
Riverton is a city in Fremont County, Wyoming, United States. It is both the largest city in the county and the largest within the historical boundaries of the Wind River Indian Reservation. The city's population was 9,310 at the 2000 census...

, the seat of Fremont County in the central portion of his state. A Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

, Bebout is a former member of the Wyoming House of Representatives
Wyoming House of Representatives
The Wyoming House of Representatives is the lower house of the Wyoming State Legislature. There are 60 Representatives in the House, representing an equal amount of single-member constituent districts across the state, each with a population of at least 9,000. The House convenes at the Wyoming...

, Speaker
Speaker (politics)
The term speaker is a title often given to the presiding officer of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body. The speaker's official role is to moderate debate, make rulings on procedure, announce the results of votes, and the like. The speaker decides who may speak and has the...

 of the House, and his party's gubernatorial nominee in 2002. He was chosen state senator on a 4-0 vote by the Fremont County Commission to succeed Senator Robert A. "Bob" Peck (October 7, 1924- March 6, 2007).

Early years, education, business

Bebout graduated from Shoshoni High School
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....

 in Fremont County and entered the United States Air Force Academy
United States Air Force Academy
The United States Air Force Academy is an accredited college for the undergraduate education of officer candidates for the United States Air Force. Its campus is located immediately north of Colorado Springs in El Paso County, Colorado, United States...

 in June 1964. He left the academy in 1967 without graduating. He resigned after complaints surfaced that he had violated the honor code
Honor code
An honour code or honour system is a set of rules or principles governing a community based on a set of rules or ideals that define what constitutes honorable behavior within that community. The use of an honor code depends on the idea that people can be trusted to act honorably...

 by covering for the presence of some absent cadets and by allowing questionable tutoring practices. Thereafter, he obtained a bachelor of science
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years .-Australia:In Australia, the BSc is a 3 year degree, offered from 1st year on...

 degree in engineering
Engineering
Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...

 from the University of Wyoming
University of Wyoming
The University of Wyoming is a land-grant university located in Laramie, Wyoming, situated on Wyoming's high Laramie Plains, at an elevation of 7,200 feet , between the Laramie and Snowy Range mountains. It is known as UW to people close to the university...

 at Laramie
Laramie, Wyoming
Laramie is a city in and the county seat of Albany County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 30,816 at the . Located on the Laramie River in southeastern Wyoming, the city is west of Cheyenne, at the junction of Interstate 80 and U.S. Route 287....

, his state's only four-year degree-granting instituiton. He served in the Air Force Reserve but was not called to active duty during the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...

.

Bebout owns a water, oil
Oil
An oil is any substance that is liquid at ambient temperatures and does not mix with water but may mix with other oils and organic solvents. This general definition includes vegetable oils, volatile essential oils, petrochemical oils, and synthetic oils....

 and natural gas
Natural gas
Natural gas is a naturally occurring gas mixture consisting primarily of methane, typically with 0–20% higher hydrocarbons . It is found associated with other hydrocarbon fuel, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is an important fuel source and a major feedstock for fertilizers.Most natural...

 drilling company, a construction company, and a farm
Farm
A farm is an area of land, or, for aquaculture, lake, river or sea, including various structures, devoted primarily to the practice of producing and managing food , fibres and, increasingly, fuel. It is the basic production facility in food production. Farms may be owned and operated by a single...

 and ranch
Ranch
A ranch is an area of landscape, including various structures, given primarily to the practice of ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle or sheep for meat or wool. The word most often applies to livestock-raising operations in the western United States and Canada, though...

 operation. He is president of Nucor Oil and Gas, Inc., in Riverton. He is chairman of the Wyoming Business Alliance and the Wyoming Heritage Foundation, and he is affiliated with the trade association
Trade association
A trade association, also known as an industry trade group, business association or sector association, is an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry...

, the Independent Petroleum Association of America. He is also a member of the National Republican Legislators Association.

Republican for Governor

Bebout was not originally Republican, having been first elected to the state House in 1986 as a Democrat
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

. He switched parties early in the 1990s to express his opposition to U.S. President Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...

. He was thereafter groomed for state leadership by the GOP
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

 hierarchy.

He became the House Republican Leader in 1997 and Speaker in 1999–2000. In 2002, he challenged the conservative Raymond Breedlove "Ray" Hunkins
Ray Hunkins
Raymond Breedlove "Ray" Hunkins is an attorney, rancher, former law enforcement officer, United States Marine Corps veteran, and the Republican nominee for Governor of Wyoming in the general election held on November 7, 2006...

 of Wheatland
Wheatland, Wyoming
Wheatland is a town in and the county seat of Platte County in southeastern Wyoming, United States. The population was 3,548 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Wheatland is located at ....

, the seat of Platte County. Also in the gubernatorial primary were businessman Bill Sniffin of Lander
Lander, Wyoming
Lander is a city in, and the county seat of, Fremont County, Wyoming, United States. Named for transcontinental explorer Frederick W. Lander, Lander is located in central Wyoming, along the Middle Fork of the Popo Agie River. A tourism center with several dude ranches nearby, Lander is located just...

, former State Representative Steve Watt, and John Self of Sheridan
Sheridan, Wyoming
Sheridan is a city in Sheridan County, Wyoming, United States. The 2010 census put the population at 17,444 and a Micropolitan Statistical Area of 29,116...

. Bebout ran an advertisement to show that he had strong party support, compared to the maverick rancher and attorney
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...

 Hunkins. Sniffin attacked Bebout about his employment practices. "Forty-nine state legislators support Eli Bebout for Governor" said one of his commercials. He also won the endorsement of the National Federation of Independent Business, a small business
Small business
A small business is a business that is privately owned and operated, with a small number of employees and relatively low volume of sales. Small businesses are normally privately owned corporations, partnerships, or sole proprietorships...

 advocacy group.

In what shaped up as a close primary, Bebout gained the support of the party's popular former U.S. Senator Alan Kooi Simpson
Alan K. Simpson
Alan Kooi Simpson is an American politician who served from 1979 to 1997 as a United States Senator from Wyoming as a member of the Republican Party. His father, Milward L. Simpson, was also a member of the U.S...

, a lawyer
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...

 from Cody
Cody, Wyoming
Cody is a city in Park County, Wyoming, United States. It is named after William Frederick Cody, primarily known as Buffalo Bill, from William Cody's part in the creation of the original town. The population was 9,520 at the 2010 census...

 and the leader of GOP "moderates". Simpson was particularly vitrilolic in attacks on Hunkins. Bebout received 44,417 votes (49 percent) to Hunkins' 25,363 (28 percent). Sniffin, Watt, and Self split the remaining 23 percent. An outright majority is not required for a party nomination in Wyoming. There has been speculation that the intraparty strife doomed Bebout in the general election
General election
In a parliamentary political system, a general election is an election in which all or most members of a given political body are chosen. The term is usually used to refer to elections held for a nation's primary legislative body, as distinguished from by-elections and local elections.The term...

.

As soon as he had defeated Hunkins, Bebout launched negative attacks on the Democratic nominee, David Duane "Dave" Freudenthal
Dave Freudenthal
David Duane "Dave" Freudenthal , is an American politician who served as the 31st Governor of Wyoming. A Democrat, he was reelected to his second term on November 7, 2006, and announced on March 4, 2010, that he would not attempt to seek a third term as Governor.-Education and early...

, formerly of Thermopolis
Thermopolis, Wyoming
Thermopolis is the largest town in, and the county seat of Hot Springs County, Wyoming, United States. As of the 2000 census, the town population was 3,172....

, a former United States Attorney
United States Attorney
United States Attorneys represent the United States federal government in United States district court and United States court of appeals. There are 93 U.S. Attorneys stationed throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands...

 in Cheyenne
Cheyenne, Wyoming
Cheyenne is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Wyoming and the county seat of Laramie County. It is the principal city of the Cheyenne, Wyoming, Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Laramie County. The population is 59,466 at the 2010 census. Cheyenne is the...

 appointed by President Clinton. He attempted to make an issue of Freudenthal's ties to Clinton. Until the last days of the campaign, Bebout was considered the favorite. One highly inaccurate poll right after the primary had even shown Bebout with an 80-15 percent lead. Freudenthal pulled an upset, 92,662 votes (50 percent) to Bebout's 88,873 ballots (47.9 percent). Bebout won fifteen counties to Freudenthal's eight. The other 1.9 percent went to Libertarian
Libertarian Party (United States)
The Libertarian Party is the third largest and fastest growing political party in the United States. The political platform of the Libertarian Party reflects its brand of libertarianism, favoring minimally regulated, laissez-faire markets, strong civil liberties, minimally regulated migration...

 Dave Dawson. In many Republican counties, Bebout ran far behind the norm for a GOP candidate. Some in the media questioned if Bebout's defeat was a slap at Vice President of the United States
Vice President of the United States
The Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution. The Vice President, together with the President of the United States, is indirectly elected by the people, through the Electoral College, to a four-year term...

 Richard Bruce "Dick" Cheney, who came to Wyoming to campaign for Bebout the Sunday before the Tuesday election. Prognosticators generally said that negative attacks on Freudenthal by Bebout's supporters ultimately backfired.

Similar negative attacks may have damaged U.S. Representative Barbara Cubin
Barbara Cubin
Barbara Lynn Cubin was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives, having served as the sole member of that body from Wyoming. In the 109th Congress, she was a member of the House Resources Committee and the House Energy and Commerce Committee...

 in her narrow reelection campaign in 2006.

The Wyoming State Senate

Bebout said that his gubernatorial aspirations were behind him as he began a new political stint as the lowest-tenured state senator. He was named to the Agriculture, State and Public Lands & Water Resources Committee and the Minerals Committee. As of 2011 Bebout remains in the State Senate.

Peck had served in the Senate since 1991 and was chairman of the Senate Revenue Committee and a member of the Senate Education Committee.

Traditionally, House speakers retire from the House, and few have run for the Senate. Former Speaker Bruce Hinchey, a Casper
Casper, Wyoming
Casper is the county seat of Natrona County, Wyoming, United States.. Casper is the second-largest city in Wyoming , according to the 2010 census, with a population of 55,316...

 Republican, served one term in the Senate, 1999-2003. He did not seek re-election in 2002, after he accepted a position as president of the Petroleum Association of Wyoming. Hinchey served on the Senate Appropriations Committee for his four-year Senate term.

The Bebout family

Bebout and his wife, Lorraine Joyce Bebout, reside in Riverton. The Bebout children include Jordan Joseph Bebout (born ca. 1978), Reagen Marie Bebout (born ca. 1982), and Taggert Hugh Bebout (born ca. 1984).

Eli Bebout is a survivor of esophageal cancer
Esophageal cancer
Esophageal cancer is malignancy of the esophagus. There are various subtypes, primarily squamous cell cancer and adenocarcinoma . Squamous cell cancer arises from the cells that line the upper part of the esophagus...

.
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