Two men who appeared in a political advertisement say they were tricked into attacking candidates for Casper City Council.
Cecil Harris and Wilbur Yankey are part of the Bessemer Vigilance Committee, a Casper-area group that dresses in Old West clothing and stages mocks shootouts with 19th century firearms.
The men donned their Wild West gear for an ad produced by the political action committee Citizens for Honesty in Government. The ad, which ran in this week’s/last week’s Casper Journal, portrayed the men pointing their guns at politicians name’s under the headings “the good,” “the bad,” and “the clueless.”
“I was under the impression that we were just trying to get people to vote for whoever they wished,” says Wilbur Yankey. Then they come up with ‘the good, the bad, and the clueless.’ ‘The clueless’ is Paul Meyer and Terry Wingerter--I’ve known those two gentlemen since 1960 and they are good friends of mine!”
But Ken Ball, who chairs Citizens for Honesty in Government, said he was completely clear about what the ad would be.
“These guys were as excited as they could be. They saw the script, they signed the script, which authorizes us to use their persona in the commercial.”
Ball says the men should have reached out to him, and not the media, if they had issues.