James Edward Geringer (born April 24, 1944) is an American politician who was the 30th Governor of Wyoming, serving from 1995 to 2003.

Early life and education

Geringer was born and raised on a farm in

Wheatland, Wyoming Wheatland is a town in and the county seat of Platte County in southeastern Wyoming, United States. The population was 3,627 at the 2010 census. History Before the late 19th century, the area around the future site of Wheatland was a flat, ar ...

. His father, Gottlieb Geringer, was a

Volga German The Volga Germans (german: Wolgadeutsche, ), russian: поволжские немцы, povolzhskiye nemtsy) are ethnic Germans who settled and historically lived along the Volga River in the region of southeastern European Russia around Saratov ...

from Lauwe (now Yablonovka, Saratov Oblast) in the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

, and his mother, Edla Malin (née Johnson), was of Swedish descent. He attended Kansas State University and was a member of

Triangle Fraternity (Truth Conquers All) , maxim = , colors = Old Rose Gray , symbol = Engineers' transit , flower = White chrysanthemum , flag = , jewel = , publication = ''Triangle Review'' , philanthropy = FIRST , chapters = 38 Active 4 Colonies , members = 1,20 ...

, earning a degree in

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, an ...

. He served for ten years in the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Aerial warfare, air military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part ...

before retiring. He briefly worked at a power generating station in Wheatland before purchasing a farm.

Politics

In 1982, Geringer successfully ran as a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

for a seat in the

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 number of single-member constituent districts across the state, each with a population of ...

. After serving there for six years, he won a seat in the

Wyoming Senate The Wyoming Senate is the upper house of the Wyoming State Legislature. There are 30 Senators in the Senate, representing an equal number of constituencies across Wyoming, each with a population of at least 17,000. The Senate meets at the Wyom ...

from the 3rd district. In 1994, Geringer was elected as Wyoming's governor. Geringer was generally a conservative throughout his political career. As governor, he helped pass laws that regulated class action lawsuits, reformed bankruptcy laws, toughened crime laws, legalized charter schools, and lowered taxes. However, he broke with the Republican Party in supporting environmental rulings and the Equal Rights Amendment. In 1997, Governor Geringer called for a boycott of America Online after Sondra London posted a series of murder confessions sent to her from "Happy Face Killer"

Keith Jesperson Keith Hunter Jesperson (born April 6, 1955) is a Canadian-American serial killer who murdered at least eight women in the United States during the early 1990s. He was known as the "Happy Face Killer" because he drew smiley faces on his many lett ...

, protesting that he found the items to be offensive. Although London voluntarily removed the pages in question, AOL banned her from the AOL domain, which in turn prompted an outpouring of support from all over the

World Wide Web The World Wide Web (WWW), commonly known as the Web, is an information system enabling documents and other web resources to be accessed over the Internet. Documents and downloadable media are made available to the network through web ...

, including multiple offers of free server space. After serving as governor, he joined Redlands, California based ESR

as director of policy and public sector strategies. Geringer is one of the founding governors of Western Governors University (WGU) and is currently chairman of the WGU Board of Trustees.Board of Trustees

References

External links

Wyoming State Archives
* , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Geringer, Jim 1944 births American Lutherans American people of German-Russian descent American people of Swedish descent Farmers from Wyoming Republican Party governors of Wyoming Kansas State University alumni Living people Republican Party members of the Wyoming House of Representatives People from Wheatland, Wyoming United States Air Force officers Western Governors University people Republican Party Wyoming state senators