Kathy Karpan

Kathleen Marie Karpan (born September 1, 1942) is an American politician who served as secretary of state of Wyoming from 1987 to 1995, and as the director of the federal Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement from 1997 to 2000.

Kathleen Marie Karpan was born in Rock Springs, Wyoming, on September 1, 1942, to Thomas and Pauline Karpan.

She was the family's first child, with two younger siblings named Judy and Frank.

The family lived in a heavily Democratic, unionized coal mining community.

As an elementary school student, she displayed a bumper sticker supporting Adlai Stevenson II, the Democratic presidential candidate, on her bicycle.

Thomas, a coal miner, worked for the Union Pacific Railroad on a rail line servicing coal mines from Rock Springs to Superior.

In 1952, the railroad closed its coal mines and transferred Thomas, prompting the family to move around 100 miles from Rock Springs to Rawlins.

Pauline's health was declining, and she died in December 1954, at the age of 37.

The family moved back to Rock Springs, where relatives could help take care of the children.

The family considered sending the children to St. Joseph’s Children’s Home in Torrington, but Kathy, then aged 12, committed to help care for her siblings to avoid going to the orphanage.

The family then moved back to Rawlins.

In the 1960s and early 1970s, Karpan worked for Representative Teno Roncalio as his staff assistant and press secretary.

In 1960, Karpan graduated from Rawlins High School, and was offered a scholarship to the University of Wyoming College of Commerce and Industry.

An honors student, she chose to major in journalism and served as editor of the student newspaper, The Branding Iron, from spring 1963 through spring 1964.

As editor, she attended a speech by President John F. Kennedy at the school in September 1963.

In summer 1964, she worked a brief stint as society editor for the Rawlins Daily Times.

During Wyoming's 1964 House of Representatives election, Karpan served as an officer of the Wyoming Students for Teno Roncalio for Congress, a public relations committee supporting Roncalio's campaign.

She earned her bachelor's degree in journalism in 1964.

Karpan's first journalism job was at the Cody Enterprise.

After Roncalio was elected, he hired Karpan as his staff assistant and press secretary.

Roncalio later lost his campaign for the Senate in 1966.

After a few short-term jobs, Karpan returned to the University of Wyoming to pursue a master’s degree in American studies.

She protested against the dismissal of the Black 14 from the school's football team in October 1969.

One month later, she protested the Vietnam War at a march in Washington, D.C., and wrote about her experience in an unofficial student publication, Free Lunch.

She finished her coursework, but could not select a topic for her thesis.

Karpan then worked in Canberra for several months, converting political stories from print media to broadcasting at the Australian capital.

In 1970, Roncalio regained his seat in the House of Representatives, and hired Karpan to be his chief of staff.

Karpan returned to the University of Wyoming in January 1975 to finish her master's thesis on Jack R. Gage, former secretary of state and governor of Wyoming.

In 1978, Karpan graduated with a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Oregon School of Law.

From 1979 to 1986, Karpan worked in the United States Department of Commerce and the office of the Wyoming Attorney General, and served as director of the Wyoming Department of Health and Social Services.

She also served as a campaign manager for Rodger McDaniel during the 1982 United States Senate election in Wyoming.

A member of the Democratic Party, she unsuccessfully ran for Wyoming's governor and United States senator as the Democratic nominee in 1994 and 1996, respectively.

She is the most recent Democrat to serve as Wyoming Secretary of State.

Karpan was born in Rock Springs, Wyoming, and grew up in both Rock Springs and Rawlins.

She received bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Wyoming and a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Oregon School of Law.

Karpan was the Democratic nominee in the 1994 gubernatorial and 1996 Senate elections, but lost both elections to Republicans Jim Geringer and Mike Enzi, respectively.

In 1997, Karpan was appointed by President Bill Clinton, whose presidential campaigns she had supported, to serve as the first female director of the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement.

In early 2000, she stepped down and took another position in the interior department, while applying for another job that raised concerns about potential conflicts of interest.

Upon the end of the Clinton administration in 2001, Karpan returned to her law practice in Cheyenne.

She has continued to support Democratic presidential and state campaigns.