Gillette Wyoming Mayor Resigns Amid Text Controversy

Late last night posts began popping up on the Gillette Rant's & Raves Facebook page that the Gillette, Wyoming mayor, Louise Carter King, had resigned.

Local news outlets like the Gillette News Record and County 17 confirmed the story.

It has been less than one week since Mayor Louise Carter-King apologized for disparaging text messages between herself and a former top city official.

Her resignation is effective immediately as of 8:15 p.m. Jan. 6. The city must scramble to find a replacement.

“It is with a heavy heart that I announce my resignation as mayor of the City of Gillette,” Carter-King said in a statement. “I want to thank (City Council) and the many outstanding staff members who I’ve had the pleasure of working with over the years.”

It was Patrick Davidson, the Town Administrator in Elizabeth, Colorado, who released to city council members and others some 464 pages of texts between himself and the mayor. (County 17).

The text messages show about a year’s worth of what is being called disparaging and disrespectful comments made by Davidson and Carter-King.

Back in June of 2020 protesters and gathered in front of the Gillette City Hall demanding that the mayor and the entire city council resign.

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This happened after Mayor King and the council pressed councilman Lundvall to resign after he "liked" a somewhat tasteless Facebook post.

Lundvall was told if he didn’t resign, the council would go public with its concern over the councilman’s actions on social media.

Later, Mr. Lundvall regretted resigning and so the protests began.

There was a #firethemayor Recall Election petition that had 437 online signatures of a goal of 500.

City council meetings after got noisy and a few times police had to escort people out of the council chambers.

Below is a video of one of those raucous city council meetings.

Reaction on Gillette Rants & Raves to the mayor's announcement of her resignation was celebrated by some.