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With his departure, outgoing Teton County Commissioner Greg Epstein worries the now entirely Democrat board is in danger of becoming an echo chamber.
Incumbent Natalia Macker and Environmental Attorney Len Carlman decisively won their races for Teton County Commissioner — together taking over two-thirds of the vote. Macker has served on the board for about a decade while Carlman is new to the office, taking Epstein’s seat.
Epstein served two terms, elected as a Democrat both times, but he switched his party to “unaffiliated” in 2021 after disagreeing with the county’s COVID-19 mask mandates.
“Our country has become so divided over any hot-button political issue,” Epstein said, “and if you’re not completely in on an entire political platform, you’re out.”
He views his role during his time on the commission as someone who asked tough questions. He was often in the voting minority, favoring looser restrictions for landowners and businesspeople.
“There’s just not going to be somebody pushing against the norms of the narrative,” Epstein said.
No Republicans won partisan local offices in last week’s election.
“I felt like the selection of individuals was lacking. I don’t feel like we had a nice swath of different people coming from different backgrounds, different experiences and different ideas,” Epstein said.
Epstein, who has served on the board since 2016, said he has known this would be his last term since 2020. He said he stayed to be an outside voice for big decisions like planning of regulations for over 1,000 homes in Northern South Park, a yearslong process during which he pushed for other electeds to trust the landowners and speed up the process.
“Was I successful? Yes,” Epstein said, “Was there a lot of discomfort along the way? Absolutely.”
Macker, though, said it’s hard to say if a different political makeup on paper will have bearing on local decisions. During her time, Macker said disagreements have fallen along with differences in the commissioner’s “diverse” experience, not political affiliations.
“We consider it all, but we may still make a decision that someone doesn’t like. But if we’ve at least talked about and considered and really thoughtfully found ways to incorporate all the ideas that are coming forward, we get better decisions,” Macker said.
Macker said she was excited to continue priorities in the community, such as affordable housing, water quality and childcare. Epstein’s term ends in January.
