Access to healthcare remains a key issue among many Wyoming voters and one local legislative candidate has made it a big part of her platform.

Erin O'Doherty is the democrat that will face off against republican Dan Furphy in the race for Wyoming House District 14 this fall. O'Doherty describes herself as a "squeaky wheel."

"When I see that something is not working, I speak up," O'Doherty says. "I don't always expect to get my way, but I feel like when people just sit back and let things happen and complain about it, then things don't get fixed."

O'Doherty says she finds some of the Wyoming Legislature's recent decisions disturbing, and those decisions are a large part of what compelled her to run.

Besides healthcare, O'Doherty is focused on education -- specifically, the preservation of family literacy programs and augmented support of educators and students.

"In Albany County, education is what we do best," says O'Doherty. "It's our best resource, and it's a renewable resource." She gives education in Albany County an "A" grade.

O'Doherty holds a Ph.D. in ecology and a master's degree in zoology. She says she has been interested in science since she was a child.

"One thing that comes out in studying ecology is that diversity makes a more stable system," O'Doherty says. "If you have all your eggs in one basket, which we pretty much do in this state as far as the economy is concerned, something happens there and we crash. We've been through this boom and bust cycle many times."

"It's not like we didn't know this was coming," O'Doherty adds. "We need to plan ahead and have more of a vision."

O'Doherty says knowledge is one of the state's best resources, and she says Wyoming should take advantage of that knowledge to help entrepreneurs. One way to do that, O'Doherty says, might be through providing health insurance.

"People can take risks and be entrepreneurs if they can have a way to buy insurance," O'Doherty says. "If everybody could buy into the state health insurance or things like that that could help entrepreneurs, that would grow jobs and grow our economy."

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