In 1982, Geringer successfully ran as a
Republican for a seat in the
Wyoming House of Representatives. After serving there for six years, he won the
Platte County seat in the
Wyoming Senate in 1988. After the state legislature switched from a county-based apportionment system to a district based apportionment system, in 1992, Geringer was elected to represent the
3rd senate 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, 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, including multiple offers of free server space. After serving as governor, he joined
Redlands, California based ESRI as director of policy and public sector strategies. Geringer is one of the founding governors of
Western Governors University (WGU) and is currently an emeritus trustee on the WGU Board of Trustees. ==References==