J. Blajszczak, Townsquare Media

Cheyenne Mayor Marian Orr on Twitter last week said the firing of University of Wyoming President Laurie Nichols "smells of good old boy politics."

That charge has been made before in the Cowboy state.

Former State Superintendent of Public Instruction Cindy Hill said at one point several years ago that the "good old boys" in the Wyoming Legislature were behind efforts to have her removed from office.

The term comes up from time to time in discussions of local and state politics. It usually refers to men who have been in a position of power for a long time and are believed to help each other out in times of trouble and to work to remove those who may not cooperate with their goals. They are sometimes accused of running the state legislature, various state agencies, and local city councils and county commissions across the state.

But are the good old boys real?

Do they run things in Wyoming? Or are they a mythical group of people who don't actually exist? We'll publish the results of our survey next Monday.