Rep. Christopher Knapp, my old neighbor down the street growing up, accused Rep. Cody Wylie of “logrolling” the other day on the floor of the legislature.
The Speaker of the House gaveled Rep. Knapp down, and told him the floor of the legislature was an inappropriate place to accuse Rep. Wylie of the practice of bill trading. So, what’s the big deal?
Wyoming has some amazing constitutional provisions that ensure our legislature is functional.
One of those requirements is Article 3, Section 24 of the Wyoming Constitution which requires bills in Wyoming to only have one subject, which is clearly expressed in the title.
Wyoming does not allow huge omnibus bills, like the United States Congress, which may affect defense, roads and environmental topics all in the same bill.
Wyoming requires the legislature to debate each bill based on its merits. So, some legislator could not amend a popular gun rights bill to include, for example, environmental legislation in Wyoming. Each idea -- each topic must stand on its own in Wyoming.
The drama which unfolded Tuesday of this week was based on Article 3, Section 42 of the Wyoming Constitution entitled bribery of legislator.
Rep. Knapp accused Rep. Wylie of bill trading. Bill trading, or the slang term “logrolling,” is the practice of saying, I’ll vote for your bill if you vote for my bill. In Congress in Washington, D.C., the practice is common. In Wyoming, the practice is a constitutional felony. The Constitution provides:
Article 3 § 42. Bribery of legislators and solicitation of bribery defined; expulsion of legislator for bribery or solicitation.
If any person elected to either house of the legislature shall offer or promise to give his vote or influence in favor of or against any measure or proposition, pending or to be introduced into the legislature, in consideration or upon condition that any other person elected to the same legislature will give, or promise or assent to give his vote or influence in favor of or against any other measure or proposition pending or proposed to be introduced into such legislature, the person making such offer or promise shall be deemed guilty of solicitation of bribery. If any member of the legislature shall give his vote or influence for or against any measure or proposition pending or to be introduced in such legislature, or offer, promise or assent thereto, upon condition that any other member will give or will promise or assent to give his vote or influence in favor of or against any other measure or proposition pending or to be introduced in such legislature, or in consideration that any other member has given his vote or influence for or against any other measure or proposition in such legislature, he shall be deemed guilty of bribery, and any member of the legislature, or person elected thereto, who shall be guilty of either of such offenses, shall be expelled and shall not thereafter be eligible to the legislature, and on conviction thereof in the civil courts shall be liable to such further penalty as may be prescribed by law.
In reviewing the committee and floor videos, what Rep. Wylie said was, essentially, my sense of this legislative body is it would be a waste of our time to consider this bill on the floor.
Let us save it for the interim and consider it next session.
To be bribery, there has to be a quid pro quo (which is Latin for “this for that”). In this instance, there was nothing traded. In other words, Rep. Wylie did not get anything in return for his comments. He wanted to table the bill, because he believed the bill would waste time being debated on the floor.
The Wyoming Constitution takes bribery of legislators very seriously. Article 3, Section 43 of the Constitution provides:
Any person who shall directly or indirectly offer, give or promise any money or thing of value, testimonial, privilege or personal advantage, to any executive or judicial officer or member of the legislature, to influence him in the performance of any of his official duties shall be deemed guilty of bribery, and be punished in such manner as shall be provided by law.
In other words, if someone offers anything of value for a vote on a particular bill, or series of bills, that person is guilty of constitutional bribery.
If for example, someone said, I want you to vote “no” on bill number 10004 (the “quid”), and if you do, I will give your campaign committee $1000 (the “pro quo”), that conduct, alone, is an offer to bribe.
If the legislator voted no and took the money, that legislator would also be implicated in the constitutional bribery scheme.
Ultimately, the decision on what rises to constitutional bribery rests with the legislature and the legislative ethics committee.
In the case at hand, there was no quid pro quo, so it is unlikely the matter will proceed any further than a stern discussion in the confines of the Speaker’s office.
In a very rare waiver of the Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination, the Wyoming Constitution requires anyone involved to testify as a witness, and that person cannot claim the right against self-incrimination.
Article 3, Section 44 of Wyoming Constitution takes bribery so seriously that anyone involved in the scheme of bribery may be compelled to whether the testimony implicates the witness in a crime or not.
If a person is forced to testify, they cannot be prosecuted based on their testimony, however.
Any person may be compelled to testify in any lawful investigation or judicial proceeding against any person who may be charged with having committed the offense of bribery or corrupt solicitation, or practices of solicitation, and shall not be permitted to withhold his testimony upon the ground that it may criminate [incriminate] himself, or subject him to public infamy; but such testimony shall not afterwards be used against him in any judicial proceeding, except for perjury in giving such testimony, and any person convicted of either of the offenses aforesaid shall, as part of the punishment therefor, be disqualified from holding any office or position of honor, trust or profit in this state.
The most serious consequences of these constitutional provisions are 1) a person convicted of bribery is kicked out of the legislature, and 2) the convicted legislator is disqualified from ever holding an elected or appointed position with the State of Wyoming, for the rest of that person’s life.
That is why such allegations are a big deal, and why they should not be tossed around the floor of the House loosely.
Speaker Sommers was correct in pointing out the seriousness of the charge, and demanding Rep. Knapp follow the correct process.
We all understand this legislative session is contentious and emotional.
Nothing justifies accusing someone of a constitutional crime as a political tool. Wyoming is not Washington, D.C. and all our legislators, including my old neighbor, should keep it from becoming a D.C. trainwreck.
Tom Lubnau served in the Wyoming Legislature from 2005 - 2015 and is a former Speaker of the House.
