All 59 Wyoming representatives who were on the House floor Thursday afternoon voted to convene a special committee from seven of their own members, to investigate whether checks were given to state representatives on the House floor Monday — and whether it was an act of bribery or legislative misconduct.
Republican Reps. Tom Kelly (Sheridan), Bob Nicholas (Cheyenne) and Democratic Rep. Liz Storer (Jackson) were not present at the time and marked as excused.
It now falls to state House Speaker Chip Neiman, R-Hulett, to call a seven-representative committee containing at least one Democrat, to hear complaints and evidence “as expeditiously as possible.”
Committee witnesses will have at least 48 hours’ notice of the hearings to which they’re called. And the committee will have four days after its opening to report its findings to the House.
Neiman vowed Thursday that he would build a fair and balanced committee, and asked everyone to show grace to the committee during the rushed budget session.
Because This Exploded
The investigative committee stems from a controversy that exploded after state Rep. Karlee Provenza, D-Laramie, observed state Teton County Republican Party committeewoman Rebecca Bextel handing out checks to lawmakers on the House floor just after the body adjourned Monday.
Bextel is not a state legislator or a registered lobbyist. She is a political activist, and after starting her outlet the Open Range Record, she was registered to attend this year’s session as a member of the media.
Provenza told Cowboy State Daily on Wednesday that she watched Bextel hand checks to Republican representatives aligned with the Wyoming Freedom Caucus: Reps. Marlene Brady (Green River), Darin McCann (Rock Springs), and Joe Webb (Evanston).
Two days later, all three voted in favor of introducing HB 141, which seeks to curb affordable housing mitigation schemes like those prevalent in Jackson - a long-held mission of Bextel’s.
Both Brady and McCann addressed the incident Thursday during debate on a motion Provenza brought, to form the committee.
“Since you’re all talking about me, I welcome this,” said McCann. “The optics is bad, I agree absolutely. But I did nothing wrong — I did not accept any bribe or anything like that.”
He continued: “If this had happened at a motel, would we be having this conversation?”
It happened on the floor, McCann added. “I made a mistake. I’ll own it, and I’ll abide by whatever the committee comes up with - Thank you.”
Brady issued a similar statement, saying “I think I’ve been implicated here, and I encourage an investigation.”
She said the investigation is needed to clear the names of people implicated.
In a text message response to Cowboy State Daily's request for comment, Bextel wrote, "people can tune into the Nightly RoundUp tonight at 7PM. for an in-depth interview about what actually happened."
She sent a link to her news outlet, the Open Range Record. The homepage says the outlet is a mobile news magazine "giving you the news the way it is supposed to be - news on the news page and opinion on the opinion page."
Wednesday Clash
Rep. Mike Yin, D-Jackson, on Wednesday urged his colleagues not to vote in favor of introducing the bill, saying the “optics” would be undesirable.
He said his statement was about avoiding those bad optics, not an outright accusation of bribery.
Rep. Rachel Rodriguez-Williams, R-Cody, countered, saying Yin’s statement amounted to an “allegation of quid pro quo.”
“A representative made a defamatory statement that ‘checks’ were distributed on the floor,” said Rodriguez-Williams at the time, before it was confirmed that checks had been distributed.
“And (Yin) alleges that legislators accepted these checks from the floor — which essentially would be bribery and unethical,” said Rodriguez-Williams on Wednesday.
In a Wednesday text message response to Cowboy State Daily’s request for comment, Bextel said “I have not written any campaign checks this year so far.” Asked if she distributed anything on the House floor and what that was, she answered, “None of your business.”
Bextel later took to Facebook, however, and described the checks as “lawful campaign checks from Teton County donors,” saying there’s nothing wrong with her delivering those “when I am in Cheyenne.”
‘Stain’
Though she voted yes on Provenza’s Thursday motion to form an investigative committee, Rodriguez-Williams had told her House colleagues it could have a “chilling” effect on normal transactions of business for lawmakers establishing a home-away-from home at their desks during the four-to-eight week sessions.
She questioned whether the result would impact her receiving a check from her husband to deposit at the bank on behalf of her family, for example.
Rep. Landon Brown, R-Cheyenne, urged House members to convene the committee.
“I think what happened here is, frankly, it’s a stain on the complete appearance of what this House stands for,” said Brown.
Brown also said the House should accept the results of the investigation and remain unbiased, and that the committee should be objective.
The word “stain” echoed in the chamber multiple times Wednesday.
Rep. JD Williams, R-Lusk, used it, saying “This incident is a stain on our institution — that’s why we are hearing from the folks at home.”
Former state Rep. Scott Clem, a Republican of Gillette who watched the proceedings from the third-floor gallery while attending the session in his capacity as a county commissioner, said he’s shocked and disappointed.
He never saw anything like this incident in his 2015-2021 tenure as legislator, Clem told Cowboy State Daily.
“I still find it shocking that something like this - you know - even happened to begin with,” he said. Legislators undergo a training in which they’re coached to avoid “even the appearance of impropriety,” Clem continued. He said the incident drove him to read the state Constitution again overnight Wednesday.
“I’m still just kind of dumbfounded,” said Clem.
Play-By-Play
Provenza brought the motion Thursday after the series of typical playful formalities the House engaged at the start of its 10 a.m. session.
One of the earliest and loudest supporters of the motion was Rep. Clarence Styvar, R-Cheyenne.
“This goes to the integrity of our body,” said Styvar. “We need to look at it and get to the bottom of it, point blank.”
Yin harkened back to his Wednesday clash with Rodriguez-Williams.
“I was accused of defamation,” said Yin. “The member that accused me also said that if what had happened on the floor actually happened, it does constitute bribery.”
Yin said the House should find out if it was bribery, “and whatever we need to do to (ensure) it never happens again.”
He also noted that House members are limited to gifts under $200. That was in response to Rodriguez-Williams saying that House members receive gifts often, like flowers and chocolates.
Rep. Steve Harshman, R-Casper, remarked another detail: “You know, it just seems so odd - that none of us have filed for office yet. I haven’t accepted any campaign contributions.”
In championing the motion, Rep. Andrew Byron, R-Jackson, emphasized the sanctity of the chamber.
“This isn’t our House. This is their House,” he said.
Electric Up Here
Byron later told Cowboy State Daily that Thursday had been a tough day in the House.
“The people of Wyoming deserve to know the facts,” he wrote in a text message. “The motion to convene an investigation should have been a 15-minute debate and moved forward. Instead, colleagues decided to weaponize the process and burn hours of important time in a budget session.”
The motion and debate consumed nearly three hours of Thursday.
Rep. Christopher Knapp, R-Gillette, had said that as chair of the Management Audit Committee, he’s had some experience with fact-finding investigations. He emphasized that the legislature is not a criminal investigations body. He floated the proposition of having legislative staffers compile evidence with chamber leaders instead, possibly to send to the Wyoming Attorney General.
Rep. Daniel Singh, R-Cheyenne, hinted his agreement by pointing to the Wyoming Constitution’s due process clause.
He had told Cowboy State Daily before the floor session that this topic should raise Wyomingites’ awareness of all campaign contributions, and whether those secure influence in certain candidates.
Singh asked the House to add an amendment, but the House paused twice to accommodate his request under a rule that the proposed amendment be distributed in writing before its enactment.
Gallery observers murmured during the interludes.
And Then It Died
When it was ready for distribution, Singh brought his amendment.
It proposed to expand the investigation’s scope into possible Public Records Act reforms for more transparency in the Legislature.
Provenza and Republican Reps. Martha Lawley (Worland), Art Washut (Casper), and Rob Geringer (Cheyenne) all urged a no-vote, saying this isn’t the appropriate avenue for changing the state’s Public Records Act.
The Wyoming Legislature has exempted itself from the Public Records Act, meaning members of the public can’t force out their emails, texts or other files by request.
In response to Byron’s “weaponization” comment, Singh told the outlet later that the motion was worth debating because a serious accusation had been made.
“I’m glad we did that publicly and not behind closed doors,” he said. “That’s why I proposed searching for opportunities to expand the public records act.”
Rodriguez-Williams brought another amendment to confine the investigation to “while the Legislature was in session,” and determine whether the action violated the state Constitution, whether the checks were campaign finance payouts, and whether the action violated the state Constitution.
Her motion failed as well.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
