The Teton County Republican Party said Saturday it supports the state Senate’s condemnation of the actions of one of its own leaders who handed out checks on the House of Representatives floor moments after the lawmaking session ended on the first day of the session last week.
The state GOP chair one day later emphasized that Rebecca Bextel, who is state committeewoman for the Teton County Republican Party, was not on the House floor on behalf of the state party.
It matters because Wyoming law bars major political parties from giving financial support to candidates before a primary election.
After the primary election, once the parties have their official nominees for partisan offices, the state party and its subdivisions will support those nominees.
Bextel distributed checks to some House members after lawmaking had adjourned Feb. 9, the Legislature’s beginning of this year’s budget session.
Confronted by Cowboy State Daily on Wednesday, Bextel at first said the things she distributed were “none of your business.”
However, hours later she defended the act, saying these were lawful campaign checks she distributed on behalf of a Teton County donor — and that she decided to hand them out in person because she was going to Cheyenne during the legislative session.
This Wasn’t Us, Parties Say
“Ms. Bextel was not representing the Party at this session,” wrote Wyoming Republican Party Chair Bryan Miller in a Sunday text message to Cowboy State Daily. “She was there on her own behalf, as was noted in several articles that pointed out that she was there on a press credential.”
Miller said the act needs to be investigated, and the state GOP, “as the Party of transparency, law and order (expects) nothing less of our elected officials” than to complete the investigation and ensure government maintains public trust.
Teton County GOP Chair Kat Ruckert cast her organization’s view of the incident in harsher tones.
In a Saturday email to party leaders, she pointed to all 31 state senators formally condemning the act on Friday.
“The TCRP is in support of the Senate ruling and looks forward to future steps taken by the Legislature to uphold ethical practices in Wyoming politics,” wrote Ruckert.
Teton County Republican party leadership had no prior knowledge of the checks’ origin, intention or destination, she wrote.
“Bextel acted on her own accord,” Ruckert wrote, adding that the party will trust the legislative process and await the results of an official investigation.
The conduct of people traveling to the state Capitol to hold elected officials to account “should reflect what we expect from our lawmakers,” she continued. “Bextel’s statements, conduct, and actions are not a reflection of the intent or posture of the Teton County Republican Party.”
Into The Weeds
The House and Senate floors are tightly-regulated places generally reserved for elected lawmakers and merits-focused debate.
Guests can’t enter either the House or Senate floor unless the body is “at ease,” or done lawmaking for a time, and even then, they must have an elected legislator invite them onto the floor.
“The sponsoring legislator is solely responsible for the supervision of their legislative guests,” say this year’s Management Council rules.
Rep. Nina Webber, R-Cody, escorted Bextel onto the floor ahead of the check incident, the eyewitness Rep. Karlee Provenza, D-Laramie, told Cowboy State Daily.
Webber is also the state GOP’s national committeewoman, meaning she’s one of the party’s delegates to Republican National Committee meetings.
Webber did not immediately respond to a Monday voicemail request for comment.
She was not working on behalf of the party, Miller said in a Monday text message.
“Beyond that, Rep. Webber, like Ms. Bextel should each speak on their own behalf as neither were working on behalf of the Party at the time of the incident in question,” wrote Miller.
Bad ‘Optics’
The incident exploded into public view Wednesday morning when Rep. Mike Yin, D-Jackson, urged his colleagues from the House floor not to vote in favor of a bill Bextel had championed, saying the “optics” would be bad.
That bill, designed to curb affordable housing mitigation schemes like those prevalent in Teton County and Jackson, cleared introduction with every House member implicated as receiving a check voting in favor of its introduction.
The state House of Representatives on Thursday, upon a motion by Provenza, crafted a seven-representative panel to investigate the check saga for bribery or legislative misconduct.
Laramie County Sheriff Brian Kozak is also investigating the incident to find criminal wrongdoing or clear the names of the incident, as the investigation dictates, he told Cowboy State Daily on Saturday.
During a Thursday-evening podcast interview with her business partner David Iverson in their website the Open Range Record, Bextel defended the act.
She said she delivered a check to Rep. Darin McCann, R-Rock Springs, on behalf of the donor because she knew she’d be in Cheyenne.
“There’s nothing to hide we’re very proud of Darin McCann’s voting record,” she said. “I just handed him a check not thinking anything of it.”
She also said the House floor is a more transparent place to give a campaign donation than otherwise, since there are cameras everywhere.
She said the people who oppose this act, “I think, are people that would have a problem with any check being written to a Freedom Caucus candidate.”
She also said the outrage has to do with her efforts to end housing mitigation fees.
Focus On The Issues
Ruckert urged Teton County GOP leaders to stay focused on the issues behind the acts and personalities of the controversy.
Teton County’s housing mitigation fees are a controversial topic in that corner of the state. Many workers commute daily to Jackson because they cannot afford to live in the ultra-rich region.
Faced with a dire worker housing shortage, both the county and town government have crafted elaborate housing mitigation plans that opponents say bottleneck the market even more, and proponents say ease the shortage.
A court has not deemed Jackson or Teton County's housing mitigation proposals unconstitutional, but those are under scrutiny in at least one court case. And the U.S. Supreme Court confirmed in 2024 that those fees must be connected with and proportionate to their stated purpose to be constitutional.
“The drive to uncover policies that handcuff private property owners is admirable,” wrote Ruckert. “The way to show the downfall of our system is not by false innuendo, but by putting false characters on full display.
“We are being split by Party lines, we are being played by mainstream media, and we are being condemned by one another,” she wrote. “Your neighbor is not your enemy, and your political persuasion is not your identity. You are worth more than ‘right’ or ‘left’ — you are Wyoming.”
Ruckert did not return a Sunday voicemail request for comment by publication.
‘Inappropriate’
Vince Vanata, Park County GOP Chair, told Cowboy State Daily he also would like to watch for the results of the various investigations.
“But as to the actions that took place — with Representative Yin bringing up secondhand knowledge two days after the fact and Representative Provenza sending photographs to the press and not to leadership,” said Vanata, “I think those actions were completely inappropriate.”
Provenza gave a photograph she took of the check-passing incident to multiple media outlets last week, including Cowboy State Daily.
She countered in a Monday interview, saying she felt the public’s trust was violated and wanted to make the issue public to ensure it didn’t “get swept under a rug.”
“I didn’t send it to leadership because I think this was such an egregious violation of the public’s trust, and I wasn’t sure I trusted leadership to handle it appropriately,” said Provenza. “And I think that was wise based on what we know now.”
Two House leaders — Speaker Chip Neiman, R-Hulett, and House Appropriations Chair John Bear, R-Gillette — were two of the 10 originally intended recipients of the checks, the donor Don Grasso told Cowboy State Daily on Saturday. He also said he understood Bextel would be mailing the checks, and he disagrees with her handing them out on the House floor.
It’s unclear, however, if Neiman and Bear were on the House floor during the incident. Provenza said she was unsure.
Bear chaired an Appropriations Committee meeting upon adjournment.
Neiman declined Saturday to comment on the events of that evening, citing respect for the ongoing investigations.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
