The chair of the Wyoming legislative committee tasked with investigating a check-passing controversy that unfolded last week on the House of Representatives floor informed his colleagues Tuesday that the committee wants to pause its work – because the Laramie County Sheriff’s Office has undertaken its own, criminal investigation.
Rebecca Bextel, the state committeewoman for the Teton County GOP who was also registered to attend the legislative session as “media,” handed out checks Feb. 9 after adjournment, on the state House of Representatives floor.
That’s a tightly governed space, and legislative rules say that even after adjournment, a guest may not enter the floor without being escorted by a member of the House. That escort was Rep. Nina Webber, R-Cody, according to the eyewitness Rep. Karlee Provenza, D-Laramie.
Controversy erupted. Capitol regulars have been calling the incident "CheckGate."
On Thursday Provenza urged the House to have its leader, House Speaker Chip Neiman, R-Hulett, convene a seven-person committee containing at least one Democrat, to investigate the issue in full view of the public this session.
The House adopted that motion unanimously, and Neiman appointed the committee, which met informally on Friday, committee Chair Art Washut, R-Casper, told the House Tuesday.
“The committee planned to send letters to witnesses inviting them to appear at a hearing early this week,” Washut told the House.
But on Saturday, Laramie County Sheriff Brian Kozak announced via social media and told Cowboy State Daily in an interview that his office is investigating the incident, to uncover probable cause for criminal charges or to clear the names of the innocent – as the evidence leads.
“With that announcement,” said Washut, “the investigative committee has unanimously decided to pause its investigation pending the outcome of the Laramie Sheriff’s investigation.”
Washut said that “all notions of justice and fairness require that the House’s investigation be delayed.” He cited the right to equal protection under the law, and other legal protections people under criminal investigation retain in this nation.
Washut also cited a joint Senate and House rule saying a committee convening under the Management Council can recommend a pause on its work to let criminal investigations unfold.
He acknowledged that his committee is a creation of the House, not the two-chamber leadership panel the Management Council, but said the principle remains important.
A key difference between the sheriff’s criminal investigation and the public probe Provenza instigated is that the former is not conducted in public, while the latter was supposed to be public.
Typically in criminal investigations, the sheriff’s findings do not become public until they are either filed in court via a probable cause affidavit, or the prosecutor – in this case the Laramie County District Attorney – issues a decision letter on why she will not prosecute.
An active criminal investigation typically blocks the fulfillment of public records requests as well.
Bribery is a felony in Wyoming punishable by up to 10 years in prison and $5,000 in fines.
Rep. John Bear, R-Gillette, questioned whether Kozak’s investigation is at this point more than a mere Facebook post. That’s a reference to the sheriff’s office announcing the investigation via Facebook.
Washut countered, noting that Kozak told legislative staffers his investigation should take about two weeks, and that detectives are being assigned to it Tuesday.
Confusion surfaced in the House, since the chamber wasn’t in its debate phase, called “committee of the whole,” during Washut’s announcement.
Tuesday also promises a lengthy debate and amendment process involving the state’s two-year budget.
Washut recommended no one debate his announcement until Wednesday.
Neiman agreed. So did Rep. Lloyd Larsen, who made that recommendation an official motion.
At least 41 representatives voted in favor of delaying the debate until Wednesday, and the motion passed.
Meanwhile…
Meanwhile, Provenza had something else on her mind.
She registered an official protest, because when she successfully moved to create the committee last Thursday, she did not know that Neiman was reportedly an intended recipient of one of the checks Bextel was distributing.
Don Grasso, the donor, told Cowboy State Daily on Saturday that his secretary sent Bextel the checks with the understanding that Bextel would mail them to 10 candidates aligned with the Wyoming Freedom Caucus.
Bear and Neiman were among those, Grasso said, adding that he disagreed with the practice of handing out the checks on the floor.
Other intended recipients, said Grasso, were Republican Reps. Joe Webb (Lyman), Marlene Brady (Green River), Christopher Knapp (Gillette), Gary Brown (Cheyenne), Tony Locke (Casper), Darin McCann (Rock Springs) – and House candidate Mark Jennings and state Sen. Bob Ide (Casper).
“At the time (of my motion) I didn’t know further members of this body were implicated,” said Provenza. “And I have received phone calls asking if I knew at the time when I made my motion that potentially the speaker who nominated the committee was involved.”
Provenza told Cowboy State Daily on Feb. 11 that she had only seen Bextel hand checks to Webb, Brady, and McCann, though a stack of more checks remained in Bextel’s hand.
Every House member implicated as receiving a check last week voted in favor, last Wednesday, of introducing a bill Bextel has championed, House Bill 141.
Provenza told the House she was also protesting the House’s actions “right now, because it sounds like this committee maybe convened on Friday.”
Once officially convened, the committee would have four days to submit its findings to the House, under Provenza’s Thursday motion.
Neiman told Cowboy State Daily on Friday that the committee’s midday meeting that day was not its official convening, but comprised a rough planning phase how it would approach it work.
Lawful Campaign Checks
Bextel has said publicly since the controversy erupted that she was handing out lawful campaign checks because she happened to be in Cheyenne during the session.
She has said the incident exploded because some people see it as a way to thwart her mission, of curbing affordable housing mitigation schemes – like those prevalent in Teton County and Jackson.
Bextel has repeatedly called housing mitigation fees unconstitutional.
A court has not deemed Jackson or Teton County's housing mitigation schemes 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.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
