CHEYENNE -The 68th Wyoming Legislature is very likely to go down in history as the Check-Gate session.
Any future news item about the legislative action detailing which bills passed and failed may be linked to a photo of a smiling legislator accepting a campaign check from a woman standing on the floor of the Wyoming House of Representatives.
That will be the focus for most people - not the budget or other important issues that were debated in the House and Senate in the year 2026.
It is a big story and a big deal. The word “unprecedented” has gotten a workout.
In my 40 plus years of covering the Legislature, I have seen men running out of committee rooms in tears, and the end of a physical floor fight over a $200 difference in the classroom unit of the old K-12 financial system.
But nothing like this year's transaction in the House chambers.
The check passing wasn’t just an amazing error of judgment. It was a monumental breach of protocol and the ethics of the Legislature.
It was much more than just “bad optics” for the Freedom Caucus bloc because their members were the ones to receive the campaign checks, even though there is no campaign at this point. Filing doesn’t begin until May.
And Caucus members or sympathizers were also the ones who voted for a bill that was being pushed by the presenter of the checks.
The check distribution in the House shows a lack of respect for the principles of the Legislature.
I turned to an expert on Wyoming history, retired professor Phil Roberts of Laramie.
Did he ever find mention of a similar situation in state history?
“Never,” Roberts said in a brief telephone chat.
He said, first of all, that he was surprised that anyone in this technical age would try to do such a thing, a reference to the ever-present cell phone cameras.
There was one possibility of a prior, similar situation, he said.
It involved the Constitutional Convention in 1889, a year before Wyoming became a state.
The chairman of the convention, M.C. Brown, introduced an article that would have taxed coal by the ton.
His argument was that the coal companies, principally the Union Pacific Coal Company, were making a lot of profit from mining coal and then moving most of it for use outside the territory.
That tax, 2.5 cents per ton, would make the state fiscally sound for years to come, Brown argued.
The article for a coal tax to be inserted in the state constitution passed.
The UP people were terrified, Roberts said.
The story or rumor was that their lobbyists held a dinner for the delegates and placed money under each plate.
The delegates later reversed themselves, and Wyoming did not pass a coal tax until 1969.
Roberts said he could never get confirmation of the story from historical reports and records.
“I could never nail down the facts,” he said.
Anyway, the recent check passing incident created a furor of rules and investigations.
There is the sheriff, who apparently is looking at the possibility of bribery; the House special committee investigation, and the Senate adopting new rules.
Last week Gov. Mark Gordon signed an executive order banning the solicitation, delivery, or acceptance of campaign contributions within the Wyoming State Capitol and other state-controlled property.
Former legislative leaders are outraged by the campaign check handling; they are resentful that such outlandish behavior is a stigma on the Legislature’s record, which has been clean over the years.
My personal question is, how did the activist from Teton County get on the floor of the House?
According to various published accounts, she had a press pass, but didn’t use it and was invited to the floor by a House member.
Reporters have not enjoyed that type of access for years.
Summing up, a quote from an old British comic skit is appropriate:
“You made a fine mess.”
Contact Joan Barron at 207 632-2534 or jmbarron@bresnan.net
