They didn't do anything wrong, the special Wyoming House investigative committee found.
And they promise to never do it again.
That seems to be the verdict from the folks who investigated the “CheckGate” matter that reverberated throughout this year's budget session of the Wyoming Legislature.
Bad optics, to be sure, but nothing illegal, at least at the time.
What to call this unpleasantness has been a question since checks were passed to several lawmakers on the floor of the House after adjournment on the first day of the session, February 9th.
Now that the official verdict is that nobody did anything wrong, it's a little extreme to call it a “scandal.” Seems more like a “flap,” a “fray,” or “a big Hoo-Ha.”
In fact, now that we know that nobody did nothin' wrong (as they say in my native Chicago), it might not even qualify for official “Gate” status.
As is often the case, though, when the going gets tough, the tough blame the news media.
And there's been a little of that. Instead of following House rules on how to report a big Hoo-Ha, a representative instead snapped a picture of a check being handed to a fellow representative, and sent it to those rascals in the media. And darned if they didn't report it.
We all know that courts are sticklers for following rules that you've been so reckless as to have adopted – I think they call it “due process.” And the House rules say that the person who snapped the picture should have shown the picture to the Speaker of the House, instead of to the news media.
That way, the people handed a perfectly legal check, not breaking any rule at the time - as the committee says - could have remained anonymous. And the stain of not doing anything wrong would not now follow them through life. A blot, they seem to think, on their Permanent Record.
I've heard the accusation that the news media has blown the check imbroglio out of proportion.
But as a grizzled (see picture above) 53-year veteran of the news biz – surviving stints at papers in Laramie, Rawlins and Casper – I do not believe my friends at Cowboy State Daily have blown anything out of proportion.
Out of around 112 news stories regarding a vast assortment of legislative actions, about 14 news stories dealt with the check flap, each regarding some new development that warranted a story.
So this former state editor of Wyoming's once-largest newspaper is here to tell you that Cowboy State Daily has done an excellent job covering the budget session. And I'm proud to be associated with this talented, industrious, hard-working bunch.
I don't know about those other guys.
Meanwhile, word that lots of folks wish that CheckGate would just go away apparently hadn't reached the Senate last week, when there was a move to force House Bill 141 out of committee, where it was supposed to die a peaceful death. That's the bill that the person passing out checks in the House favored, reining in employee housing efforts in Jackson.
The senators were unhappy about the CheckGate controversy, and chalked it up to the rubes and hayseeds over in the House, which they refer to derisively as “at the other end of the hall,” like it was Hooterville. Goes both ways, of course. I've heard House members refer to the Senate with similar disdain, where the stuffed shirts who know which fork to use at fancy dinners reside.
Despite pleas to bring House Bill 141 up for a final vote, Sen. Dan Dockstader carried the day, saying the check fiasco was the only thing people from his district were asking about. The Senate then voted down the effort to resurrect the bill, and the Upper Chamber moved on to more dignified concerns, like watching bills die slowly in committee.
The only shoe left to drop is the Laramie County Sheriff's investigation into bribery in the State Capitol.
Good luck, Sheriff Kozak, sorting out hundreds of bills, thousands of votes, and the motivations and donations to 93 separate lawmakers.
Spread out all over the state, and independent as pigs on ice.
Looks like an industrial-sized can of worms, if you ask me.
Dave Simpson can be contacted at DaveSimpson145@hotmail.com
