A House special investigative committee looking into campaign checks handed to lawmakers on the floor of the lower chamber delivered a report on its findings on March 4.
The seven-member committee, and later the full House, unanimously voted to adopt the report, which found no evidence that lawmakers accepted bribes but admonished those involved to never let it happen again.
The report also suggested top legislative leaders on the Management Council add signage at the entryway to the House that outlines expectations for visitors, as well as include additional lessons for freshman lawmakers during their orientation on avoiding the appearance of impropriety.
Committee Chair Rep. Art Washut (R-Casper) read the full report after the House wrapped up its business Wednesday evening. He told the chamber, “Were it not for the actions of Rebecca Bextel on the House floor, the subsequent disruptions of the House calendar and public uproar would not have occurred.”
Included in the report’s findings is that Rep. Nina Webber (R-Cody), an endorsee of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus, “escorted” Bextel, a Teton County conservative fundraiser, onto the floor of the House on Feb. 9. The report also found Webber pointed in the direction of representatives who would later receive checks.
When Webber testified before the committee on Feb. 26 in the Historic Supreme Court Chambers, she said she didn’t recall whether or not someone contacted her on Feb. 9 to ask her to escort Bextel or if she had pointed other lawmakers out to Bextel.
Members of the public and press are generally banned from walking onto the House floor, but lawmakers can sometimes invite and escort specific members of the public or press to their desks. The Legislative Service Office (LSO) previously confirmed to Wyoming Public Radio that Bextel is a credentialed member of the media for the 2026 budget session.
Reps. Joe Webb (R-Lyman), Darin McCann (R-Rock Springs), Christopher Knapp (R-Gillette) and Marlene Brady (R-Green River) all conceded during testimony last week that they received campaign donor checks, signed by Jackson resident Donald Grasso and hand-delivered by Bextel, after the Legislature had adjourned for the evening on Feb. 9.
Webb, McCann and Brady are all endorsees of the Freedom Caucus. Knapp is its vice chair.
Knapp, Brady and Webb denied taking checks in exchange for favorable votes on HB 141, a bill that would’ve blocked local governments from imposing fees on development for affordable housing that Bextel told the committee she supported. That bill later died in the Senate.
In her own testimony to the committee on Feb. 26, Bextel blamed Wyoming Democrats and “counterfeit Republicans” for the investigation into the incident.
Washut told the lower chamber that, taken together, the evidence collected and testimony given did not reveal a violation of the state Constitution in terms of bribery.
“Taken together, the evidence collected and the testimony given did not reveal an explicit violation of any specific rule of the House of Representatives or joint rule of the Senate and the House of Representatives,” Washut said while reading from the committee report. “Despite the findings above, the committee recognizes that the conduct that occurred on the House floor was undesirable and must never occur again.”
Since Feb. 9, the House and Senate both adopted rules banning campaign contributions in the areas each chamber controls. Gov. Mark Gordon similarly issued an executive order banning the practice on the property and areas controlled by the executive branch.
Rep. Karlee Provenza (D-Laramie) made the motion to create the committee on Feb. 12. She also took photos of the exchange of checks. The existence of those photos was first reported by WyoFile in collaboration with the Jackson Hole News&Guide.
During debate on whether or not the House should accept the committee’s findings, Rep. Tony Locke (R-Casper) said the report didn’t go far enough in emphasizing that those lawmakers involved in what some have called ‘Checkgate’ are not guilty of accepting bribes in the eyes of the committee.
“We've hidden behind concepts such as bad optics,” said Locke. “Let me make a few things clear about bad optics. The only bad optics here – people could say, ‘Well, what they did was bad optics.’ But let me clarify what bad optics really are. Bad optics are when we take pictures and send out unverified accusations out into the media and try these people in the court of public opinion, which everybody in this room knows means you're guilty until proven innocent.”
Locke said the sort of conduct Provenza witnessed is “why Joint Rule 22-1 is there.”
“It's our job to follow that,” he said.
That legislative rule details a private process for lawmakers to bring formal complaints forward to leadership.
But Rep. Mike Yin (D-Jackson), who helped make the checks incident public during debate on HB 141, wrote on Facebook on Feb. 28 that the rule does not require lawmakers to bring complaints forward only via that private process.
“The ethics complaint process in Joint Rule 22-1 exists primarily to give members of the public a way to file complaints against legislators and to handle issues when the Legislature is not in session,” Yin’s post states. “It was never intended to be the only way legislators can address conduct on the House floor while we're in session and standing right there.”
He continued, “Rule 22-1(b) makes this clear: ‘Nothing in this rule shall prohibit the House and Senate from taking any action or adopting any procedure to preserve order and decorum in the houses.’ … We spoke truthfully about something that happened in public, in front of dozens of people.”
Provenza previously told WPR, “It’s really interesting that I keep getting asked about following rules when I use my First Amendment rights. It’s really unfortunate.”
Last week, House Speaker Rep. Chip Neiman (R-Hulett) told WPR that formal complaints have “maybe” been filed against Yin and Provenza.
In an emotional moment during debate about the committee’s report, McCann discussed his own involvement.
“I'd like to thank the committee myself,” said McCann. “Someone said to me that they were glad that this was over. And for all of us, all of you that didn't have your name in the paper, it will be over. But for the rest of my life, every time my name is Googled, this is going to come up. The rest of my life.”
Rep. Steve Harshman (R-Casper), a former House speaker, said he was bothered by testimony to the committee that “attacked our director of the LSO.” Bextel told the committee, without evidence, that LSO Director Matt Obrecht was “in on it.”
“That probably bothered me the most,” said Harshman. “And yeah, it was an unfortunate mistake. Do our rules have a method for complaints? Sure. Was the representative out of bounds by requesting [the committee’s creation] of the whole House? In the end, the whole House decides this. So, I don't think she was out of bounds. The whole thing just kind of got into the online universe, and here we are. But I will say this: Just keep our staff out of that.”
The House later voted unanimously to accept the committee’s report. It comes amid a parallel criminal bribery investigation through the Laramie County Sheriff’s Office that began on Feb. 14.
This reporting was made possible by a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, supporting state government coverage in the state. Wyoming Public Media and Jackson Hole Community Radio are partnering to cover state issues both on air and online.
