CHEYENNE, Wyo. — A member of the Teton County Republican Party Executive Committee made waves this week after reportedly handing out checks to various GOP officials on the floor of the Wyoming House of Representatives in Cheyenne. According to reports from multiple media outlets, the House has since voted to convene an investigation into the incident.
Lawmakers from across the state have convened in Cheyenne for the biennial budget session, scheduled to run from Feb. 9 through March 11.
Rebecca Bextel, who is listed as the State Committeewoman for the Teton County GOP, purportedly was seen giving paper checks to some members of the Freedom Caucus on the House floor Monday evening, according to a Facebook post by State Representative Karlee Provenza. Provenza, a democrat representing Laramie, provided a photo to the press that shows Bextel apparently distributing the checks, which Bextel claimed in a separate social media post were “lawful campaign checks from Teton County donors.”
The incident came to light on Wednesday morning when State Representative Mike Yin, a democrat from Jackson, urged his colleagues to vote down a bill supported by Bextel. The draft bill at hand would prohibit the government from imposing fees or conditions on residential or commercial development specifically relating to workforce or affordable housing, according to Wyoming Public Media. A video clip posted to Yin’s Facebook page captures the moment in the house chamber when he says he had been made aware of the check distribution.
“You’ve seen some of this language before, this comes from a specific person in Teton County that wanted to turn one of our bills from last year into a new bill,” Yin started. “That’s the language in this bill. What I would say to you members, and this is not an accusation, this is solely just optics for the legislature: My understanding is that that person handed out checks on the floor of the legislature during the session. And so what I don’t want is to have the optics that there are checks being handed out,” he said before a point of order was called by another official, identified by the Jackson Hole News&Guide as Representative John Bear, a republican from Gillette.
“I believe the representative is making accusations of an individual that cannot be substantiated,” Bear said. “And that accusation is offensive to this body.”
By 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Bextel had posted to Facebook saying that Yin had “essentially tried to accuse me of bribery from the House floor.” She went on to say that she had raised money for republican candidates and that she was delivering the legal campaign checks while in Cheyenne: “These checks were written two weeks ago, and were not handed out while the House or Senate were in session.”
WyoFile published a story about the controversial actions on Wednesday evening, including the above photo taken by Provenza, who said that she had been sitting at her desk when the scene occurred. Provenza posted the WyoFile article link to her Facebook on Wednesday night saying she was “disturbed at how blatantly disrespectful” Bextel’s actions were to the integrity of the legislature.
“When Rep. Yin brought this behavior to the attention of House members during floor debate, one member stated it was a lie,” Provenza wrote. “It was not and I have produced the receipts.”
According to Wyoming Public Media, “Provenza motioned to create the investigatory committee during floor debate on Feb. 12, which will conduct its business in the public eye.”
