Optics are everything in this case
A recent handing over of campaign donation checks on the House floor following Wyoming Legislature proceedings is causing quite the kerfuffle, for a very good reason.
Optics, baby, optics. It makes one raise the eyebrows when an activist walks onto the House floor to hand over donor checks. It does not matter whether those checks were simply for the recipients’ campaigns. It looks — dare we say it — suspicious. Although the legislators receiving the checks deny any wrongdoing, as do the donor and the courier for that donor, it lacked decorum.
We lay no blame on anyone. We simply believe a better time should have been found to accomplish this exchange. It would have gone a long way to putting to bed the kind of questions that are coming out following the incident.
It’s important to know that what happened may not have violated any rules. An editorial from the Newcastle News Letter Journal also noted we should “not pretend that money stops flowing just because the gavel drops” during any session of the Wyoming Legislature and suggested true transparency would best be served if all contributions and donations happened in full view of the proceedings — for all to see who is receiving and who is giving.
It’s an interesting idea. However, in this case, it does not lessen our concern about it happening in such a blatant and arrogant fashion.
We here at the Rocket Miner are particularly concerned because several of the check recipients caught on camera were from our own neck of the woods. And the fact that they are members of the Freedom Caucus AND they received checks from a Teton County donor is especially eyebrow raising. These same Freedom Caucus legislators have advocated for less government in our lives and taking away the money that funds services in our communities. However, they seem OK with accepting big money for promoting their own idea of government. In our eyes, it seems contradictory.
Sweetwater County Commissioner Taylor Jones described during the commissioner comments portion of the regular meeting on Tuesday how he felt about it all. He said he is “completely embarrassed” by several of the local legislators who received money on the House floor. He called it “a stain” on the Wyoming Legislature and added the actions of these legislators are what “give good politicians a horrible name.”
We couldn’t agree more. Legislators should be concerned when public perception takes a turn for the worse due to the actions of a few of their own. It leads to the public’s distrust of government and the business that they are supposed to be doing on our behalf. When that trust is tarnished, it’s hard to polish it back to a shine.
We here at the Rocket Miner also point out that the person who handed out the checks is co-owner of an online media group. Does she not realize her objectivity as a reporter can be brought into question? Does she realize her actions have the potential to reflect badly on the rest of us reporting the news? This is a subject for another discussion, but we thought it important to note here. We, too, rely on public trust.
An investigation has been launched, and now we can only await the outcome. We hope each and every legislator looks at what occurred and reflects on how perceptions have been affected. We also hope they question how someone who is not a legislator was able to walk onto the House floor without being stopped. We hope they question their security.
The Wyoming Democratic Party issued a statement on what they are calling “Checkgate.” We feel WDP Chairman Lucas Fralick summed it up well:
“It is a shame that the public trust has been so broken by a few that we now feel compelled to write legislation to enforce what should be common sense and the bare minimum of ethics for an elected official.”