Timeline:

On Monday night, February 9th, Rebecca Bextel handed out campaign donations from a Teton County donor on the House floor after the legislative session had concluded for the day.

Representative Karlee Provenza took a photo of the incident. Provenza has given conflicting accounts of what happened next.

In media interviews, Provenza stated that “moments later” she sent the photos to a member of the media.

In the version she gave under oath to the Investigative Committee, she stated that she first showed the photos to the chief clerk, and the clerk suggested she show the photos to Director Obrecht.

Representative Liz Storer testified under oath that she saw a check being passed out on the House floor on Monday night. She attended a legislative event hosted by Rebecca Bextel on Tuesday night, and even tried to attend with a “news” reporter from Jackson. The reporter was asked to leave, but Storer remained. She was even given a few minutes to address the attendees, which included Speaker Neiman.

Storer did not bring up the check incident to Speaker Neiman at the event Tuesday night.

On Wednesday morning before the session began, a WyoFile reporter asked a check recipient and Rebecca Bextel about the incident.

Later that morning when the legislative session was called to order, HB 141 “Fifth Amendment Protection Act” was introduced on the House floor by Representative John Bear. In an attempt to stop the bill from being introduced, Representative Mike Yin stated that checks had been passed out on the floor by a supporter of the bill.

HB 141 was ultimately approved by a wide margin.

A few days later, Provenza introduced a bill to hold an investigation into the check incident.

We learned that Legislative Services Office Director, Matt Obrecht, helped Provenza write her motion for the investigative committee. The Speaker of the House was never informed of this, in violation of Joint Rule 22-1.

A 7- member committee was appointed by Speaker Neiman and chaired by Representative Art Washut.

During the investigative hearing, Provenza stated that she did not have to follow the rules for reporting an ethics violation because of her First Amendment rights.

Director Obrecht was never publicly questioned by the committee.

When Representative Chris Knapp was interviewed by the Investigative Committee, we learned that Director Obrecht refused to help him with an amendment to Provenza’s motion calling for the investigation.

The House Investigation Committee found that no rules or laws were broken. Campaign donations are protected as free speech.

The Management Council oversees the Legislative Services Office.

When Rebecca Bextel requested video footage from outside of Director Obrecht’s office for February 9th, 10th and 11th, the Wyoming Highway Patrol stated, “The videos requested have timed out of the system and is no longer available“.

According to Facebook, there is an active criminal investigation going on by the Laramie County Sheriff, but some of the evidence has already gone missing.

Now the public cannot discover whether Karlee Provenza went into Director Obrecht’s office or not.

Petition:

We, the undersigned, are calling for the Management Council to investigate the possible misconduct of Director Obrecht and the Legislative Services Office.

By completing the form below, you agree to have your name, city, and state displayed publicly on this online petitio

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