Showing posts with label Bextel Money Scandal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bextel Money Scandal. Show all posts

Sunday, May 17, 2026

The 2026 Election, 11th Edition. The only good voting Indian is a disenfranchised voting Indian edition.

 


By https://www.facebook.com/eshoshonetribe/, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=61356655

Friends & Brothers, listen: Where you now are, you and my white children are too near to each other to live in harmony and peace. Your game is destroyed and many of your people will not work and till the Earth. Beyond the great river Mississippi, where a part of your nation has gone, your father has provided a country large enough for all of you, and he advises you to remove to it. There your white brothers will not trouble you; they will have no claim to the land, and you can live upon it, you and all your children, as long as the grass grows or the water runs, in peace and plenty. It will be yours for ever. For the improvements in the country where you now live, and for all the stock which you cannot take with you, your father will pay you a fair price.

Andrew Jackson, part of a letter to the Creek, 1829.  That sure didn't come true.

Chuck Gray, auditioning for the role of adoring political paramour to Donald Trump, his beloved and dearest, and thick in the throws of turning Wyoming's voter registration roles over to his dearest illegally, is now seeking to have the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision of Louisiana v. Callais applied.  In so doing, he's sent a demand to the Fremont County Commissioners to redistrict their county commissioner boundaries to wipe out a district that was designed to provide a commissioner from the Wind River Reservation, and he's written the Governor about the legislative districts, stating; "“I believe House District 33’s boundaries need to be examined to ensure compliance with Callais” .

Let's look first at what Callais actually says which few pundits have to date.  It's a long decision, so we'll only post part of it, but that part is where the Court made its decision:

So what that tells us is:

1.  A district must have a basis in more than race.

2.  The jerrymandering by race cannot have a demonstrable impact in favor of a political party.

3.  The totality of the circumstances must be considered.

Chuck, who loves Trump more than Trump loves Trump, has made a name for himself by being a divisive asshole and this will be no exception. The over monied little man who has never really worked likes to scream and howl, but this may prove to be a mistake in his bid for the House.  A large percentage of Wyomingites do not like him for variety of legitimate reasons, and he's been taking flak from the right from gadfly Reid Rasner, to which he's flop around like a fish on a deck trying to react to, and not very effectively.  Gray probably sees this action to terminate Native American districts on the Reservation as serving his far right nut case masters' cause of bringing back the Confederacy, but he's not a lawyer and disrupting Wyoming districts, ironically in one of the most conservative regions of the state, may not go well and is not likely to be appreciated.

There's a fair chance it might not succeeds as well.

Fremont County has a voting district for the county commission that causes it to have one commissioners who is drawn from the Wind River Reservation.  That was in fact the intent of the boundary.  And it has one House District that is also from the Reservation.  The legislator who is from that districts, HD33, is Ivan Posey, who is enrolled in the Eastern Shoshone Tribe but also also has Northern Cheyenne and Northern Arapaho ancestors.

Gray, of course, is a carpetbagging white rich unmarried white boy, but this fits right into the current MAGA effort that's disenfranchising minorities in a country that's on the verge of becoming a majority minority nation.  While they aren't willing to say it, MAGA basically hopes that they can reverse this demographic trend.

They can't, and they'll pay for it soon.

Here, Gray, who isn't a Wyomingite in the first place, likely doesn't grasp that the Wind River Reservation isn't solely an ethnic boundary, but the home to two sovereigns.  So there's a racial and sovereign divide here.  I suspect that these boundaries will hold up.

They already voted Democratic, they sure will in the future.  Gray's ordering the Fremont County Commission and Governor Gordon around may not sit well with the voters, and frankly they're likely to tell him to pound sand, in which case he'll sue, and try to disrupt the general election.  That won't work.

Gray needs to be sent packing.  He needs to find a real job for the first time in his life.  Let's hope he's offered one out on Wind River.

By Elders of the Arapaho Nation [2] - This W3C-unspecified vector image was created with Inkscape . based on photo and description here, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1031311

We will note here that the GOP race in Wyoming is turning batshit crazy with panicked Freedom Caucusers concerned that the South might not rise again while one notable one is actually attacking Donald Trump.  Hardcore WFC members are supporting Still Sucking On the Government Tit Bien.  While I may be imagining it, Bien seems to draw support from the less educated and poorer sections of the Wyoming population which demonstrates something peculiar, but I don't know what.  The more likely you are to economically and personally be hurt by Bien's world outlook of no social services and hardly pull yourself up by your bootstraps, while he sucks on the government tit, the more likely you are to support him.  

It's dumb.

Yesterday, of course, we have the oddity of Rebecca Bextel announcing a completely delusional and panicky run for the Governor's office on the Constitution Party ticket.  In a more sane political structure, all of the state's Cornfederates would be in that party.  Poor Bextel thinks she's a conservative, and has this on her website:
Like many of you, I know Megan Degenfelder or Brent Bien would make an excellent Governor! I sincerely hope one of them beats out Eric Barlow for the Republican nomination, but unfortunately, history is not on the side of us conservatives.

Well, that's just deluded, but it's typical of the Cornfederates who aren't conservatives or even Republicans, but think they are.  She's going to lose big and hopefully the WFC does in general, so they can go back to Sweet Home Alabama (where Bextel is actually from) and leave the West alone.


Go home Becky. . . the Southland is calling you.

cont:

And it looks like state legislators are beginning to see the pitchforks. . .South Carolina dropped its effort, Louisiana refused the map Trump wanted them to adopt., Mississippi decided to wait until 2027.

May 15, 2026

Bill Allemand, a complete and total no go on our list, is running for reelection to House District 58.  His DUI trial has not yet occurred.  He  faced opposition from Bar Nunn Mayor Peter Boyer as well as  Democrat.

J. R. Riggins is running for reelection in House District 59.  He faces opposition from the batshit carpetbagger far right.

Art Washut is running for reelection to House District 36.

May 16, 2026

Chuck Gray is being treated as sort of an irritating toddler, which he deserves.


Democrat  Kenneth R. Casner has announced his run for Governor.  He's 75 years old which puts him in the category of candidates who are too darned old to hold, yet alone run for, office.

May 17, 2026
Let me just set the record straight: Our country is not about one individual. It is about the welfare of all Americans and it is about our Constitution.  And if someone doesn’t understand that and attempts to control others through using the levers of power, they’re about serving themselves. They’re not about serving us. And that person is not qualified to be a leader.
Bill Cassidy after losing his bid to be reelected as a Senator from Louisiana.

Last edition:

The 2026 Election, 10th Edition. The Setting the stage for a Pyrrhic Victory edition.

Sunday, February 22, 2026

The 2026 Wyoming Legislature, Part 4. The Held Up Edition

 February 16, 2026

TA Ranch.

The invaders arrived and confident of the success of their mission, as well as the mission itself, detrained and headed out, certain of victory.

And then the unexpected intervened. They didn't know the climate of where they were, and ran into delay.  And soon they ran into diversion as well, thinking that with limited time they could still stop to act on detours.

The locals rallied, held them up, and started gunning them down.

Week two of the 2026 legislature commences, the carpetbaggers held up and besieged, as has happened before.

February 17, 2024

A warning about the stupidity of gutting the state's tax system:


Not that most of the Freedom Caucus, which has a "get off my lawn" type of attitude, and which lives in a Southern fantasyland, seems to really care, or so it seems.  I guess we'll see.

I will note, however, that fire board lives out in the county and was put in place by rural voters who voted for Trump, and I'll bet most of them did as well.  The Freedom Caucus is the same Dixiecrat type of voter that voted in the Freedom Caucus.  So, they're getting just what they voted for.

And the scandal grows:


Years ago a very senior member of the legislature told me that the far right was now buying the legislature.  What Bextel did was monumentally stupid, she has to be the most tone-deaf person in the state, but it likely was not illegal. The implications are serious, however.  The "Wyoming" Freedom Caucus is heavy funded by out of state money or, in this case Carpetbagger Cash.

The item here, broken by the Jackson Hole News &  Guide:
CHEYENNE—The Jackson man who wrote the campaign donation checks at the center of a growing controversy in the Wyoming Capitol says two were intended for the Speaker of the House and the former head of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus.

Whether or not Speaker Chip Neiman, R-Hulett, or Rep. John Bear, R-Gillette, received or accepted the checks could not be determined by press time. Neither lawmaker responded to requests for comment before publication.

 And:

Freedom Caucus lawmaker Bear accepted controversial campaign check from activist; other legislators remain mum: Gillette Republican Rep. John Bear said he accepted a check from Bextel, but not on the House floor.
The truth of the matter is that when this sort of political thought came into the state, it came in from the outside and was backed by outside people.  Some of the early proponents of the Freedom Caucus nonsense, like Secretary of State Chuck Gray, and Bear, are outsiders.

Bextel, originally from Arkansas (of course) has done the state a big favor by exposing this sort of behavior.

Former legislators reactions:
This adds a serious new wrinkle to the story:
Bextel has said publicly that she was distributing lawful campaign checks on behalf of a Teton County donor, and that she did so in person because she knew she’d be in Cheyenne.

It also happened two days before the reported recipients on the House side, among others, voted in favor of introducing a bill Bextel has championed.

I still very much doubt that this meets the criteria necessary to be considered bribery, but there is a bit of smoke there.  Added to that, some of the cash recipients are not campaigning this year. 

So what was that bill that the cash donor had an interest in?  That's discussed here:

Wyoming’s ‘Checkgate’ is all about the Freedom Caucus’ political games - WyoFile: GOP activist who handed out money to lawmakers on House floor claims she’s leveling the playing field for conservatives, writes columnist Kerry Drake.

As stated in the article:

The incident became a news story on Wednesday during debate on an anti-affordable housing bill that Bextel was lobbying lawmakers to support. Rep. Mike Yin, D-Jackson, questioned voting on House Bill 141, “Fifth Amendment Defense Act,” when one of its prime supporters was seen distributing checks to lawmakers on the floor two days earlier. But he did not name Bextel or any legislators who received checks.

While I've abstained from posing the text of bills on these threads this year, this one deserves a look:

Fifth Amendment Protection Act.

Sponsored by: Representative(s) Bear, Haroldson, Heiner, Knapp, Locke and Neiman and Senator(s) Hicks, Hutchings, Ide, Kolb, McKeown, Pearson, Salazar and Steinmetz

A BILL

for

AN ACT relating to cities, towns and counties; prohibiting cities, towns and counties from imposing fees or conditions related to housing on residential or commercial development as specified; specifying applicability; and providing for an effective date.

Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Wyoming:

Section 1.  W.S. 15‑1‑612 and 18‑5‑209 are created to read: 

15‑1‑612.  Prohibitions on fees and conditions related to housing on residential or commercial development.

No governing body of a city or town shall impose a monetary fee, nonmonetary condition or other concession related to the provision of workforce housing, unmet housing needs or affordable housing on residential or commercial development within the jurisdiction of the governing body.

18‑5‑209.  Prohibitions on fees and conditions related to housing on residential or commercial development.

No board of county commissioners shall impose a monetary fee, nonmonetary condition or other concession related to the provision of workforce housing, unmet housing needs or affordable housing on residential or commercial development within the jurisdiction of the county.

Section 2.

(a)  This act shall apply to all applications for permits submitted for residential or commercial development on or after July 1, 2026.

(b)  Nothing in this act shall be construed to modify or impair existing contracts or obligations regarding residential or commercial development and the imposition of monetary fees, nonmonetary conditions or other concessions executed before July 1, 2026.

Section 3.  This act is effective July 1, 2026.

So the money came from Teton County big bucks, which to at least some extent, must now want the servant class living in Teton County.  Let them commute from Driggs, apparently.

Can't have that riff raff living in Jackson, now can we? 

Every recipient of the cash donation should resign. . . but none of them will.  The Legislature, for that matter, out to censure them by sidelining them for the remainder of the session. I.e., as they have to right to refuse to seat, they ought to send them to the benches and let them cool their jets at home this session.

And this does stink.  A wealthy carpetbagger from Teton County gives checks to a carpetbagger from Teton County to pass out to certain favorites as a housing bill principally impacting Teton County (but also Natrona County) is debated.

I doubt the District Attorney from the 1st Judicial District will do anything with that.  I don't think I would, but it looks pretty weird.

Speaking of Gray:
Senate panel advances bill to increase accountability for commercial registered agents: More than 830,000 LLC filings generated almost $60M for Wyoming last year, but secrecy raises concern about fraud, scams

That must keep his stamping fingers busy like crazy. 

Speaking of buying votes, Lummis spoke at the legislature and spoke on Trumpbucks.

Lummis Announces Kraken Will Fund Trump Accounts For Every Wyoming Newborn In 2026

That's not buying votes, but Kraken is trying to buy good will.

Part of the problem is that data centers are driving up electrical demand like crazy.  A sane country, that was doing this, would be building nuclear plants like crazy, but we're not sane right now.  Instead, Trump is backing Dying Dirty Coal.

February 18, 2026

This is probably the first time that Carpetbagging Chuck has been silent on anything since he he showed up in Casper with luggage.  Usually he'd be out blaming the left wing radicals he claims are lurking around every single corner in the state conspiring against decency, apple pie, and poor old Donny Trump.

Here he's shut his trap.

Hmmm. . . . 

Well after all of his blathering if he doesn't condemn what happened, he's a hypocrite.

But then Bextel hosted a fundraiser for her fellow carpetbagger back in January.  It was closed to the press. . . 

February 20, 2026

Wyoming House Rejects Adding Extraterrestrials, Animals, To Sex Books Ban

"Check Gate" has really busted wide open, putting the WFC on the spot after they condemned accusations that proved to be true.  Carbon County's GOP has called for the resignation of some members of their own party.  Frankly Bear and Niemann, who haven't been asked to resign yet, should resign or be removed by the legislature.  

Chuck Gray remains silent for the first time that he carried his carpetbag across the state line.

February 22, 2026

So we're ten days in to a 21 day session and the House is way behind on the budget, the one thing they have to actually accomplish. 

The Confederate Caucus turns out not to be very effective at getting things done, in a budget session, and so things aren't for the most part, getting done.  Meanwhile the drama of Freedom Caucus getting checks from Rebecca Bextel on behalf of some moneybucks guy goes on, with the thing excuse being a claim that nothing wrong was done and it isn't illegal.

It likely isn't illegal, but it doesn't look good.

And so ends week two.

Last edition:

The 2026 Wyoming Legislature, Part 3. The Confederate Legislature Edition.