No CheckGate Reckoning at Wyoming GOP Meeting as Leaders Blast Media and Gordon

The Wyoming Republican Party’s quarterly Central Committee meeting Saturday offered the first opportunity for a formal reckoning with the “CheckGate” scandal that has consumed the Legislature since a conservative activist distributed campaign checks on the House floor Feb. 9. That reckoning never came.

Instead, party leaders used the podium to attack media coverage and redirect attention to Gov. Mark Gordon’s campaign spending.

The Carbon County Republican Party arrived with two resolutions unanimously passed by its county central committee demanding accountability. One called for the immediate resignation of Republican National Committeewoman Rep. Nina Webber, R-Cody, citing her “failures of principle, character and integrity” for escorting activist Rebecca Bextel onto the House floor. The other demanded broader accountability for lawmakers involved.

But Carbon County Vice Chair Joey Correnti was ruled ineligible to speak. “It was made very clear that I’m not authorized to comment,” he told Cowboy State Daily afterward.

Vice Chair Bob Ferguson took the microphone instead, aiming squarely at the press and the governor.

“It’s amazing how much ink the CheckGate controversy has gotten in comparison to the fact that the Legislature is passing a two-year budget,” Ferguson said. He acknowledged the “optics” were terrible but argued the reaction revealed media bias: “It was the Freedom Caucus. And everyone that opposes the Freedom Caucus was thrilled to jump on the bandwagon.”

Ferguson pivoted to Gordon, alleging the governor personally funded about 90% of the Prosperity and Commerce PAC with $150,000, gave another $150,000 to the same PAC in December, plus $30,000 to the Wyoming Caucus PAC and over $33,000 in personal contributions—totaling more than $360,000. He claimed 22 legislators received money through Gordon, including two members of the House investigative committee.

Gordon’s office pushed back, stating the governor participated “in an open, legal and transparent way” in the 2024 election cycle. “Vice Chair Ferguson’s comments feel like an attempt to deflect from financial transactions that happened on the floor of the Wyoming House of Representatives,” the statement read.

Teton County GOP Chair Kat Rueckert offered a different attack, urging journalists to investigate Wyoming ties to the Epstein files instead of covering CheckGate. State Chairman Bryan Miller noted, “Wyoming is mentioned in those files a lot.”

Miller told Cowboy State Daily the party cannot act until investigations conclude. “If the investigations proved that there’s nothing wrong, and the party went and did something—that’s a problem.”

A motion to vote on the first resolution received no second. The second received a second but was ruled procedurally out of order.

The House investigative committee held its first hearing Thursday; all four lawmakers who received checks denied wrongdoing. The committee must report within four legislative days. The Laramie County Sheriff’s Office is conducting a separate criminal investigation.