Check-passing incident makes us all poorer

Politics is a dirty, expensive business. Our political system, as is, requires candidates to have a “war chest” for their reelection campaigns, and our national system has gradually degraded, since the Citizens United ruling in 2013, into a zero-sum game in which the greatest winners in politics are those with the most to offer a candidate monetarily. The biggest losers? All of us common people.

There are many ways money can reach a candidate – you, or I, or any of us can make a simple contribution online or by mail, but there are also bad actors who donate vast sums to political action committees (PACs) and exert their influence from the shadows. We are all, collectively, made more cynical about our national politics as a result of this dark money. We become more skeptical and less trusting in the process, we become more removed and the space we leave behind begins to rot.

For a long time, such political rot was uncommon in Wyoming. Checkgate is emblematic of a more recent change that has left many people feeling the same way about their state politics as they do about their national politics. It confirmed the bias that so many of us have toward our politicians: that they are crooks, that they lie, that they’ll do anything for money.

We are all made poorer for the brazen and unethical decision of one person, a political activist who chose to deliver donation checks on the floor well before any candidates declared their intention to run. The Capitol remains, for many, a space considered sacrosanct and this delivery was made on the first day of the people’s business.

The response has been, at turns, mystifying and frustrating. The House being waylaid in its efforts to conduct its own investigation by the local sheriff is a disservice to us all, especially for the fact that it has been rapidly politicized. The actions taken by legislators and the governor to prevent future donations in the Capitol, meanwhile, are steps in the right direction.

Until such time as the investigation are concluded, we should refrain from judging or condemning. By those rules that existed prior to February 9, the only inappropriate action taken was not reporting the exchange to leadership immediately. But if, after those investigations have concluded, voters are dissatisfied or feel wrongdoing occurred, or otherwise wish to reject the seeming turn in our politics toward outside influence – primaries and elections are this year. So contact your legislators. Register. Volunteer. Vote.

(Victoria O’Brien wrote this editorial for the Cody Enterprise.)