CHEYENNE -- Candidates for political office were making the rounds at the State Capitol last week.

Wyoming's junior U.S. senator, John Barrasso, briefly addressed the House and Senate Tuesday.

Barrasso's predecessor, Sen. Craig Thomas, frequently used his annual address of the Legislature to discuss his take on important national issues. Barrasso mostly steered clear of the issues in his speeches, and instead told a few jokes and stories to his former colleagues in the Legislature.

Barrasso did make the point that Washington could learn a thing or two about running an efficient government from the Wyoming Legislature. But he gave no indication that he wished he were back in his seat in the state Senate.

Sen. Mike Enzi visited on Thursday but gave no indication of whether he'll seek re-election.

On Wednesday, candidates for U.S. House Gary Trauner and Bill Winney pressed the flesh in the Capitol. They even had a brief discussion on the third floor, where they talked about ... snowmobiling.

Winney, a Republican and retired Navy officer who now makes his home in Sublette County, has been a regular spectator at the Legislature in recent years. Trauner, a Democrat from Teton County, said he was in town for a Wyoming Mining Association event and other meetings.

Spotlight on guns

Wyoming's gun-toting reputation is on display in the national news media.

House Bill 57, which would prohibit the state from confiscating guns from law-abiding citizens in the case of an emergency, was featured in a Sunday story in the L.A. Times.

A reporter for the newspaper traveled to Cheyenne last week to interview the bill's sponsor, Rep. Allen Jaggi, R-Lyman.

Jaggi, a retired biology teacher, said it was “kind of exciting” to be interviewed by the reporter, but his bill is simply about “doing what's best for Wyoming.”

He decided to sponsor the bill after he heard that police in New Orleans were confiscating guns after Hurricane Katrina, leaving people there without guns for self-defense. Jaggi told the Times reporter that his guns would be confiscated “over my dead body.”

During a conversation at the State Capitol, Jaggi insisted that the National Rifle Association did not ask him to sponsor the bill, as some people have suggested. Instead, he called the NRA for help after he decided to tackle the issue.

Fuel tax politics

Sen. Michael Von Flatern is no politician.

At least he doesn't act like one.

Von Flatern, a Republican from Gillette, took over as Senate Transportation Committee chairman last year when Sen. John Barrasso was appointed to the U.S. Senate and immediately began pushing for a fuel-tax hike because, he says, it was the right thing to do.

He flew his own plane around educating community groups about escalating highway costs and dwindling funds. He pointed out that we have almost the lowest fuel tax in the country and out-of-state drivers pay more than half the fuel tax in Wyoming.

Here's the thing: The Legislature was never going to support a fuel tax increase. Wyoming is too rich right now, and lots of legislators (including Von Flatern) are up for re-election this year. So nobody was surprised when the 10-cent fuel tax increase crashed and burned on 43-16 House vote.

Now that the bill is dead, Von Flatern is well aware that his efforts will hurt his chances at re-election. Newspapers around the state, including this one, have already taken shots at him.

It'll be interesting to see whether Campbell County voters return Von Flatern to Cheyenne in November -- or if they'd rather elect a politician.

Potty pass

In the category of wacky-sounding legislation, a Fremont County lawmaker wants to require business owners to make their private restrooms available to people with an urgent need to go.

The bill, Senate File 73, is no joke, said the chief sponsor, Sen. Eli Bebout, R-Riverton.

Bebout pointed out that certain medical conditions, such as Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis or irritable bowel syndrome, can create an urgent or uncontrollable need to use the bathroom.

“If you are one of these people, it’s serious,” said Bebout, an unsuccessful candidate for governor in 2002.

Here’s how the bill would work: The state Department of Health would issue a “restroom facility access card” to anyone who could produce a doctor’s note saying they have a medical condition that requires quick access to the John.

The potty pass would provide access, during regular business hours, to bathrooms in private businesses that are not normally open to the public. Any business owner who tells a stricken card holder to get lost could be found guilty of a misdemeanor and fined up to $100.

Even if the bill doesn't survive the legislative process, Bebout said, it might raise awareness and convince some stingy proprietors to be more generous with the bathroom key.