CHEYENNE - Tax increases, for the most part, have crashed and burned in the Legislature this session.

Efforts to raise the fuel tax and the beer tax, for example, went down without serious consideration.

Perhaps they would have been more successful had their sponsors called them "fees."

I say that because a bill that would impose across-the-board increases in state park fees is sailing through the Legislature.

The arguments in favor of the increases are similar to those for the fuel tax increase: It's a user fee, it hasn't changed in many years, and Wyoming charges less than most surrounding states.

The arguments against both increases are almost the same, as well: Higher rates are hard to justify during good economic times.

So what's the difference?

In this case, it may be that the people who use state parks have the option to go elsewhere; there is plenty of state and federal land for camping outside the state parks. The same can't be said about highways, as most of us need the roads to get to work and family.

Even so, the director of the state Department of Transportation might take a lesson from his counterpart at the Department of State Parks and Historic Sites.

Next year he might think about asking for an increase in the "fuel fee."

'Meat and potatoes'

Leaders from both parties gathered Thursday for a mid-session meeting with reporters at the State Capitol.

Yes, you read that right: leaders from both parties at the same news conference.

Wyoming is probably one of the few states where the Democrats and Republicans take time out of the lawmaking process each year to compliment each other on the job they're doing.

The love session was especially easy to pull off this year because of the obvious lack of hot-button issues. In other words: no wolves, no school funding, no serious health care reform. Sen. Ken Decaria, D-Evanston, called it a "meat and potatoes" session.

The news conference had a slightly different mood than last year, when legislative leaders, ticked off about some critical newspaper opinion pieces, vented their frustration on reporters in the room.

The lecture went on for a few minutes before veteran CBS News Channel 5 reporter Robert Geha stood up and explained a basic tenet of journalism: Reporters don't contribute to the opinion page.