Ex-Missouri House speaker who resigned amid sex scandal donates $25,000 to state GOP
Missouri Democrats are demanding the state Republican Party return a $25,000 donation from former House Speaker John Diehl, who was forced to resign in 2015 after it was revealed he’d been sending sexually charged text messages to a 19-year-old House intern.
After staying out of the spotlight for nearly three years, Diehl — who did not respond to a request for comment from The Star — has been slowly returning to public life over the last few months.
He’s had at least one private meeting with Gov. Mike Parson as well as with state legislators and other elected officials, as he and his business partners continue their efforts to establish a cobalt mine in southeast Missouri.
He is not a registered lobbyist, nor is he a declared candidate for public office. But he continues to maintain his campaign committee, which, according to the Missouri Ethics Commission, still had around $160,000 cash on hand as of October.
This week that committee cut a $25,000 check to the Missouri Republican Party.
Diehl donated that same amount to the House Republican Campaign Committee in November. And his company gave $25,000 last month to Uniting Missouri, a political action committee created to support Parson.
Lauren Gepford, executive director of the Missouri Democratic Party, said lawmakers from both parties have made strides since Diehl’s resignation to improve the culture in the statehouse and address sexual harassment in the Missouri Capitol.
“The Missouri GOP should return this contribution immediately,” Gepford said. “If they do not, they undermine the laudable efforts of so many Republicans and Democrats who have worked to make state government a welcoming and respectful environment for all.”
A spokesperson for the Missouri GOP did not respond to a request for comment.
Diehl’s political career began unraveling just a few weeks before the end of the 2015 legislative session, when The Star acquired text messages Diehl, then 49, had been exchanging with a 19-year-old freshman from Missouri Southern State University in Joplin who was interning in the House.
While he initially resisted calls for his resignation, a behind-the-scenes revolt among members of his own party forced him to change his mind and step down.
