Missouri House Speaker Dean Plocher appears in front of ethics committee for 1st time
Embattled Missouri House Speaker Dean Plocher testified in front of the House Ethics Committee for more than an hour and a half on Tuesday as the committee investigates a complaint of ethical misconduct connected to the top Republican.
The committee of five Republicans and five Democrats has been investigating Plocher, a St. Louis area Republican, behind closed doors since last fall, but Tuesday’s hearing was the first time Plocher spoke in front of the committee.
Plocher refused to answer questions from reporters as he left the hearing room flanked by his attorneys. He quickly walked to an elevator in the basement of the Missouri Capitol to head upstairs to attend a dinner with former speakers of the Missouri House, including Steve Tilley, John Diehl and Todd Richardson.
The exact focus of the ethics probe remains unclear but the top Republican faces a slew of scandals including revelations that he received government reimbursements for trip expenses already paid by his campaign. He also faces scrutiny over the firing of his chief of staff and alleged threats against a House staffer related to his push for an expensive information technology contract.
The committee met behind closed doors for nearly five hours on Tuesday. While reporters covering the hearing waited outside the room, Plocher sat at the witness table in front of the committee wearing a headset. He appeared alongside his attorneys Lowell Pearson and David Steelman.
Rep. Dale Wright, a Farmington Republican who chairs the House Administration and Accounts Committee, and Rep. Chris Sander, a Lone Jack Republican previously critical of Plocher, were also interviewed by the committee after Plocher left.
Rep. Hannah Kelly, a Mountain Grove Republican and chair of the ethics committee told reporters after the hearing that the committee had more work to do as part of its investigation. She declined to answer further questions, pointing to confidentiality rules surrounding the investigation.
“We are making sure that the process of the ethics committee and the ethics of the House is upheld to the highest standard,” she said. “If there comes a time when we have a public statement in regards to that, we will let y’all know. But right now, we still have work to do. “
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Tuesday’s hearing came just days after Pearson tried to attend a closed-door hearing of the committee last week. Kelly refused, telling Pearson that “you’ll have your day before this committee.”
After last week’s hearing, Kelly told reporters that the committee “denounces any efforts by any other parties to engage in political theatrics or disclose confidential information deemed pertinent to our investigations.” She declined to clarify whether she was talking about Pearson.
The ethics committee is scheduled to meet again on Wednesday before lawmakers leave Jefferson City for a scheduled spring break next week. Plocher has in recent weeks grown defensive with reporters, shutting down two press conferences.
He hasn’t held a conference with reporters in the Capitol since last month when, on the morning after the mass shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl victory rally, he abruptly ended a press conference after being asked about gun laws.
Beyond controversies over travel reimbursements, Plocher faces scrutiny from the House Ethics Committee over his decision last year to fire his previous chief of staff, Kenny Ross, who may have been a whistleblower, a source familiar with the inquiry previously told The Star.
The committee could also be examining alleged threats Plocher made against House Chief Clerk Dana Miller related to Plocher’s push for the House to issue an expensive contract to an outside company to manage constituent information.
Miller wrote about Plocher’s push for the contract in a September email to a Republican lawmaker. In the email, obtained through a public records request, Miller mentioned “threats made by Speaker Plocher concerning my future employment.” She wrote that Plocher made a statement to her “connecting this contract with campaign activity” and expressed “growing concerns of unethical and perhaps unlawful conduct.”
Plocher faced criticism again in November when he privately announced to House Republicans that he had hired a former lawmaker with an abusive past to serve as his new chief of staff.
His new top aide, Rod Jetton, another former speaker, was charged with felony assault from a 2009 sexual encounter in which he was accused of choking a woman to the point of unconsciousness. He later pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of misdemeanor assault.
In December, the Missouri Independent reported that the House spent $60,000 in taxpayer money renovating Plocher’s office, including $29,000 on new furniture.
And The Star last month reported that Plocher was the only House lawmaker to ask for exemptions to House policies on travel expenses over the past three years, including a request for an exemption to a policy that requires lawmakers to fly coach.
The ethics probe, which began last fall, appears to be intensifying recently as the committee met two times last week behind closed doors.
This story was originally published March 12, 2024 at 7:46 PM.
