‘Trying to find something.’ MO House Republican questions ethics probe of Speaker Plocher
The top Missouri House Republican overseeing internal spending in the chamber on Wednesday suggested an ethics investigation into the House speaker may be politically motivated, a day after both officials testified behind closed doors.
Rep. Dale Wright, a Farmington Republican who chairs the House Administration and Accounts Committee, met privately with the House Ethics Committee on Tuesday night as the panel of five Republicans and five Democrats investigated a complaint connected to Speaker Dean Plocher, a St. Louis-area Republican. Plocher met with the committee shortly before Wright.
“I think they are trying to find something,” Wright told The Star on Wednesday, referring to the Ethics Committee. Asked if he was alleging the investigation was politically motivated, Wright said, “I think we’re getting there.”
He didn’t elaborate on his comment, but referenced the fact that lawmakers are currently in “campaign season” this year.
The ethics probe centers on Plocher, who faces a slew of controversies as he mounts a campaign for lieutenant governor, but its exact focus remains unclear.
Plocher refused to comment to reporters as he left Tuesday’s hearing and quickly boarded an elevator in the Missouri Capitol. The committee held another closed-door hearing Wednesday evening during which House Chief Clerk Dana Miller testified for several hours. Miller previously questioned Plocher’s ethics in an email to Wright in September.
The committee has released relatively little information about its months-long investigation because of confidentiality rules. But the probe comes as Plocher faces several scandals, including revelations he was reimbursed by the House 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 unsuccessful push for an expensive information technology contract.
Wright’s closed-door testimony could be a sign the Ethics Committee is probing the push for the contract and the alleged threats against the House staffer. The Administration and Accounts Committee, led by Wright, voted against the proposed contract last fall, and he received the email from Miller that raised questions about the effort.
In the September email to Wright, 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.”
Wright said that Miller had indicated to him that Plocher had said something that she felt “crossed the line.” However, he appeared to cast doubt on the allegations.
“I haven’t seen anything…where anybody was harmed in any way,” he said.
The proposed contract concerned a constituent management service called Fireside, a subsidiary of Washington, D.C.-based FiscalNote. The company was previously represented by the powerful lobbying firm Bardgett and Associates, which represents a lengthy list of high profile clients including Anheuser-Busch, Evergy, the Jackson County Sports Complex Authority and the St. Louis Cardinals.
Some House lawmakers were offered free demos of the software. And emails obtained through a public records request show that several lawmakers sent similar letters in support of a new consistent management software, which raised alarm from some House staff members including Miller.
Miller and other House staff pushed back against the effort, arguing that the House had an in-house constituent management service and the new program would be redundant and too expensive. The Administration and Accounts Committee ultimately decided in September to stick with the current software.
The effort to get the constituent management contract caused concern for some in the Missouri Capitol, including Rep. Scott Cupps, a Shell Knob Republican and member of the accounts committee.
“It felt like it was something that was trying to be pushed through just to award a contract as a favor,” Cupps said this week. “It didn’t feel like it was something that was actually necessary.”
Rep. Dan Houx, a Warrensburg Republican whose office sent a letter in support of a new constituent management service on July 17, said on Wednesday that he never met with anybody with the Fireside service and never saw a demo of the program. He said he didn’t remember whether he spoke with the Bardgett lobbying firm about the program.
Cupps, the accounts committee member, said other lawmakers had called him and sent emails to other members of the accounts committee pushing the contract. But he said he wants to know whether those requests were made on behalf of Plocher’s office.
“Clearly, they were asked to do that. I mean, that became very evident very quickly,” he said. “How was that ask made? Who was that ask made through? Was it insinuated at all, even if it was a contract lobbyist, was it insinuated at all, when those reps were contacted, ‘Hey, the speaker’s office wants this so if you want to stay in good graces with the speaker’s office, you need to get on board with it?’”
Cupps said he “would love nothing more” than for the ethics committee to interview the lawmakers who pushed the contract.
Public records show Rep. Travis Wilson, a St. Charles Republican, sent a letter in favor of looking at a potential new constituent management system in early August. Wilson said on Wednesday that he sent the letter on behalf of someone who lived in his district.
“If I remember this correctly, one of my very own constituents … brought this to me and asked me to consider it,” Wilson said.
Wilson said he wrote a letter to Miller asking if the House has considered other constituent management options. He said he couldn’t speak to letters sent by other lawmakers.
This story was originally published March 13, 2024 at 4:59 PM.
