JEFFERSON CITY, Missouri – A panel of lawmakers on Monday dismissed an ethics complaint against House Speaker Dean Plocher, breaking with a Republican who argued that Plocher used his power as House leader to block an investigation.
Members voted 7-2 to dismiss charges against Plocher for misusing taxpayer dollars, using his influence to promote an expensive contract with a company with ties to his employer and retaliating against employees who raised complaints. One Democrat voted present.
“From the beginning of this investigation, I have maintained my innocence,” Plocher told reporters after the hearing. “The Ethics Committee finally came to the same conclusion I presented to everyone in November, and they vindicated me.”
Plocher is running for Missouri’s Republican secretary of state.
Republican Ethics Committee Chairwoman Hannah Kelly, appointed to the position by Plocher, sought to dismiss the case “due to the committee’s inability to close the investigation as a direct result of the defendant’s obstruction of the proceedings and intimidation of witnesses.”
“The President’s obstruction of the ethics investigation, along with his dishonesty and intimidation tactics, should concern every member of the House,” Kelly said in a statement after the vote. “The attempt to manipulate and cover up an ethics investigation reveals a troubling disregard for accountability and the rule of law.”
Other committee members, led by Republican Rep. John Black, voted to withdraw Kelly’s addendum about alleged obstruction of the official report. Black declined to comment to reporters about his decision.
Questioned by reporters on Monday, Plocher said he had “fully cooperated” with the investigation.
“I vehemently deny that I obstructed anything,” Plocher said.
Another Republican lawmaker in October filed a broad ethics complaint against Plocher, alleging that he improperly accepted taxpayer dollars as reimbursements for business trips he had already paid for with his campaign financing.
Plocher admitted to being wrongfully reimbursed for a business class flight to Hawaii and other work travel expenses, and records show he reimbursed the Chamber.
Plocher also faced accusations that he used his influence as House speaker to pressure the House to hire a company linked to the law firm where he worked, and that he retaliated against employees who raised concerns about the proposal.
Members of the Ethics Committee voted on April 15 against recommending that the House send a letter to Plocher denouncing his conduct and directing him to hire an accountant.
Since then, Plocher’s lawyers have pressured the Ethics Committee to dismiss the case against him.
In an unusual move that appears to violate the House’s self-imposed ethics rules, Republican Speaker Pro Tem Mike Henderson tried to force the committee to meet last week by scheduling an ethics hearing.
Kelly canceled the hearing but called a meeting for Monday amid mounting pressure.
Only Kelly and Democratic Vice President Robert Sauls voted against dismissing the case.
“I am shocked by what I witnessed today when some of my colleagues on the House Ethics Committee chose to turn a blind eye to the obstruction, intimidation and retaliation we uncovered during our investigation,” Kelly said in a statement.
The commission’s draft report released earlier this month described the speaker’s attorney’s refusal to speak to an independent investigator, Plocher’s reluctance to sign subpoenas for the investigation and his refusal to approve payment to the independent investigator.
Plocher later refused, allowing the interim speaker to sign the subpoenas.
In a report to the committee, the independent investigator wrote that she had never encountered “more reluctant witnesses in any investigation in my career.”
“The level of fear expressed by several potential witnesses is a frightening factor in the conclusion of this investigation,” investigator Beth Boggs wrote on March 2.
On Monday, Kelly attempted to read a letter she said she received from someone documenting retaliation for participating in the ethics investigation, but was silenced by an 8-2 vote.
