Dean Plocher

The GOP chair of the Missouri House committee was thwarted in her attempt to livestream the hearing and include allegations of obstruction in a motion to dismiss the investigation of Speaker Dean Plocher.

A rejected report from the House ethics committee suggested transferring subpoena power automatically to another member of House leadership — the speaker pro tem — if the speaker or anyone on his staff are subject of an inquiry.

Because the House made changes to the legislation previously approved by the Senate, including adding language that was stripped off, it has to again get Senate approval.

Asked why Missouri House Speaker Dean Plocher didn’t recuse himself from the start, or at least when subpoena requests started showing up to his office, one of his attorneys said Plocher recused himself “when it mattered.”

The closest Plocher came to commenting on the investigation during a Sunday interview was when he, once again, declared that he felt the investigation took too long.

Missouri House Speaker Dean Plocher and his allies complained for weeks that the ethics investigation into his alleged misconduct was dragging out unnecessarily. But, it turns out the delay may have been the Speaker himself.

The report, which was voted down by the Missouri House committee, concluded the inquiry lacked direct evidence of ethical misconduct but alleged the speaker hindered the investigation’s efforts to get to the truth.

The annual state budget and a tax that funds the bulk of Missouri’s Medicaid program are two things that must pass this session.

Missouri House Speaker Dean Plocher, R-Des Peres, faced criticism last year for unsuccessfully pushing the House to purchase a software system from a private company over the objections of nonpartisan legislative staff. Meetings his office helped arrange with an Oklahoma company last month are drawing comparisons.

Leaders of a bipartisan Missouri House committee investigating Speaker Dean Plocher over allegations of misconduct said Monday that there is no timetable for when the inquiry will conclude.