Missouri House Ethics Committee

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.

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.

Plocher’s hold on his speakership remains tenuous and his campaign for lieutenant governor is now considered a longshot. His top legislative staff are gone, either fired or resigned in the wake of the scandals. But the impact of the ethics probe is playing out in more subtle ways in the Missouri House.

Missouri House Speaker Dean Plocher bristled this week at questions about a recently fired legislative staffer and an ongoing ethics investigation he’s facing, cutting off a press conference he convened after only four minutes.

Jonathan Ratliff, executive director of the House Republican Campaign Committee, will become ‘senior consultant’ after 14 years leading election efforts.

He was arguably the most powerful politician in Missouri until he faced allegations of corruption and sexual assault. Now it’s Rod Jetton’s job to help another speaker navigate accusations of misconduct.