State Rep. Hannah Kelly, R-Mountain View, speaks during House debate in early March (Tim Bommel/Missouri House Communications). Days after ending an investigation into Missouri House Speaker Dean Plocher, the Republican who led that inquiry has recused herself from the committee as it prepares to discuss a new complaint.
According to a letter to legislative staff from House Speaker Pro Tem Mike Henderson, a member of Plocher’s leadership team, state Rep. Hannah Kelly requested she be temporarily removed from the ethics committee as it looks into a new complaint filed Wednesday.
Although the complaint itself, as well as who filed it, are confidential under House rules, Kelly’s decision to step away from the committee is an indication she may be the subject.
Kelly declined comment Thursday morning.
Plocher also appears to have recused himself, leaving Henderson to appoint state Rep. Rick Francis of Perryville as the committee’s new chair. The committee will hold a hearing about the new complaint Monday evening.
Plocher declared victory this week after the ethics committee voted to end its months-long investigation in his alleged misconduct without recommending any punishment.
Yet despite avoiding a formal reprimand, Plocher still faces questions surrounding accusations that he intentionally delayed and obstructed the investigation — including by intimidating potential witnesses.
To bolster the allegations, Kelly released an email she received in early March from the director of administration for the Missouri House detailing a series of actions by the speaker’s office over several months allegedly designed to intimidate nonpartisan legislative employees.
“In my over 21 years of state government service, I have never witnessed or even been involved in such a hostile work environment that is so horrible that I am living in fear every day of losing my job,” the March 5 email stated.
An attorney hired by the ethics committee to collect evidence in the Plocher investigation wrote to the committee that she had never encountered more unwilling witnesses “in any investigation in my career.
“The level of fear expressed by a number of the potential witnesses,” the attorney wrote, “is a daunting factor in completing this investigation.”
And on three occasions in March and April, Plocher refused to sign off on subpoena requests by the committee.
Plocher has vehemently denied any wrongdoing — including that he obstructed the investigation.
He noted that the committee admitted it could not find any evidence of wrongdoing in any of the litany of charges against him — his unsuccessful push for the House to sign an $800,000 contract with a private software company outside the normal bidding process; alleged threats of retaliation against nonpartisan legislative staff who raised red flags about that contract; purported firing a potential whistleblower; and years of false expense reports for travel already paid for by his campaign.
“I’m thankful that my family will no longer have to endure the hardships caused by these false allegations and this investigation,” Plocher said, later adding: “I adamantly deny that I obstructed anything.”
State Rep. Brian Seitz, a Branson Republican, said the entire ordeal was “much ado about nothing.”
“What was once a committee hearing became an inquisition,” he said. “It went from an inquisition to a witch hunt.”
House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, a Springfield Democrat running for governor, said she was most troubled by the allegations of staff intimidation, most notably the letter from the House director of administration, calling the situation “deeply concerning.”
Though she said she’d heard rumblings about staff mistreatment over the last few months, it was all second or third hand.
“It’s one thing to hear rumors,” Quade said. “It’s another to see an itemized list from a respected, longtime nonpartisan staff member.”
The allegations are serious enough to warrant action, Quade said. But with only two weeks left before adjournment and a long list of unfinished legislative business, she admits it’s unlikely anything happens this year. It will ultimately be up to the next leadership team that takes over in January when Plocher’s time in office is over.
“The nonpartisan staff are the skeleton of democracy. I mean, it sounds cheesy to say that, but it is true,” Quade said. “These people are all underpaid and overworked, and the leadership in the building need to recognize all that these folks give to our state as public servants.”
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