Dean Plocher’s last year as speaker of the Missouri House wasn’t supposed to go this way.
The Republican from Des Peres was riding high at the end of the 2023 legislative session, able to point to big wins while pinning any disappointments on continued dysfunction in the state Senate. And he had amassed an impressive campaign war chest he hoped would help carry him to the lieutenant governor’s office in the upcoming elections.
Entering the third month of the 2024 session, things couldn’t get much worse.
Plocher has been accused over the last few months of, among other things, pushing for the House to enter into a contract with a private company outside the normal bidding process; threatening retaliation against legislative staff who pushed back on that contract; improperly firing a potential whistleblower; and filing false expense reports for travel already paid for by his campaign.
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The allegations sparked a formal investigation by the House Ethics Committee, which hired an outside attorney to lead the inquiry. He’s also faced calls for his resignation by several members of the GOP supermajority.
Missouri Republicans call for investigation of Dean Plocher, raise idea of resignation
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. Nearly every week a new story about him seems to emerge, and nearly every press conference he convenes of late ends with him storming out.
Yet Plocher remains indignant, denying any wrongdoing and vowing to remain speaker.
“I clearly have no intention to resign,” he told reporters earlier this month.
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But as the ethics probe drags on — the committee’s work is considered confidential until a final report is issued — it casts a foreboding shadow over the session and colors the perception of Plocher’s every move.
“It’s definitely a dark cloud that’s overhanging everything that we do here,” said House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, a Springfield Democrat.
Scrutiny and suspicion
The ethics investigation continues behind the scenes, but its day-to-day impact is playing out in more subtle ways.
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Plocher’s decision to wait more than a month to refer to a committee any bills filed by two Republicans who called for him to step down a speaker drew accusations that he was using his office to retaliate against critics.
State Rep. Mazzie Christensen, a Republican from Bethany, previously told The Independent that she was “absolutely being punished” for her public criticism of Plocher.
Questions also swirled after Plocher created a new committee to review House rules and policy, with some fearing it was an attempt by the speaker to give himself more authority over legislative staff.
Those concerns were fueled, in part, by public statements he and his surrogates made trying to pin the blame for his woes on disgruntled staff working against him and the earlier allegations of retaliating against House employees.
The fact that the committee meets in the only House hearing room without live streaming capabilities did little to soothe these concerns.
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But state Rep. Paula Brown, a Democrat from Hazelwood who Plocher appointed co-chair of the policy review committee, said the speaker didn’t even talk to her about the committee before she found out she was helping lead it and has provided no direction for how the committee should work or where it should focus.
In its handful of meetings this year, the policy review committee spent much of its time on things like ambiguity in House rules and discussing possible changes to clear up questions about things like employee leave and the chamber’s discrimination policies.
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Brown, who also serves on the House Ethics Committee, insists there is no cause for concern.
“I don’t anticipate major changes. A lot of this will be clean up,” Brown told The Independent late last month, noting that the panel can only make suggestions that would still have to be approved by the House Administration and Accounts Committee.
The suspicion surrounding Plocher occasionally even rubs off on others.
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For example, following the revelations about Plocher’s false expense reports, Republican state Sen. Andrew Koenig publicly demanded the speaker “resign immediately” because he “violated the same campaign finance rule on nine different occasions and misused taxpayer funds.”
Last week, Koenig seemed to change his tune, posting on social media that he appreciated the way Plocher “addressed the accounting error” and that he was “impressed with how Dean has moved on toward leading the House on important legislation.”
The post drew accusations that Koenig was trying to curry favor with Plocher to avoid having his bills tied up or killed in the House by the speaker’s office.
Koenig said Monday that’s not the case at all.
Plocher wanted him to issue a full retraction of his statement, Koenig said, but his social media post was as far as he was willing to go. He cut no deals with the speaker, he said, but does think at this point it’s best to withhold judgment until the ethics committee releases its report.
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“It’s time to move on,” Koenig said.
Swirling scandals
Plocher’s troubles spilled out into the public in September, when he was accused of engaging in “unethical and perhaps unlawful conduct” as part of a months-long push to get the House to award an $800,000 contract to a private company to manage constituent information.
A month later, The Independent reported Plocher had on numerous occasions over the last five years illegally sought taxpayer reimbursement from the legislature for airfare, hotels and other travel costs already paid for by his campaign.
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As those scandals swirled, Plocher fired his chief of staff. According to the Kansas City Star, that got the attention of the House Ethics Committee, which began looking into whether the staffer was protected as a whistleblower when he was fired.
Plocher even garnered attention from federal law enforcement, with the FBI attending the September legislative hearing where the constituent management contract was discussed and voted down. The FBI, which investigates public corruption, also conducted several interviews about Plocher.
Since the ethics committee began its probe, Plocher has continued facing scrutiny.
In December, The Independent reported Plocher spent $60,000 in taxpayer money to renovate his Capitol office, including converting another lawmaker’s office into a makeshift liquor cabinet Plocher referred to as his “butler’s pantry.”
The Kansas City Star reported earlier this month that Plocher was the only legislator in the past three years to be granted exemptions from House travel policies, allowing him to spend more than allowed to upgrade a flight to Utah and get reimbursed for a flight to a conference in Hawaii.
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And last week, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that the annual payroll for the speaker’s office ballooned more than $250,000 since Plocher took over.
The mayors of the four largest cities in Missouri, signed a letter addressed to governor-elect Mike Kehoe, asking him to take a concrete step to protect minors against the dangers of firearms.
COLUMBIA — The mayors of the four largest cities in Missouri signed a letter addressed to Gov.-elect Mike Kehoe asking him to take a concrete step to protect minors against the dangers of firearms.
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Kehoe won’t be sworn in until Jan. 13, 2025, but leaders from around the state are already speaking out about what could change in their communities.
The letter, dated Nov. 15, was signed by Springfield Mayor Ken McClure, with co-signatures from Columbia Mayor Barbara Buffaloe, Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas and St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones.
Buffaloe told KOMU 8 that she wants her signature to let “the governor-elect know the mayors of the four largest cities are ready to collaborate on some of his public safety initiatives.”
The current Missouri constitution does not set a minimum age to possess a firearm, and Buffaloe said she thinks in this case, Missouri’s law should match the federal law.
One advocacy group told KOMU 8 that it has made its mission to end gun violence. Kristin Bowen, a Columbia-based volunteer of Mom’s Demand Action, said she feels personally drawn to the issue because of her kids.
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“It’s personal for me,” Bowen said. “Our kids have been trained since kindergarten on how to handle themselves in an active shooter situation, it makes me angry that we put so much on our teachers and our kids and our schools to protect our kids.”
From 2023 to 2024, both victims and offenders of firearm related crimes from the ages of 10 to 17 years old increased, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol.
The number of victims increased from 37 to 51, and the number of offenders increased from 44 to 54.
Bowen said her organization’s message gets lost at times, and is labeled with an “anti-gun” position. To her, Mom’s Demand Action is actually pro-gun ownership.
“We support the second amendment and the right for private citizens to keep and bear arms,” Bowen said. “It’s a misconception that we oppose the second amendment, that I think is a distraction from the real issue.”
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Bowen wants to see real solutions and progress, and hopes that with a new administration, this issue will be less politicized.
“I wish that we could at this moment — where we’ve got new administrations coming in to office — step away from this as a political issue,” Bowen said. “And take seriously what works.”
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey announced his office will file a lawsuit against Jackson County over a gun ordinance recently passed by the county’s legislature.
The ordinance, introduced by Jackson County Legislator Manny Abarca, prevents 18- to 21-year-olds from buying pistols or semiautomatic rifles.
“I will be filing suit against Jackson County for their illegal attempt to violate Missourians’ right to keep and bear arms,” Bailey posted on his X (formerly Twitter) account.
Bailey’s office also ordered the county to preserve all records and communications from the legislature related to the measure.
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The ordinance was opposed and even vetoed by County Executive Frank White, Jr., who warned the legislature it could open the county to legal battles like the one Bailey threatened.
Still, the legislature voted to overturn his White’s veto, a move he called “disappointing.”
White released a statement on Bailey’s intent to sue the county, saying he wasn’t surprised.
“This announcement comes as no surprise. From the start, I made it clear that this ordinance violated Missouri law,” White said in part in a statement. “While I strongly disagree with the state’s preemption of local gun regulations — because I believe communities should have the ability to protect themselves—ignoring the law doesn’t lead to progress. It leads to predictable legal challenges and wasted resources, and unfortunately, this ordinance will do more harm to gun safety advocacy than doing nothing at all.”
On Tuesday, White said his office was receiving concerns about the ordinance and called on the legislature to amend the measure to add protections for young hunters at a Wednesday meeting.
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Abarca and other legislators subsequently skipped the meeting to protest an ongoing disagreement on how to allocate over $70 million in ARPA funding.
The not-for-profit group originally set up to pay for Gov. Mike Parson’s 2021 inauguration gave $150,000 this week to the political action committee that helped get him elected.
Parson is leaving office due to term limits and has said repeatedly that he does not intend to be a candidate for public office again.
The PAC, Uniting Missouri, received the donation on Monday from Moving Missouri Forward Inc., which also paid the expenses to write and publish a biography of Parson called “No Turnin’ Back” that the governor has promoted extensively since its publication in February.
The origin of the $150,000 is unclear, since Moving Missouri Forward is not required to disclose its donors. But none of the money donated Monday was generated by sales of the Parson book, attorney Marc Ellinger said in an interview with The Independent. A different not-for-profit called Moving Missouri Forward Foundation receives all proceeds from book sales, he said, and is headed by First Lady Teresa Parson as president and Claudia Kehoe, wife Gov.-elect Mike Kehoe, as vice president.
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“It paid for the book and contributed the entire cost of it and everything to the foundation as a charitable contribution, so that the foundation would have an ability to raise money through the book,” Ellinger said.
Ellinger is the registered agent for both Moving Missouri Forward Inc. and Moving Missouri Forward Foundation.
Uniting Missouri PAC had about $93,000 on hand at the end of October. Reports filed with the Missouri Ethics Commission show it raised about $1.3 million since the start of 2023 and spent about $775,000 this year helping two officeholders Parson appointed, Kehoe and Attorney General Andrew Bailey, win hotly contested Republican primaries.
Uniting Missouri has also spent about $120,000 for Parson’s trips to watch the Kansas City Chiefs win the two most recent Super Bowls.
Tom Burcham — a former Republican state lawmaker from Farmington with close ties to Parson’s longtime friend and fundraiser, lobbyist Steve Tilley — is in charge of Uniting Missouri. It is unclear why the PAC needs to keep raising money to support a candidate who is no longer running for public office, and Burcham did not respond to a request for comment.
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Burcham is also the registered agent for a not-for-profit created in September called 57 Foundation Inc., in reference to Parson’s position as the 57th governor of the state. The nonprofit held a fundraiser Nov. 14 in Kansas City where donors paid as much as $10,000 for a table and pre-event reception with the Parsons.
The purpose of 57 Foundation, according to its incorporation papers, includes “providing essential resources and support to needful and vulnerable Missourians who cannot adequately help themselves. The foundation’s activities are inspired by and aligned with the legacy of public service and contributions of Missouri’s 57th Governor, Michael L. Parson.”
The Moving Missouri Forward Inc. donation to Uniting Missouri is roughly equal to the remaining funds raised on behalf of Parson, Ellinger said.
It will now transition to become a vehicle for funding Kehoe’s inauguration, he said.
Soon after Parson’s 2021 inauguration, Moving Missouri Forward Inc. released a list of donors who contributed $500 or more to the $369,115 raised for the festivities. The list did not include the specific amounts donated.
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As a not-for-profit 501(c)(4) entity, it is not required to reveal its donors. It is required to file a statement of revenues and expenses annually with the IRS. The most recent report, filed in November 2023 and covering 2022, shows $3,000 in contributions in 2022 and $40,563 in cash on hand at the end of the year.
The filing also showed a $25,000 contribution to the Moving Missouri Forward Foundation. The foundation is a 501(c)(3) entity and contributions are tax deductible.
The purpose of the Moving Missouri Forward Foundation, according to its creation filing, is to “aid, assist, or help Missouri’s children, including but not limited to Jobs for America’s Graduates-Missouri and children with autism and special needs.”
Mike and Teresa Parson have been co-chairs of Jobs for America’s Graduates-Missouri since 2016, when he was elected lieutenant governor.
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