Missouri ethics panel rejects complaint against Kelly
JEFFERSON CITY
The Missouri House Ethics Committee on Thursday unanimously dismissed an ethics complaint against the Republican lawmaker who led the probe into House Speaker Dean Plocher.
The complaint was filed last week against Rep. Hannah Kelly from Mountain Grove who was appointed by Plocher to lead the committee. She recused herself from investigating the complaint.
While the complaint’s contents remain confidential, it appeared to be connected to Kelly’s handling of the release of a draft investigative report on Plocher. It came just days after the Ethics Committee dismissed a complaint of ethical misconduct against Plocher amid a slew of scandals.
The complaint against
Plocher was rejected but Kelly has since raised serious concerns about Plocher’s alleged obstruction of the investigation. Thursday’s report dealt with Kelly’s decision for the secretive committee to vote in open session on a draft report into Plocher.
While the committee rejected the report into Plocher, the vote meant that its content became public. The draft report found that Plocher’s office blocked subpoenas issued by the committee and Kelly has alleged that witnesses felt intimidated to testify.
The committee on Thursday found that there was no evidence that Kelly was acting in bad faith when she motioned for the vote to happen in open session.
However, the committee criticized Kelly’s decision in the report, saying that other committee members should have approved the move.
“It is the committee’s conclusion that the draft report should not have been distributed in a public forum without the committee’s prior approval and that this distribution violated this committee’s procedural rules,” the report said.
The report does not recommend any disciplinary actions against Kelly but directs her “to not engage in similar conduct in the future.”