Missouri House Speaker accused of ‘unlawful’ conduct in push for contract, drawing FBI scrutiny

Missouri House Speaker Dean Plocher denies accusations uncovered in public records that he threatened staff when pressing for the legislature to award a lucrative contract to a private company.
The top Republican in the Missouri House is facing allegations he threatened to terminate the employment of a nonpartisan legislative staffer who resisted his monthslong push to hire a private company to manage constituent information.

House Speaker Dean Plocher vehemently denies the accusations, which were uncovered through public records obtained by The Independent under Missouri’s Sunshine Law.

But Dana Miller, chief clerk of the House since 2018 and a chamber staff member since 2001, wrote in an email to a GOP lawmaker last week about “threats made by Speaker Plocher concerning my future employment.”

She wrote that Plocher made statements to her “connecting this contract with campaign activity” — suggesting the speaker’s motivation was his 2024 campaign for lieutenant governor — and expressed that she had “growing concerns of unethical and perhaps unlawful conduct.”