JEFFERSON CITY — The House Ethics Committee has rejected a complaint filed by a Democratic lawmaker against House Speaker Rob Vescovo.
In a unanimous decision Wednesday, the 10-member ethics panel dismissed Rep. Wiley Price’s complaint, which alleged Vescovo, a term-limited Republican from Arnold, committed perjury when he said he didn’t owe taxes to the state of Missouri during his 2016 campaign.
The ethics committee said Price, of ºüÀêÊÓƵ, didn’t attach any “supporting documentation†to his claim, concluded it was “unsubstantiated†and dismissed it.
The committee said it reviewed documents in a 2016 court case filed by Vescovo’s Democratic opponent, in which a Jefferson County judge “found all issues in favor†of Vescovo.
The ethics panel’s report also said Price leaked the complaint to the media when House ethics complaints are supposed to remain confidential.
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“Given that the confidentiality of this proceeding has been breached by a leak of the complaint to the media, it is also appropriate that this report be made public and be published in the House journal,†the report said.
“It is apparent that Representative Price wants this committee to review a six-year-old final judgment of a circuit court judge, after an evidentiary trial on the merits, which was not appealed by the opposing party, without any further relevant evidence to consider,†. “This committee declines to do so.â€
The ethics committee has investigated Price in the past.
Following an ethics committee probe, his colleagues censured him in early 2021 as he narrowly avoided being expelled from the chamber.
The censure followed a dispute involving Price, his former legislative assistant and a Capitol intern who worked for another lawmaker.
The legislative assistant reported Price told her he had sex with the intern; Price and the intern both denied having sex. The report found Price threatened and intimidated the aide after she reported the alleged sexual encounter; relationships with legislative interns are forbidden under House rules.
The report also found Price committed perjury by denying he had “claimed an inappropriate relationship had existed†to his legislative assistant, and by denying that he had contacted the intern by phone.
Price said last year he took issue with some parts of the report but ultimately accepted being censured by his peers.
“Obviously I’m frustrated by these proceedings, but I apologize to my friends and my colleagues for even putting us in this position,†he said as his colleagues weighed his fate.
The censure ordered him to pay back more than $22,000 in costs associated with the case.
House leaders began withholding $1,000 per month, or $500 per pay period, from Price a month after he received the official rebuke.
First elected in 2018, Price is running against Del Taylor in the Aug. 2 Democratic primary for the ºüÀêÊÓƵ-based 84th House District.
Updated at 11:24 a.m. Thursday, May 12.