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July 29, 2024 |  By: Jason Hancock - Missouri Independent

Dean Plocher asks judge to dismiss whistleblower lawsuit alleging harassment, intimidation

dean plocher

By Jason Hancock - Missouri Independent

Missouri House Speaker Dean Plocher is asking a Cole County judge to dismiss him from a whistleblower lawsuit filed earlier this year, arguing any allegations of wrongdoing amount to “little more than internal political disputes.” 

House Chief Clerk Dana Miller filed a lawsuit in May accusing Plocher and his chief of staff, Rod Jetton, of harassment and intimidation. It stems from disputes between Miller and Plocher that emerged last year over an alleged pay-to-play scheme involving a lucrative software contract.

In a motion filed Friday with Cole Circuit Judge Cotton Walker, Plocher’s attorneys argue that the speaker is not a “public employer” that would allow him to be sued by Miller. 

The speaker “had no ability to discipline (Miller) or otherwise demote her,” Lowell Pearson, Plocher’s attorney, wrote in the motion, later noting that Miller, “simply did not suffer any type of ‘disciplinary action’ whatsoever. Indeed, she continues to work as the Chief Clerk of the House today.”

The chief clerk is a nonpartisan officer elected by the House. Miller has worked in state government for 31 years, with 23 years as a member of the House staff. She became chief clerk in 2018. She has said she plans to leave her position as clerk when her term is up in January 2025.

Pearson also argues that Miller is not a whistleblower and her case instead documents “political disagreements” with Plocher that don’t constitute the basis for a lawsuit.

Plocher, who is running for Missouri secretary of state in the Aug. 6 GOP primary, became embroiled in controversy last September when he was accused of engaging in “unethical and perhaps unlawful conduct” as part of his 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.

A complaint against Plocher was filed with the Missouri House Ethics Committee in November, kicking off a four-month investigation that ended with no formal reprimand. However, the Republican and Democratic lawmakers who led the inquiry said Plocher obstructed the committee’s work through pressure on potential witnesses and refusing to issue subpoenas.

Plocher has vehemently denied any wrongdoing. 

Miller claims in her lawsuit that problems with Plocher began before he was speaker, when she confronted him in May 2022 over several complaints about his treatment of female Republican lawmakers, including a woman who said she considered filing an ethics complaint against him.

When she raised those concerns with Plocher, Miller said he responded by saying: “stupid Republican women…they are an invasive species.”

Tensions escalated, Miller said, during Plocher’s efforts to replace the House’s constituent management contract in 2023. When Miller pushed back, she said another lawmaker working with Plocher told her the speaker had repeatedly threatened to fire her.

In the motion to dismiss, Pearson argues that any alleged threats against her job were relayed to Miller by a third party — not Plocher — and are therefore hearsay. 

The lawsuit, Pearson wrote, is simply “a political dispute between two political actors involving political questions. This court should not entertain (Miller’s) attempt to circumvent the political process through litigation and should dismiss the claim against Plocher.”

There have been no filings in the case from Jetton, who is also a named defendant, and no attorney is listed for him. Though the lawsuit was filed in May, plaintiffs have been unable to serve him with a summons to appear before the court.