Wiley Deserves Better (Part 2: The Committee Findings)
Wiley Price has been a friend of mine. But he got messed over by the Missouri House and fined for an ethics investigation based primarily on hearsay.
In anticipation of Monday’s Ethics hearing, I’m going to dig a little bit further into what happened with the ethics complaint about Rep. Wiley Price. The current ethics proceeding is confidential,1 but it is clear that the chair for the Ethics committee under the previous ethics inquiry has recused herself from this one.
It is no secret that the Speaker of the Missouri House has been dragged through the mud over allegations in the previous inquiry that there was an obstruction into the investigation. However, to my knowledge, there was no investigation into obstruction.
But, back to the Ethics complaint about Rep. Price:
Perjury
The investigation into Rep. Price also alleged obstructions. In fact, the findings were that Rep. Price committed perjury. What, in fact, was the perjury?
That he lied about whether he and the intern had made calls and texts to each other (phone records proved that he had).
That he lied about whether he slept with a student intern. He and the intern claimed there were no sexual relations; hearsay evidence was found to be more credible that there were sexual relations.
(The intern, by the way, was a graduate school student. Was not his intern. So, if relations happened, a consenting adult.)
Witness Intimidation
The investigation into Rep. Price also alleges witness intimidation and coercion. Specifically, the investigation finds that Rep. Price intimidated and coerced Witness 1 into changing her testimony. This is based on testimony from Witness 1. Rep. Price denied ever intimidating Witness 1, but stated that he had given notice to Witness 1 that she was going to be fired within 30 days, and that the story about Rep. Price and the Intern was fabricated as retaliation.
As an aside, I’ll mention that the Draft Ethics Report that was released by the Committee on Ethics in 23-01 also made allegations of retaliation. In fact, as reported, the report of the independent investigator states, “The level of fear expressed by a number of the potential witnesses is a daunting factor in completing this investigation.” However, it does not state or investigate who was doing the intimidating.
House Environment
My personal assessment, knowing the individuals involved, is that the ethics complaint may have been retaliatory, and that the report itself was almost definitely retaliatory for reasons relating to the November 2020 elections.
The allegations made for a tough beginning of session in 2021 between House Democrats and their staff, which were bolstered on social media, even before the House hearing.
We’ve got a pretty tangled web here, and I’ll dig in more soon.
Part 1: A $22,492.25 fine (and a lawsuit)
Part 3: The House Hearing
Part 4: Rudy
Stay tuned!
For ease of access, I have gathered all documents into a Google Drive folder that can be accessed here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/11_hS1R9Xahg_Gv-4wPNQnaUMEKp2NXZC?usp=sharing