(The Center Square) – After the Missouri House Ethics Committee voted to dismiss a complaint against him, Speaker Dean Plocher, R-St. Louis, said many attempted to discredit him.

“We now know that it’s the bureaucrats in the House that attempted a coup by trying to target the speaker’s office, hoping to displace and overthrow duly elected officials for control of the legislature and giving great influence to the lobbyists and special interests,” Plocher, a candidate for the GOP nomination for secretary of state, told reporters Monday night after the decision was made. “Just like Washington, D.C., Jefferson City, too, has a swamp and it’s deep.”

In a statement after the decision, Ethics Committee Chair Hannah Kelly, R-Mountain Grove, criticized members of the committee and Plocher’s cooperation during the investigation. Kelly and the committee’s vice chairman, Robert Sauls, D-Independence, were the only members on the eight-person committee to vote for approving a preliminary report on the investigation on April 15. It found no wrongdoing regarding allegations of undue influence for a public bid for a constituent management program and personnel matters. It recommended a letter of reproval for Plocher incorrectly claiming a reimbursement of $3,998, which was repaid in full.

“It is deeply concerning that a member of our leadership has knowingly obstructed a fair and transparent process to serve their own political interests and shield themselves from the consequences of their actions,” Kelly said in the statement. “I am appalled by what I witnessed today as some of my colleagues on the House Ethics Committee decided to turn a blind eye to the obstruction, intimidation and retaliation we uncovered during our investigation.”

The draft report included a letter from attorney Beth Boggs, who was hired to conduct the investigation for the committee, stating an alarming response to the inquiry.

“I have not encountered more unwilling witnesses in any investigation in my career,” Boggs wrote. “The level of fear expressed by a number of the potential witnesses is a daunting factor in completing this investigation.”

Plocher countered those claims and compared himself to former President Donald Trump, the 2024 Republican nominee for president who is the focus of several federal investigations. Plocher also said he endured the same “bureaucratic revolt” experienced by Republican Govs. Ron DeSantis in Florida and Greg Abbott in Texas.

“Every time I turn on the news I see Donald Trump and wonder how much political effort is being put into him to bring him down,” Plocher said. “And I kind of felt like that, too. I felt like there was a lot of politics at play trying to take me down and they were lies.”

Kelly, a realtor who unsuccessfully ran to become the majority floor leader in 2021, remained convinced Plocher acted inappropriately.

“I am still stunned and deeply disappointed by the repugnant behavior witnessed throughout this process,” Kelly said. “This is simply a betrayal of trust by the speaker, his staff and the lobbyists fighting so hard to keep him in power for their political gain, and I am not a member of the good ol’ boys club.”