Missouri House Speaker Calls for Mandatory Sexual Harassment Training for Legislature October 23, 2015

AP) – Missouri’s House speaker on Friday called for mandatory annual sexual-harassment training for members and staff after a state senator and the former speaker resigned amid allegations they harassed interns and exchanged sexual texts with them.
GOP Speaker Todd Richardson also wants to ban romantic relationships between House members, staff and interns. He recommends requiring an outside investigation for any sexual harassment complaints involving House members, and is proposing additional oversight for intern programs.
“These proposed policy changes are not a cure-all,” Richardson said in a statement, “but they do take significant, substantive steps toward improving the work environment in the Capitol so that interns, staff and members can have a workplace where they are treated with respect and free from harassment.”
Richardson has said review of current House policies would be a top priority since colleagues picked him to succeed Republican former House Speaker John Diehl of Town and Country, who resigned on the last day of the legislative session in May after admitting to exchanging sexually suggestive text messages with a Capitol intern.
Former Sen. Paul LeVota, an Independence Democrat, resigned months later. One intern had accused him of sexual harassment, and the July release of a Senate investigation into that intern’s complaint led another intern to come forward and claim LeVota made unwanted sexual advances toward her in 2010.
LeVota has denied the allegations

Diehl Has Left Law Firm October 5, 2015

(AP) – Former Missouri House Speaker John Diehl has left his job at a suburban St. Louis law firm months after admitting to exchanging sexually charged text messages with a Capitol intern and resigning from public office.
Husch Blackwell Office Managing Partner Bob Tomaso confirmed Monday that Diehl resigned from the firm Oct. 1.
Diehl did not immediately return an Associated Press request for comment Monday.
Diehl resigned as speaker and his elected job as a Republican representative from suburban St. Louis in May on the last day of the legislative session. His resignation came after he acknowledged exchanging sexually suggestive text messages with a college intern.
Tomaso declined to comment further on Diehl’s departure from the law firm

Update on Speaker John Diehl Sexting Story May 13, 2015

Missouri House Speaker John Diehl issued an apology Wednesday afternoon after being named in a sexting scandal with a former state capitol college intern.
Dielh says he takes “full responsibility” for his actions.
His state goes on the say he regrets “this woman has been dragged into this situation”. The Speaker adds,” The buck stops here. I ask for forgiveness”
Diehl had to issue the apology after the Kansas City Star broke this story today:
Text messages obtained by The Star reveal a sexually charged relationship between House Speaker John Diehl and a college freshman in a Missouri Capitol internship program that shut down abruptly last month.

The conversations unveil a flirty rapport and suggest an intimacy between arguably the state’s most influential lawmaker and a young woman taking some pleasure in a secret association.

The texts show occasional efforts by Diehl and the intern to meet in person. They range from mundane chatter, about boring meetings and dreading speeches, to the more sexually suggestive.
. The intern, who has hired an attorney specializing in employment matters, told The Star that the text messages were not real. Meantime, she has told confidants that she had an ongoing relationship with Diehl.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/news/government-politics/article20822424.html#storylink=cpy

Diehl Kills Committee Road Trips January 28, 2015

(AP) – The Missouri House is putting an end to committee meetings at country clubs and restaurants.

House Speaker John Diehl said Wednesday that, effective immediately, all House committee meetings will be held at the Capitol.

That decision comes a day after the House Telecommunications Committee held a meeting at the Jefferson City Country Club, where lawmakers heard a presentation and ate a meal provided by the Missouri Telecommunications Industry Association.

A similar meeting of the House Utility Infrastructure Committee was scheduled for Wednesday evening at the country club.

But Diehl, a Republican, said that meeting would instead be held at the Capitol, without a lobbyist-supplied meal.

Missouri Lawmakers, the ” Famous 15″, Invited to Post-Veto Session Pow-Wow September 19, 2013

The 15 Missouri Republicans who bucked House Speaker Tim Jones, voting to sustain Governor Jay Nixon’s veto of the tax cut bill, House Bill 253, have been been invited to a meeting Friday, according to the Missouri Times.
The website says Rep Lynn Morris of Nixa addressed the invitation to the ‘Famous 15’. It says the meeting will be co-hosted by Republic State Rep. Jeff Messenger.Both are Republicans.
Republican efforts to override Nixon’s veto of the GOP’s legislative center piece came up short last week. The measure to override. Drew fewer votes in the Republican-dominated House than when the bill was first passed in the Legislature this spring.
House Speaker John Diehl, Missouri GOP Executive Director Shane Schoeller and Grow Missouri Treasurer Aaron Willard have also been invited.
The intent of the meeting is to “share ideas on how to handle this situation,” according to Morris based on an e-mail obtained by the Missouri Times.
Earlier, another Republican who voted to sustain the veto, Kirksville Republican Nate Walker criticized House Speaker Tim Jones saying the tax cut bill and the 15 GOP votes were sacrificed by by Jones for his plans to run for Attorney General in 2016.