• Home
  • News
    • Business
    • Crime / Courts
    • Health / Medicine
    • Legislature
    • Politics / Govt
  • Sports
    • High School Sports
    • The Bill Pollock Show
  • Contact Us
    • Reporters
  • Affiliates
    • Affiliate Support

Missourinet

Your source for Missouri News and Sports

You are here: Home / Archives for Rep. Wiley Price

For the first time in state history, Missouri House censures a member

January 13, 2021 By Alisa Nelson

The Missouri House of Representatives has voted 140-3 today in favor of censuring a member for the first time in state history. Eight lawmakers voted “present”.

State Rep. Wiley Price, D-St. Louis, is at the center of the public reprimand for allegedly having sex with an intern and trying to cover up the details – accusations he has denied. He says there were discrepancies in a report released by the bipartisan Missouri House Ethics Committee.

Rep. Wiley Price, D-St. Louis (Photo courtesy of Tim Bommel, House Communications)

The committee unanimously recommended last month to censure Price. A report was then released to the public stating that Price shared with his legislative assistant that he had sex with an intern and Price attempted to coerce his assistant into lying to an investigator as well as the committee. He reportedly threatened to fire his assistant if she did not comply and said, “where I come from, people die for doing sh** like this”.

Under oath, Price said the assistant made up the story in retaliation to losing her job, but he did not inform appropriate House staff that he gave notice to the employee.

According to the report, an investigator interviewed Price, who stated he had not called the intern on his cell phone, and that he did not have and has never had her cell phone number.

The committee subpoenaed phone records between Price and the intern between January 22 through January 27, 2020. It found seven phone calls and 26 text messages had been exchanged between them. The last phone call, on January 26, lasted 46 minutes. Details of their text conversations were not included in the report.

According to the report, Price denied four times under oath to the committee that he called or texted the intern. After being shown the subpoenaed phone records, the report says Price changed his story.

Price admitted on the House floor today that he lied to the investigator about having the intern’s phone number. Once the investigator told Price what the probe was about, he said “I probably panicked.”

“At which point, I denied everything because I wanted nothing to do with this. I know what the implications are, especially now in the current climate that we are in when somebody comes on a politician with these kinds of accusations. I knew then that it wasn’t true and so I denied everything. When the lady asked me specifically did I have her (intern’s) number, I said no. And to that, I am wrong,” says Price.

Price says he was not under oath during his deposition.

“It was just a woman asking me questions about my personal life. When I stepped in front of the committee, I told them everything. They then tried to take my deposition and compare it to what I said under oath and say that I lied in my deposition and therefore, it’s perjury. Now whether I panicked in my deposition or not, that’s either here nor there.”

Price says his phone records show the intern texted him. According to Price, he returned the text with a 107-second phone call. Then he says she called him three times that night and he let all three calls go to voicemail.

“These are in the phone records,” he says. “This is not for debate.”

Price did not mention the three other phone calls and 25 other text messages listed in the report.

Price maintains the allegations are unsubstantiated.

“Because of the implications involved with these claims brought against me, I felt that I was under attack. Based on a falsehood and the current political climate, politicians are never given the benefit of the doubt. Even more specific to me, when a white woman brings forth accusations of a black man’s sexual improprieties, historically it doesn’t work in my favor,” he says.

Price stressed his character while serving in the House over the past two years.

“I’ve always kept it above board,” he says. “I’ve always been professional in this building.”

Rep. Jered Taylor, R-Republic (Photo courtesy of Tim Bommel, House Communications)

According to Trevor Fox in House Communications, the only time the House has ever expelled a member was John Sampson of Callaway County in 1865. Rep. Jered Taylor, R-Republic, led an effort today to have Price expelled. He fought back tears as he said publicly condemning Price does not go far enough.

Taylor says Price committed perjury and charges should be pursued.

“Censure is a slap on the wrist. The representative has disgraced the honor of this great institution,” he says. “This hasn’t been about the left and the right, or Republicans and Democrats. It’s right versus wrong. It’s about holding one of our own accountable when the actions are deplorable. And whether or not you believe there was a sexual relationship with the intern – okay, maybe there wasn’t. But it was the cover up. It was everything else that happened. It was the committing a Class E felony.”

Taylor cited House policy banning inappropriate relationships with interns.

“We should all take into consideration the rules and the House policy that we adopt,” says Taylor. “If we don’t do anything, we should get rid of those rules. They mean nothing. These policies absolutely and unequivocally prohibit these type of relationship. If we merely censure the representative, we are sending a loud and resounding message that nothing has changed in this body. What message does this send to every LA (legislative assistant) in this body? What message does this send to every parent of an intern? What message does this send to every female legislator serving now and that wants to serve in the future?”

He says future victims will not come forward and report such allegations.

“Why would you? Why would you subjugate yourself to this type of public scrutiny if nothing is going to happen – if we are going to sweep it under the rug,” he asks. “In any other realm, any other environment, a person would be immediately terminated for any one of these actions. But because the perpetrator is a prestigious member of the Missouri House of Representatives, you are going to let him get away with this and not expel him. We will be giving him the opportunity to do this again and again and again. But the next time the LA is not going to come forward for fear of retaliation. The intern is not going to say anything for fear of retaliation. From what I understand, the LA still works in this building. We are creating – we are creating a hazardous work environment for that LA and for all other LA’s for that fact.”

Under the terms of the censure:

*Price must be removed from committees he serves on;

*He cannot serve in leadership or have an intern, and

*He must pay $22,500 to cover the investigation’s costs.

Copyright © 2021 · Missourinet

Filed Under: Crime / Courts, Legislature, News Tagged With: Missouri House Ethics Committee, Missouri House of Representatives, Rep. Jered Taylor, Rep. Wiley Price

Missouri House committee investigates member for allegedly having sex with intern

December 16, 2020 By Alisa Nelson

The Missouri House of Representatives launched an investigation in January after receiving a complaint about Rep. Wiley Price, D-St. Louis, allegedly having sex with an intern. The bipartisan House Ethics Committee released a report today detailing the investigation.According to the report, Price allegedly shared with his legislative assistant that he had sex with an intern and Price attempted to intimidate the individual into lying to an investigator and the Ethics Committee. Price reportedly threatened to fire his assistant if she did not comply and said “where I come from, people die for doing sh** like this”.

Rep. Wiley Price, D-St. Louis (Photo courtesy of Tim Bommel, House Communications)

Under oath, Price denied having sex with the intern. He said the assistant made up the story in retaliation to losing her job, but he did not inform appropriate House staff that he gave notice to his assistant.

The committee subpoenaed phone records between Price and the intern and found several calls and text messages had been exchanged. Details of their text conversations were not included in the report.

The Ethics Committee recommends that the full House:

*Publicly condemn Price
*Require him to pay the investigation’s fees of more than $22,000
*Ban him from having an intern for the remainder of his time in the House
*Remove Price from the committees he serves on

According to the report, Price was given until 1 p.m. today to resign. He did not meet the deadline. Instead, he faces the recommendations listed above.

House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, D-Springfield, released the following statement:

“Now that the House Ethics Committee investigation is complete, the next step will be for the full House to evaluate the evidence and determine the appropriate action. We expect that process to be conducted in a swift and fair manner when the legislature reconvenes in January,” she said.

Rep. Jered Taylor, R-Republic, issued the following statement:

“The disgusting behavior of Rep. Price that was uncovered by our bipartisan House Ethics Committee cannot be tolerated. House Minority Leader Crystal Quade must immediately denounce the behavior of Rep. Price and investigate whether any other members of her caucus had knowledge of the affair or cover-up. She should not allow Rep. Price to continue to caucus with the Democrats in the Missouri House,” he said. “It’s clear the training and policies that were put in place to prevent this type of abhorrent behavior were lost on Rep. Price. With his completely inappropriate behavior, Rep. Price failed his staff, the Missouri House of Representatives, the Missouri Democratic Party, and the constituents he was elected to serve. I call upon Minority Leader Quade to take responsibility for the actions of her caucus members and institute changes to ensure this doesn’t happen again. Rhetoric is meaningless without action. It’s time for Minority Leader Quade to act.”

During a COVID-19 briefing today, Gov. Mike Parson was asked about the investigation. He told reporters he didn’t know anything about the report and did not comment.

Price was at the Missouri Capitol Monday and participated at a hearing about a controversial resolution involving the presidential election results.

Copyright © 2020 · Missourinet

Filed Under: Legislature, News Tagged With: Missouri House Ethics Committee, Missouri House of Representatives, Rep. Crystal Quade, Rep. Wiley Price, State Rep. Jered Taylor



Tweets by Missourinet

Sports

Second half surge pushes Mizzou past A&M

Dru Smith … [Read More...]

Blues pounded by Avs 8-0

The … [Read More...]

Nationally ranked basketball teams postpone next week’s matchup

The third … [Read More...]

Hunt on coming back to KC and Mizzou basketball returns after a pause (PODCAST)

Thanks for … [Read More...]

Mizzou women get first SEC win in return to the court after COVID-19 layoff

After a … [Read More...]

More Sports

Tweets by missourisports

Archives

Opinion/Editorials

TwitterFacebook

Copyright © 2021 · Learfield News & Ag, LLC