Rod Jetton

“Clearly, surely, they’ve got something credible that makes them think that there might have been something wrong go on there.”

Rod Jetton on the federal investigation of his handling of a 2005 anti-adult entertainment bill, as quoted in The Star

KMBC's Michael Mahoney:

Jefferson City lobbyist Travis Brown testified for about [40] minutes today before a federal grand jury investigating how the Missouri Legislature does business, according to Brown’s attorney Steve Hill.

Hill says Brown talked to grand jury for “about 40 minutes”. Brown made no comment to reporters after his testimony and left [the] Federal Courthouse quickly, escorted by his lawyer.

Brown is believed to have been the lobbyists for a group of adult business in 2006.

Brown has a number of high-profile lobbying clients in Jefferson City, including conservative financier Rex Sinquefield.  Brown is also a business partner with House Majority Leader Steve Tilley (R-Perryville). The pair own in Mid Missouri Aviation LLC, a "Columbia-based company that owns a six-seat turboprop plane." 

The Associated Press:

U.S. attorneys are pursuing allegations of bribery, conspiracy and mail fraud as part of an investigation into former Missouri House Speaker Rod Jetton, according to court documents received by a former lawmaker summoned before the grand jury Tuesday.

Former Republican Rep. Bob Johnson, of Lee's Summit, said U.S. attorneys quizzed him about whether he knew of a $35,000 political contribution by the adult entertainment industry, and whether that money played a role in Jetton's decision to assign a 2005 bill regulating sexually oriented businesses to a committee Johnson led.

The same article notes that Jackson County Circuit Judge David Byrn and Chris Benjamin spoke to the grand jury in February. 

Bryrn was treasurer of the Committee for Honest Campaigns PAC that received the $35,000 from the People of Private Enterprise PAC in April 2005. The Star reported in January that Rep. Doug Ervin (R-Kearney) said Don Lograsso "told him that the Committee for Honest Campaigns was organized specifically to discreetly funnel donations that could be politically damaging to fellow Republican candidates."

The Associated Press: "The assault case against former Missouri House Speaker Rod Jetton will move forward after a judge found probable cause following testimony from the alleged victim."

Rep. Brian Nieves (R-Washington) doesn't like his political rivals talking about his close relationship with disgraced former Speaker Rod Jetton. In his mind, that relationship is "ancient history."

Nieves said he “broke all professional association” with Jetton immediately after the former speaker’s arrest. The business relationship “is ancient history,” Nieves said.

Jetton was arrested December 8, a mere 72 days ago, and Nieves did not sever his " professional association” with Jetton until after the arrest. 

Nieves' name was listed as a client on Jetton's website at the time of the arrest, and Nieves' campaign committee reported paying Jetton thousands of dollars consulting fees as recently as September 2009. 

How Peter Kinder had no problem with Rod Jetton's political consultation business until it was politically expedient and financially beneficial to a Kinder insider

When Kinder said Rod Jetton
Was wrong to charge a fee
As a political consultant
He sounded hollow to me

"I got an application in to drive a garbage truck, and I got turned down to sell appliances..I've got no reputation. I have no money. I've got nothing."

~ Former Speaker Rod Jetton, speaking with the Post-Dispatch's Tony Messenger about life after politics

AP: 

Grand jurors in Kansas City ended a 2-day session Wednesday without any indictments in a pay-for-play probe involving former House Speaker Rod Jetton and legislation regulating the adult entertainment industry. The grand jury is scheduled to meet again March 9.

The Post-Dispatch's Tony Messenger spoke with former Speaker Rod Jetton about the ongoing federal investigation into his actions regarding a 2005 anti-strip club bill.  Jetton says he is "befuddled" as to why the FBI, his fellow Republicans and the public have had a hard time believing his denials that there was any connection between the strip club money and his official actions.

The Associated Press [updated]: 

Republican Sen. Matt Bartle, of Lee's Summit, testified for a little less than an hour Tuesday at the federal courthouse in Kansas City. Bartle says he is not a target of the probe.

The senator told reporters that he believes there is a link between the demise of his 2005 legislation, which never made it to the House floor, and a $35,000 contribution by the adult entertainment industry to a political committee with connections to an adviser for former House Speaker Rod Jetton.

Michael Mahoney has more: 

Bartle would not be specific about his testimony. But he did tell reporters of 2005 anti porn bill he sponsored and how it was killed.

Charles Evans Whittaker Courthouse
in Kansas City

The Star's Steve Kraske:

The water is always cloudy, too, when it comes to federal probes. G-Men don’t talk to us media types.

But given the stakes, and being an inquisitive sort, you press on and talk to people who may or may not have been interviewed by FBI agents. And you eventually come to a conclusion:

Things are about to get very, very interesting.

We know this: The FBI has been extremely active. At least a handful of lawmakers in the state Capitol began talking to agents about a year ago in connection with “pay to play,” or the allegation of special interests forking over campaign contributions in exchange for action on legislation they care about.

Here's another interesting tidbit from the EMissourian.com article flagged this morning about the now-very-public conflict between Sen. John Griesheimer (R-Washington) and State Rep. Brian Nieves (R-Union).  Remembering their meeting last summer, Griesheimer says he asked Nieves to ask former Speaker Rod Jetton to apologize for the controversial village law legislation passed in 2007.

As far as our conversations about Jetton, I wanted him to ask Jetton to publicly apologize for his role in the Village Law.

KC Star editorial page columnist Barb Shelly:

[Rod] Jetton's thumbprints will never be removed from House business as long as his team remains in charge. Steve Tilley of Perryville, the majority floor leader; and Bryan Pratt, the speaker pro tem, were Jetton's lieutenants. Pratt is running for the Missouri Senate, but Tilley is in line to become House Speaker.

It's difficult to see how the House can repair the damage that Jetton inflicted on its image and good government unless the membership votes in new leadership.

The Star has the fascinating story of what happened when Rep. Doug Ervin (R-Kearney) and former Rep. Brian Baker (R-Belton) asked pointed questions about the receipt of strip club contributions by a campaign committee with strong ties to (former?) House Counsel Don Lograsso, and the prompt actions by former Speaker Rod Jetton to make sure anti-strip club legislation went nowhere.

According to Erving and Baker, Jetton blackballed them:

Ervin and Baker said they initially raised questions about the contribution with Jetton and Lograsso in 2005, shortly after the strip club bill was killed in committee.

“They obviously knew who that (campaign) committee represented,” Baker said.

But when they approached Lograsso, Ervin said he dismissed their concerns. Ervin said Lograsso also told him that the Committee for Honest Campaigns was organized specifically to discreetly funnel donations that could be politically damaging to fellow Republican candidates...

Ervin and Baker said that, following a Star story in 2006 about the donation, they held a tense meeting with Jetton and asked Lograsso to address the situation before the entire Republican caucus, which was worried that adult-entertainment money might find its way into their campaigns...

Baker and Ervin...said they were “blackballed” by the speaker’s office until Jetton left the post in early 2009. Baker was stripped of a committee chairmanship and Ervin said he nearly lost his.