A former Missouri lawmaker wins back thousands of dollars seized after sexual misconduct allegations

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A former Missouri lawmaker who was censured and fined over sexual misconduct allegations has won a court case to recoup thousands of dollars of seized salary, marking a reversal of fortune for one of the many officials involved in a recent nationwide reckoning over sexual misconduct among public figures.

Former Democratic Rep. Wiley Price of St. Louis was accused in 2020 of having sex with an intern, threatening a staffer to keep quiet and then lying while under investigation. An attempt to expel Price from the House failed to get the necessary two-thirds majority in January 2021. Colleagues instead voted overwhelmingly to censure him and deduct about $22,500 from his paychecks to cover the costs of the investigation.

Price did not contest the allegations in his 2024 lawsuit against the Missouri House of Representatives and the state Office of Administration. Rather, he contended that the legislature lacked the authority to take his salary, and did so too late.

Cole County Circuit Judge Brian Stumpe agreed with Price in a ruling late last week. The judge said that House rules made no mention of potential fines or cost recoupments when an ethics committee recommended in December 2020 that Price be punished. After a new two-year session of the legislature began in 2021, the House could not legally continue the case nor retroactively change its rules to allow the financial penalties, the judge wrote.

“Even grade-school children recognize that you can’t change the rules after the fact,” Richard Callahan, a former U.S. attorney who represented Price, said Tuesday. He added: “You don’t have to know Latin to know that there’s an unfairness about that.”

A spokesperson for the Missouri House said that chamber officials are reviewing the court order and evaluating their next steps.

Price lost in the Democratic primary in 2022 and now works on the staff of Democratic state Sen. Karla May. He is one of at least 158 lawmakers accused of sexual misconduct in state capitols since 2017, the year the #MeToo movement gained momentum, according to a tally by The Associated Press. More than one-third resigned or were expelled from office and roughly another third faced repercussions, such as losing party or committee leadership positions or being formally censured.

A dozen top state executive officials, including governors and attorneys general, also faced sexual misconduct allegations during that time, and most resigned.

A report released Tuesday by the National Women’s Defense League also cataloged 30 members of U.S. Congress who faced publicly reported workplace sexual harassment or misconduct accusations since 2006. Those include Reps. Eric Swalwell, a California Democrat, and Tony Gonzales, a Texas Republican, who announced last week that they were leaving Congress. Their decisions came as both faced the prospect of being expelled from the chamber by their colleagues.

Advocates for those subjected to harassment say resignations provide accountability only if they are followed by substantive changes to the way allegations are handled and better policies for deterring such actions.

“It is an ongoing problem that there is kind of a get-out-of-jail-free card, where you can resign with dignity and we stop a political tsunami, we don’t have to keep talking about this, and we can move on to the politics of the day,” said Emma Davidson Tribbs, founding director of the National Women’s Defense League. “That is not enough.“

She said actual instances of sexual harassment and misconduct by federal and state lawmakers likely are several times higher than what’s publicly reported because many people who targeted are reluctant to go public over fear of retaliation.