Ex-Mo. House speaker Jetton goes before grand jury

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Former Missouri House speaker Rod Jetton testified Wednesday before a federal grand jury investigating him on a bribery allegation and denied any connection between political contributions and his handling of legislation.

Jetton, a Marble Hill Republican whose term ended a year ago, said he testified for about an hour behind the closed doors of a Kansas City grand jury. He confirmed he is a target of a federal investigation involving bribery, conspiracy and mail fraud. He denied doing anything wrong.

"I never, ever told anybody, 'You give me some money, I'll do this,'" Jetton told reporters outside the courthouse. "That never happened. Never happened."

Jetton, 42, appeared voluntarily before grand jurors, who over the past two months already have heard testimony from two of Jetton's former legislative colleagues, a lobbyist and some former Republican staffers who worked with Jetton.

The investigation is focused on whether Jetton attempted to stymie a 2005 bill regulating sexually oriented businesses after the industry contributed $35,000 to a political committee with ties to a Jetton adviser.

Jetton said he was unaware of the donation at the time he referred the legislation to a committee whose chairman opposed it. He defended the bill assignment as a logical decision and stressed that even though he didn't like the original bill, he ultimately helped pass a scaled-down version, even allowing it to be attached to one of his bills.

"Clearly, surely, they've got something credible that makes them think there might have been something wrong going on," Jetton said after his testimony. "But I can't understand what it is. That's why I was willing to show up today. ... I figured I'm just going to come over and be as honest with them as I can."

A Marine and the son of a Baptist pastor, Jetton first was elected to the House in 2000 and served the maximum eight years allowed by term limits. He played a key role in the Republican takeover in Missouri in the 2002 elections. He endorsed "personal responsibility" and pledged to protect "traditional family values" after colleagues elected him speaker in 2005.

Jetton now is divorced and faces a two-pronged legal problem.

Earlier Wednesday, an attorney entered a not guilty plea on Jetton's behalf to a state felony assault charge for allegedly battering a woman during a sexual encounter last fall. Jetton did not attend the hearing in Scott County Circuit Court.

A few hours later on the opposite side of the state, Jetton appeared in a suit and sunglasses -- and without an attorney -- to testify before the grand jury.

The bill at issue would have imposed taxes and fees on strip clubs, adult movie theaters and bookstores and other sexually oriented businesses. It also would have required such businesses to close by midnight and would have barred people younger than 21, tipping, touching and full nudity.

After the bill passed the Senate on March 29, 2005, Jetton assigned it April 4, 2005, to a committee led by then-Rep. Bob Johnson, R-Lee's Summit, who opposed the bill. Between those dates, the adult entertainment industry gave $35,000 to a political fundraising committee that typically supported Republican campaigns and which had hired a Jetton adviser -- Don Lograsso -- as its consultant. Jetton said Wednesday that he and Lograsso never discussed the political contribution.

The bill got delayed for about a month before Johnson's committee endorsed a revised version. It never made it to the House floor. So a scaled-back version was attached by the Senate -- Jetton said with his consent -- to a bill Jetton was sponsoring on drunken driving.

That bill became law, but it was struck down when a court ruled it violated a state constitutional ban on legislators changing a bill's original purpose.

The Missouri Association of Club Executives, which is the trade group for adult entertainment businesses, had hired lobbyists Kent Gaines and Travis Brown during the 2005 legislative session.

Jetton said U.S. attorneys brought up both Lograsso and Gaines during his grand jury testimony. Both have declined to comment about the federal investigation.

Brown appeared Wednesday before the grand jury but also declined to comment. His lawyer, former U.S. attorney Stephen Hill, said Brown testified for about 40 minutes and "provided background information about lobbying work that he's done."

He said Brown, who no longer works with Gaine, was not a target of the investigation but declined to elaborate about his role.

Also testifying Wednesday was Dave Hageman, a political consultant who from 2003 to 2007 was executive director of the state House Republican Campaign Committee. Hageman said he was not a target of the investigation but declined to comment further.