Mo. senator testifies on porn bill and Jetton's role

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- A Missouri senator who testified before a federal grand jury Tuesday said political donations from the adult entertainment industry contributed to the demise of a bill that would have imposed new taxes and regulations on sexually oriented businesses.

Republican Sen. Matt Bartle, of Lee's Summit, testified for a little less than an hour Tuesday before a grand jury at the federal courthouse in Kansas City. Bartle, who is not a target of the grand jury investigation, said he was subpoenaed to testify about the defeat of his anti-porn legislation in the House during the 2005 session.

Bartle said he couldn't reveal the specific questions or people that he was quizzed about before the grand jury. But he noted his bill got bogged down after House Speaker Rod Jetton sent it to a committee whose chairman opposed it -- and that action came just days after the adult entertainment industry contributed $35,000 to a political committee connected to a Jetton adviser.

"The receipt of that money looks horrible, and I think there is a link between that money and my bill dying," Bartle told reporters after testifying.

After Bartle left, the treasurer for the political committee that received the money also testified before the grand jury. David Byrn said he was a witness, not a target of the investigation.

The grand jury session comes after another former lawmaker -- Rep. Bob Johnson, R-Lee's Summit -- said he was interviewed by the FBI last month about the adult entertainment legislation, Jetton's role in it and the House's procedures for handling bills.

Jetton, a southeast Missouri Republican whose term ended in January 2009, already faces a felony assault charge in state court stemming from a sexual encounter with a woman last fall in Sikeston. He has pleaded not guilty. He declined to comment on Tuesday's grand jury appearances but has previously denied any wrongdoing in his handling of the adult entertainment legislation.

The 2005 bill would have enacted a $5 per customer admission fee for strip clubs, movie houses and other adult businesses, along with a 20 percent tax on the revenues, with the proceeds going to public schools. The bill also would have required the businesses to close by midnight, barred patrons or employees younger than 21, banned customer tipping, prohibited full nudity and required semi-nude employees to remain on a raised stage at least 10 feet away from customers.

After Bartle's bill passed the Senate on March 29, 2005, Jetton assigned it on April 4 to a House committee led by Johnson, who opposed the bill. In between those dates, a political committee for the adult entertainment industry gave $35,000 to the Committee for Honest Campaigns, which usually helped finance Republican campaigns.

Bryn, a Republican attorney who now is a Jackson County circuit judge, was the Committee for Honest Campaigns' treasurer. The committee's paid consultant was House General Counsel Don Lograsso, who served as a top adviser to Jetton.

When asked after his appearance before the grand jury whether he knew why the contribution was made, Byrn told reporters: "I don't think I can answer that because it's an ongoing investigation."

Bartle said he asked Jetton not to send his bill to Johnson's committee because he knew Johnson opposed the legislation. The senator said he was "deeply, deeply troubled" about how the bill was handled in the House and spoke with federal investigators about the matter three or four years ago.

"I thought it would be warmly received in the House," Bartle said. "There was no good -- in my mind -- political reason why Republican leadership in the House wouldn't have supported a bill like this."

Johnson said he opposed several provisions of the legislation, which he said would have ended local zoning control over adult entertainment clubs and transferred that power to the state. But Johnson said he was unaware of any political contributions by the adult entertainment industry until The Kansas City Star reported them in March 2006.

A few weeks after that story was published, the Committee for Honest Campaigns gave $35,000 to a domestic violence shelter in the Kansas City area.

Jetton said in that 2006 article that he had not consulted with Lograsso on where to assign the bill and didn't know then about the $35,000 contribution from the adult entertainment industry.

"It had no bearing on that bill," Jetton said.

Lograsso took an indefinite leave of absence from his role as House general counsel on Jan. 22 -- the same day The Star reported on Johnson's FBI interview. But Lograsso denied any connection to an investigation, telling The Associated Press he was leaving because of eye problems.

Bartle's legislation eventually cleared Johnson's committee in 2005 but never made it to the House floor. Instead, senators amended similar restrictions on adult-oriented businesses to a drunken driving bill sponsored by Jetton. That bill passed and was signed into law. But a court struck down the provisions on sexually oriented businesses because they violated a state constitutional ban on legislators changing a bill's original purpose.