Rehder seeks Missouri House speaker role amid hacking probe

State Rep. Holly Rehder is campaigning to be speaker of the Missouri House amid a computer-

hacking probe that has put the spotlight on the Southeast Missouri lawmaker.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol and the Cole County prosecuting attorney have investigated possible hacking of her office computer, Rehder said Monday. The Sikeston Republican said she did not disclose a draft report this summer of the governor’s Committee on Simple, Fair and Low Taxes, as alleged by a political website.

Holly Rehder

The Missouri Times reported the draft copy was obtained by an unnamed source who said the report was provided by Rehder. But Rehder, who served on the tax committee, said she read the preliminary report on her computer but never distributed it to anyone.

The report covered a range of tax issues, but a later, final version focused on reforming Missouri’s tax-credit programs.

Rehder said she asked for an investigation to identify the leak after it was reported it was her copy of the document that was disclosed.

“I want to find out how this happened,” she said.

Rehder said she texted the chief clerk of the House reporting she believed her computer had been hacked.

Information technology staff were informed of the problem and checked her emails. They did not find any instance of the draft report being forwarded to someone else from her computer, Rehder said.

The Scott County lawmaker said the investigation rests in the hands of the Cole County prosecutor, who “needs to figure out if there has been a law broken.”

Rehder said her candidacy for House speaker has drawn opposition from consultants and others who support state tax credits.

Rehder wants to see the tax-credit system reformed.

“Missouri has had a very lucrative tax-credit system for a very few for many, many years,” she said.

Since adoption of the first tax credit in 1973, the use of tax credits has expanded to several dozen programs, accounting for more than $575 million in redemptions in fiscal 2016,

Rehder said a developer can obtain tax credits for a project and sell some of those credits to other companies if he or she doesn’t use all of them.

Rehder, who owns a cable television contracting firm in Sikeston, called the tax credits “ridiculous and offensive to me.”

The lawmaker said the Legislature needs to make tax credits nontransferable and subject to the regular appropriations process.

Republican lawmakers are scheduled to choose a new speaker at the start of the veto session Sept. 13. Rehder is one of three candidates for the post. The others are Speaker Pro Tem Elijah Haahr, R-Springfield, and Rep. Robert Cornejo, R-St. Peters.

Rehder said she is the only businessperson among the three candidates. The other two are lawyers.

The candidate chosen by the Republican caucus will lead the House in 2019 and 2020.

Rehder said she has been traveling around the state, meeting with Republican lawmakers in an effort to secure their votes.

She said she is willing to fight for the issues she believes in, regardless of party.

“I fight with Democrats. I fought with Republicans. I fought with the Senate. I focus on the policy itself,” she added.

If elected to lead the House, Rehder said she would push for labor and tax reform.

With Republican super-majorities in the House and Senate and a GOP governor, Rehder said this is “the most opportune time” to address those issues.

“To me, all the stars have lined up, and we need somebody at the helm of the House who will rip the Band-Aid off and go,” she said.

Rehder said it is important to have a House speaker “who doesn’t mind if every lobbyist in the building is against you.”

Rehder described herself as “tough” but “fair.”

She said she has built relationships with other lawmakers by handling legislative tasks and not over dinner and drinks.

“A lady can’t do that,” she said.

Regardless of whether she wins the speakership, Rehder said her most important role is not being a lawmaker.

“My favorite title is and always will be ‘Momma,’” she said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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