Missouri ex-House speaker fined $47K for alleged campaign finance violations

By SUMMER BALLENTINE
Associated Press

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — A disgraced former Missouri House speaker has been fined $47,000 for allegedly breaking campaign finance laws. The consent order against Republican John Diehl was released Tuesday by the Missouri Ethics Commission. The commission handles alleged ethics violations by politicians. Diehl was elected to the state House in 2008. He briefly served as House speaker in 2015 but resigned after admitting to sending sexually explicit messages to a House intern. The Ethics Commission says Diehl opened a bank account several months after resigning and kept campaign funds there without reporting that money publicly. The commission also found probable cause that Diehl used roughly $7,000 in campaign funds for personal expenses and donated some of his leftover campaign money without reporting it.