State Rep. Jay Barnes says the Missouri House Special Investigative Committee on Oversight had found enough evidence to recommend that now-former Gov. Eric Greitens be impeached - and that, if used in the two criminal trials Greitens was facing, would have led to his conviction in both cases.
Barnes also said there's more to be investigated - and he's drafting a complaint, as the committee's chairman, to be filed soon with the Missouri Ethics Commission over operations of the Greitens for Missouri campaign organization and A New Missouri, the not-for-profit organization formed last year to support Greitens and his initiatives.
He said the special committee's work is finished, since Greitens resigned from the governor's office June 1.
"Although we never voted on it, I believe the evidence was such that a super-majority of our committee was prepared to vote that there was good cause to believe Greitens engaged in multiple acts constituting crimes, misconduct, and acts of moral turpitude warranting the filing of articles of impeachment," Barnes, R-Jefferson City, noted in a letter to his colleagues on the special committee. The letter was released to the media late Monday morning.
"Contrary to what some potential critics have said, the House does not have 'inherent authority' to investigate 'anything' it wants," Barnes wrote. "In a government with limited and separate powers, the Legislature cannot transform itself into a law enforcement agency."
The special House committee was formed in February to investigate Greitens' legal situation.
One of those areas of further investigation, Barnes said, is A New Missouri.
"Make no mistake," Barnes wrote, "Missourians deserve a full accounting of A New Missouri, Inc., which I have come to believe was a criminal enterprise from its inception."
And, even though the House committee's work is done, Barnes wrote: "There are at least three state governmental entities with potential jurisdiction to investigate A New Missouri: the Attorney General, the Cole County Prosecuting Attorney, and the Missouri Ethics Commission."
Barnes, who is an attorney, told colleagues he's preparing a complaint to be filed with the Ethics Commission, and asked them if they also wished to sign it before it's turned in.