JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri House panel will look into an ethics complaint about a colleague who remarked on social media that he hopes whoever vandalized a Confederate monument will be "hung from a tall tree with a long rope."
House Speaker Todd Richardson said Wednesday that he will refer a resolution about Republican Rep. Warren Love to the bipartisan House Ethics Committee, whose proceedings are secret.
House Minority Leader Gail McCann Beatty has said Love should be disciplined for essentially encouraging lynching.
Love has apologized but has declined to resign. McCann Beatty denounced Love publicly during Wednesday's annual legislative veto session, telling colleagues that "freedom of speech doesn't mean freedom from the consequences of your actions."
Love sat silently, looking at and listening to McCann Beatty. No one else spoke about it.
