Friday, August 5, 2016

Another Cig Tax Lawsuit

The Post-Dispatch reports on yet another lawsuit to block the cigarette tax hike from getting on the ballot.  See it here.

Pull Quote: The latest effort to keep a proposed tobacco tax hike off the ballot in November alleges that the initiative should be tossed out because a fund it creates would take money out of an existing state education fund. In a petition filed in Cole County Circuit Court this week, two citizens suing Secretary of State Jason Kander point to a constitutional provision that says a ballot initiative can't be used to appropriate money it doesn't generate.

See the affidavit (here) in which Little Tobacco lobbyist Andy Arnold explains he sent $100 to the then-empty Coordinating Board for Early Childhood Fund, thus creating this “unconstitutional appropriation.”

And

Word is that early next week the secretary of state’s office will be certifying whether the various IPs had enough signatures to make the ballot.  We’ll see…..

Brunner Greitens Rift Remains

The peerless John Combest’s headline to the Post-Dispatch article says it all… “Emotional wounds between John Brunner, Eric Greitens yet to heal.”

It’s said that John Brunner’s refusal to attend the panned “unity meeting” led to its cancellation.  One source says that Brunner wanted Greitens’ donor Michael Goguen to drop his defamation suit (“refuse to be lectured by sex slave owner” zinger) if there was to be true unity.

In perhaps the beginning of that dance, Brunner sent out a statement retracting the jab.

English Gets $50K From Bro-in-Law

CDT’s Rudi Keller writes that Rep. Keith English received a $50,000 contribution from his brother-in-law, Ehren Earleywine, to help with his re-election bid.  See the story here.

Pull Quote:  He had not intended to seek re-election when the year began, English said. “I was going to retire after four years, but after seeing who had filed for my seat and not getting a job I applied for, I decided to run again,” he said… Earleywine is paid $182,000 a year to be MU softball coach, a post he has held since 2007.

And

I didn’t know softball coaches made $182K.  Just tell me he’s the head coach, and not just a third-base coach or something….

Ethics Complaint Against Greitens

KC Star’s Jason Hancock reports on the ethics complaints filed by Democrats against Eric Greitens yesterday.  The complaint is that contributions were made in a way to purposefully hide the contributor.

See the complaint here regarding the $2 million contribution.  I’m betting we will never know who gave this money because even when the report is finally filed, the check will have come from an anonymous non-profit or LLC.

Team Greitens called the complaints “ridiculous.”  But clearly this was set-up so the donor wouldn’t be known.

Meanwhile

Another check Greitens might consider returning… He took $10K from Elliot Broidy on July 1. The Wall Street Journal asks: Who is Elliott Broidy?

Good Night for MO Club for Growth?

Despite the defeat of the two statewide candidate they endorsed (Catherine Hanaway and Bev Randles) the MO Club for Growth won several legislatives races where they teamed up the Humphreys family money.

They were behind two big Senate races Andrew Koenig in Senate 15 and Bill Eigel in Senate 23.  And were part of two incumbent falling in House 17 (Nick King) and House 31 (Sheila Solon), while a few other incumbents did survive.

And they helped Justin Hill hold off a challenge in House 108, and supported Nick Schroer succeed Rep Ron Hicks in House 107.

MO Club also says that they were also indirectly involved and pleased with the outcome in two others race: House 100 (Derek Grier replacing Rep. Sue Allen) and House 101 (Bruce DeGroot in the old Gosen seat).

Bits

Posted on Facebook by someone who went to high school with Eric Greitens… Brian H. Marston: My new role in life has been revealed. It is my duty to be to Eric Greitens as Craig Mazin was to Ted Cruz. ‪#‎themissioncontinues

Jeremy Cady moved from Missouri Freedom to Americans for Prosperity.  See it here. About AFP from Politico…  “Americans for Prosperity, the Koch-brothers backed political nonprofit that will spend about $100 million this year. Unlike 2012, when AFP was focused on the presidential race, the group -- which has 750 employees in 35 states -- is focused entirely on down-ballot races this cycle.”

I’d missed this Politico piece on Ferguson and the governor’s race.  See it here.  Pull Quote: Nationally, “Ferguson” has become a byword for a new American civil rights movement. The protests that followed the shooting death of Michael Brown, an unarmed 18-year-old black man, by a white police officer, marked the birth of the Black Lives Matter movement, which has pushed overpolicing to the foreground of national politics… But for many people in Missouri, especially the approximately 600,000 Republicans who expect to vote in the GOP primary Tuesday, the lesson of Ferguson is not that the police used too much force, it’s that it used too little...

Today’s Events

From Mary Scruggs’ indispensable events calendar:

Rep. Ken Wilson Picnic – Paradise Pointe Club House – Smithville – 5:30PM.

Lobbyists Registrations

Krista Myer deleted Missouri State Employees’ Retirement System.

Steven Alan Ramsey deleted Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.

Kelley Stuck deleted University of Missouri.

$5K+ Contributions

Koster for Missouri - $100,000 from International Union of Operating Engineers.

Freedom PAC - $8660 from Axiom Strategies LLC.

Hanaway for Governor Inc - $15,000 from August Busch III.

Hanaway for Governor Inc – First Rule, A Pelopidas LLC.

Citizens for Keith English - $50,000 from Ehren Earleywine.

Koster for Missouri - $25,000 from Cerner Corporation PAC Account.

Protect Our Neighborhoods Committee - $10,000 from Country Club Plaza.

Protect Our Neighborhoods Committee - $10,000 from Kansas City Life Insurance Company.

MO Republican Party - $10,000 from Anthem Inc.

Ashcroft for Missouri - $20,000 from Janet Ashcroft.

Greitens for Missouri - $5,001 from Ronald Neville.

Hawley for Missouri - $50,000 from Missouri Freedom PAC.

Early Childhood Education Initiative - $34,000 from RAI Services Company.

Greitens for Missouri - $10,000 from C V Starr & Company Inc.