Wednesday, April 5, 2017
Muni Election Results
In St. Louis City Lyda Krewson won, as expected, becoming that city’s first female mayor. The soccer stadium lost with 47% while the half-cent sales tax to start a north-south light rail passed. And Rex Sinquefield-backed Propositions A & B both failed to garner the necessary 60%.
In St. Louis County Prop P passed. That was a sales tax to fund police (also backed by Sinquefield, by the way).
In Jefferson City, the property tax to build a new high school passed.
In Springfield, Ken McClure won the mayor’s race easily.
In Kansas City the GO Bonds passed. It’s yet another big win for Mayor Sly James, the face of the near billion-dollar infrastructure campaign.
Also
Mindy Brissey tweets…. “Congrats to one of the best women I know!! Cheers to Bonnaye Mims for making history tonight as the first minority to be elected to the Raytown Board of Alderman!!!”
Team Greitens Shows Interest In Speaker’s Race
Governor Eric Greitens is considering wading into the House Speaker’s race. There was a meeting recently at his political/non-profit office on High Street which included his political people as well those supportive to Rep. Holly Rehder.
One person with knowledge of the meeting said that the governor sees Rehder as someone who will push a conservative agenda. That appeals to him.
The knock on Rep. Elijah Haahr is that he’s too sympathetic to trial attorneys. Although a great amount of tort reform is being passed through the House this session, some observers still expect more next session: some of it may ultimately be overturned in the courts. And if not, the wish-list can always grow to include items like “loser pays” legislation or lower damage limits.
Rehder has yet to make a formal announcement. It appears, though, if she runs, she’ll try to do so to Haahr’s right side.
For the governor, there’s clearly some big downside to this gambit – should he choose to engage. Picking the wrong candidate could create an enemy on the 3rd floor, and if his interaction with the Senate is any indication, he’s not particularly agile in these types of dealings.
There are risks of a backlash in these circumstances.
Anti-Ann Wagner Ads Running
There are ad attacking Congresswoman Ann Wagner running across the state. See it here. They’re being run by Clean Air Moms Action.
Rumorville: Long A Possible Trump Appt?
Who knows if there’s any truth to this, but it’s out there, so here it is… Congressman Billy Long is in line for a Trump appointment?
There. Let the free-for-all speculation about his replacement start….
Credit Cap
Word is that the historic tax credit program is now $50 million over its cap for the year. These applications are all in line (first-come, first-served) for when the new fiscal years starts July 1. In other words a third of next year’s allocation is already spoken for.
Meanwhile the governor’s tax credit commission is due to make its report right about then – June 30. One rumor has a special session being contemplated…
Follow-Up on Dunkel
Yesterday I mentioned that Jason Dunkel had joined the Office of the Attorney General as an assistant attorney general, after a stint at Runnymede Law Group. One MOscouter gives this interesting background…. “Runnymede was one of two spin-offs when Clark & Sauer split a year or two back (the other was John Sauer’s firm, called the James Otis Law Group). Clark & Sauer was a collaboration between John Sauer, now the First Assistant AG, and St. Louis Federalist Society President Steve Clark. When Sauer joined Hawley, he brought with him another associate, Mike Martinich-Sauter, who does Hawley’s policy work and some special litigation. So basically three lawyers (Sauer, Martinich, and Dunkel) who worked together at this tiny conservative litigation boutique in Clayton are now in the driver’s seat of Hawley’s administration… Also Clark is rumored to be in the running for a federal district court seat when one opens in the Eastern District.”
House Perfects Budget
The House worked through the budget bills. See the Post-Dispatch article here.
Pull Quote: In a daylong legislative marathon, lawmakers endorsed the spending blueprint that would fully fund schools under the state’s education funding formula while ending a program benefiting 100,000 seniors. The plan also would prohibit state transportation officials from using any money to study tollways, and it would allocate as much as $2.9 million to finance the rollout of the state’s new voter photo identification program.
And
Will Schmitt tweets that Attorney General Josh Hawley got the $6 million back his office lost to the PubDefs in committee.
Schaaf Yields on PDMP
In a surprise reversal, Sen. Rob Schaaf held a press conference to announce he would no longer oppose Rep. Holly Rehder’s prescription drug monitoring program legislation. See it here.
Pull Quote: After years of vehement opposition to a prescription drug tracking system, Missouri Sen. Rob Schaaf announced Tuesday that he's going to support it… But the Republican senator, who is a physician from St. Joseph, had just one condition for his support — that doctors be required to use the system. He said the program works best in states when prescribers are mandated to check the program before writing scripts. The current bill doesn't have such a provision…
Today is Sneakers Day
Hey you… yeah you getting dressed… today is sneakers day!
“In support of cancer prevention and early detection the American Cancer Society and the Missouri House and Senate are hosting ‘Wear Your Sneakers Day’ at the Capitol today, Wednesday, April 5… All staff, lobbyists and legislators are encouraged to participate by pairing their sneakers with their dress attire. Cancer touches everyone – 1 in 2 men and 1 in 3 women will develop cancer in their lifetime. In 2017, it’s estimated over 34,000 Missourians will hear the words, “you have cancer.”
And
It’s also annual Fire Fighters Day at the capitol. “Missouri's fire service includes more than 24,000 career and volunteer responders working across more than 850 departments.” Governor Eric Greitens will be in the rotunda at 9:30AM for a ceremony honoring Missouri fire fighters for contributions to public safety.
eMailbag: What’s Wrong With Being Sexy?
On yesterday’s bit about how Krewson will differ from Slay: Let's end the sexist "she is a nice lady" comments. They were ridiculous when said in the campaign and for you to continue the comments is insulting. Also the quote you included on the differences between her and Slay with the Taylor Swift line had no place in a serious report. Let's stop the sexist comments now…
Lobbyists Registrations
Tom Dempsey added St. Louis Science Center Foundation.
Fred Dreiling deleted Consultants Unlimited, and Happy Bottoms.
$5K+ Contributions
Find the Cures - $12,000 from Bradley Bradshaw.
Regional Progress PAC - $10,000 from Schnuck Markets Inc.
Birthdays
Happy birthday to Bill Phelps.