Wednesday, December 21, 2016
Greitens Picks Roche for COS
Steve Kraske gets the scoop. See it here.
Pull Quote: “Missouri Gov.-elect Eric Greitens has tapped an executive with Anheuser-Busch as his chief of staff, The Buzz has learned. Michael F. Roche has been vice president of national affairs for Anheuser-Busch Companies since 2004. He heads the Anheuser-Busch office in Washington and manages the company's relations with the federal government, meaning he’s done some lobbying… Roche sits on the board of the Beer Institute, the national trade association for brewers in the United States.”
The other names mentioned have been previously floated: “Greitens also named Lucinda Luetkemeyer as his top lawyer, Jennae Neustadt as his legislative director and Will Scharf as policy director. Austin Chambers, who served as Greitens’ spokesman and a top campaign aide, will continue as senior adviser.”
But Kurt Erickson also gets a nice scoop… See it here. Former Huffington Post Editor Jimmy Soni is joining Team Greitens also. According to Gawker (are they still in business?), he left HuffPo under a cloud.
Greitens Says Shhhhhh
From yesterday… Post-Dispatch reports that Governor-elect Eric Greitens has his team signing hush documents. See it here.
Pull Quote: Missourians looking for insight into the inner workings of Eric Greitens’ move from private citizen to governor likely won’t get much information from members of his transition team. According to documents obtained by the Post-Dispatch through the state’s Sunshine Law, people serving on the transition team are required to sign an agreement that bans them from speaking about what is going on behind the closed doors of the transition team office.
Soccer Team Retreats from MDFB
After Governor-elect Eric Greitens’ statement denouncing the potential tax credits for a stadium in St. Louis, those pushing a soccer team expansion pulled their request from the Missouri Development Finance Board’s agenda.
It’s unclear if the Greitens Team anticipated this outcome. Did the pro-business governor-elect mean to scuttle his first economic development project before he even took office? Is this reverse Donald Trump, instead of offering incentives to keep jobs, you do the reverse so the jobs don’t happen? Does he work to help St. Louis get a team using a different model of private-public partnership? Or maybe he fired off a five-sentence statement thinking it was like the campaign – no real consequences…
Richardson on Paid Family Leave
The mighty Jason Rosenbaum (along with Jo Mannies) interviewed Speaker Todd Richardson. Listen to it here.
A lot of interesting tidbits…
Richardson will champion a bill to give state employees paid family leave. He sounds open to the idea of a mandate down the road but is going to use public employees as the starting point.
Richardson expects right to work to happen early in session, but the labor agenda will involve substantially more than just that landmark legislation. It will also include items like changing the manner that prevailing wage is determined, as well as the paycheck protection legislation from earlier sessions.
Richardson also see a lobbyist gift ban bill coming early in session as well.
Tweet of the Day
Virginia Young tweets... @VirginiaYoung: @DSteelmanLaw So just curious: Is your hat in the ring for vacancy on @MOSupremeCt? Cause you might have a good shot, I hear.
Crime, Crime Everywhere You Look
Rep-elect Bruce Franks found himself facing gun barrel while in his car in the parking lot of the Tap Room in St. Louis.
And then this from the Facebook page of Heidi Kolkmeyer (daughter-in-law of Rep. Glen Kolkmeyer): My mom and dad got [burglarized]: one of the things stolen was her wedding ring which was gold with a single diamond. They have been married almost 40 years so this is priceless. Also some other jewelry. Please pray for them.
House Appropriations Chairs
Press release: House Speaker Todd Richardson today announced the five legislators who will lead the appropriations subcommittees that play a vital role in crafting the state operating budget. Under the new committee structure that will be part of the revised House Rules, the members of the House Budget Committee will make up the membership of five specialized subcommittees that oversee various areas of the budget…
State Rep. Kathie Conway, R-St. Charles, will lead the subcommittee that oversees appropriations for the departments of corrections and public safety…. State Rep. Lyle Rowland, R-Cedarcreek, will chair the subcommittee that works on the budgets for the state's elementary and secondary education system, as well as Missouri's higher education institutions… State Rep. Kurt Bahr, R-St. Charles, will chair the subcommittee that oversees general administration, which includes the public debt, as well as the budgets for elected officials and the Office of Administration… State Rep. Craig Redmon, R-Canton, will lead the appropriations subcommittee that handles the budgets for agriculture, conservation, natural resources, revenue, transportation and economic development…. State Rep. David Wood, R-Versailles, will chair the appropriations subcommittee for health, mental health, and social services….
McCaskill Committee Assignments
Press release: When the new Congress convenes in January, in addition to serving as top-ranking Democrat on the Senate's most powerful oversight committee, U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill will also remain a senior member of the Senate's Armed Services Committee and will be joining the Senate Finance Committee.
Mapping the Fish Community
From the Department of Conservation’s bid for mapping services that establishes fundamental data for the depth and velocity of the Cottonwood Island complex and the Marquette Island complex … Historic and current modifications throughout the Mississippi River have purportedly created limited habitat and as a result may be deleteriously influencing the fish community (i.e. all fish species combined). The changes are especially prominent for species of conservation concern (e.g. pallid sturgeon, sturgeon chub) that may be important to the structure and function of the Mississippi River system….
eMailbag on MOScout poll
The cross-tabs of your poll Sunday have a big hint for Republicans who want to hold down turnout of Democrats, liberal and even moderates in the off-year election in 2018 -- pass the medical marijuana bill. If they don't pass it, medical marijuana will be on the ballot in 2018. Your poll says it is favored by nearly half of Republicans (48%), but it is really favored by Democrats (57%), liberals (62%) and moderates (56%), Having it on the ballot may drive some turnout by conservatives, but it appears to have a bigger effect on Dems and liberals, and they will be inclined to get off the couch and vote.
eMailbag on New Capitol Security
Could the enhanced security be they know the anti-labor agenda may draw large crowds?...
Help Wanted
AP Seeks Reporter. “The Associated Press seeks a temporary reporter beginning Jan. 3, 2017, for 21 weeks to cover state government and politics in Missouri. Reporting to the Missouri Kansas News Editor, this temporary reporter will focus on political and government news from Jefferson City that has relevance both inside the state and across the globe. This reporter should be able to produce content in multiple formats (text, photo, video and audio) and will work with the Missouri Kansas News Editor to set the beat's agenda and produce reporting for the AP's newspaper, online and broadcast markets…”
New Committees
Berg for Change is an exploratory committee for Karen Berg to run in House 113. See it here.
Committee to Elect Mary Hill is a candidate committee for her to run again in House 17. See it here.
The Government By The People Fund, a political action committee. The treasurer is Doug Shelton. See it here.
Lobbyists Registrations
Steven Brubaker added The Small Businesses of Fantasy Sports Trade Association.
James Gwinner added Opportunity Solutions Project; and deleted American Coalition for Clean Coal Energy.
Robert Robey added Indivior Inc.
Emma Davidson Tribbs added Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund.
Birthdays
Happy birthdays to the peerless John Combest, Sen-elect Andrew Koenig, Rep. Don Rone, Virginia Young, and Duane Lester.