Wednesday, March 8, 2017
STL Primary
Alderwoman Lyda Krewson won the St. Louis City mayoral election. She took 32% of the vote in the seven-way race. Treasurer (and former Rep) Tishaura Jones ran very strong, taking a close second with 30%. Board President Lewis Reed and Alderman Antonio French rounded out the top four with 18.3% and 15.8% respectively. See the results here.
Krewson’s win was expected. But the guess from these results is that Jones did a good job of winning white liberal voters, and creating a biracial coalition which do not naturally form in Missouri politics.
Nasheed Lashes Out
On Facebook, Sen. Jamilah Nasheed – a Jones supporter – lashed out at French and Aldermen Jeffrey Boyd (2.7% of the vote) apparently for drawing support away from Jones and depriving her of a victory. Nasheed herself mulled a mayoral bid, but probably determined that with a crowded field it didn’t make sense.
Her pre-midnight posts… “I have no respect for Antonio D. French or Jeffrey L Boyd from this point in my life.” And “Antonio D. French and Jeffrey L Boyd don't give a [flip] about black people.”
Other results
Prop S to regulate payday loans passed with 59% of the vote. In the aldermanic races… Tammika Hubbard won a six-way race in Ward 5 to keep the family’s reign in that ward. Former Rep. Michele Kratky lost her bid to become alderwoman in Ward 16 (replacing Donna Baringer). Lobbyist Sarah Martin won her race (Ward 11) with a crushing 65% of the vote, and is set to become the Queen of Carondelet. Insurgent progressive Dan Guenther knocked off long-time alderman Ken Ortmann (owner of the Cat’s Meow), as the City’s Board of Aldermen continues its turnover with younger members. But two other “establishment” types – Joe Roddy and Marlene Davis – beat back challenges. And Jennifer Florida lost her bid to return as alderwoman of Ward 15, losing to sometimes controversial Alderwoman Megan Green.
Libla, Romine on HB 190
Sens. Doug Libla and Gary Romine signaled their opposition to SB190 with this op/ed sent to me yesterday….
Over 40 high paid lobbyists employed by Ameren, KCP&L and other electric providers have once again descended upon the capitol building. Their mission is to convince legislators to force the Public Service Commission (PSC) to change their rate making authority and oversight of these money hungry monopolies with passage of Senate Bill 190. Widely known as the “utility tax”…
Consumers, such as big and small businesses, schools, churches, and the struggling, hardworking families across this state have no choice from whom to purchase their electricity. Because of this, and by diminishing oversight of the PSC thru SB190, utilities would spend their way to even larger profits.
Let’s briefly examine the latest strategy to by-pass PSC oversight. SB190 does the following: allows utilities to invest without cause for higher returns. SB190 has the potential to increase your electric bill another 38.74% - over and above normal rate cases. Since 2007, Ameren alone has raised electric rates 49%.
Utilities argue they are not making enough money to appease Wall Street. Over the last 5 years Ameren’s stock price has increased over 64% and KCP&L 48%. KCP&L announced last summer that it was purchasing another utility for a $2.3 Billion premium. Clearly, these monopolies have more than enough capital to make the investments needed to keep reliable service. Ameren and KCP&L were recently awarded the J.D. Power Award for being #1 and #2 in the Midwest for customer reliability.
The Goose that has been laying the “Golden Egg” for over 103 years is apparently not good enough now for these Wall Street insiders, and the overpaid executives with their “Golden Parachutes”.
Senator Doug Libla – Chairman, Small Business and Industry
Senator Gary Romine – Chairman, Education
Senate Calendar
In the pipeline for the Senate, two big House bills sitting on the calendar: HB251 is another anti-organized labor bill. It puts a whole lot of regulations on the unions, including that the officers of unions must file personal financial disclosures statements indicating their stock and bond holdings. And HB130 which is the ride-sharing bill to give Uber, Lyft and other companies the statewide framework to operate. Sen. Bob Onder is the handler of both bills.
Managed Care
For a few weeks there’s been a dummy referee dressed up outside Rep. Paul Fitzwater’s office as an anti-managed care protest. The House apparently has several representatives who hate managed care. But one observer notes that most of them are either providers (like Reps. Frederick and Neely), or married to providers (like Reps. Franklin and White). In sum: “there is a small, strong contingent... but not enough to overcome the Speaker’s support of managed care.”
Crawford Files for Senate 28 Special
The press release: Today, conservative Republican Sandy Crawford officially filed paperwork with the Secretary of State confirming her candidacy for State Senate in the special election to be held August 8…. Sandy Crawford, a conservative Republican, was originally elected to the Missouri House of Representatives in 2010. Prior to running for office, she had worked as a banker for thirty years. She is a member of the Missouri Farm Bureau, Missouri Cattlemen’s Association, Dallas County Cattlemen’s Association, NRA, Buffalo Area Chamber of Commerce, and Lebanon Area Chamber of Commerce. Sandy lives in Buffalo with her husband, John, and is a member of the Tabernacle Baptist Church in Lebanon, where she
teaches Sunday school.
Bits
Centene for Prop P? In the large contributions today Centene gives $250K to STL Citizens for Safety which I assume is the campaign vehicle to pass Proposition P. That’s a St. Louis County half-cent sales tax ($80 million a year) for public safety that will be on the ballot next month.
Yesterday David Humphreys put $100K into his Accountability Committee. It’s unclear in the off-cycle year how he will be deploying that money. We’ll see….
Republican Doug Richey is prepping a run in House 38 where TJ Berry is termed. See his twitter account here. He’s a pastor.
Lobbyists Registrations
James Farnsworth added University of Missouri Office of General Counsel.
Charles Miller added Broadway Investments LLC.
Peter Fotos added Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America.
David Cooper Jr. added American Outdoor Brands Corporation.
Carol Hudspeth added Missouri Adult Day Services Association, Kansas City Regional Home Care Association.
Matthew Baird deleted Lee’s Summit Chamber of Commerce.
Amrita Singh deleted Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
Tom Rackers deleted Environmental Federation of Missouri.
$5K+ Contributions
Find the Cures - $34,000 from Bradley Bradshaw.
Progress KC PAC - $10,000 from International Union of Operating Engineers Local 101.
STL Citizens for Safety - $250,000 from Centene Management Company LLC.
Birthdays
Happy birthday to David Steelman.