Friday, October 17, 2014
MO GOP’s COH: $1,323
MO Republican Party’s campaign committee once again showed anemic numbers at the Missouri Ethics Commission’s October deadline… $25,380 raised; $41,000 spent; and $1,323 on-hand.
Party Chair Ed Martin has had a faction of critics on the State Central Committee for some time. Some have questioned his messaging skills as he has waded into national issues or created controversies they think detract from the party’s mission. But one constant knock has been the lack of fundraising at the party level.
The fundraising woes, however, are at least partially due to a seismic change among Republican mega-donors over the past half-dozen years. They no longer are funding the party. Instead they are backing their own preferred candidates.
One Republican see Sinquefield as stepping into the void: “Rex is defining a (2016) slate because no one else is. Ed & the state party are a mess, Blunt & Congressionals are in hiding & no one else is stepping up. The GOP has many potential statewide rock stars. But someone has to herd the cats. Meet Team Rex – Cat Herders in Chief.”
But an alternative way of asking the question is whether Sinquefield – and other mega-donors – have created the void by funding candidates themselves rather than through the party.
Grow Missouri: The Alternative Party Apparatus?
In a Missouri Times interview, see it here, Grow Missouri’s executive director Aaron Willard talks about the projects that the group is working on. Willard says that in addition to the typical PAC operations, they’re working on building a voter database as well as working methods to increase Get-Out-The-Vote yields.
“We have also made significant investments in data and have a pretty substantial voter file. However, aside from typical information collection and modeling, I’m in the middle of a large project now to test voter turnout through 10 varying treatments of really large sample sizes. Hopefully, the outcome will provide us a lot of insight into how to motivate and activate voters of all types in the upcoming 2016 elections when we know there will be more activity on the ballot.”
Grow Missouri is funded by Rex Sinquefield…
The Latest Rex Round
After the previous million-dollar day ($750K to Catherine Hanaway and $250K to Sen. Kurt Schaefer), the large contributions by Rex Sinquefield in today’s list (see below) look rather ho-hum. There’s $100K to Sen. Will Kraus who’s eyeing secretary of state in 2016; and $25K to St. Louis Recorder of Deeds Jennifer Florida.
St. Louis County Needs to Clean Up These Small Municipalities
The Washington Post does a terrific job exposing the way the small municipalities of St. Louis County have set up their court systems to work as profit centers for the town. It will make you mad to read. And maybe if enough people read it and get mad enough, it will change. Read it here.
Washington Post reporter Radley Balko: “When I went to St. Louis County, Mo., last month to report on the municipal courts system there, I left pretty overwhelmed by what I saw… I’ve done a lot of reporting on the criminal justice system over the last 10 years or so, and the beat itself can sometimes be pretty bleak. But I don’t ever recall encountering the kind of fatalism, frustration, and despair that I saw on display in those courtrooms.”
Help Wanted
City of Ferguson seeks a Collector of Revenue. “Must provide effective and efficient customer service and promote and maintain responsive community relations. Must be able to properly handle money transactions and have basic skills in math and accounting… Salary: $27,703 - $38,170” See it here.
New Stenger Ad
The latest Steve Stenger ad takes aim at Rep. Rick Stream’s record on gun legislation. See it here. “Rick Stream would have ended federal background check letting criminals or domestic abusers buy guns…”
Bits
Its’ said that both former Lieutenant Governor Joe Maxwell and Attorney General Chris Koster made appearances at Rep. Jeff Roorda’s fundraising event last night in St. Louis’ Soulard neighborhood.
Independent Recorder of Deeds Jennifer Florida is attacking the former incumbent Sharon Carpenter on a number of fronts. One of the charges which seems most shocking is buried as a small bullet point of misdeeds on her literature: that Carpenter paid “African-American employees less than white employees for doing the same work.”
Quote of the Day
“Well. GO ROYALS!” – Minority Leader Jake Hummel.
Lobbyist Registrations
From the Gate Way Group website:
Jeffery N Brooks, William Gamble, Cynthia Gamble, Jorgen Schlemeier, and Sarah Topp added MOSERS.
James L Durham added Hunt Midwest.
Emily Wright deleted Stinson Leonard Street LLP, and added Gibbons Workman LLC.
Michael R Gibbons deleted CenturyLink.
Zora Mulligan deleted Missouri Community College Association.
Fundraising Calendar
Powered by Mary Scruggs’ indispensable events calendar:
Saturday – Rep. Paul Wieland Sporting Clay – StL Skeet & Trap Club, Pacific – 10 a.m.
$5K+ Contributions
Schupp for Senate - $12,708 from Missouri Democratic State Committee.
Friends of Schaul - $8,902 from House Republican Campaign Committee.
Working Families Committee - $10,000 from UFCW ABC Education Fund.
Committee to Elect Dean Dohrman State Representative - $14,797 from Realtors Political Action Committee-Missouri.
Citizens for Will Kraus - $100,000 from Rex Sinquefield.
Friends of Rob Vescovo - $10,000 from Lee Mechanical Contractors Inc.
Citizens for Vicki Lorenz Englund - $8,940 from Missouri Democratic Party.
Citizens for Schatz - $10,000 from Missouri Club for Growth.
Committee to Elect Jeff Roorda - $8,400 from Missouri Democratic State Committee.
Committee to Elect Jeff Roorda - $5,001 from Joe Keaveny For Senate.
Citizens for Gary Cross - $20,302 from Realtors PAC – Missouri.
MO Democratic State Committee - $6,750 from Margo McNeil for State Rep.
Friends of Rick Stream - $7,500 from Sam Fox.
Friends of Rick Stream - $10,000 from Doug Albrecht.
Friends of Rick Stream - $10,000 from Lewis & Clark Northern Missouri Forum.
MADA Dealers Interested in Government - $21,000 from MADA Services Corporation.
Missouri Senate Campaign Committee - $10,000 from Citizens for Jay Wasson.
Friends for Jennifer Florida - $25,000 from Rex Sinquefield.
Schupp for Senate - $15,097 from Missouri Democratic State Committee.
Happy Birthday
Happy birthdays to Sen. Jamilah Nasheed (42), Commissioner Scott Rupp (41), and Ray Hefner.
Saturday – Jim Talent and Ray McCarty.
Sunday – Sen. John Lamping (52) and Dave Bailey.