Tuesday, March 17, 2015
Greitens Launches Website
Eric Greitens, the former Navy SEAL who has been bubbling up more and more ahead of a rumored gubernatorial run, takes another step in advancing his public image… a website…. Greitens for Missouri… See it here. Right now it’s just a hodge-podge of news articles and book mentions, fronted by a family picture with his photogenic wife… No platform yet, no mention of an office.
And
It’s said that Greitens will be the keynote tonight at the Farm Bureau Foundation’s gala. Between this and Sen. Mike Parson’s AG credentials, and Sen. Mike Kehoe’s naming the Farm Bureau’s Charles Kruse as his treasurer, Missouri agricultural community is getting the full court press for Republican primary votes.
KC Star Gets a Lobbyist
In the registrations (below) the Kansas City Star has what looks like their first registered lobbyist. It’s Polsinelli attorney Roxsen Koch. See her bio here.
JMO Pushes Facts Ahead of TANF Debate
As the House prepares to debate welfare reform tomorrow, Empower Missouri Executive Director Jeanette Mott Oxford distributed some facts to the state representatives…
A parent has to be desperately poor to qualify for TANF – having income of no more than $846 per month for a family of three, for example. We haven't updated this income guideline since the 1990s. Small amounts of earnings make a family ineligible for TANF, one of the reasons we have a low work participation rate. (That is, our own rules disallow most working families from getting aid.)
Requiring that a person with little or no income sustain 30 hours per week of a work activity before receiving the families' first TANF check ignores the fact that working costs money. TANF applicants cannot magically make their laundry smell fresh and clean, pick work appropriate clothing off trees, manufacture gasoline for a car or bus fare from thin air, etc...
Two-thirds of those on TANF are children. Full family sanctions hurt children…
Small STL County Munis News
Following up on “Her Dad is Wayne Baker” story from yesterday, one reader writes… “Sounds to me like Wes Dalton successfully offered a bribe on behalf of Wayne Baker to Keith Cheung who accepted it. Koster should prosecute it. It's even good politics for Koster to do it. All prosecutor no politics. He could clean up some of local government, burnish his good government credentials and win points with the minority community in St. Louis County.”
And another reader clarifies… I just wanted to let you know that the conference referenced in the Post-Dispatch article “Municipal courts are well-oiled money machine” was not a Missouri Bar
Conference. In fact, our annual meeting in 2006 was held in St. Louis and rotates to different cities in Missouri each year. Jeremy Kohler of the Post-Dispatch updated the article to reflect the correct event…
It was the municipal judges conference.
Meanwhile Better Together, who has been digging, distilling and distributing lots of information about the dismal state of the fracture St. Louis County government, says that many municipalities either lack the capacity or will to fulfill their obligations under the state’s Sunshine law. Read it here.
Where You Going For Spring Break?
Governor Jay Nixon will lead a platoon of legislators on a trade mission to Europe over the legislative Spring Break.
The press release: Gov. Jay Nixon will lead a delegation of Missouri government and business leaders on a trade mission to Italy, Germany and Spain from March 20 through March 28….
Joining Gov. Nixon on the delegation will be First Lady Georganne Nixon; Mike Downing, Director of the Missouri Department of Economic Development; Richard Fordyce, Director of the Missouri Department of Agriculture; Senate President Pro Tem Tom Dempsey; House Speaker John Diehl; State Sen. Jill Schupp; and State Rep. John Rizzo. The Missouri delegation also will include representatives of several businesses and organizations, including Blakemore Ag-Plastics, Intek Corp., Shiloh Innovations, Healthy Harvest Products, Missouri Corn Growers, Masterclock, and Enginuity Worldwide… Travel costs for Governor and Mrs. Nixon will be covered by the Hawthorn Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting economic growth in Missouri. State taxpayer funds will not be used…
NYTimes on Medicaid Expansion
Not that a NYTimes editorial will change any minds in the Republican state legislature, but here’s their editorial on Medicaid expansion in “red states…”
The federal government pays 100 percent of the costs of covering newly eligible people through 2016, shifting down to 90 percent in 2020 and future years. This is a huge benefit to the states, since more health coverage means a healthier population, fewer people losing jobs because of health crises, greater productivity at work, fewer people getting charity care at costly hospital emergency rooms, and less strain on hospital and clinic budgets. States that have not expanded Medicaid say it will strain them to pay even 10 percent of the costs. They insist that if the federal government pulls back from paying 90 percent, they will have to pick up more of the tab — but there is no reason to believe that will happen, and if it does, it can be resolved when it arises.
Schmitt Panders to People Like Me
Shameless, shameless… Here’s the press release from Sen. Eric Schmitt’s office regarding your right to grill…
JEFFERSON CITY-Most guests of backyard barbecues bring chips, beverages or their favorite barbecue sauce, but in California uninvited guests from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are bringing testing equipment to study emissions from backyard barbecue grills. Senator Schmitt wants to ensure that this spring and summer, Missourians don't find bureaucrats from the EPA creeping around their backyards looking under the lids of their BBQ grills. Schmitt filed a Resolution today to put the Missouri Senate on record urging the EPA to stay out of Missourians backyards and discouraging any rules that would regulate the use of propane gas barbecue grills.
"With warmer temperatures on the way, many Missourians are looking forward to grilling hamburgers, hot dogs and my personal favorite, pork steaks, with family and friends," Senator Schmitt said. "Nobody wants to peer out their back window to find an EPA agent in a hazard suit testing the emissions of their barbecue grill….
Bits
Most clamoring for ethics reform talks about “adding teeth” to the Missouri Ethics Commission, but Sen. Kiki Curls’ SB 428 appears to be about taking a tooth away. It has its hearing this morning in the Senate Rules Committee. It would prohibit the MEC from imposing a civil penalty when an individual is convicted of a crime.
Governor Jay Nixon nominated Democrat Pat Ann Danner Meyer to the Credit Union Commission.
Today’s Events
From Mary Scruggs’ indispensable events calendar:
Sen. Gina Walsh St. Pat’s Day Breakfast Reception – Bone’s, Jefferson City – 7:30-9 a.m.
Reps. Bill Reiboldt, Bill Lant, Charlie Davis Reception – Missouri Trucking Assn., 102 E. High – 6-8 p.m.
Rep. Bill Otto Reception – Credit Union Assn., Madison St. – 6-8 p.m.
Reps. Brandon Ellington & Kimberly Gardner Reception – JPfenny’s, Jefferson City – 7-9 p.m.
Lobbyist Registrations
Keith Hazelwood added Quik Trip Corporation, Consort Homes LLC, Payne Family Homes LLC, and McKelvey Homes LLC; and deleted Porlier Outdoor Advertising Co., Riverwalk Development LLC
Roxsen Koch added Archview Properties LLC, The Kansas City Star, VC Associates LLC, Sunflower Development Group LLC, and Burke, Swerdling, & Associates
Dwight Scharnhorst added State Historical Society of Missouri
Brian Grace and Kelvin Simmons added Newmark Grubb Zimmer;
Brian Grace, Kelvin Simmons and Rodney Boyd deleted Aviation Technical Services.
Brian Grace and Kelvin Simmons deleted Zimmer Real Estate Services LLC.
Kelvin Simmons deleted Mason Tillman Associates, Ltd.
Happy Birthday
Happy birthdays to Todd Smith (56), former Reps. Tom Self (48) and Billy Pat Wright (78), Earl Simms, Patrick Lynn, and Joe Maxwell (58).