Wednesday, April 16, 2014
Student Transfer
The House continued to work on the student transfer issue. There’s a bit of a tug-of-war over what to include in the bill.
Education Chair Steve Cookson is said to want some items included – school calendar, for example – while others want to keep it clean enough that bill won’t be weighed down. Reps. Jay Barnes and Mike Cierpiot are providing the counterbalance to Cookson, and thus far it appears that Cookson is losing the battle. The House may widen the availability of public funds to go to private schools. This could include religious schools – as long as their governed by a lay board.
One lobbyist is watching with great curiosity how Governor Jay Nixon handles the issue. Given his troubled past relations with the African American community over desegregation decades ago, will he be nervous about missteps with this bill?
The Senate student transfer bill won Yes votes from Sens. Maria Chappelle-Nadal, Kiki Curls and Jamilah Nasheed. Yet in the House the current guess is that only Rep. Penny Hubbard might be on-board with this student transfer bill. In part at least, it’s because of the perceived threat of public money being siphoned off to private schools. Would those concerns amount to a Nixon veto this summer?
And
There’s some talk that Cookson will not be Education chair next session. Under that scenario he might move over to High Education, where Rep. Mike Thomson is termed.
April Quarters
Attorney General Chris Koster raised $539,364, spent $127,423, and has $2,003,616 on-hand. His main expenses were his campaign team at Hilltop Public Solutions ($43K), and fundraiser Margaret Onken ($50K) and travel expenses.
Catherine Hanaway, who is vying to be his 2016 gubernatorial opponent, raised $307,975 raised with $301,612 on-hand. The money wasn’t too impressive; half of it came from Rex Sinquefield. What was interesting was the number of sitting legislators who gave money to her: Sens. Tom Dempsey, Ron Richard, Brian Munzlinger, Will Kraus, and Mike Kehoe; Reps. Mike Cierpoit, Anne Zerr, Bill Lant, Sue Allen, Bill Rehioldt, Tom Flanigan, Sheila Solon, and Marsha Haefner. It’s interesting that Hanaway appears to be the early favorite among the Republican legislature…
Attorney General Positioning
Sen. Eric Schmitt raised $24,150 and has $866,015; Sen. Kurt Schaefer raised $105,215 and has $859,092
Senate 2
Vicki Schneider raised $256,802 (of which $245K is a loan from herself), $301,430 on-hand. And Bob Onder raised $208,520 (of which $200K is a loan from himself) and has $288,156 on-hand. Schneider’s gambit puts her in the lead with cash, and – looking through her report – she also had a lot of small dollar donors.
Senate 22
Rep. Jeff Roorda raised $40,324 and has $196,513 on-hand. And Rep. Paul Wieland raised $9,560 and has $24,522 on-hand. This money advantage that Roorda has built is – unfortunately for him – not very meaningful. Republicans will likely pour money into the race and give Wieland all the resources he needs. This is especially true after Dems failed to recruit anyone in Senate 16, Senate 18, and Senate 30.
Senate 24
Republican Jack Spooner raised $104,574.01, spent nothing and has $104K on-hand. Republican Jay Ashcroft started his committee after the filing deadline, but I assume he’ll continue to add to the large contributions he’s already received. As some point Spooner will have to decide if he really was signing up for to be in a dog-fight Republican primary…
The Democrat, Rep. Jill Schupp chugged along, raising another $81,102. She now has $316,326 on-hand.
Senate 34
Democrat Robert Stuber raised $40,085 (of which $15K was a loan to himself) and has $39,803 on-hand
House 90
In Rep. Rick Stream’s (termed) district, Republican Gina Jaksetic received help from House Republicans and quickly raised $57,701. She spent close to nothing and has $57,382 on-hand. Democrat Deb Lavender raised $22,663 and has $85,292 on-hand.
House 94
Rep. Vicki Englund and former Rep. Cloria Brown face off for a third time. Brown raised $14,447 and has $26,241 on-hand; Englund raised $9,625 and has $34,211 on-hand. Englund just finished a successful re-election campaign to the Lindbergh School Board. The non-presidential turn-out is thought to favor Brown, but Englund will benefit from being at the top of the Democrats’ protection list as an incumbent.
St. Louis County Executive
Democratic challenger Steve Stenger nosed out incumbent Charlie Dooley in the money race. Stenger raced $252K while Dooley raised $241K. Stenger’s cash on-hand lead is now $794K to $607K. It’s impressive to outrace an incumbent, but I doubt it’s enough to outweigh the other advantages of incumbency. Meanwhile Republican Rick Stream raised $29K and has $67K on-hand.
Randoms
Rumors have Sen. Scott Sifton thinking about attorney general in 2016. He raised $45,112 and has $150,380 on-hand.
St. Louis County Assessor Jake Zimmerman raised $38,976 has $282,912 on-hand.
Rep. Todd Richardson raised $15,400 and has $60,537 on-hand.
Rep. Caleb Jones raised $13,900 and has $46,867 on-hand.
Rep. Kathy Swan raised $9,195 and has $36,025 on-hand.
Large War-chests Without 2014 Contests
Speaker Tim Jones: $962,126
Former Speaker Steve Tilley: $875,659
Sen. Eric Schmitt: $866,015
Sen. Kurt Schaefer: $859,092
St. Louis Collector of Revenues Gregg Daly: $617,382
Jackson County Executive Mike Sanders: $552,366
State Tax Commissioner Victor Callahan: $541,544
St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay: $450,823
Senate Floor Leader Ron Richard: $402,808
Sen. Mike Parson: $397,751
House Floor Leader John Diehl: $397,531
Kansas City Mayor Sly James: $323,823
Sen. Tom Dempsey: $196,213
What Will Become of Their Money?
Governor Jay Nixon continues to spend down the leftovers from his landslide 2012 win. He’s still paying campaign manager Oren Shur, and then there are lots of incidentals – meals, postage, software, flowers etc. Nixon spent $51K and has $384K on-hand.
And Treasurer Clint Zweifel has $251,329 on-hand.
The Kindest Sweetest Kids in the State
Today in the halls will be the 5th graders from St. Margaret of Scotland School. My son (kindergarten) and daughter (3rd grade) go there. The school was featured in the Post-Dispatch a few weeks back as a city school that continues to thrive. The kids plan to testify in the Progress and Development Committee in favor of SB 827 which would prohibit the use of corporal punishment to discipline students in schools.
Fundraising Calendar
Today’s fundraising events from Mary Scruggs’ indispensable events calendar:
Legislative Charity Softball Tournament – Lions & Eagles Fields, Jefferson City – 5:30 p.m.
Note: The Speaker’s team is the favorite to win this year with veteran stand-outs such as Chris Roepe and Rich AuBuchon.
Lobbyist Registrations
From the Gate Way Group website:
Greta Bassett-Seymour added MODOT & Patrol Employees’ Retirement System.
Mary R Byrne and Anne Gassel added Cooper Governmental Services.
Kelly Byrne added Organizing for Action.
Michael H Morris added Missouri Asphalt Pavement Association.
Dawn Nicklas added CWA-MPLC.
Jill Noble added Concerned Women for America of Missouri.
Whitney ODaniel added The Tech Road Inc.
Charles Ballard deleted Agape Boarding School.
$5K+ Contributions
Missouri Roundtable For Life - $8,000 from Fred Sauer.
Missourians for Tim Jones - $5,400 from CBH Services.
Notes on Money
Both of these contributions were made much earlier, but seem to have come to light in the quarterly filings and are being reported now.
Birthdays
Happy birthdays to John Coffman and St. Louis Alderman Shane Cohn.