Wednesday, November 13, 2013
Early Voting Initiative Petition
Matt Dameron filed three initiative petitions with the secretary of state’s office last week. They all deal with early voting and are basically the same. They propose that the early voting would occur for the six weeks preceding the election. Each election authority would have to have a central location for the early voting. Larger authorities would be required to have satellite offices as well.
Dameron was formerly chief of staff to Chris Koster, so this could be viewed as a Democratic ploy to increase turn-out ahead of Koster’s 2016 gubernatorial race.
It also echoes themes that Secretary of State Jason Kander has been talking about. See his recent interview with the St. Louis Beacon here.
Dameron is also listed as the treasurer for a new campaign committee filed last week. It’s called the Missouri Early Voting Fund, and its stated purpose is to support the early voting constitutional amendment. The deputy treasurer is Ben Jersak, who previously served as assistant scheduler for Governor Jay Nixon.
Nixon’s Border Speech
Governor Jay Nixon outlined his proposal to end the Kansas-Missouri jobs war yesterday.
See Kansas City Star article on it here.
Pull Quote: The timing of the governor’s call for a moratorium caught some Kansas City business leaders, Missouri legislators and Brownback’s top development official off guard. They said that quiet discussions have been underway for more than a year to resolve the border-war issue and that Nixon failed to consult them before going before the chamber with his idea… Missouri state Sen. Ryan Silvey, a Kansas City Republican, accused the governor of a power grab on incentive programs, something he said the Missouri General Assembly would not accept… “What he outlined today is different from what we’ve worked on the past couple of months and won’t pass the legislature,” said Silvey, who attended the chamber speech.
Apparently Silvey is part of a group of legislators working behind the scenes still “massaging” language and hopeful to have something before session starts. However it would presumably require the same fundamental approach – the ability to cut-off incentives to border-hoppers, and the will on both sides of the state-line to do so.
One KC politico says: “The issue of discretion in eco devo programs… isn’t new and in fact the Nixon administration didn’t really warm to the idea until some legislators and KC business leaders began pushing it harder. The sticking point from both skeptics and even some supporters of the idea has been how to keep it nonpolitical as possible. But it is the only way to get to a ‘truce’ and ultimately save Missouri and Kansas taxpayers millions.”
Rep. Jay Barnes gives Nixon a qualified endorsement, noting that Rep. TJ Berry offered a similar notion last year. See Barnes’ blog here. See Berry’s bill here.
Pull Quote: “This isn’t a new idea. Several legislators have worked on it for years – without much, if any, help from Gov. Nixon… Overall, I think Gov. Nixon’s on the right track here. (I think we’d be better off simply getting rid of the Quality Jobs Act-style incentives that favor big businesses who know how to work the bureaucracy – and replacing them with broad-based tax relief.) But the devil’s in the details – and it would be helpful if legislators who worked on these issues were given a heads-up before announcements like this.”
Health Underwriters Form PAC
Missouri Health Underwriters Political Action Committee (Mo-Hupac) was formed yesterday. Who are the Missouri Health Underwriters? “MOAHU is the Missouri Chapter of the National Association of Health Underwriters, which represents more than 100,000 licensed health insurance agents, brokers, general agents, consultants and benefit professionals through more than 200 chapters across America.” See their website here.
Nicastro Follow-Up
Progress Missouri put up a video of DESE Commissioner Chris Nicastro fiddling with her iPad during the Normandy public session. See it here.
From one of the outraged: “Bad enough the kids today (and too many adults) are so addicted to phones and Ipads that they cannot have simple human eye-to-eye interaction. But somebody, please, teach this woman some manners.”
But here’s the other side: “I don’t know who sent you that text about Nicastro, but since she has heard this damned plan nearly every week since June 11, I think she did a remarkable job listening...again. Also how much attention do you have to pay to hear the superintendent asking for ‘more money and more time?’
“Lastly, what didn’t make the story in the Post-Dispatch was the student, parent and non-tenured teachers' disdain for the seniority based layoffs that are forcing (Superintendent Ty) McNichols to make layoffs based in seniority and tenure rather than effectiveness.”
$5K+ Watch
Steve Stenger has another $5K check (below). It’s from the Hoisting Engineers. They wrote him a similar check just one week ago. It appears that Team Stenger is methodically recorded one large check a day as a rule…
And a $5K check from Speaker Tim Jones to the House Republican Campaign Committee should be hitting any day now. Jones has been sending in $5,000 a month, apparently a commitment to the caucus. It’s said he still has about $75K left on his commitment.
eMailbag: Ketcher’s Ethics IP
“Brad Ketcher’s petition does a little more than your first gleaning. It puts capitol staff that work on campaigns and their bosses out of business…”
Lobbyist Registrations
From the Pelopidas website:
Doug Smith deleted Associated General Contractors of Missouri; and added Missouri Automobile Dealers Association.
Trent Ford deleted Career Education Corp.
$5K+Contributions
Citizens for Steve Stenger - $5,001 from Hoisting Engineers Local 513 Political & Educational Fund.
Birthdays
Happy birthdays to former Reps. Jack Jackson and J.C. Kuessner (both 71), SSM’s Steve Hoven, and BCBS’ Melissa Panettiere.
Congratulations
And congratulations to Sammy and Melissa Panettiere on the birth of their son, Henry Joseph Panettiere (7lbs, 4 oz.).