Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Grow Missouri
A new umbrella organization, Grow Missouri, is launching to push for the override of HB 253. See the website here. The members of the Grow Missouri coalition are: Associated Industries of Missouri, Americans for Prosperity, Missouri Club for Growth, National Federation of Independent Businesses, Missouri Chamber of Commerce, Missouri Family Network, Save Missouri Jobs, and United for Missouri.
This is the organization which I would expect to marshal and coordinate fundraising and implementation of a media campaign.
The treasurer of the new campaign committee is Aaron Willard. Willard is a highly-trusted Republican operative who worked in the House under Steve Tilley and then for Ann Wagner in her congressional steamroller.
The website articulates Missouri’s problem as its tax rate. And says that the solution is HB253. It features a countdown clock, presumably with Veto Session, September 11 as the date for action.
And
The groups appear to be planning for a joint rally at the Capitol on September 11.
Jarrett to Exit
Public Service Commission Terry Jarrett announced that he will not seek a reappointment to the commission. See his statement here. His term expires September 11.
The PSC is one of the most powerful commissions. It currently has on vacancy, created earlier this year by Kevin Gunn’s departure. Gunn is a Democrat and Jarrett’s seat would open up a Republican slot. Nixon might make the two appointments together to ease their confirmation in January.
But it’s also possible that Jarrett’s seat could be used to woo a Republican out of the legislature to weaken further their override ability. We’ll see…
No Free Pass for Rea?
Shamed Dogan is considering running in House 93 and challenging Rep. Dwight Scharnhorst’s wife, Rea, who has started a campaign committee.
Dogan lost a three-way race for state representative in 2008. He tallied 33% against victor Andrew Koenig’s 44%. Dogan is now an alderman in Ballwin.
If nothing else, this demonstrates that some St. Louis County Republicans are cool to the idea that Scharnhorst should “hand off” the seat to his wife.
Veto Huddle Next Month
After this week and Governor Jay Nixon’s veto parade has finished, the process begins for Republicans to figure out where they stand.
With the tax cut veto, and the labor bills vetoed, they face a severe slashing of their agenda. The Senate has such an enormous Republican majority that they can override pretty much anything, so the House will be where the battles take place.
It’s expected that House leadership will present all the vetoed bills during their summer caucus (August 15-17 in St. Louis) to determine if and where the caucus has the will and ability to muster overrides. Lobbyist be aware! You want champions for your bills in those summer caucus meetings…
McCaskill Contra Robocalls
This morning “U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill will chair a Senate hearing to examine how fraudulent robocalls are harming consumers, and what more can be done to stop these types of scams and protect the most vulnerable consumers… McCaskill will chair the Subcommittee on Consumer Protection hearing at 10:00 a.m. ET… Robocalls are consistently the top consumer complaint received by the Missouri Attorney General's office, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The FTC alone receives over 200,000 complaints about robocalls per month. The FCC, meanwhile, has seen complaints about robocalls double between 2010 and 2012. The Justice Department has estimated that consumers
lose over $40 billion a year to fraudulent telemarketers in general…”
New Committees
Friends of the 8th Congressional District
This appears to be a grassroots group. The treasurer is John Kelly from Norwood, MO. He may one of the four Kelly siblings who make up The Kellys Gospel Band. Go here to hear their songs… including “Fork in the Road” and “Cloud Nine.”
Missourians for Responsible Lending
The group trying to cap high interest rates and reform pay day loan practices is back. According to this committee they are focusing their efforts on version 2 of their ballot initiative. “Shall Missouri law be amended to limit the annual rate of interest, fees, and finance charges for payday, title, installment, and consumer credit loans and prohibit such lenders from using other transactions to avoid the rate limit?” See the full text here.
New Community Action PAC
Unclear where this PAC is going. The treasurer is Susan Turk, an unabashed anti-reform education advocate in the City of St. Louis. We’ll see…
Help Wanted
Rep. Scott Fitzpatrick is looking for a new legislative assistant. See his bio here.
Bits
Governor Jay Nixon travels to Colorado this weekend to attend a Democratic Governor’s Association “summer policy” meeting. See it here.
The “Save Gordon Parks” charter school coalition keeps banging on the powers-that-be that are trying to shut them down. Their latest press release notes, “No member of the State Board of Education has set foot inside Gordon Parks. The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, which works for the State Board, also has never visited our school.”
Sen. Ryan Silvey held his golf tournament yesterday. His re-election isn’t until 2016, but he’s not the sort of fellow to wait for the starting gun. Word is that among the seventy or so golfers were a mix of lobbyists, constituents and colleagues with pledges of about $90K.
Lobbyist Registrations
From the Pelopidas website:
Elizabeth Lauber added Lynn Flowers, Flowers Energy Consulting LLC.
John R Parris and Kim Tuttle deleted Motorola Incorporated.
Notes
“Flowers Energy Consulting, LLC provides the strategy, insight and perspective clients need to navigate the complexities of today’s energy markets and get top value for their infrastructure investments.” See the website here.
And, it’s said that Luana Gifford (yesterday) deleted her registration with AFL-CIO because although she will still pretty much do the same job she’s been doing, now she will be employed directly by AFT-420.
Birthdays
Happy birthdays to former Rep. Cole McNary (49), and PoliticMO’s Eli Yokley.