MOScout Daily Update: Parson Raises $114K - Early Override Talk - Senate 25 Simmers - CL PAC Hearts Rehder? and more....

The deadline for reporting July campaign finance quarters is 5PM today.  But here are a few interesting ones from folks filing ahead of the deadline…

Early July Quarters

Parson

Governor Mike Parson raised $114,701, and now has a little over $1.1 million.

·         That’s a solid quarter from the sitting governor. Nothing blockbuster, no shock-and-awe, but considering contribution limits it’s passable.

·         His allied PAC, Uniting Missouri, hasn’t reported yet.  There’s another bundle of cash in that committee, and it doesn’t have to play by the limits.

·         Interesting to note, $5K monthly retainer payments to National Research Strategies LLC, which looks like a David Barklage company. 

Roberts

In Senate 5, Steven Roberts Jr. reported $76,181 on-hand.  That was powered by a $50K locan he made to the campaign, but his report also included some notable St. Louis civvies.

CL PAC

Folks watch CL PAC because it’s one of the committees with ties to the Senate’s Conservative Caucus. 

·         Its July report showed just two contributions: $50,000 from David Steward and $10,000 from the Nexus Group PAC

·         Among its expenditures, CL PAC moved some money around to different PAC, paid Jim Lembke’s Liberty Ink a modest $500/month for “fundraising.”

·         The only candidate directly benefitting was Rep. Holly Rehder.  Holly PAC received $5,000, and Friends of Holly Rehder received $2,500.

That’s pretty surprising because Rehder warred with the Conservative Caucus over her PDMP legislation during session.

One observer says: Please keep this in mind, if a candidate accepts [CL’s] money it does not necessarily mean that candidate will be a part of the conservative caucus…

Unite. Inspire. Lead.

MNEA’s PAC, Unite. Inspire. Lead, raised $42,443, entirely in small contributions.  It’s a display of the power of their membership to put that many small donors together.  The PAC has no expenditures, and now has $152,976 on-hand.

And

Interestingly Education Week reports on a big change at the National NEA. 

“After years of resistance, delegates of the National Education Association voted to open up membership to non-educator ‘public education allies.’…  The passage of this amendment comes at a time when the NEA is grappling with the aftermath of a Supreme Court decision that made it easier for teachers to leave their unions. While the NEA did not see the steep membership losses that were projected, it has lost tens of thousands of members and fee-payers since the decision. Adding new community members could be a way for the NEA to recoup some of those losses…”

Early Line on Veto Overrides

Friday Governor Mike Parson issued six vetoes.  Veto session is September 11.  Right now it looks like it’ll be an in-and-out affair, perhaps with no overrides attempted.

·         Rep. Chuck Basye’s HB 399 is thought to be most likely to be considered for an override.  See the bill summary here.  The Governor vetoed the bill because he didn’t like a provision it in that required the Director of DHSS to have a medical degree.  Parson said that might prevent a qualified candidate from taking the job. It passed the House 138-4 and passed the Senate 34-0. 

·         There will probably be some conservatives interested in an override attempt on SB 147 which allows motorcyclists to ride without helmets.  But it’s unclear whether Sen. David Sater would be willing to make the override motion.  We’ll see…

Senate 25 Bits

·         Tipster says that Eddy Justice put together a quarter with a ton of small contributions.  “[He’ll] report a quarter that will turn some heads… [maybe outpacing] some statewide candidates in total number of donors at 226… [take out] his loan to the campaign, the average contribution is around $270…”

·         His likely primary opponent Rep. Jeff Shawan hasn’t made an official announcement yet, but his Facebook Page did change from Jeff Shawan for State Representative to Jeff Shawan for Missouri…

Rhoads Terminates Committee

Former Rep. Shawn Rhoads terminated his candidate committee, spending down the final $9K that was in the account since he resigned.  The report’s expenditures included a fair number of charitable contributions as well as an office equipment expense.  Rhoads recently registered to lobby.

Pot Bits

·         AP reports on a study which says legal pot actually decreases teen use of the drug.  See it here. New research suggests legalizing recreational marijuana for U.S. adults in some states may have slightly reduced teens’ odds of using pot. One reason may be that it’s harder and costlier for teens to buy marijuana from licensed dispensaries than from dealers, said lead author Mark Anderson, a health economist at Montana State University. The researchers analyzed national youth health and behavior surveys from 1993 through 2017 that included questions about marijuana use. Responses from 1.4 million high school students were included.

·         Money in munchies?… Snack sales in states where cannabis is legal have been growing at 7.2% a year versus 6% in those states without legal marijuana.  See it here. The increased legalization of cannabis in the U.S. presents big opportunities for the American food and beverage market—particularly for the snack and confectionery category…. [C]ould the “munchies” driven by marijuana use increase sales further? Marijuana consumption has been clinically and anecdotally shown to increase a consumers’ appetite and enjoyment of food….

Birthdays

Happy birthdays to Adriane Crouse and Dionne Flowers.

Condolences

To Sen. Jason Holsman on the passing of his mother, Judy Holsman, after a battle with pancreatic cancer.