MOScout Daily Update: House Warns on Budget - Plocher Complaint Dismissed - Brattin Gets MRL - Scharf’s Trump Support Solid and more…
1 Big Thing: House Rattles Budget Saber
In 15 years, I haven’t seen a special session because the legislature missed its constitutional deadline, but… one lobbyist with close ties to House budgeters says it could happen.
· “If the Senate thinks that it can just play hot potato and drop a budget on the House too late for a real conference next week (blaming Sen. Bill Eigel’s crew for it), they’ve got another thing coming.”
· “At some point the House has to stand up for its institutional prerogative – they didn’t spend months working on a budget to let [Senate Appropriations Chair] Lincoln [Hough] do all the adding and editing without having another say.”
· Yesterday in Caucus, Budget Chair Cody Smith received strong encouragement to fight for the House’s position – even if that means a possible (dreaded) special session.
Plocher Gets Complaint Dismissed
The House Ethics Committee voted to dismiss the complaint against Speaker Dean Plocher. Read Kurt Erickson’s reporting here.
· Ending an eight-month-long drama, a bipartisan panel of state lawmakers on Monday torpedoed an ethics complaint against the leader of the Missouri House. Speaker Dean Plocher immediately claimed he was exonerated from a series of “false allegations” leveled against him, which triggered the politically charged investigation by the House Ethics Committee.
· The Des Peres Republican, who is term limited and is running for secretary of state, compared himself to former President Donald Trump, who has faced a litany of legal problems as he seeks a second term in the White House… “We now know the bureaucrats attempted a coup,” Plocher said. “I adamantly deny that I obstructed anything. I was truly exonerated.”
Meanwhile
Ethics Chair Hannah Kelly released a statement… “[I]t became clear very early on in this process that the Speaker’s Office and some members of this committee did not want most of what we learned to ever see the light of day… The Speaker's obstruction of the ethics investigation, coupled with his dishonesty and intimidation tactics, should concern every member of the House…”
What It Means
· The dismissal doesn’t change the basic equation of Plocher’s secretary of state bid. He still has the most money in the bank, and the greatest vulnerability in that field.
· The notion that the non-partisan staff was engaged in a “coup” is ridiculous, and Plocher’s willingness to spew such outlandish statements is unfortunate for the institution of the House.
MRL Picks Brattin
Press release: Rick Brattin announced that he has received Missouri Right to Life PAC’s exclusive endorsement in the 31st State Senate District Republican primary… “Pro-life Missourians must champion legislators who are committed to working to ensure that laws are passed that prohibit public funding from being appropriated to abortion providers, such as Planned Parenthood,” Missouri Right to Life PAC Chairman Dave Plemmons said.
What It Means
This is the latest move of MRL to align themselves with the Freedom Caucus. They previously endorsed Rep. Adam Schnelting in Senate 23, and Rep. Brad Hudson in Senate 33.
MRL is powerful brand among Republican primary voters, and this is a nice boost for Brattin, though his opponents will also rightfully claim to be 100% pro-life.
From a March MOScout poll of Republican primary voters…
Would the endorsement of Missouri Right to Life make you much more likely, somewhat more likely, less likely or make no difference in support of that candidate?
Much more likely: 41%
Somewhat more likely: 14%
Less likely: 14%
No difference: 32%
Scharf’s Trump Support Solid
Political consultant Gregg Keller who’s helping Will Scharf’s AG campaign, squealed on Twitter that Scharf’s “opponent tried to fool President Trump into going against his own Legal Defense Team Member, based on his choice of campaign vendors, and it backfired bigly.”
Daily Beast reports, “Scharf, a Trump lawyer and candidate for Missouri Attorney General, has hired ‘enemy No. 1’ in Trumpworld to run his campaign: Axiom Strategies. Axiom landed on Trump’s blacklist because its founder, prominent GOP operative Jeff Roe, along with a number of people in Roe’s orbit, helped administer Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s presidential efforts…
‘President Trump loves the work Will Scharf is doing and doesn’t care about what campaign vendors he uses,’ a Trump adviser told The Daily Beast.”
· Inside Team Scharf, some finger Alex Meyer as the culprit who tried to turn Trump. “It backfired badly.”
Why It Matters
The conventional wisdom is that a Trump endorsement could boost any Missouri Republican to a statewide primary victory.
No 340B Fireworks (Yet)
I was wrong thinking that we’d get a little speechifying on the third read of Sen. Justin Brown’s SB 571. Not a peep. But…
· I got a fair amount of traffic on the issue. There are clearly forces aligning to fight this – now in the House, or to the governor personally.
· PhRMA, which represents the big drug companies, has hired lobbyist Steven Tilley to pitch their case.
Driving the Morning: Diehl’s Roundup Bill
This is the time of session where House bills in the Senate, and Senate bills in the House, have a chance to make one mad dash spurt across the finish line if things go right.
This morning in the Senate Agriculture Committee
· Rep. Jamie Burger’s HB 2153 is similar to Committee Chair Jason Bean’s bill concerning exporting water which was stalled under heavy questioning on the Senate floor.
· Rep. Dane Diehl’s HB 2763 which would protect Roundup from liability in some lawsuits, and faced bipartisan opposition (though still garnering 91 votes) on the House floor.
Ashcroft: I’m Still Winning!
Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft’s campaign sent an email blast yesterday touting a new poll showing him with – once again – a double digit lead in the gubernatorial race. According to the news article, the poll was conducted by the Tyson Group (April 23-26, 500 sample size, +/- 4.3% MOE)…
SOS Jay Ashcroft: 36%
Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe: 11%
State Sen. Bill Eigel: 3%
But…
· 3 months left
· 40% still undecided
· Kehoe with millions more in the bank
In some sense, this race is just getting started…
$5K+ Contributions
Missourians for Constitutional Freedom (pro-reproductive rights IP) - $825,000 from Planned Parenthood Great Plains Votes (Overland Park, KS).
Missourians for Constitutional Freedom - $250,000 from American Civil Liberties Union, Inc. (New York, NY).
Winning for Missouri Education (pro-sports betting IP) - $400,000 from Betfair Interactive US, LLC (Jersey City, NJ).
American Dream PAC (pro-Kehoe) - $9,275 from Air Sansone LLC.
American Dream PAC - $17,731 from DDI Media (Drury Displays Inc.).
The Committee to Keep the Chiefs and Royals in Jackson County - $41,600 from Kansas City Royals Baseball Club.
The Committee to Keep the Chiefs and Royals in Jackson County - $41,600 from Kansas City Chiefs Football Club.
Paladin PAC - $10,000 from J&J Ventures Gaming of Missouri, LLC.
MBA Truman Region PAC - $6,101 from Country Club Bank.
Lobbyists Registrations
Steven Tilley added PhRMA.
Birthdays
Happy birthdays to Andy Blunt and Julie Murphy Finn.