Friday, December 11, 2015
House Pre-Files of Interest
Here are some House bills to keep an eye on….
Rep. Eric Burlison has re-filed his right to work legislation (HB 1462).
And Rep. Bill Lant, Workforce Standards Committee chair, also has a pack of anti-labor bills, including some on prevailing wage like HB 1699 (School Construction Act which exempts construction and maintenance work done for certain school districts) and HB 1700 (Allows public bodies to opt out of prevailing wage laws for the construction of public works projects that are $750,000 or less).
Rep. Jay Houghton, chair of Agricultral Policy Committee, pre-filed HB 1412 (Specifies that the Department of Agriculture has the authority to regulate agricultural deer).
Rep. Mike Leara is carrying HB 1561 to reconfigure the St. Louis County sales tax pool system.
Rep. Caleb Rowden filed his ethics bills again. Will they get legs this year?
HB 1572 (bans lobbyists gifts), HB 1573 (one-year wait for legislators before lobbying), HB 1574 (no lobbyists with candidate committees), and HB 1575 (travel gift disclosures).
Rep. Caleb Jones is an impact player – though he often achieves his goals without telegraphing them via pre-filing. He’s filed HB 1579 (Establishes the Missouri Health Information Exchange Commission) and HB 1648 (Establishes the Missouri Qualified Gaseous Biofuel Producer Incentive Fund)
Rep. Steve Cookson’s HB 1626 raises the minimum teacher salaries.
Rep. Chuck Basye’s HB 1651 outlines how the Public Service Commission changes the “rate of return” allowed by corporations it regulates.
Rep. Sheila Solon’s HB 1678 might get some traction after all the Interngate mess. It “requires public institutions of higher education to implement memorandums of understanding with law enforcement with respect to sexual assaults on campus.”
And Rep. Kathy Swan’s HB 1609 is yet another effort to rein in tax credit programs.
Smith Gets Steering Spot
The press release: Congressman Jason Smith (MO-08) was elected today by his Republican colleagues to serve on the Republican Steering Committee, a select group of Republican House leaders tasked with choosing committee chairmanships and memberships… The last Missourian to serve on Steering Committee was now-U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt before his election as the House Republican Whip.
What It Means
Folks think this is great news, not just for the political future of Smith, but for Missouri. He’s in a position to help his colleagues – particularly Congressmen Sam Graves and Blaine Luetkemeyer as they jockey to improve their status.
McCaskill Contra Marco
In a fun and candid interview Senator Claire McCaskill lets loose on a few subjects. See it here.
Pull Quote: McCaskill praised Florida Sen. Marco Rubio as smart and capable of winning the GOP nomination but rebuked him for being weak on immigration. “I watched him find that sweet spot of compromise on immigration reform, but then he broke down like a cheap shotgun the minute the right started chewing on his rear end,” she said. “He like — ‘What? Me? Immigration reform? What? I’m — no, no, meh, no. Wasn’t me.’ And that was really disappointing to me. That’s not what presidents are made of.”
He Said He Said
The press release from John Brunner’s camp hitting back after Eric Greitens called them liars….
On November 23, following an inquiry by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Brunner campaign released a statement which said a recording of a phone call was made because of an initial phone call made by Mr. Greitens of a highly threatening and harassing nature. On Monday, December 7, on *The Mark Reardon Show* Mr. Greitens would not even confirm nor deny the existence the first phone call was ever made, characterizing it as *“absolute lie”*, *“a lie from them, Mark”* and a *“straight-forward lie”*. The press reported Greitens’s statement Monday evening, saying: “The Brunner campaign says the call was recorded because Greitens earlier made threatening phone calls, *a claim Greitens denies*.”
The Brunner Campaign on Thursday announced it had received phone records, as well as a signed affidavit (and will make available by request) from a witness attesting to not only the existence of an initial phone call made by Eric Greitens to John Brunner, but also to the threatening and harassing nature of both calls.
Rex Talk
One observer wonders as Rex Sinquefield looks to the year ahead how he’ll view his initial down payments in the statewide races. In 2014, he seeded a lot of candidates with huge early money checks. Catherine Hanaway and Bev Randles received $1 million dollars each; Sen. Will Kraus was given $100K, and Sen. Eric Schmitt and Sen. Kurt Schaefer each took in $250K.
Yet of those five slots, only Schmitt has kept himself primary-free. Each of the others in mired in difficult primaries. If the initial money was meant to clear the field and help the Sinquefield’s preferred Republican candidates get to the general election without paying the primary toll, the early contributions clearly failed.
Now – as the end of the year approaches – does Sinquefield double down on his first picks, or does he weigh and wait, and see how things shake out before committing more?
We’ll see….
Bits
Playing on all the hype for the new Star Wars movies, Bill Eigel, running in Senate 23, has put together some internet videos playing on the trilogy, and attacking his primary opponent, Rep. Anne Zerr. See it here.
In the large contributions, the son of former Independent presidential candidate Ross Perot shows up giving money to Eric Greitens.
In Connecticut, the governor signs an executive order banning folks on the terro watch list from buying guns… See it here.
Public Service Commissioner Scott Rupp’s latest blog post… See it here.
The Twenty-First Judicial Circuit Commission (St. Louis County) is accepting applications for an associate circuit judge vacancy created by the appointment of Judge Ellen Ribaudo to the circuit bench… The commission will meet for interviews and to select the nominees to be submitted to the governor January 14, 2016… The members of the Twenty-First Circuit Judicial Commission are: Christy Bertelson, Rev. Anthony Witherspoon, Matthew Rossiter, a new commissioner to be elected on December 12, 2015, and Lisa Van Amburg, chief judge of the Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District.
The stadium financing plan was voted out of an aldermanic committee yesterday. See it here.
TV Ad Buys
Bernie Sanders shows up with a TV buy in the Kirksville market during the upcoming Democratic debate. See it here.
Help Wanted
Senate seeks Writer. “The Missouri Senate is seeking a strong staff writer who would be required to prepare press releases, speeches, newsletter articles and other legislative publications under close deadlines and must also have experience in publication layout. Ideal candidates will have a degree in journalism or a closely related field and/or a minimum of three years experience as a writer. Experience with the legislative branch or the ability to understand and quickly learn the legislative process is preferred...” See the ad here.
Today’s Events
From Mary Scruggs’ indispensable events calendar:
Saturday: Caring for Missouri Capitol Masquerade Ball – more info visit Caring4Missouri.org.
Lobbyists Registrations
Jay Reichard added Yoga Alliance.
Tricia Workman and Mike Gibbons added Total Wine & More.
Shannon Cooper and Nancy Giddens added Best Friends Animal Society.
Douglas Piant added Smart Local 36 (Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, Transportation)
Richard Martin deleted Tegsco LLC, and Two Rivers Hospital Inc.
Daniela Engemann deleted Missouri Farmers for Biodiesel.
Jewell Patek deleted Recreational Aviation Foundation, and Lewis and Clark Information Exchange.
$5K+ Contributions
MO Drive Fund - $25,000 from Drive Committee.
Safer Families for Missouri - $10,000 from Andrew O’Brien.
Greitens for Missouri - $25,000 from H Ross Perot Jr.
Grounds for County Legislature - $10,000 from Sanders for Jackson County.
Friends of Todd Richardson - $15,000 from Grow Missouri.
MO Petroleum Marketers + Convenience Store Assoc PAC - $11,000 from Cheyenne International LLC.
MO Petroleum Marketers + Convenience Store Assoc PAC - $75,000 from Cheyenne International LLC.
Parson for Missouri - $25,000 from Lewis & Clark Ozark Mountain Forum.
Raise Your Hand for Kids - $10,000 from John Wright.
Raise Your hand for Kids - $5,001 from Tyler Nottberg.
Returning Government to the People - $22,000 from Fred N Sauer.
ASA Midwest PAC - $10,588 from ASA Midwest Council.
Birthdays
Happy birthdays…
Saturday: former Rep. Noel Torpey, Celeste Rueter, Chris Girouard, and Sreenu Dandamudi.
Sunday: Rep. Dan Shaul, former Reps. Curt Dougherty and Gary Fuhr, and Jennae M Neustadt.