Monday, August 24, 2015
Allen for House 100
Word is that Mike Allen will be running for House 100 in 2016. Allen is the husband of termed incumbent, Rep. Sue Allen.
A Rep. Mike Allen would hardly be like a fifth term of Sue Allen as Mike, with experience CFO at Rothschild Development, would bring an entirely different skill set than his wife did.
Hawley Gets $100K Check
Josh Hawley, Republican candidate for attorney general, received a $100,000 check from Peter Thiel, who was a co-founder of Paypal. It’s interesting because Hawley is running as a social conservative, but one imagines the west coast techie crowd as more libertarian than conservative in their political beliefs.
Follow-Up on Yancy
Yancy Williams is not leaving the Senate to join the Sen. Kurt Schaefer campaign for attorney general as I speculated last week. Instead he’s leaving his job in the building for different political work which is mostly out of state for the next few months…
Pearson’s Gifts
The Springfield News-Leader has an article on lobbyists’ gifts, but the spotlight hits an unusual target… the staffer instead of the legislator. See it here.
Pull Quote: “Scott Pearson, the legislative aide for Rep. Kevin Austin, R-Springfield, received $2,018 worth of lobbyists’ gifts in 2015, according to a report on the Missouri Ethics Commission website. That amount is almost double the $1,262 Austin received in gifts and is more than any other legislative aide received this year, according to the commission’s data. The amount in gifts Pearson received would rank as the ninth highest among state representatives this year if he were a legislator, according to data on the commission’s website… Of the 114 gifts Pearson received, 112 were for meals…”
Building denizen: “As a staffer this is a nightmare story, never want to be in the news period, but definitely never for something like this…”
Barnes on “Nixon Notes”
Rep. Jay Barnes attacks Governor Jay Nixon’s stadium “scheme.” Read it here.
Pull Quote: The late Tom Schweich said there were two types of corruption in politics. The first is the straight-forward bribe. It’s rare. The second type he described as the short-circuiting of the ordinary political process by those with power and money – whether politicians, donors, or political insiders. Gov. Nixon’s stadium scheme is the worst and biggest example of type-two corruption in Missouri in at least a decade. He put together a scheme to avoid Sunshine Laws, avoid public votes, and avoid legal oversight as long as possible in the hopes that he could spend enough money to intimidate the legislature into backing down and put additional pressure on judges determining the legality of his financing plan. His theory is that if he just starts spending it, no one will have the guts to stop him….
But NFL and bond buyers beware: Gov. Nixon is the most veto over-ridden governor in the history of our state. He has close to zero influence on what the legislature does. He does not know what legislators think because he doesn’t bother to speak with any. The legislature opposes the project and will not blink….
Endorsements for Cig Tax For Early Childhood
St. Louis Business Journal editorial weighs the various proposals for using a hypothetical increase in the cigarette tax. See it here.
Pull Quote: Perhaps the two educational efforts will combine, although right now that doesn’t seem to be the case. Either is better than the 40-cent transportation option, which should come from the gas tax, also lower in our state than in others. And best of all is investing for the long run by focusing on early childhood education. It’s a matter of paying it forward…
And black elected and clergy also endorsed the idea of a cig tax increase for early childhood. See the press conference here.
Sen. Jamilah Nasheed: “If we are looking to reduce crime in St. Louis, we have to start with early childhood. If we are looking create jobs in the African-American community when it comes to our young folk, we have to start with early childhood education, so again I stand here in support of funding going towards early childhood rather than scholarships.”
Red Light Follow-Up
Readers noted that in my “Who Won the Week” I incorrectly said that the Supreme Court had outlaw red light cameras. “Supreme Court did not outlaw red light cameras. Going forward, you must identify the driver (some MO cities were already doing this) & assess points…”
Bits
Kansas City Star asks why no InternGates in Kansas, only Missouri. See one possible answer here.
Roll Call writes about everyone combing through the Ashley Madison leak looking for suspicious email addresses. A friendly reminder from the Lanny Davis School of Scandals: “tell it early, tell it all, tell it yourself.”
If you’re in Soulard tomorrow night, feel free to some have a beer with me.
Today’s Events
From Mary Scruggs’ indispensable events calendar:
Rep. Becky Ruth Golf - Union Hills Golf Course – Pevely – 8:30 a.m. start
$5K+ Contributions
Citizens to Elect Don Gosen - $10,000 from Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Kansas City PAC for Missouri.
Friends of Caleb Jones - $10,000 from RightCHOICE Managed Care.
Hawley for Missouri - $100,000 from Peter Thiel.
Friends of Mike Cunningham 16 - $10,000 from Committee to Elect Ron Richard.
Birthdays
Happy birthday to former Governor Bob Holden (66), and Anna Crosslin.