Thursday, December 7, 2017
Rumorville: MOSERS Starts Leader Search
Word is that the Missouri State Employee Retirement System has embarked on a national search for a new executive director.
John Watson, a long-time Jay Nixon aide, is the current head of MOSERS and I’m told his contract is up next year. With the 2016 election, the MOSERS Board of Trustees saw some turn-over and it appears – at the very least – that the new board is evaluating its options.
Q&A #1: What’s The State of MMJ?
Short answer: Potentially chaos ahead.
It appears that both the Brad Bradshaw initiative petition and the New Approach initiative petition are very close to reaching the necessary signatures for putting medical marijuana on the ballot.
One MOScout tipster believes that FieldWorks – which is collecting signatures for the minimum wage IP – was also working on the New Approach collection in the 2nd Congressional District. That’s historically a challenging district to collect signatures in. If it’s true, New Approach may be adding a little insurance to their numbers to make sure they hit it this time.
(No word right now on where the third initiative petition stands. It would be a statutory change while Bradshaw and NA are both constitutional.)
Bradshaw and NA are very different model for implementing medical marijuana. However we’re in uncharted territory here if both make the ballot. Will the voters read the summaries, and distinguish between the two? My guess is voters will broadly either vote Yes on both, or No on both. And remember we might have three….
eMailbag: Ed Reform Wounded
One senator writes in to correct my analysis that the Greitens “handling” of the State Board of Education wasn’t a game changer.
“Anyone who thinks that the SBOE debacle doesn’t change the game on Ed Reform is crazy. May not change who is for and against [but] has huge implications on how hard opponents fight it and where it drops on the priority list in the Senate given the heightened opposition.”
Wasinger Does Springfield
The latest invite I’ve seen to a David Wasinger fundraiser (next Wednesday) is impressive. It’s a “meet and greet,” but I assume checks won’t be declined. The hosts are Republican heavies Peter and Jo Dee Herschend, Greg and Kim Horton, Gordon and Laura Kinne, and Joseph and Jennifer Passanise… plus three former Missouri Republican Party Chairs… David Cole, Tom Fowler and Doug Russell.
With the holidays just weeks away, this quarter’s close is a challenging time to be collecting checks. I’m expecting that Wasinger will outraise his primary rival, Rep. Paul Curtman by a significant margin. If that’s the case, he enters 2018 as the favorite to take on incumbent auditor Nicole Galloway.
Axiom Touts Direct Voter Contact Division
Press Release: Axiom Strategies is proud to introduce its Direct Voter Contact (DVC) division as part of its suite of services for political and corporate clients. Nick Schulte, Vice President of Direct Voter Contact at Axiom Strategies, has been an indispensable part of the Axiom team since 2012. In that time, he has led Axiom in its direct voter contact operations, sending over 125 million mailers, making over 100 million phone calls, and serving over 200 million online impressions. Under Schulte’s leadership, Axiom’s Direct Voter Contact division has won 66 industry awards -- more than any other direct mail firm in the country… In March of 2012 [Schulte] spent most of his working days in a cubicle in his hometown of St. Louis working for a large defense company, armed with a bachelor’s degree in Finance, a newly-minted MBA, and six years of experience in corporate finance. Looking for a change, Nick accepted a job working at Axiom and has worked approximately 1,000 hours per week ever since….
Bits
Jason Hancock reports that the governor and his staff use Confide. Read it here.
Yesterday’s lobbyist registrations showed Tom Holloway delisting the Missouri State Medical Association. Word is that he’s been planning to retire, and finally did.
Sen. Brian Munzlinger makes “conflicts” list. See it here.
Post-Dispatch writes about Greitens stacking Clean Water Commission here. The mighty Jason Rosenbaum shares his thoughts here.
The peerless John Combest reminds me it’s Pearl Harbor Day.
Governor Eric Greitens appointed Kevin Rosenbohm to the Air Conservation Commission.
Gina Loudon heart Roy Moore. See it here.
Help Wanted
MO-FEAT seeks Executive Director. “Executive Director for Missouri Families for Effective Autism Treatment (MO-FEAT), an organization dedicated to providing education, advocacy, and support for families and the autism community. The Executive Director is a 0.50 to 0.75 FTE position that collaborates with and reports to the Executive Board of MO-FEAT. The board is comprised of parents of individuals with ASD, professionals working to improve the lives of individuals affected by ASD, and other advocates and stakeholders…” See the ad here.
Lobbyists Registrations
Dawn Nicklas added Missouri State Utility Workers Conference, Sierra Club Missouri Chapter, and Missouri Association of Nursing Home Administrators; and deleted Missouri League of Nursing Home Administrators, and Missouri State Labor Utility Conference.
Jeffrey Altmann added John Beal Roofing.
Steven Tilley and Shawn Rigger deleted Uber Technologies Inc.
Ronald Reiling deleted Missouri Dealers & Retreaders Assn.
Larry Rohrbach deleted Larry Rohrbach, and Flotron & McIntosh LLC.
Birthdays
Happy birthdays to Sen. Kiki Curls, former Reps. Rodney Hubbard and Churie Spreng, Bree Bowen, and Nick Maddux.