Monday, June 26, 2017
Driving the Day
From AP: “When the justices take the bench Monday, they are expected to decide the case of Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, which was excluded from a state grant program to pay for soft surfaces on playgrounds run by not-for-profit groups. The case is being closely watched by advocates of school vouchers, who hope the court will make it easier to use state money to pay for private, religious schooling in states that now prohibit it…”
And
The rumor is that Justice Anthony Kennedy may announce his retirement….
Greitens Does Koch
Governor Eric Greitens attended a Koch brothers pow-wow. The huge Republican donors help drive the conservative agenda nationally, and will be viewed as one more data point that Greitens has DC on his GPS.
Follow-Up on Senate 24
Last weekend’s poll (see it here) showed Sen. Jill Schupp is a consistent lead against three different Republicans whose names have been mentioned: former Rep. Sue Allen, County Councilwoman Colleen Wasinger and former candidate Jack Spooner. Despite the conventional wisdom that Republicans would be better off running a woman against Schupp, the poll didn’t find any difference by gender.
And one observer noted how Trump approval appears to be playing quite differently in these state senate districts: Interesting that individual districts are being galvanized under Trump. Conservative base becoming galvanized as well as moderates and liberals. Will be interesting to see how it plays out with Claire McCaskill.
Fox Would “Most Likely” Back Hawley?
USA TODAY’s Deirdre Shesgreen follows up on her Josh Hawley story from last week. The best part is the quotes from Sam Fox at the end where we learn that Congresswoman Ann Wagner’s good friends call her “Annie,” and Fox will “most likely” back Hawley if he runs.
Pull Quote: “Annie’s a good friend of mine,” Fox said. “(But) you don’t pick people because of your friendship … You pick the people that you think are capable of doing the very best job.”
Fox said he didn’t ask Hawley directly about his plans for 2018. But “I told him if he ran, I would most likely back him,” Fox said. And now that his letter has hit the street, Fox said, Hawley is “going to be inundated with calls and letters.”
Corrections Working on Reentry
The Sunday Post-Dispatch had a front page article on the challenges of offenders reentering society. See it here.
And Corrections is currently bidding out the services contract. From the RFP: The Department of Corrections believes the methods of assisting the offender in reintegration into the community, developing partnerships with organizations that aid the offender in an array of assessed problem areas, and actively participating in working with the Department of Corrections on performance measures are important aspects of successful management of offenders. Approximately ninety-seven percent (97%) of the people in Missouri’s prisons will one day be released. Within three (3) years of release, a significant number of those will go back to prison for a new crime. For each new crime, there is a new victim and new costs to Missouri’s communities. The Department of Corrections is working to increase the successful reentry of offenders into the community and to decrease the number of people returning to prison. The Department of Corrections’ approach to this effort is through the implementation of effective community-based interventions and the application of evidence-based practices.
Pursuant to Executive Order 09-16, the Department of Corrections has established forty-four (44) local or community Missouri Reentry Process (MRP) teams across the state. The mission of the MRP teams is to integrate successful offender reentry principles and practices in state agencies and communities resulting in partnerships that enhance offender self-sufficiency, reduce re-incarceration, and improve public safety… The Department of Corrections has budgeted $300,000 for pre and post release reentry services for each of four regions as described herein, for a total of $1,200,000.
The Future is Coming
After Missouri’s stop-and-go approach to Tesla and Uber, it’s hard to imagine the we will be a front-runner in embracing the self-driving revolution – as lobbyist Brian Grace hopes.
Galloway Snarks Greitens
Remember Governor Eric Greitens’ six-week “freeze” in new regulations? As part of that executive order he also told the state agencies to go back and make sure current regulations were worth the burden.
Auditor Nicole Galloway released an audit last week finding how well the agencies were doing this – as current statute instructed.
The press release: “The review did not include later duplicative review requirements created by
executive order. Executive Order 17-03 states that "Every State Agency shall undertake a review of every regulation under its jurisdiction." As noted, these reviews are already required by Section 536.175, RSMo, which became law in 2012…”
Help Wanted
Ygrene Energy Fund seeks Government Relations Director. “Ygrene Energy Fund is a leading provider of clean energy financing for residential and commercial properties throughout the United States… The Regional Director of Government Affairs is responsible for identifying, advocating for and executing on Ygrene's governmental initiatives for all departments and other Ygrene operations in their respective Region. This position owns the relationships with state elected officials, government association executives and regulatory agencies in this region and is responsible for creating and sustaining client, business and government strategic alliances that benefit mutual interests to enable appropriate access to governments and government officials with a focus on Ygrene's products…” See the ad here.
Today’s Events
From Mary Scruggs’ indispensable calendar:
Capitol Commission Legislator’s Golf – Osage National – Lake Ozark – 9AM.
Sen. Paul Wieland Golf – Oak Valley Golf Course – Pevely – 9AM.
Lobbyists Registrations
Carla Capps added Cognosante LLC.
$5K+ Contributions
Midwest Region Laborers’ Political League Education Fund - $7,069 from Laborers Supplemental Dues Fund.
Young Guns Missouri PAC - $10,000 from Ernie Gibson.
Young Guns Missouri PAC - $10,000 from Lee Mechanical Contractors Inc.
Mantovani for STL - $10,000 from Eric Karlovic.
Birthdays
Happy birthday to Reps. Kurt Bahr, Kirk Mathews (the big 6-0), and Steve Cookson, Mark Coulter and Dick Aldrich.