Monday, September 18, 2017

Another Night of Violence

Post-Dispatch reports on the latest fall-out from the Stockley verdict here.

Pull Quote: Police made more than 80 arrests downtown Sunday night after violence erupted following hours of peaceful protesting. It marked the third night of violence following the Friday acquittal of former St. Louis Police officer Jason Stockley, charged with murdering a black drug suspect.

What It Means

Governor Eric Greitens gets dinged on social media for having boasted during the campaign that he would have had peace in Ferguson by the second night by establishing “command presence.”  That’s fine.  We all know folks tend to say just about anything to get elected.  What should bother Greitens supporters is that Team Greitens still hasn’t pivoted to governance rhetoric even after getting elected.

You can forgive the “peace on night two” bravado.  But the continuing pattern of overpromising and underdelivering is troubling. The list that comes top of mind…

Rhetoric: Talk of corrupt insiders and career politicians.  Reality: Legislators are termed limited and Greitens is the one who has pled guilty to an ethics violation.

Rhetoric: Heralding a freeze on regulations. Reality: It was a one-time six week pause.

Rhetoric: Telling Correctional workers “I have you back.” Reality: No progress on increasing their dismal pay levels.

Rhetoric: Promising the new COO would result in hundreds of millions of dollars in savings. Reality: “Savings” mostly to be cutting payments to providers.

Rhetoric: Calling for smaller government. Reality: $100 million “Innovation Fund” to invest in start-ups is ridiculously beyond any conservative’s notion of a limited government.

 

Meanwhile

Former speaker Tim Jones retweets crime stats with clipart of a watermelon, monkey and banana?!? Yikers!  He appears to have regretted it as the retweet is gone….

 

McCaherty Resignation

Jason Hancock reported on Rep. John McCaherty’s Friday night resignation.  See it here.

Pull Quote: A Republican state lawmaker suddenly and unexpectedly resigned from the Missouri House… His letter of resignation, which will take effect Monday, Sept. 18, offered no reason… With the memories of high-profile sex scandals leading to the resignations of three state lawmakers in the last two years still fresh in the minds of Capitol denizens, McCaherty’s vague letter fueled rumors that he was being forced to step down. McCaherty said that’s not the case. It is the campaign for county executive, he said, and nothing else that caused him to resign… [Speaker Todd] Richardson declined comment.

 

Richardson’s silence on the McCaherty’s resignation is unusual for him.  When others – like Rep. Tila Hubrecht or Rep. Randy Dunn – have resigned, Richardson offered kind words gratitude for their service.

 

Schatz Swings for Dollars

MOScout tipster says… “Before it's said and done, Senator Dave Schatz is estimated to raise over $100,000 for his golf tournament that was held Friday in Sullivan. In a post Amendment 2 environment, those lawmakers who have cultivated and maintained strong local donor bases are likely to stand out, just as Schatz has done since being elected to the House…”

What It Means: Schatz is thought to be positioning himself as an alternative to Sen. Bob Onder as a possible Senate Pro Tem after Sen. Ron Richard is term limited.  As the MOScouter writes Schatz is a strong fundraiser beyond the normal Jefferson City crowd.  He used his money muscle to grab this senate seat when the conventional wisdom thought that Speaker Tim Jones would be heading to the upper chamber.  However Senate leadership races – unlike House leadership races – are much less about fundraising and money.

 

MOScout Auditor Poll

Last weekend’s MOScout poll took a look at the possible auditor match-ups on the Republican side.  See the full results here.

Nuggets...

As expected David Wasinger is starting from scratch.  He gets beat on head-to-head match-ups by former Sen. Kurt Schaefer, Sen. Denny Hoskins and Rep. Paul Curtman.

However, Schaefer doesn’t appear to have much residual name ID left after spending millions (and having millions spent against him) just over a year ago, as he only polls down 23% in a head to head.  This could also indicate lingering negatives from that nasty AG primary as well as a lack of name ID of course.

Finally, it’s Curtman who leads the polls.  He starts with a lead over Wasinger, but also leads the crowded field scenarios.  At this point it seems like all Curtman needs to figure out is money.  And in these post-Amendment 2 days, that means he needs a deep pocketed donor who funds an independent PAC to supplement what’s expected to be Curtman’s grassroots fundraising.

Top Lines

Survey conducted September 15 through September 16, 2017. 817 likely 2018 Republican Primary Election voters participated in the survey. Survey weighted to match expected turnout demographics for the 2018 Republican Primary Election. Margin of Error is +/-3.43%. Totals do not always equal 100% due to rounding. Survey conducted by Remington Research Group on behalf of Missouri Scout.

Q: Possible candidates in the 2018 Republican primary election for Missouri Auditor are David Wasinger and Kurt Schaefer. If the election were held today, for whom would you vote?

David Wasinger: 10%

Kurt Schaefer: 23%

Undecided: 67%

Q: Possible candidates in the 2018 Republican primary election for Missouri Auditor are David Wasinger and Paul Curtman. If the election were held today, for whom would you vote?

David Wasinger: 12%

Paul Curtman: 16%

Undecided: 72%

Q: Possible candidates in the 2018 Republican primary election for Missouri Auditor are David Wasinger and Denny Hoskins. If the election were held today, for whom would you vote?

David Wasinger: 12%

Denny Hoskins: 18%

Undecided: 70%

Q: Possible candidates in the 2018 Republican primary election for Missouri Auditor are David Wasinger, Kurt Schaefer, Paul Curtman and Denny Hoskins. If the election were held today, for whom would you vote?

David Wasinger: 9%

Kurt Schaefer: 15%

Paul Curtman: 26%

Denny Hoskins: 6%

Undecided: 44%

Q: Possible candidates in the 2018 Republican primary election for Missouri Auditor are David Wasinger, Kurt Schaefer, Paul Curtman, Denny Hoskins and Marsha Haefner. If the election were held today, for whom would you vote?

David Wasinger: 10%

Kurt Schaefer: 11%

Paul Curtman: 17%

Denny Hoskins: 4%

Marsha Haefner: 9%

Undecided: 50%

 

Butler for Recorder of Deeds

Rep. Michael Butler will seek to become the St. Louis City Recorder of Deeds taking on incumbent Sharon Carpenter whose scandals have left her unpopular with the political class.  But her name ID has proven she is quite capable of winning at the ballot box.  See Butler committee amendment here indicating the change in office sought.  Word is that Reps. Josh Peters and Bruce Franks will square off to replace Sen. Jamilah Nasheed in Senate 5 in 2020.

Other Committee Amendments

Termed Rep. Lindell Shumake changed his committee to seek for Senate 18.  See it here.  Not new news.

Termed Bill Lant will seek Presiding commissioner of McDonald County.  See it here.

And termed Rep. Karla May changed her committee to seek “statewide office” in 2020, a common placeholder.  See it here.

 

Greitens Yanks Back SBOE Appt

Springfield News-Leader’s Claudette Riley reports that “Springfield businesswoman Melissa "Missy" Gelner, whose appointment to the Missouri Board of Education was withdrawn Friday afternoon, said she was pressured to make ‘rash leadership decisions’ in the new role.”  See it here.

Pull Quote: "I disagree with the governor's decision to withdraw my appointment as a member of the Missouri Board of Education," she said, in a written statement. Gelner, who has long been involved in Springfield-based programs that serve children, said she grew frustrated with the governor's policy team and the relationship between his office and the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. "Since my appointment, I have seen very little effort from them to collaborate with DESE to work on behalf of our public schools," she said, in a written statement. "I am also concerned about the pressure I’ve recently experienced to make rash leadership decisions."…

The News-Leader sought comment from Greitens through his press secretary, Parker Briden, but the calls were not returned[Peter] Herschend told the News-Leader he learned of Gelner's ouster on Friday afternoon and "quite candidly regretted it." He said that following her appointment and before her first board meeting, the two spoke at length and she reached out to him again this week… He said allegations that the governor's office might pressure a state board member were troubling. "In 26 years, I've served with seven governors and not one time did I have a call from the governor or the governor's office to say do something," he said. "I had calls saying 'This is our position' and that you'd expect."

 

eMailbag on Turk in Senate 8

View from the hallway: I don't see a scenario where Cierpiot makes a deal with Turk to take his house seat for two reasons: 1) Even if they both wanted the deal, I don't know if there is any guarantee the GOP committee would select Turk for a special, which Cierpiot would have to ask the Gov to call in April instead of waiting for August primary; and 2) Dr. John Patterson has already raised over $100K for that race and I don't think Cierpiot is the kind of guy who would throw him under the bus after working that hard for his seat.

Veteran Dem: Democrats won that Senate Seat in 1993 in a special election. Margaret Rennau over Derek Holland. And we didn't need a GOP candidate running as an Indy. Who by the way has been on a ballot 4 times in all of those Republican House districts where Mike has only appeared in one.  Game on!

 

Help Wanted

Missouri Health Plan Association seeks Executive Director. “Within the authority conferred by the Board of Directors, the Executive Director serves as the primary advocate for the Medicaid managed health care industry in Missouri. The Executive Director manages and supervises the operations of the Association, and represents the Association with lawmakers, media, other organizations and the general public… At least five years of experience in association management, legislating, legislative advocacy, public administration, regulation, government relations public affairs or trade or consumer advocacy. Experience in healthcare operations preferred… An understanding of the state budget process from beginning to end…    Existing relationships, or the ability to quickly establish them, with the Governor’s Office, State Legislature, the Department of Social Services / MO HealthNet, the Department of Insurance, and other state regulatory bodies….”

 

House seeks Legislative Analyst for House Research. “This non-partisan professional position is responsible for staffing House committees, analyzing and summarizing legislative proposals, drafting legislation, preparing legal and policy research and assisting Members of the House with lawmaking duties…. Starting salary range for this position begins at $4,253 per month; however, actual starting salary is commensurate with applicable education and experience. The position is eligible for full state benefits and is located in Jefferson City…”  See it here.

 

Today’s Events

Powered by Mary Scruggs’ indispensable calendar:

Rep. Diane Franklin Golf – Old Kinderhook– Camdenton – Noon.

 

$5K+ Contributions

Credit Union Political Action Committee of Missouri - $15,000 from Community America Credit Union.

Missouri Senate Campaign Committee - $15,000 from Anheuser Busch Companies.

Missouri Senate Campaign Committee - $7,500 from Charter Communications.

Citizens for Ryan Cantrell - $20,000 from Ryan Cantrell.

House Republican Campaign Committee - $16,000 from Charter Communications.

New Approach PAC - $10,000 from Dan D. Cobb.

 

Birthdays

Happy birthdays to former Reps. Chris Carter and Don Calloway.

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Tuesday, September 19, 2017

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Friday, September 15, 2017