Friday, February 19, 2016

Rex $$$ Coming Against Earning Tax Renewal?

Yesterday “Vote No On The E-Tax” was formed.  Its purpose is to oppose renewal of the earnings tax in both Kansas City and St. Louis.  The question comes to voters in those cities in April.  This committee appears to be a vehicle for Rex Sinquefield – who was responsible for these continuation votes to begin with – to campaign against renewal.  The treasurer of the committee is Debbie Schneider, ‎Chief Operating Officer at Pelopidas LLC.  The deputy treasurer is Marc Ellinger, an attorney who does work for Pelopidas.  And the address of the committee 1034 South Brentwood Blvd, Suite 1700, aka Pelopidas World Headquarters.

Next? Be on the lookout for a big check from Sinquefield into this committee.

We’ll see….

Senate 15: Leara Out

Rep. Mike Leara announced yesterday that he would not be filing for Senate 15.  His exit makes that primary now a two-person race, though, of course filing having not even opened, things can change.

Leara endorsed former Rep. Rick Stream.  Stream faces Rep. Andrew Koenig in what should be a very competitive race.

Senate 15: Humphreys Hearts Koenig

In the large contributions David Humphreys gives Rep. Andrew Koenig $50,000.  It’s still early, and Stream is expected to outraise Koenig, but this demonstrates that Koenig has the potential to raise enough to stay in the match.

Stream starts with higher name ID, but I’m calling this competitive because Koenig’s conservative profile seems to match the mood of Republican primary voters right now, and he’s a furiously hard-worker on the campaign trail.

Guernsey V. Kander

Former representative Casey Guernsey and the Missouri Energy Development Association have filed suit against Secretary of State Jason Kander and State Auditor Nicole Galloway in an attempt to stop the ballot initiatives concerning renewable energy filed by Renew Missouri and Brightergy.   Their attorney is Eddie Greim.

On Casenet the cases are 16AC-CC00058, and 16AC-CC00056.

Guernsey: The issue is simple fairness to consumers, ratepayers and taxpayers. The dozens of petitions they have filed all have the same flaw: they shift more costs on to the backs of consumers.

Tony Messenger on Gosen

Post-Dispatch’s Tony Messenger writes about Don Gosen’s “fall.”  See it here.

Pull Quote: Starting in 2014, Gosen says, he had an affair… Now he’s paying the price. Gosen blames only himself for his bad behavior. On Thursday, Gosen said that on the advice of his attorney, he wouldn’t publicly outline the events that led to his resignation… Gosen met the woman, who is from southeastern Missouri, and they hit it off. She is not a Capitol employee and hasn’t ever worked there….

And

Concerning Gosen’s Select Insurance chairmanship…. Tipster: I heard Rep. Noel Shull will replace Gosen… he’s a “fair arbitrator…”

Senate Passes First Ethics Reform Bill – Kind Of

The Senate passed the House’s bill to add a waiting period before legislators can become lobbyists.  But they eliminated the waiting period first before passing it!  Pretty hilarious.

Sen. Rob Schaaf did add in a provision to make it illegal for a legislator to be offered a job as a lobbyist while they hold office.  But Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal’s amendment to include staff members was ruled out of order.

Also, Sen. Jill Schupp’s amendment to include campaign contribution limits was ruled out of order.

This waiting-period bill sans waiting-period passed 31-1.

Paycheck Muscle Veto-Proof Majority in the House

The House picked up a few more votes as it passed “paycheck protection.”  It had a solid 107 in perfection, but garnered 110 in passage.

That signals to the Senate that the House could potentially override a gubernatorial veto, and will give the Senate good reason to take up the bill.

The fight moves to the Senate.  By my eyeballs, the Senate is a few short of a veto-proof majority.  Still pressures can get amped up, so it’s a fight.

Clinton Opens Office

From an observer of the political life… “Take a close look at this picture (from Jo Mannies’ twitter-feed) from the Thursday night opening of Hillary Clinton’s campaign office. Former Governor Bob Holden, who was defeated in a primary 12 years ago by Claire McCaskill, looks on with a wistful expression as she greets supporters….”

Global Warming in Jefferson City? 

NYTimes crunches the data.  See it here.

eSnark: MO Dem Party

If the the ED and the campaign director of the Missouri State Democratic Party leave at the same time, who is going to be in charge of the party not raising any money and not picking up any seats?

Lobbyists Registrations

Shanon Hawk and Jonathan Dalton added City of Crestwood.

Jonathan Dalton added Taxed Enough Already.

Richard McIntosh and David McCracken added Taser International Inc.

$5K+ Contributions

MO Democratic State Committee - $25,000 from Centene Corporation.

Greitens for Missouri - $5,001 from Grossman Iron & Steel Company.

Progress KC PAC - $10,000 from Lathrop & Gage LLP.

Progress KC PAC - $25,000 from Mariner Holdings LLC.

Progress KC PAC - $15,000 from HNTB Corporation.

Progress KC PAC - $20,000 from Kansas City Series of Lockton Companies LLC.

MO Republican Party - $25,000 from Centene Management Company.

Friends of St. Louis Public Schools - $100,000 from Civic Progress Action Committee.

Friends of Andrew Koenig - $50,000 from David Humphreys.

Returning Government to the People - $68,000 from Fred N Sauer.

Birthdays

Happy birthdays to former Rep. Rodney Schad, Steve Stenger, Ron Gladney, Jay Kanzler, Lynne Schlosser, and Alex T. Eaton.

Saturday: Doug Galloway, Matt Bartle, and Kenny Biermann.

Sunday: Donna Baringer, Harry Kennedy, Craig Unruh, BJ Marsh, Jo Mannies and Joel Ferber.