Friday, February 26, 2016

Humphreys Hands Brand $250K

Yesterday Sen. Dan Brown recorded a $250,000 from Republican donor David Humphreys.  This fulfills the rumors that Humphreys was the prime mover in Brown’s decision to launch a bid for treasurer against Sen. Eric Schmitt.  Humphreys supposedly thinks that Schmitt is not close enough to his position on legal reform.

And

Humphreys’ sister, Sarah Atkins, also put $250K into the Humphreys’ “Accountability Committee,” bringing the family total deposit into that committee to a $1.5 million.

Restraining Order Against Poger

The House and Senate filed a joint restraining order against former lobbyist David Poger yesterday.  Poger had been in the building this week and interns reported that he harassed them.

See the Post-Dispatch article here.  See the restraining order here.

A few weeks ago, I reported that Poger (according to his LinkedIn profile) was working for Congressman Lacy Clay.  In the Post article, Clay denies any relationship.  And Poger’s LinkedIn no longer lists a Clay affiliation.

This looks like Speaker Todd Richardson taking a no nonsense approach, and doing his best to change the “culture of the capitol.”  It will take time but this is how you make it happen.

Forget Law School?

Twitter exploded yesterday mocking HB 2610, sponsored by Rep. Robert Ross.

Here’s the text of the bill… A person who has served at least two years as a member of the Missouri general assembly shall: (1)  Qualify such person to practice law as an attorney in the state of Missouri; and (2)  Satisfy any requirements for a person to become an associate or circuit court judge in the state of Missouri.

And here’s Ross’ explanation… See it here.

2016 Watch

In the Republican governor’s race, something new… Peter Kinder has an app…. A few weeks ago we launched the Peter Kinder online store. Now, we have a new way for you to get exclusive updates from the campaign trail. We're taking our campaign to a new level…  We are proud to announce today the launch of the brand new Peter Kinder campaign app - now available in the App Store and on Google Play…

In the Republican secretary of state’s race, Jay Ashcroft touted the endorsement of Phyllis Schlafly yesterday.  “Missouri desperately needs consistent conservative leaders who will fight to defend our values…”

In Senate 1, Sen. Scott Sifton sent out an email fundraising appeal which reminds supporters, it’s not a slam dunk district by any measure… “In 2012, we defeated a Republican incumbent by 0.7% of the vote to win Missouri's most competitive Senate seat. Turns out the Republicans want it back.  On Tuesday, a challenger filed in the first hour on the first day of candidate filing…. It took more than $1 million to prevail by 7 votes out of 1000 in 2012.  Please help today!...”

In House 21, Republican Vicki Riley filed to run against Democratic Rep. Ira Anders.  The name of her campaign committee is “Pray First-Vicki Riley”.  In that heavily Democratic district, that’s a good plan….

In House 55, Rep. Nathan Beard’s sister, Ashley Beard-Fosnow, is running for state representative.  She filed as a Democrat.  That pits her against Rep. Rick Brattin.

Nathan writes on Facebook: My sister Ashley and I filed for different seats in the Missouri House of Representatives yesterday. She is so much fun to be around...never mind that we belong to competing political parties.

Candidate Filings

Former representative Brent Lasater filed to run in House 20.  He was beaten in a primary by the current incumbent, Rep. Bill Kidd in 2014.  It’s now a three way primary.  No Democrat has filed, though it could be competitive if they found the right candidate.

Jay Mosley filed to run in House 68 as a Democrat.  This is Rep. Keith English’s seat.  English isn’t running for re-election, as he announced he’ll be taking a job with “a gentleman.”

Incumbent Reps. Michael Butler (D-House 79), Marsha Haefner (R-House 95), and Holly Rehder (R-House 148) all filed for re-election yesterday.

Bits

Missouri KidsFirst announced it hired Brittany Burke as its Director of Development and Communications.

Rep. Jason Chipman’s HB 2200 would require a lobbyist to “who communicates with a member of the general assembly by requesting a meeting at the state capitol with the intent to influence or attempt to influence legislation shall record the time of the meeting and a brief statement of the purpose of the meeting on a registry provided by the ethics commission.”

On Casenet (16SL-CC00674), Rachel Keller has filed suit against Pelopidas LLC.  Her attorney is Shaun Broeker.

eMailbag: Skepticism on Ameren-Noranda Proposal

Noranda is a dying hostage with Stockholm Syndrome, spouting the propaganda of its captor, Ameren.  For the past several years Ameren tried to kill Noranda by opposing rate relief and now that it is breathing its last gasp, Ameren is trying to extract ransom from Missouri consumers through formula rate legislation.  Unfortunately we will have to pay this enormous ransom over 10 years and the hostage is going to die anyway…

Today’s Events

From Mary Scruggs’ indispensable events calendar:

26-28   Lincoln Days – Sheraton Westport Chalet – St. Louis.

Lobbyists Registrations

Chris Liese, Mark Bruns, Jim Foley, Andy Foley and Gary Burton added GibbonsWorkman LLC.

Andy Blunt, Jim Moody, and Chris Moody added Missouri Clean Energy District

David Winton, and Jessica Petrie added Missouri Retailers Association.

Harry Gallagher, Heath Clarkston, and Jay Hahn added Missouri Foundation for Equity in Higher Education.

James Atkins added Expedia, Inc.

Justin Cramer and Michelle Turano added Missouri Care (aka Wellcare Healthplans Inc).

Neal English, and Jim Foley added Pace Equity.

Nicholas Seelinger added Gamble & Schlemeier.

David Rheaume deleted Salesforce.

James Durham deleted Missouri Anheuser-Busch Wholesalers Association, and Luxottica Retail.

John Bardgett Jr, Steven Tilley, and Erika Leonard deleted Healthcare Enterprise Metrics.

$5K+ Contributions

Grietens for Missouri - $50,000 from Market Street Bancshares Inc.

Committee for Accountable Government in Missouri - $250,000 from Sarah Atkins.

Dr. Dan Brown for Senate - $250,000 from David Humphreys.

Koster for Missouri - $10,000 from Stephen Weiss.

Birthdays

Happy birthdays to Brad Green, Brad Thielemier, Marie Ceselski and Tom Shrout.

Saturday: Rep. Mike Lair (70!), and Doug Crews.