Thursday, November 10, 2016
Free the Herb 2018
And they’re off….. one day after the elections and the first initiative petitions have been filed to reform Missouri’s marijuana laws. Brad Bradshaw, one of the main patrons behind Missouri’s movement, filed the first one. It’s medical marijuana. See it here. And the second one, filed by Charles Jones, is a one-page, straight legalization IP. See it here.
And
NYTimes reports on more states joining the movement – and the business opportunities… See it here.
Pull Quote: Voters on Tuesday brought that dream a little closer to reality. California, Massachusetts, Maine and Nevada approved adult-use (a new term for recreational use) marijuana. Florida, Arkansas, North Dakota and Montana voted to legalize or expand medical marijuana use. Twenty-eight states and the District of Columbia now have some sort of allowed use. The legal cannabis industry is dominated by small businesses operating in individual states, so these new laws could open significant prospects for entrepreneurs. And for the companies that can figure out how to operate in multiple states, the opportunity is tremendous….
Imagining Greitens First Term
Will Eric Greitens governorship follow the pattern of Matt Blunt’s administration? In that case as now, Blunt had a Republican legislature which proved an enthusiastic partner in the first year. They passed a lot of big bills: worker compensations, tort reform… But with each successive year, the relationship cooled. Republican legislatively leaders had their own ideas and the honeymoon of the first year gave way to friction. One veteran of those times recalls that Rod Jetton and Jason Crowell were Blunt’s biggest problems in the building – not the Democrats.
If that pattern holds, you’d expect that right to work gets done in the first year with a few other big bills, but over time some type of resistance forms – even among the Republican legislature.
We’ll see….
Mehan Big and Early for Greitens
Business is poised to have a lot of input into the Greitens agenda and administration thinks one observer.
“Missouri Chamber CEO Dan Mehan was one of the first to see Greitens as a serious candidate. He introduced him to key Republicans around the state years ago. While other conservative associations hedged their bets on Democrat Chris Koster, Mehan’s MOChamber was the only Republican-leaning organization to bet on Greitens….”
Good Time to Be Young and GOP in Missouri
The switch of the governor’s office especially, but also the treasurer’s office, secretary of state’s office and attorney general’s office from Democratic leadership to Republican leadership means a lot more job opportunities for young staffers looking to gain experience in public service.
For young Dems, it’s time to test the private sector, with a super minority of legislators to work for and only one statewide office, the Auditor’s Office.
For Galloway
The auditor’s office has had an opening for a legislative liaison. They’ll get some pretty good candidates to choose from now.
Meanwhile
Does Ed Martin try to parlay his rabid support for Donald Trump into a ticket to DC? Anyone?
Jeff Co Gone for Dems
In the past Democrats would count on strong presidential turnout to fortify their position in Jefferson County. But demographic shifts over the past decade continually eroded their strength there. This cycle I didn’t expect any of the House seats to flip blue, and it was even worse than that for Dems. As one MOScout reader explains… “15-20 years ago it was yellow dog Democratic, 5-10 years ago it was a key swing county. Now it’s just bright red. And even well-known names like Roorda and McKenna were defeated for local races, getting crushed by 13 points and 18 points respectively…”
Head Fake to Senate 11
In the large contributions see that one of the Republican Senate campaign committees, the Kansas City Missouri Republican Senate PAC, gave $173K to Rep. Caleb Rowden in the final days of the campaign. From the name of the committee, I had assumed that money would be headed toward a long-shot upset at Rep. John Rizzo in Senate 11. Either they decided it wasn’t worth it (although Rizzo’s race was closer than I would have guessed), or it was a feign all along as they really had all guns aimed at Mid-MO’s Senate 19.
And
When the accounting is finished, it won’t be surprising to see that Rep. Caleb Rowden and his allies having spent somewhere north of $2,000,000 on his state senate race.
That will likely be more than any Democratic statewide candidate spent this cycle with the exception Chris Koster and Jason Kander.
MRL’s Other Loss
It’s not just that Eric Greitens succeeded while snubbing Missouri Right to Life that hurts the pro-life organization. It’s also – thinks one MOScout reader – that they are ineffective against rebutting attacks in their arena.
This person points to the Amendment 3 (RYH4K) initiative. In that fight, putting pro-life protections into ballot language offers no benefit. The opposition still claimed that the IP would fund abortions, and people seems to believe it. With results like that why would people put pro-life protections language in their IPs in the future?
Jones “All In”
From Tishaura Jones’ latest email blast… “Thank you for your support for my recent re-election as Treasurer! It's no secret that I have been seriously considering entering the race for Mayor. Therefore, I'm proud to announce that I will officially launch my campaign next week and I hope I can count on your continued support!
Join us for the official campaign kickoff for: Tuesday, November 15, 2016, 5:30 pm - 7:30 pm, Exodus Art Gallery…
Bits
Rep. Elijah Haahr won the House Republican Caucus election to become speaker pro tem. Rep. Glen Kolkmeyer will be the new caucus chair.
Test confirms traveler infected with Zika virus
“The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services confirmed a case of Zika virus found in a non-pregnant woman who traveled to the British Virgin Islands. This case brings the total number of travel-related cases found in Missouri to 32…”
In addition to right to work, Speaker Todd Richardson mentioned passing a lobbyist gift ban as a priority for the House. See it here.
The secretary of state’s office released the turnout numbers from the election. Overall the turnout was 66.55%. The highest county was Andrews County at 75.43%; the lowest was Pemiscot at 51.26%.
eMailbag: What A Long Strange Trip It’s Been
It’s crazy to think that this election began with Tom Schweich fretting over a perceived whisper campaign about his Jewish heritage and ended with Missouri’s first Jewish governor…
Lobbyists Registrations
Steven Tilley and Shawn Rigger added Independence Power & Light.
$5K+ Contributions
Koster for Missouri - $50,000 from CWA Working Voices.
Good Citizens for Koenen - $5,019 from Rea Kleeman.
Friends of Caleb Rowden - $173,000 from Kansas City Missouri Republican Senate PAC.
Friends of Caleb Rowden - $100,000 from Missouri Senate Campaign Committee.
Koster for Missouri - $6,184 from Working America Coalition AFL-CIO.
Greitens for Missouri - $16,960 from Onshore Technology.
Ashcroft for Missouri - $20,000 from Janet Ashcroft.
Seniors Count Campaign Committee - $35,500 from Lutheran Senior Services.
Schmitt for Missouri - $10,000 from Zevan & Davidson Law Firm.
Birthdays
Happy birthday to Chris Schappe.