Tuesday, July 19, 2016

Big Money Monday

Yesterday two big money events happened.  First, Peter Kinder landed $1 million from the Humphreys family.  That put him right back in the game in this riveting four-way gubernatorial primary.

But then, while the tremors of that earthquake were still rippling across the Missouri political landscape, Eric Greitens reported a $2 million check.  It was actually only $1,975,000. So presumably there’s a middleman somewhere getting paid $25K to ease the transaction.

The group is called “SEALs for Truth” though one MOScout reader noted that there’s probably no actual fighting men involved in the front organization.  “$1.9 million would be a lot of pay periods for more SEALs than the US Navy has probably ever trained…”

The Greitens check is more captivating because it’s from an anonymous source – perhaps sex slave owner money being laundered?

Why Do Hedge-Funders Love Greitens?

This $2 million brings back the question of why a coastal hedge-funder would donate in the Republican gubernatorial primary.  The motivations of the other big donors seems clear enough.  Rex Sinquefield wants incomes tax cuts; David Humphreys wants right to work; John Brunner wants to be governor.  A New York Times article earlier this week pointed at a possible reason: to make money of course.  See it here.  Private equity firms are eager to use influence in state governments to aid whichever industry they’re operating in – could be payday loan businesses, golf course management, railroads or wherever they see the potential to make a profit…

Meanwhile

LG PAC, the anonymous group that has been airing ads attacking John Brunner, filed its July report with the FEC showing that $2.3 million came to it from a Texas non-profit known as Freedom Frontier.  Freedom Frontier’s registered agent is Gober Hilgers PLLC.  This is Chris Gober.

Kraus Ad

Sen. Will Kraus, running for secretary of state, released his first TV commercial.  See it here.  I’m surprised it’s completely positive.  Kraus is trailing Jay Ashcroft substantially according to MOScout polls of the race, so I would have thought he’d done a half-positive, half-attack like Teresa Hensley (see below).

Hensley Ad

In the Democratic primary attorney general, Teresa Hensley release her first ad.  See it here.  It’s half warm-fuzzy, vote for Hensley, and half scary evil Jake Zimmerman.

Team Zimmerman rebutted the criticism: [I]t intentionally misleads voters about Jake Zimmerman’s record. She attacks Jake by citing discredited claims made by special interests advocating on behalf of their corporate clients. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch dismissed these claims two days later in an editorial as ‘the wrong effort directed at the wrong target.’

This is not Hensley’s first time playing fast and loose with facts in an effort to score cheap points. In February, Hensley wrongly accused Kurt Schaefer of accepting tainted contributions, but she quickly backtracked when called on her mistake.

“Jake looks forward to accepting Teresa’s apology for this latest false accusation” said [Jim Ross, spokesman for the Zimmerman campaign.]

Kander: Continue Counting RYH4K Signatures

According to Section 116.180, RSMo., when gathering signatures, petitioners must attach ballot summary language to the signature pages they are using for the petition. In this case, the petitioners were gathering signatures using the certified ballot summary language. The language was changed by the Missouri Court of Appeals after the signatures had been submitted to the Secretary of State’s office.

In the Secretary of State’s office’s view, the intent of the law was not to disenfranchise Missourians after they have legally signed a petition. Therefore, if you have not completed your review of this petition, please continue verifying the signatures and return them to our office by July 26, 2016. If this petition has enough valid signatures and meets the requirements for certification, the Secretary of State’s office will certify it for the ballot, just like every other petition.

We expect that this petition will continue to be in court over the coming days and weeks, but please continue verifying the signatures so we can meet the statutory deadlines as the legal process sorts itself out….

Chuck Hatfield’s Statement

 “Missouri law declares in plain language that ‘signatures shall not be counted if the official ballot title is not affixed to the page containing such signatures.’ The petitions no longer have an official ballot title and the law is crystal clear that they shall not be counted.”

2016 Watch: Nixon Endorses Rizzo

Governor Jay Nixon weighed in on the Democratic primary in Senate 11… “John Rizzo has the honesty, and integrity necessary to be an outstanding State Senator. He has stood shoulder to shoulder with me fighting for working families and has demonstrated the leadership to be a strong advocate for the needs of his community and the people of Missouri. John as fought to increase funding for public education and has been a strong advocate of improving schools and educational opportunities for children in our state. The Missouri Senate needs John Rizzo and that's why I proudly endorse John Rizzo for the Missouri Senate…”

Bits

Lobbyist Richard McIntosh writes on LinkedIn about the business of landing government contracts.  See it here.

Pull Quote: Government sales are big business. At Flotron McIntosh, we help our clients stay in front of government officials so that their goods and services get a fair evaluation. To date, we’ve helped our clients win over $1 billion in contracts with the state of Missouri alone, and have grown the annual sales for numerous technology firms by double digits…Many times we aid an administration or governing body in the development of an RFP. Other time, our connections let us know when big projects are in the works. And sometimes, we can help create opportunities simply by informing and educating administrators about the options available…

Jeff City abuzz that the brother of the owner of the popular Coffee Zone was arrested… See it here.

New PAC formed… Missouri Association of Health Plans PAC.  The PAC’s treasurer is Jewell Patek and the deputy treasurer is Yancy Williams.

See former Minority Leader Jeff Harris’ ad for judge here.  He was appointed by Governor Nixon a few months ago, so the ad refers to him a Judge Harris over and over.

Today’s Events

Powered by Mary Scruggs’ indispensable events calendar:

Jay Ashcroft Grand Old Picnic – Arnold MO City Park – 6PM.

Lobbyists Registrations

Daniel Pfeifer, Alex Eaton, Rebecca Lohmann, and Gregory Porter added Kansas City Power & Light.

Robert “Bob” Ziehmer deleted Missouri Department of Conservation.

Randy Scherr and Brian Bernskoetter deleted Mallinckrodt LLC.

$5K+ Contributions

Missourians for Peter Kinder - $500,000 from David Humphreys.

Missourians for Peter Kinder - $500,000 from Sarah Atkins.

Koster for Missouri - $10,000 from Missouri Dental Political Action Committee.

Greitens for Missouri - $5,001 from First State Bank of Purdy.

People for Solon - $5,001 from Friends of Lincoln Hough.

Greitens for Missouri - $1,975,000 from SEALs for Truth.

Citizens for Joe Brazil - $8,608 from Adolphus Busch IV.

Anne Zerr for Missouri - $20,767 from Missouri REALTORS PAC Inc.

The Good Government Committee - $12,000 from CHIPP Political Account.

Birthdays

Happy birthdays to former Sen. John Griesheimer, House 7 candidate Rusty Black, David Overfelt, and Jim Anderson.