Wednesday, August 31, 2016
Webber’s Intro Ad
Rep. Stephen Webber’s first ad is on the air in Senate 19. See it here. It’s pretty powerful. It’s a minute-long ad that focuses on his time in Iraq, and Fallujah in particular, with testimonies from his members of his squad.
And
You almost can’t help but contrast it with the ubiquitous Eric Greitens primary ads which almost treated guns as toys.
Aboussie Retiring from Building Trades
Word is that Jeff Aboussie announced that he’s retiring from the Building & Construction Trades Council where he has been Executive Secretary-Treasurer. See his bio here.
And – the rumor is that Aboussie will be hanging out a shingle to lobby come next year.
We’ll see….
Republicans for Koster
In the large contributions, three prominent Republicans (John McDonnell, Sam Fox and Bill Danforth) contributed six-figure checks to Chris Koster. They are all supporters of the live-sciences industry. Koster is in favor of stem cell research; Republican Eric Greitens was not excited to take a position on the issue during his primary, but ultimately came out against it.
Lobbyists Can’t Be Treasurers?
Last week the Missouri Ethics Commission released an opinion about HB 2203. See the opinion here.
At issue is this provision: No person who registers as a lobbyist, as defined under section 105.470, shall transfer funds from any candidate committee, exploratory committee, debt service committee, or continuing committee under his or her control to any such committee controlled by a candidate or public official, as defined under section 105.470.
Many lobbyists – particularly those representing associations – are the treasurer of PACs for those associations. According to this law it would seem the PACs can’t contribute to candidates while a lobbyist is treasurer.
I just eyeballed the list, not calling folks out, just to give an idea how wide-spread the practice is currently, here are some in this situation….
Melanie Abrajano – Missouri Club for Growth Political Action Committee.
Andy Blunt – Missourians for Responsible and Better Government.
Terry Briggs – SITE Improvement Association of Missouri PAC.
Richard Brownlee – EFM PAC.
Steven Carroll – Missouri Solar Energy Industries Association.
Jennifer Durham – MOAIFA PAC.
James Durham – MO Land Title PAC.
Ron Fitzwater – Pharmacist Political Action Committee of Missouri.
Kellie Gillespie – MOBIO PAC.
Brad Jones – NFIB Missouri Safe Trust Political Action.
Brad Ketcher – New Approach PAC.
David Klairch – Riezman Berger PAC.
Ron Leone – MO Petroleum Marketers + Convenience Store Assoc PAC.
Sam Licklider – Missouri Realtors PAC.
Jewell Patek – Missouri Association of Health Plans PAC
David Monaghan – American Family Political Action Committee MO.
Craig Overfelt – MO Bankers Association State PAC.
David Overfelt – MO Retailers / MO Grocers Association PAC.
Randy Scherr – MO Consumer Lenders PAC.
Diana Vuylsteke – Bryan Cave Missouri PAC.
Bruce Wylie – Consulting Engineers Council of MO PAC.
Engler Doesn’t Know Who Nicole Galloway Is?
Rep. Kevin Engler fires back at the state auditor saying “first I didn’t even know who Nicole Galloway was” and that this is the “cleanest House” he’s ever seen. Listen to him here.
Solon Speaks Her Mind
Rep. Shelia Solon, true to form, pulled no punches in a radio interview. Listen to it here. It sounds like her vote in favor of the gun law was now under review. Other bits…
On her primary loss: We were threatened by a billionaire, David Humphreys, that as Republicans if we voted against what our constituents wanted… there would be millions dropped against us to take us out, and they dropped over a half of million dollars… We had emails and we had people visiting us and threatening us and it was bullying…
On how she was supported by House leadership: Not at all. Not at all. There was no support. No support. The House Republican Campaign Committee which I have been very supportive of in many ways - including financial ways - did not call me, support me, or help me. Leadership did nothing to help me. We were pretty much thrown under the bus in all honesty.
On campaign limits: I do think we need to do something about caps on contributions. That hopefully will be addressed. My concern at this point in time you have people who want to run statewide courting the favor of billionaires so they can get a million dollar check. And you have folks like myself who make $35,000 a year. You going to be threatened with your job if you don’t do what a billionaire wants you to do. You should represent the folks who elected you. You represent the people back home…
On GOP and women: At least on the Republican side, all the strategists and people who run campaigns are men. And you see that women are turned off by this negative message and studies have proven that. If you look at the campaigns, they’re run by men, they appeal to men. They’re not run by women. We always say at least as Republicans that we really want women voting Republican. But our messaging I believe is really geared toward men and what’s appealing to them.
On her future: I’m not renouncing [politics]. You always have to leave the door open. Cuz you don’t know. The Senate race will be open in two years. You never know how I’ll be feeling in two years… I’m leaving myself open to whatever opportunities come my way.
Obama Commutations
President Barack Obama made another round of commutations. There were 111 individuals in this latest round. It appears they were all serving long sentences for drug-related convictions.
Here are the folks from Missouri:
Quentin C. Adams – St. Louis, MO
Maurice D. Ball –Kansas City, MO
Emmanuel Herron – Stella, MO
Cory Lamonte Huddleston – St. Louis, MO
Albert Randolph – St. Louis, MO
Calvin Dwayne Sangster – St. Louis, MO
Derrick Waller – St. Louis, MO
eMailbag: Solving the Senate Slush Fund
Senate Administrator fund issue has an easy solution....look at the Senate response: "The Senate Administrator's account was established to provide a convenient and efficient means of paying for state reimbursable meal expenses incurred during late evening Senate sessions. The account maintains a minimum cash balance and is used in lieu of General Revenue." If these meals are a "reimbursable meal expenses" from general revenue and they total less than $10k/year; I think the Senate could afford this expense from a State budget of $26B+....The House has found a way to pay these "reimbursable meal expenses"....
Help Wanted
City of Wentzville seeks Lobbyist Services for Hotel/Motel Tax Law Modifications. “The City is seeking proposals from qualified professionals/firms to provide lobbying services representing the City of Wentzville at the Missouri State General Assembly Legislation on hotel/motel tax statute modifications.” See it here.
Today’s Events
Powered by Mary Scruggs’ indispensable events calendar:
Sen. Mike Cunningham / Rep. Lyndall Fraker Golf – Marshfield Country Club – 9AM.
Reception for House 14 candidate Martin Rucker - Welch & Webb, 500 3rd Street, Platte City -6PM.
Changes in Lobbyist Registrations
Mark Rhoads added Midwest Energy Consumers Group.
$5K+ Contributions
Greitens for Missouri - $25,000 from Southern Eagle Distributing LLC.
Greitens for Missouri - $10,000 from Mike Dullea.
Koster for Missouri - $200,000 from UAW V Cap.
MO Petroleum Marketers + Convenience Store Assoc PAC - $8,550 from Xcaliber International LTD LLC.
Koster for Missouri - $100,000 from John McDonnell.
Koster for Missouri - $100,000 from Sam Fox.
Koster for Missouri - $100,000 from William Danforth.
Scott Sifton for Missouri - $6,750 from Friends of Gina Walsh.
Democratic Attorneys General Association Missouri - $15,000 from Henry Van Ameringen.
Missouri Democratic State Committee - $10,000 from CHIPP Political Account.
Teresa Hensley for Missouri - $10,000 from International Association of Fire Fighters Local 42 PAC.
Democratic Attorneys General Association Missouri – $50,000 from Trinity Industries Inc.
Democratic Attorneys General Association Missouri - $25,000 from Apollo Education Group.
Democratic Attorneys General Association Missouri - $25,000 from Recording Industry Association of America.
Greitens for Missouri - $5,001 from Larry Frazier.
House Republican Campaign Committee Inc – $24,000 from Citizens for Rocky Miller.
House Republican Campaign Committee Inc – $100,000 from Friends of Todd Richardson.
House Republican Campaign Committee Inc – $12,500 from Drury Development Corporation.
House Republican Campaign Committee Inc – $10,000 from Express Scripts Inc.
Teresa Hensley for Missouri - $100,000 from Democratic Attorneys General Association.
Birthdays
Happy birthday to Chris Koster and Carrie Sherer.
Quick Service
Memorial Service today Ed Quick today 2PM at First Baptist Church, 2205 Iron Street, North Kansas City MO 64116. Reception to follow at the church.