Wednesday, March 30, 2016
Filings Closes
Out of Play
Of the 17 seats up for election in the state senate: there are three completely safe Republican seats with no Democrat filed. And there are four completely safe Democratic seats with no Republican filed.
Of the 163 state house seats up for election there are 66 completely safe Republican seats with no Democrats filed. And there are 30 completely safe Democratic seats with no Republicans filed.
Withdrawals
Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal withdrew her candidacy for Congress, and then re-filed. The mighty Jason Rosenbaum speculated on Twitter that the maneuver was to secure the last spot on the ballot.
Rob Stelzer withdrew in House 80, leaving that as a two-way Democratic primary to succeed Rep. Mike Colona.
Bruce Sassmann withdrew from House 62, leaving Rep. Tom Hurst unopposed.
New Filings
Former Rep. Cynthia Davis filed to run for Congress, creating a primary for Congressman Blaine Luetkemeyer. See the Post-Dispatch article here. What it doesn’t mention: she lives in the 2nd Congressional District, not the 3rd.
Mary Catherine DiCarlo filed to run in Senate 11 as a Democrat, bringing that race to a four-way primary.
Stephen Eagleton filed to run in Senate 15 as a Democrat. Eagleton ran for this seat back in 2008, losing in the primary. He’s the nephew of the late Tom Eagleton. Senate 15 has become more Republican since 2008 as a result of redistricting.
Greg Upchurch filed to run in Senate 23 as a Democrat. There are now primaries on both the Republican and Democratic sides. According to LinkedIn, Upchurch owns and runs the Grand Opera House Banquet Center.
Homer Lee Curtis filed to run in House 2 as a Republican, giving Rep. J Eggleston a primary challenge.
Sean Pouche filed to run in House 14 as a Republican. He’ll face Rep. Kevin Corlew. Democrat Martin Rucker II is unopposed on the Dem side.
Mary Hill filed to run in House 17 as a Republican. Rep. Nick King will have a primary before facing a rematch against Mark Ellebracht in what will probably be a very competitive district.
Richard Brown filed to run in House 27 as a Democrat, primarying Democratic incumbent Rep. Bonnaye Mims.
Raytown get ready…. It’s now a six-way Democratic primary to replace termed Rep. Tom McDonald. Two folks – Bill Van Buskirk and Diane Krizek – filed yesterday.
Angela Malone filed to run in House 30 as a Democrat. This is House Floor Leader Mike Cierpiot’s seat.
Dan Stacy filed to run in House 31 as a Republican, giving incumbent Rep. Sheila Solon as primary. According to LinkedIn Stacy is the owner of RightsForU.com.
Joshua Hill filed to run for House 36 as a Republican. The current incumbent is Democratic Rep. DaRon McGee.
William Grimes filed to run as a Democrat in House 57. The current incumbent is Republican Rep. Wanda Brown. Grimes ran against Brown in 2014 winning 29% of the vote.
Tom Smith filed to run in House 61 as a Democrat. The current incumbent is Republican Rep. Justin Alferman.
Dan Hyatt filed to run in House 72 as a Republican. The current incumbent is Democratic Rep. Mary Nichols. Hyatt is mentioned in this article about the Ferguson reform.
Adam Kustra filed to run in House 81 as a Democrat, creating a four-way Democratic primary to succeed Rep. Jake Hummel. See Kustra’s twitter account here.
Daniel Bogle filed to run in House 92 as a Republican. He’ll face incumbent Democratic Rep. Genise Montecillo. See Bogle’s Facebook page here.
Brian Stiens filed to run in House 105 as a Democrat. There’s now a Dmeocratic primary. The current incumbent Rep. Mark Parkinson is termed. Phil Christofanelli, the Republican, is unopposed.
Mary West filed to run in House 106 as a Republican. She’ll take on incumbent Republican Rep. Chrissy Sommer. Michael Dorwat, the Democrat, is unopposed.
Tammy Orzel filed to run in House 111 as a Republican. That’s now a five-way primary including incumbent Rep. Shane Roden.
Mike Henderson filed to run in House 117 as a Republican. This is Rep. Linda Black’s seat. She’s not running for re-election. Dems could be competitive here. See an article about Henderson’s candidacy here.
Rick Vance filed to run in House 128 as a Republican, bringing the race to replace Rep. Sue Entlicher to a three-way. No Dems have filed.
Mike Goodart filed to run in House 133 as a Republican. That’s a four-way primary to succeed Rep. Eric Burlison. See Goodart’s LinkedIn profile here.
Brantley Atchley filed to run in House 149 as a Democrat. Atchley is a pro-union Democrat. He will face incumbent Republican Rep. Don Rone.
Steve Leibbrand filed to run in hosue 163 as a Republican. That creates a three-way to succeed Rep. Tom Flanigan. Leibbrand is a Carthage Council member.
Who’s Unopposed
The following folks have no major party primary or general election opponent. Interesting to note two incumbents (Reps. Ben Harris and Becky Ruth) in the battleground area of Jefferson County unopposed.
Sen. Gary Romine (R-Senate 3)
Sen. Jason Holsman (D-Senate 7)
Sen. Kiki Curls (D-Senate 9)
Sen. Gina Walsh (D- Senate 13)
Sen. David Sater (R-Senate 29)
Sen. Mike Cunningham (R-Senate 33)
Rep. Allen Andrews (R-House 1)
Rep. Nate Walker (R-House 3)
Rep. Craig Redmon (R-House 4)
Rep. Tim Remole (R-House 6)
Rep. Jim Neely (R-House 8)
Rep. Delus Johnson (R-House 9)
Rep. Pat Conway (D-House 10)
Rep. Galen Higdon Jr (R-House 11)
Rep. Jon Carpenter (D-House 15)
Rep. Noel J Shull (R-House 16)
Rep. Lauren Arthur (D-House 18)
Rep. Brandon R. Ellington (D-House 22)
Rep. Judy Morgan (D-House 24)
Rep. Greg Razer (D-House 25)
Rep. Gail McCann Beatty (D-House 26)
Rep. Rory Rowland (D-House 29)
Rep. Jeanie Lauer (R-House 32)
Rep. Rebecca Roeber (R-House 34)
Rep. Gary Cross (R-House 35)
Rep. Joe Runions (R-House 37)
Rep. T.J. Berry (R-House 38)
Rep. Joe Don McGaugh (R-House 39)
Rep. Jim Hansen (R-House 40)
Rep. Randy Pietzman (R-House 41)
Rep. Bart Korman (R-House 42)
Rep. Kip Kendrick (D-House 45)
Rep. Dave Muntzel (R-House 48)
Rep. Travis Fitzwater (R-House 49)
Rep. Caleb Jones (R-House 50)
Rep. Glen Kolkmeyer (R-House 53)
Rep. Tom Hurst (R-House 62)
Rep. Robert Cornejo (R-House 64)
Rep. Michael Butler (D-House 79)
Rep. Gina Mitten (D-House 83)
Rep. Karla May (D-House 84)
Rep. Joe Adams (D-House 86)
Rep. Stacey Newman (D-House 87)
Rep. Tracy McCreery (D-House 88)
Rep. Kurt Bahr (R-House 102)
Rep. Paul Curtman (R- House 109)
Rep. Kirk Mathews (R-House 110)
Rep. Becky Ruth (R-House 114)
Rep. Kevin Engler (R-House 116)
Rep. Ben Harris (D- House 118)
Rep. Jason Chipman (R-House 120)
Rep. Keith Frederick (R-House 121)
Rep. Steve Lynch (R-House 122)
Rep. Diane Franklin (R-House 123)
Rep. Rocky Miller (R-House 124)
Rep. Warren D. Love (R-House 125)
Rep. Patricia Pike (R-House 126)
Rep. Mike Kelley (R-House 127)
Rep. Sandy Crawford (R-House 129)
Rep. Don Phillips (R-House 138)
Rep. Jered Taylor (R-House 139)
Rep. Paul Fitzwater (R-House 144)
Rep. Donna Lichtenegger (R-House 146)
Rep. Kathy Swan (R-House 147)
Rep. Holly Rehder (R-House 148)
Rep. Tila Rowland Hubrecht (R-House 151)
Rep. Todd Richardson (R-House 152)
Rep. Shawn Rhoads (R-House 154)
Rep. Jeff Justus (R-House 156)
Rep. Mike Moon (R-House 157)
Rep. Scott Fitzpatrick (R-House 158)
Rep. Bill Lant (R-House 159)
Rep. Bill Reiboldt (R-House 160)
Rep. Bill White (R-House 161)
Rep. Charlie Davis (R-House 162)
Senate Passes Ethics Conference Report
The Senate unanimously passed the conference committee report of Rep. Shamed Dogan’s ethics bill. See it here.
Governor Jay Nixon tweeted… @GovJayNixon: Hoping that passage of HB1983 is a sign of more to come on ethics - because there’s more work to do #moleg
WSJ on MO Ethics Reform
Wall Street Journal’s editorial page took a whack at a Missouri ethics reform proposal attempting to bring more transparency to political contributions. See it here.
Pull Quote: Missouri Republicans are poised to pass the latest misguided effort to require 501(c)(4) groups to disclose their donors….The architect of the plan is state senator Kurt Schaefer, who is running for Attorney General. “Those people that violate Missouri’s ethics laws, that run dark money through 501(c)(4)s like several candidates do,” Mr. Schaefer said recently, “that needs to stop and as Attorney General I will prosecute them and it will stop.” By “dark money” he means any money spent to support his political opponent. The lawmaker is competing against University of Missouri professor Josh Hawley, who needs financial donors to be competitive….
Republican Party Tensions
Put the Trump schism aside for a moment, and think about this one: Washington Post reports on growing rift between the business wing of the Republican Party and its social conservatives. Gregg Keller gets some quote time. See it here.
Pull Quote: The ideological rifts breaking apart the Republican Party have moved into the states, where business leaders and evangelicals who have long coexisted in the GOP are suddenly at war over social issues such as gay rights and religious freedom….
Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal, facing pressure from corporate heavyweights such as Delta Airlines and Disney, vetoed a bill that would have allowed pastors and faith-based groups to deny services to same-sex couples. The decision by Deal, who is not running for reelection, has drawn fire from leading evangelical activists, who have accused him of being a traitor to their cause…
“You are talking about two portions of the Republican Party who don’t fundamentally understand one another. That’s the bad news,” said Gregg Keller, the former executive director of the American Conservative Union. “The worse news is that they think that they do. What that leads to is further misunderstanding on top of disagreement.”
Many Republican elites, including executives at big companies, feel like gay marriage is settled law and do not think special measures are needed to protect religious conservatives…
Missouri’s legislature will likely vote soon to put a religious freedom measure on the ballot later this year, either in the general election or a special election. The Republicans are trying to craft something that will not draw the ire of the business lobby. Gregg Keller, the Missouri-based GOP operative who was tasked with outreach to conservative activists on Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s presidential campaign last year, said the business wing should recognize that religious conservatives will not go away.
“One of the largest cultural imperatives that helped lead to the rise of Christianity was the view of the sexually licentious nature of the Roman Empire,” he said. “This is not a bug of evangelical Christianity; this is a feature. This is a hill on which evangelical Christians are going to be willing to die.”
He added: “The business community has caught the bull by the horns on this one.”
And
One building denizen tips that they see SJR 39 headed to Rep. Elijah Haahr’s Emerging Issues Committee…
Bits
Waiting on paycheck protection override…. It starts in the House, and the best guess is sometime next week. We’ll see….
Post-Dispatch expose on lawmakers renting from lobbyists. See it here.
With NGA decision days away, the Illinois Republican senator meets Obama’s SCOTUS nominee. Am I just paranoid?
Post-Dispatch on House committee hearing of the new utilities regulation plan. See it here.
Today’s Events
Powered by Mary Scruggs’ indispensable events calendar:
“Float” on Us Day, Mo Canoe & Floaters Assn. – Capitol 3rd FL Rotunda – 2PM.
Russ Carnahan for Lt. Governor Kickoff Party – Gallery 400, St. Louis – 5:30PM.
Martin Rucker II (D- House 14) Kick-off – Travois, Kansas City – 6PM.
Cora Faith Walker (D- House 74) – Frederick’s Steak and Pizzeria, St. Charles – 4PM.
Lobbyists Registrations
Richard AuBuchon added Steven R. Carroll and Associates, and Xcaliber International, Ltd. LLC.
Todd Smith added Gate Way Group.
$5K+ Contributions
Citizens to Elect Kurt Schaefer Attorney General - $10,000 from August Busch III.
Citizens for Steve Stenger - $10,000 from Onder, Shelton, O'Leary & Peterson, LLC.
Citizens for Jake Zimmerman - $5,001 from Barry Aycock.
Hawley for Missouri - $10,000 from Richard Uihlein.
Koster for Missouri - $25,000 from Patrick Hoene.
Eigel for Missouri - $5,475 from Robert Eigel.
Birthdays
Happy birthdays to Sen. David Pearce, former Sen. Wes Shoemyer, and former Rep. Jeff Roorda.