Thursday, August 20, 2015
Haefner Reconsidering Senate 1?
It’s said that Rep. Marsha Haefner is re-weighing her options. Haefner announced for the Senate 1 seat. But now with incumbent Sen. Scott Sifton back in that race, word is that Haefner is reconsidering running for a fourth term in the House instead.
Sifton’s candidacy is stronger than Vicki Englund’s would have been. In addition to higher district-wide name ID, Sifton has greater fundraising capacity, and has largely done a good job “voting his district.”
Although Rep. Scott Fitzpatrick appears in line to assume the Budget Committee chairmanship, Haefner would still be influential in the House in her fourth term. And if she stayed in the mix, she could still be a top tier Republican candidate for Senate 1 in 2020.
Petrie Joins Penman & Winton
Jessica Petrie has joined the Penman & Winton Consulting Group, headed by Scott Penman and David Winton.
Petrie was formerly legislative assistant for Rep. Sue Allen. From the announcement: She staffed five committees, including appropriations and policy committees focused on health and social services… Jessica graduated Valedictorian from Truman State University with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication and a Political Science minor… She is currently earning her master’s degree in Nonprofit Administration.
House Flails In Dealing With Bad Behavior
One veteran capitol observer says that the House response to InternGate is Speaker Todd Richardson’s first test… and he’s failing. Maybe it’s more flailing, than failing, but clearly he’s missing the opportunity to set the tone.
“Rep. John Rizzo’s letter is an obvious political stunt, but Richardson’s handling of the matter allowed it to happen. The problem may be that some of the same people who were advising John Diehl are advising him. It’s clear what should have happened: have an independent investigation of what happened in InternGate – who knew what when etc. Have that independent investigation issue recommendations of where to go from here. Instead it’s drip, drip, drip…. This is where a promising political career can go down the drain. He hasn’t done anything wrong, just crummy advice…”
Here is Rizzo’s letter in which he asks Richardson to formalize the “working task force” into an interim committee so public testimony can be taken.
One lobbyist: The intern stuff is a huge black eye, if I’m a college dean I don’t know that I feel better about sending students to Jeff City…
Another lobbyist I spoke to yesterday says that no “policies” will change the culture, the members themselves need to show no tolerance for the bad behavior.
And… The Ellington Plan
From: Brandon Ellington
Sent: Tuesday, August 18, 2015 1:11 PM
To: Kip Kendrick
Cc: _Republican LAs & Staff; _Democrat LAs & Staff; _Democrat Representatives;
_Republican Representatives
Subject: RE: Draft Intern Policy Outline
As opposed to just talking about the problems here are my policy recommendations.
- don't have sex, send sexual messages, naked pictures or anything sexual to intern.
- no sexting, no asking for sex,
- Be smart & live in reality.
4.End of Policy
I wasn't going to comment but after reading several emails I have to respond.
To draft punitive policies regarding interns in my opinion is wrong. None of the interns did anything wrong the bad actors in this situation were middle aged men that could not contain their emotional desires…
Bits
Sen. Wayne Wallingford says that he opposes higher taxes “in principle,” but still asks for voters’ opinions on the various tobacco tax proposals. See it here.
NYTimes looks at Texas as a template for anti-abortion strategies of political conservatives. See it here.
At the half way mark in the month, the state tax revenue receipts are barreling ahead with individual income tax receipts up 20%. We’ll see if that holds up and gives the month a good lift.
Help Wanted
State Tax Commission of Missouri seeks Senior Hearing Officer. “Presides over appeals to the State Tax Commission, duties include conducting prehearing conferences, ruling on discovery disputes, presiding over formal evidentiary hearings, and writing orders and decisions….” See the ad here.
Lobbyists Registrations
Eapen Thampy added GrowPito Technologies LLC and Osama Yanis.
$5K+ Contributions
Missourians for John Brunner - $5,001 from John Gentry.
Birthdays
Happy birthdays to former Sens. Wayne Goode (78) and Chuck Gross (57), Wash U’s Rose Windmiller, and the beloved Trent Watson.