Wednesday, August 12, 2015
Emerson Hospitalized
Former Congresswoman Jo Ann Emerson has been hospitalized. Jo Mannies has the story here.
“[She] is in stable condition at a hospital in Italy after suffering a brain hemorrhage.”
Hawley Touts National Review Endorsement
The conservative publication, National Review, gave a spirited endorsement of Josh Hawley’s attorney general bid saying that “for anyone who wants the attorney general to share conservative views, backing Hawley should not be a hard choice.” See it here.
The true test for Hawley is whether he can corral some national money with this press clipping – otherwise it won’t take him very far.
RTW Watch
With veto session a month away, we should expect to see the debate over right to work heating up.
Here’s an ad we might be seeing soon against RTW.
Carnahan Watch
One reader thinks that a statewide run from Russ Carnahan is unlikely. That’s because of a recent press release from Preservation Action which announces that “after a national search the board of directors… has retained Russ Carnahan and Debra Carnahan to lead the national non-profit advocacy group that focuses on strengthening historic preservation programs in Washington and around the country…”
Says the reader: It would seem disingenuous for a big national announcement like this before stepping into an LG race…
Noranda Watch
A few folks have raised the question of Noranda Aluminum’s stock price, down from about $4 a year ago to 48 cents yesterday. What does it mean? Does it indicate there’s a threat they would cease to operate?
The New York Stock Exchange recently notified Noranda that they were in danger of being delisted. See it here.
For starters, Noranda does a billion-dollars a year in revenue. So they won’t just vanish.
But obviously there are more sellers than buyers of the stock. And the penny-level price suggests that the market expects some sort of restructuring.
Appointment Project
The “Appointments Project” comes to St. Louis. See it here. It’s an effort to increase the representation of women on boards and commissions. There is a state-level component which could be helpful since this has been a sharp criticism of the Nixon administration.
McCaskill Recalls Akin Gamble
US Senator Claire McCaskill has a piece in Politico teasing her new book. It explains her strategy to help Todd Akin win the Republican primary. See it here.
Pull Quote: The production costs were pretty low, about $20,000, because we didn’t have to film anything. We just used pictures and voice-overs. We would spend $750,000 at first and run it for eight or nine days. Then we’d go back into the field and test to see if it was working. If it was, we’d dump in more “McCaskill for Senate” money, and we’d add radio and more TV in St. Louis and Kansas City. The second TV buy would approach $900,000. We hoped that some of our friends watching the TV ads would catch on and some of the outside groups would augment the last week with mail and radio. Sure enough, a radio ad calling Akin “too conservative” that went on the air in the closing days of the primary was paid for by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. We would later find out that their rural radio buy was $250,000. As it turned out, we spent more money for Todd Akin in the last two weeks of the primary than he spent on his whole primary campaign.
Bits
Heads shaking over St. Louis County’s charges against journalists. See Washington Post editorial here.
Amy and Kevin Gunn open their home later this month, August 27, for a Chris Koster fundy. Others on the host committee include lawyers Lynn Ann Vogel and Bart Baumstark, businessman Anthony Gonzalez Angel, and developer Amos Harris.
“The Sue Shear Institute for Women in Public Life is pleased to announce Lynn Voss has joined the staff as its new Assistant Director. In addition to directing the Institute's college student focused programs: 21st Century Leadership Academy and UMSL LEAD, Lynn will support other Institute programs both on campus and in the Community…”
The New Republic writes about the state’s legislative response to Ferguson, summed up by Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal: “What really happened in the end is that no one really cared.” Others quoted include Sen. Joe Keaveny, and Reps. Brandon Ellington and Galen Higdon, and ACLU’s Sarah Rossi. Read it here.
University of California Davis researchers say that if autism spectrum disorder (ASD) prevalence continues to increase as it has in recent years, the costs could reach $1 trillion by 2025…. See it here.
“Missouri State Treasurer Clint Zweifel announced he will appoint Sarah Swoboda as his Deputy State Treasurer and Patrick Morgan as his General Counsel… Swoboda replaces Angie Robyn, who resigned as Deputy State Treasurer to accept an appointment from Governor Jay Nixon as an Administrative Law Judge in Kansas City.”
Help Wanted
“The Riverfront Times has a rare opening for a staff writer as of September 1. We're looking for a talented journalist capable of digging deeply into the culture and corruption of St. Louis, working closely with our team of talented writers and editors to produce both long-form cover stories and hard-hitting blog posts…” See the ad here.
eMailbag on Senate Pro Tem Race
Lobbyist: If Richard/Kehoe were able to beat Parson there is no way they are going to let Romine beat them.
Republican: Amazing. We had the same vote count. I wonder if we both handicapped it perfect.
Today’s Events
From Mary Scruggs’ indispensable events calendar:
Sen. Ron Richard Night at the Cardinals Game – 7:15 p.m. first pitch
Lobbyists Registrations
John Bardgett Jr. deleted Ascension Health.
Lucas Staus deleted Missouri Liberty Action Inc.
$5K+ Contributions
Missouri Association of Nurse Anesthetists Political Action Committee - $50,000 from Missouri Association of Nurse Anesthetists.
Missourians for John Brunner - $5,001 from Melvin Turner.
MO Republican Party - $20,000 from House Republican Campaign Committee Inc.
Hannegan for State Representative - $5,195 from Tom Hannegan.
Missouri Medical Marijuana - $5,625 from Brad Bradshaw.
Birthdays
Happy birthdays to former Rep. Vicki Schneider (58), and MATA’s Sharon Geuea Jones (35).