Friday, July 17, 2015

Here Comes the Dixon Roll Out

The roll-out for Sen. Bob Dixon’s gubernatorial tour will start Monday.  It’s called the Front Porch tour.  See the schedule here.

Racial Disparities on Executions

University of North Carolina’s Frank Baumgartner release a study on the impact of race, gender, and geography on Missouri executions.  See it here.

Missouri’s use of the death penalty in the modern era has been marked by substantial disparities by the race and gender of the victim of the crime, and by geography.

These disparities are so great that they call in to question the equity of the application of the harshest penalty, adding to growing concerns that the death penalty is applied in an unfair, capricious, and arbitrary manner.

Here are a few key findings of this research:

A person convicted of homicide in St. Louis County is three times more likely to be executed than if they were convicted of the same crime in the vast majority of other counties in the state, and 13 times more likely to be executed than if they are convicted of the same crime in the city of St. Louis.

Homicides committed in Callaway, Schuyler, and Moniteau counties are 30 to 70 times more likely to result in an execution than homicides committed in the vast majority of state’s counties.

Homicides involving White victims are seven times more likely to result in an execution than those involving Black victims.

Homicides involving White female victims are nearly 14 times more likely to result in an execution than those involving Black male victims.

Eighty-one percent of the individuals executed in Missouri were convicted of killing White victims even though White victims are less than 40% of all murder victims in the state.

Even though the vast majority of murders involve an offender and victim(s) of the same race, 54% of the African-American men executed by Missouri were convicted of crimes involving White victims.

Senate InternGate II Report Coming

Rudi Keller has the story.  See it here.

Pull Quote: The Missouri Senate Administration Committee will issue a report next week on the allegations of sexual harassment or discrimination that led two interns to quit working for Sen. Paul LeVota during this year’s legislative session, Senate President Pro Tem Tom Dempsey said Thursday.

Schaefer Vs Slay?

On the Twitters…..

@MayorSlay: When a law holds our region back, we should do what we can to change that law. #MarriageEquaility #Guns #minimumwage #uberX #fgs

To which replied Sen. Kurt Schaefer…

@KurtUSchaefer: @MayorSlay #MOLEG will be happy to take the same approach. MTC reform, Rideshare and earning taxes should be at the top of the list.

Quarters of Former Speakers

Speaker John Diehl filed a Limited Activity report yesterday morning, saying that he hadn’t raised or spent more than $500 in the preceding three months.  So that means Diehl is still sitting on the $230K.

From the filing of his latest quarter it looks like former Speaker Steve Tilley liquidated some of the stock he’d been holding in his campaign account.  It showed only 7500 shares of Reliable Community Bancshares, down from 9000 the previous report.  The fund were given to many legislators – all Republicans with the sole exception of Democrat Sen. Jamilah Nasheed.  The largest contribution went to Sen Mike Parson. Tilley’s closing on-hand balance was $574K.

Former Speaker Tim Jones’ final cash on-hand, after his contributions, is at $789K.  The addendum statement noted “Miscellaneous Disbursment: Investment Loss Amount: 7024.71”

Campaign Committee Quarters

House Republican Campaign Committee raised $130,631, spent $104,029, has $31,981 on-hand.

The Republicans’ Missouri Senate Campaign Committee raised $65,800, spent $26,236, has $117,375 on-hand.

The Missouri Democratic State Committee raised $117,766, spent $153,537, and has $28,812 on-hand.

The Missouri Republican Party raised $62,200, spent $87,000, and has $393 on-hand.

eMailbag on Webber Quarter

The most amazing report is Stephen Webber’s. With the exception of Koster, it looks to be more than twice the length of the non-Koster statewide candidates. I never remember that happening.  The length means he had a ton of individual contributions. Those appear to almost all be in district with many Republicans giving him money. That is a damn good report. 

Bits

At the mid-way point, state individual income tax receipts still show solid gains – up 11% so far.  We’ll see if that holds.

Team Kraus tells me to stop with the LG talk.  “He has said he is running for SOS and he's a man of his word. Don't forget he's battle tested and won't back down. He's in for good and had a great second quarter.”

NYTimes reports that the National Journal will go all digital.  See it here.

New Committees

Missourians for Fair Wages was formed.  Its treasurer and deputy treasurer are Gate Way Group’s David Jackson and Kate Casas.  Its purpose is to oppose an increase in the minimum wage on the November 2016 ballot.

$5K+ Contributions

Midwest Region Laborers’ Political League Education Fund - $6,149 from Laborers Supplemental Dues Fund.

Schmitt for Missouri - $25,000 from Lewis & Clark Ozarks Mountain Forum.

MO Democratic State Committee - $6,040 from UGas Inc.

Reinvest STL - $25,000 from Centene Management Company LLC.

UAW Region 5 Midwest States Political Action Committee PAC - $6,000 from UAW Region 5 Exchange Account.

MPGA Propane PAC - $10,000 from Ferrellgas.

Birthdays

Happy birthdays to Becky Cook (65), Jeffrey Earl (30), Richard Callow (62), and David Klarich.

Saturday: Gary Otten, Rep. Charlie Davis (50), and Jim Gwinner.

Sunday: former Sen. John Griesheimer (63), and lobbyist David Overfelt.