Friday, April 10, 2015
Parson to MO Cattle: I’m In
In the Twitter age, “unofficial” announcements spread pretty quickly.
Last night Missouri, Missouri Cattlemen’s Association tweeted that “@parsonforsenate tells #MCA he is running for #MO governor. Says unofficial for now, official announcement coming.”
That brings us to four in or nearly-in Republican candidates for governor: Catherine Hanaway, Eric Greitens, John Brunner, and Parson.
Other names mentioned as possible entrants: Sen. Mike Kehoe (my guess would be somewhere else on the slate), Peter Kinder (I don’t think he pulls the trigger), and Dave Spence (perhaps in a different cycle, but he’s not making many moves yet).
Brunner’s Raising Start
John Brunner has reported $150,000 in large contributions since the beginning of the month, after formalizing his exploratory committee.
Brunner apparently isn’t going to self-fund this time around.
And
Greitens boasts venture capitalist Bill Draper among his contributors in today’s MEC contributions report.
Minimum Wage Campaign Committee
A campaign committee was formed to support a ballot initiative to increase the minimum wage in Missouri. The treasurer for “Give Missourians A Raise” is Lew Prince, owner of St. Louis record store Vintage Vinyl. Here’s an article about Prince’s passion for raising wages.
Greitens In the Air
Eric Greitens does a surprise book reading on a Southwest flight? Sounds like the premise for an SNL skit. Read it here. “While this was the rare book reading in which a chunk of the audience was either sleeping or wearing headphones or both, much of Greitens’ captive crowd did seem to be engaged, though that may have been partially thanks to the Southwest employee who announced that submitting a question for Greitens to answer would qualify you for a special gift. (It turned out to be a $100 Southwest gift card. And even if you didn’t have any questions for Greitens, you still walked away with a nine-CD audio version of his book.)”
Turkey Flu
NYTimes reports on a turkey flu that’s apparently spread to Missouri. See it here. “A virulent, deadly flu virus has hit the nation’s turkey flock, forcing culling and quarantines that are disrupting trade with various countries. In the last several weeks, turkey producers in Minnesota, the largest turkey-producing state (46 million annually), have had to euthanize some 525,000 birds, and farms there and in other states affected by the virus are under quarantine in an effort to prevent it from spreading…. Now, it has spread to Arkansas, California, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri and South Dakota…”
Money Problems
Politico reports on how politicians are reacting to money they received from now-indicted Senator Robert Menendez’s PAC. This includes Senator Claire McCaskill. Read it here.
“But in the aftermath of scathing 68-page federal bribery indictment, some Democrats are taking a hard look at money they received from New Millennium and from the Florida eye doctor charged along with the senator… Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri is returning the $10,000 she received from the PAC in 2010..”
Laffer: Kansas Doing Fine
Washington Post has a story about Arthur Laffer’s bourgeoning career advising Republicans in the glories of supply side economics. It mentions the budget shortfalls bedeviling Kansas after their tax cuts, but Laffer says everything is on track there. Read it here. “Laffer’s ideas have also grown out of fashion with much of the mainstream economic community… Economists point out how different the world is today from 1978. The top income tax rate is 30 percentage points lower than it was when Reagan took office.”
eMailbag on DED’s PSC Filing
The other side: “How does anyone think it isn't the PSC's job to set rates? The PSC sets rates by rate class, it is exactly what the PSC is supposed to do. Noranda's rate class is currently paying too much for electricity, end of story. Noranda paid $167 million in electricity last year, it pays more for its electricity than all but one other smelter in the US…”
eMailbag on What Passanise Should Do
“I am dumbfounded by Joe Passanise. It isn’t just that he may or may not be planning on writing a million dollar check to a Republican candidate, but it’s also the fact that he has avoided making any public statements about what he is doing to try to navigate this challenging situation. I wouldn’t expect anything particularly specific, but it seems like a simple statement about who he is meeting with could go a long way: ‘I’m talking with Tom’s family and close friends about the best way to wrap up his campaign account.’ Passanise’s silence makes it look like he views the campaign money as his personal fiefdom. The suggestions that he may contribute the million dollars so that they can be used to further a brutal and emotional Republican gubernatorial primary don’t make any sense. Isn’t using the money towards that end only contributing to precisely the negative environment that caused Schweich so much pain before his death?
“I appreciate the fact that this must be a very sorrowful and difficult time for Passanise, and I know that he must be considering many factors that I don’t understand. However, if it were me, I would call Kathy Schweich and ask her what to do. If she didn’t want to have a role in terminating the committee, I would make an offer to every Schweich donor since 2013: (1) refund their contribution or (2) donate their contribution to a charity focused on suicide prevention.
“Per 130.034.2(7), ‘Contributions may be used . . . to make an unconditional gift which is fully vested to any charitable, fraternal or civic organizations or other associations formed to provide for some good in the order of benevolence, if such . . . former candidate[’s] immediate family gain no direct financial benefit from the unconditional gift.’ The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, and Mental Health America of Eastern Missouri. seem like appropriate recipients, although I’m sure there are many others.”
Lobbyist Registrations
Andy Blunt, Jay Reichard, Mark Schwartz, and Chris Moody added Missouri Retailers Association.
Andy Blunt and Mark Schwartz added General Motors.
Larry Rohrbach added Fireeye Inc.
$5K+ Contributions
Koster to Missouri - $25,000 from Steve Craig.
Hanaway for Governor - $25,000 from William Holekamp Revocable Trust.
Missourians for John Brunner - $5,001 from Darrell Proctor.
Missourians for John Brunner - $5,001 from Penn Enterprise Inc.
Greitens for Missouri - $20,000 from William Draper III.
Greitens for Missouri - $5,012 from Jennifer Harrison.
Greitens for Missouri - $5,001 from George Ross Mason.
Bradshaw Exploratory Committee - $5m250 from Onder, Shelton, O'Leary & Peterson, LLC.
Birthdays
Happy birthday to former Rep. Judy Baker (54).
Saturday: Heidi Kolkmeyer.
Sunday: Rep. Courtney Curtis (34).