Tuesday, July 15, 2014
Final Nixon Actions
Nixon finished off his review of the legislature’s work. See the Post-Dispatch article here.
Among his actions: he signed Rep. Caleb Jones’ HB 2238 that allows the use of hemp oil for medicinal purposes; he signed a bill to derail common core; and he vetoed a bill to allow teachers to become “protection officers,” that is pack heat in school. See his veto message here.
Among his non-actions: a change to whether “bad employees” can get unemployment insurance. MOChamber cheered the signature. And another which allows casinos to extend lines of credit to certain patrons. These were not vetoed and therefore became law, though without his signature.
Few Quarters
Today is the deadline so we’ll have all sorts of numbers trickling in over the next twelve hours, but I’ll do a thorough review tomorrow.
A few interesting things that I did see come in early…
State treasurer Clint Zweifel raised nothing, gave away $30K, and finished with $216K on-hand.
Three of the four Missouri Club for Growth endorsed candidates have reported. They all lean heavy on the MCFG dollars to have any sort of quarter. They received $25K from the Club. But without it, they’d have raised just $4,400 combined.
An old name popped back up on Rea Scharnhorst’s campaign filing… Rod Jetton. He gave $250 to her House 98 campaign.
In House 20, former Rep. Brent Lasater is doing it the way he did in his original upset… grass-roots… He raised $450; spent $560; and has $144 on-hand. I think he loses this time…
House 3: Bailey On TV?
Reader: “(In House 3), Club for Growth and John Bailey have combined for a 2:1 advantage over incumbent Nate Walker on the radio and just went up on television this week. It will be interesting to see if anyone besides the Realtors will come in and protect these incumbents from Rex’s crew.”
Listen to Bailey’s radio ads here.
House 34: Johnson Gets PP
Bob Johnson is the sole Republican candidate to be endorsed by Planned Parenthood. He’s in a three-way primary. I’m expecting Rebecca Roeber (the MRL endorsed candidate) to win, but Johnson is a former state representative, so you can’t count him out completely.
House 139: For the Love of Music?
The wife of House 130 candidate Michael Hope was formally charged with the felony crime of stealing. Springfield News-Leader’s Jonathon Shorman has the story. Read it here.
Pull Quote: “Hope spent most of the money at restaurants and on iTunes. The document also says Hope is being charged with stealing a co-worker's iPad, though no official charges had apparently been filed as of this afternoon.”
With Hope mired in this controversy, the favorite now in the three-way Republican primary is Jered Taylor…
Knives Out for Martin
Republican Party Chair Ed Martin continued to get pummeled from folks within the party. I missed this initially last week, but Tony’s KC picked it up.
> Date: July 10, 2014 at 5:08:25 PM CDT
>
> Ed Martin is on his high horse trying to clean up racial politics in Mississippi.
But he finds it inconvenient to step up and clean up his own state party ranks
when it involves pedophiles and child porners that the feds had to deal with in
Ed's own backyard of Joplin Missouri.
>
> John Lewis was elected as chairman of the 127th legislative District comm for the
GOP. This chairmanship also gave him membership of the 32nd senatorial Dist
Republican Committee and the 7th Cong Dist Republican committee.
>
> But John Lewis was never asked by Missouri State GOP Chairman Ed Martin to step
down. Ed never made a statement to his vast email network, or called for an
investigation. State Chairman Ed Martin did nothing to this tea party ally, this
best high school buddy of Tea Party endorser John Putnam, who wrote the court a
letter of leniency and offered to send his own kids over to be babysat by John
Lewis. Now, that's Ed Martin style judgement.
>
> Dear Ed, its not like the story wasn't covered. Where were you in cleaning up
your own party? Hitting a little too close to home, Father Ed?
>
> http://www.joplinglobe.com/topstories/x1667062064/Former-Sarcoxie-School-Board-member-sent-to-prison?mobRedir=false
>
> http://rturner229.blogspot.com/2014/05/jasper-county-gop-chair-others-vouch.html?m=1
>
> http://www.joplinglobe.com/crime_and_courts/x986692815/John-Lewis-Sarcoxie-school-board-member-charged-with-possession-of-child-porn-allegedly-exposed-himself-to-students-at-his-home?mobRedir=false
St. Louis City Bits
Mayor Francis Slay appointed Alderwoman Jennifer Florida to Recorder of Deeds. The recorder for decades, Sharon Carpenter, resigned after her primary opponent, Ed McFowland, pressed authorities to remove her given that she had violated nepotism laws.
Florida apparently is shifting her nascent campaign to run for President of Board of Aldermen into an Independent bid to stay in the Recorder’s office past her appointment.
Meanwhile Carpenter is pathetically vowing to continue her re-election campaign. More pathetically – she may well win…
Sen. Jamilah Nasheed called on Auditor Tom Schweich to come in and audit the office. At this point St. Louis City voters deserve someone independent to shine some light into what appears to have been a poorly office for years.
Still No Clues on Messer Disappearance
From news reports it seems incredible, but there are still no hints concerning the disappearance of Lynn Messer. Lobbyist Joe Ortwerth writes about the tragedy in Life News. See it here.
Chrismer Controversy
Post-Dispatch: “County Elections Director Rich Chrismer has returned $113,000 in federal grants after a state review concluded that his office had charged local governments for the same election-related tasks. Meanwhile, the county’s auditor and finance director say Chrismer has overcharged cities, school districts and other local governments $221,367 for election costs from 2008 through last year. The two are pressing him to make immediate refunds…” See it here.
Making Democrats Morning…
After comparing himself to Joseph McCarthy, Todd Akin says he might have another run in him… Read it here.
Fundraising Calendar
Today’s fundraising events from Mary Scruggs’ indispensable events calendar:
Rep. Denny Hoskins Golf – Hidden Pines Country Club, Warrensburg.
$5K+ Contributions
MO Chamber PAC - $10,000 from Eagle Picher.
Friends of Diehl - $10,000 from Express Scripts.
Missouri Farmers Care - $50,000 from Missouri Pork Association.
Chrismer for Good Government - $6,600 from Ameristar Casinos.
KCS Rail-PAC - $20,000 from Kansas City Southern.
United Food & Commercial Workers Local #655 Elect Political Action Fund - $6,483 from United Food & Commerical Workers Local 655.
Lewis & Clark Ozarks Mountain Forum - $15,000 from Dwayne Holden.
Happy Birthday
Happy birthday to St. Louis City Alderwoman Dionne Flowers.