Wednesday, April 15
Auditor Galloway
Boone County Treasurer Nicole Galloway was appoint Auditor by Governor Jay Nixon. She will be sworn in at the end of the month.
St. Louis City Comptroller Darlene Green was called by the governor telling her that she made it to the final two. That was a cheap consolation prize for some leaders like Sen. Jamilah Nasheed who felt that Nixon should have seized the moment to elevate an African American to a statewide office.
Galloway now becomes a rising star for the Democratic Party. She will face a tough re-election in 2018. Dems face stronger head-winds in the off-presidential cycle due to lower turn-out. But if she survives that crucial test, she immediately becomes someone mentioned in future governor, senate or congressional openings.
It’s expected that Galloway won’t make many immediate changes to the staff of the Auditor’s Office; and it’s said that the second floor is trying to help the Schweich staffers there find good landing spots.
Schweich Report
The Clayton Police Department released their report on the suicide of Auditor Tom Schweich. See the police report here. The report listed a lot of medication of Schweich’s found in the home. And notes that his wife says he mentioned suicidal thoughts in the past.
Kinder Considering Requests to Run for Governor
Tea Party radio hostess Dana Loesch got the exclusive! Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder is considering jumping into the governor’s race. Listen to it here.
“I’m not here to make a flat-out announcement of candidacy but as I travel around the state and go to these Lincoln state dinners… wherever I go, my fellow Republicans, many of them are coming up to me and encouraging me to enter the race for governor. I am saying here today that I am prayfully and very humbly considering their appeal. I am not foreclosing any options, including vacating the race I said I was in last fall when I said I would run for re-election as lieutenant governor…”
The Case for Kinder
Some think that Kinder’s political future is behind him. They point to his seemingly driftless fundraising. He hasn’t recorded a $5K+ check in over a year. However Kinder has been regularly underestimated by the political class. Kinder never stops working the grass roots circuit. He is usually disciplined in his message delivery. And a crowded field of mostly unknowns might be the most favorable conditions for him to win the gubernatorial primary.
So….
Does Sen. Mike Kehoe tip-toe over to the LG slot? Does Kinder get angry if anyone jumps into the LG race? Or do they all have to wait for his period of discernment to expire?
Greitens’ Quarter
Eric Greitens will report a debut quarter of more than $475,000 raised. That’s a Kosteresque number.
One supporter notes that Greitens has been on a book tour promoting Resilence, and that fundraising doesn’t yet have his full attention.
The Case for Greitens
After the dust of all the speculation and jockeying settles, Republicans will be left with three to five candidates. Most if not all will have a few million dollars raised, and likely no one will overpowering name ID to have a real head start in the race.
One assumes that everyone huddles at the same end of the political spectrum – pro-gun, pro-life, pro-Merica. In that scenario, it could be biography that determines the most attractive candidate. And Grietens’ outsider, Navy tough-man, tough-love non-profit image could win over the necessary plurality to send him to November.
Webber’s Quarter
Rep. Stephen Webber reported his April quarter. He raised $138K; and now has $195K on-hand. Of note: most of the money $100K, came from within the Senate 19 district where Webber will be running. Still Webber has a long way to go fundraising as that will likely ber a very expensive race.
Senate Talks Tax
The Senate spent a lot of time yesterday talking about the gas tax proposal, finally laying the bill over at 9:30PM. Sen. Doug Libla pushed the moderate tone, saying that the hike would just recover only a portion of the ground that has been lost to inflation since the tax was instituted.
It sounds like it will be a very tight vote if it makes it to a vote. There are clearly Republicans willing to vote for the two-cent gas tax increase.
And
Remember this guy? He was tweeting his opposition to the tax last night… @JasonGCrowell ·
@robschaaf please stop the #forevertaxincrease please top the fuel tax that will forever go up without vote of people
Bits
Robertson Williams on the TaxVox blog makes a modest proposal that all government subsidies be Brattin-ized to deter their misuse. Read it here.
The Supreme Court handed down a decision on a CAFO nuisance appeal. See it here. Interesting to note, one of the attorneys on the case was Lathrop & Gage’s Kurt Schaefer…
Today’s Events
From Mary Scruggs’ indispensable events calendar:
Last day to report House Consent Bills from committees
Legislative Charity Softball – Binder Fields – first game at 5:30 p.m.
Lobbyist Registrations
David Jackson and Deanna Hemphill added National Restauarant Association.
Ericka Leonard and Andrew Blunt added Yoga Alliance.
Charles Ballard deleted Agape Boarding School.
$5K+ Contributions
Hanaway for Governor Inc - $10,000 from D John Sauer.
Citizens for Steve Stenger - $10,000 from CDC-ELT Operations LLC.
Lewis & Clark – Northern Missouri Forum - $10,000 from Chester Bross.
Lewis & Clark – Northern Missouri Forum - $10,000 from T and N Inc.
Lewis & Clark – Northern Missouri Forum - $10,000 from Warrenton Oil Co.
Lewis & Clark – Northern Missouri Forum - $10,000 from Potterfield Trucking.
Lewis & Clark – Northern Missouri Forum - $10,000 from Witte Bros. Exchange Inc.
Lewis & Clark – Northern Missouri Forum - $10,000 from The Larson Group Inc.
Slay for Mayor - $34,281 from The Caramel Room at Bissinger’s.
Birthdays
Happy birthdays to Reps. Ira Anders (73) and David Wood (54), and former Reps. Leonard-Jonas Hughes IV (36) and Scott Muschany (49).