Wednesday, August 20, 2014

McCulloch Unmoved

Despite pleadings from the African American community which lacks faith in St. Louis County Prosecutor Bob McCulloch’s ability to be impartial, he will oversee the case against Officer Darren Wilson.  It was reported that the grand jury starts today. Read the Post-Dispatch’s Kevin McDermott’s article here.

Pull Quote: “He doesn’t have the fortitude to do the right thing when it comes to prosecuting police officers,” Jamilah Nasheed told CNN in an interview that aired Tuesday. “His cousin is a police officer. His mother works for the police department. His uncle is a police officer, and, again, we think that his judgment will be clogged as a result of all of those occurrences.”  Among other African-American leaders taking that stance are U.S. Rep. William Lacy Clay, D-St. Louis, and St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley, who on Tuesday accused McCulloch of “a history of insensitivity to the African-American community.”

Another Fatal Police Shooting

And the hits keep coming.  This time a few miles east in the City of St. Louis, a man was fatally shot by police.  He was reportedly a knife-wielding man…  Read it here.

Pull Quote:  St. Louis Alderman Dionne Flowers, who works at a nearby beauty shop, witnessed the encounter, according to St. Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson. She described the man as acting erratically and was grabbing at his waistband, Dotson said. "The store owner and the alderwoman said the suspect was armed with a knife, acting erratically, pacing back and forth in the street, talking to himself," said Dotson, who spoke at the scene. Employees at the market and the beauty shop called 911 and two police officers arrived, police said…

MO GOP: Registering Voters “Disgusting”

Post-Dispatch’s Alex Stuckey reports that Missouri Republican Party executive director Matt Wills called a voter registration drive in Ferguson “disgusting.”  See it here.

Pull Quote: "If that’s not fanning the political flames, I don’t know what is," Wills told Breitbart News, a conservative website, Monday.  He also called the actions "completely inappropriate."  This morning, Sen. Ryan Silvey, R-Kansas City, took to Twitter expressing his outrage at Wills' comments. "I have no problem (with) protesters, or anyone, getting registered to vote," Silvey tweeted. "How do we keep our (government) accountable if not by ballot?"

Police State

With all the police news, the Wall Street Journal published an interesting piece yesterday, reporting that one in three Americans have an arrest record.  That sounds ridiculous to me.  But here’s the story (read it here): Over the past 20 years, authorities have made more than a quarter of a billion arrests, the Federal Bureau of Investigation estimates. As a result, the FBI currently has 77.7 million individuals on file in its master criminal database—or nearly one out of every three American adults. Between 10,000 and 12,000 new names are added each day.  At the same time, an information explosion has made it easy for anyone to pull up arrest records in an instant. Employers, banks, college admissions officers and landlords, among others, routinely check records online. The information doesn't typically describe what happened next.  Many people who have never faced charges, or have had charges dropped, find that a lingering arrest record can ruin their chance to secure employment, loans and housing.

Mims Prevails?

Missouri Times reports that Rep. Bonnaye Mims will prevail when the vote from the August primary is certified tomorrow.  On Election Night India Williams appeared to win by 17 voted.  Now, according to Missouri Times, that will tilt back in Mims’ favor by 12 votes.  A recount is expected.

This would mean that no incumbents lost in August.  (And that I correctly predicted 43 of the 48 contested elections… but really this isn’t about me….)

Write-Ins

According to the Secretary of State’s office only one person has filed a declaration of intent to be a write in candidate in the November general election in legislative races.  So far the only one listed is Craig Hall in House 139.  That’s Kevin Elmer’s district where Jered Taylor won a three-way primary.

The deadline to make the declaration is the 2nd Friday before Election Day, which means this year it October 24.

Who Pays?

One reader questioned the Missouri Ethics Commission’s fine of the House Democratic Campaign Committee.  They were fined $10,000.  However that committee is now defunct, as is its successor committee, the House Democratic Victory Committee.

American Water PAC

Clean Water Healthy Communities PAC was formed according to the Missouri Ethics Commission website.  Its treasurer is Mark Schaeffer who appears to be “senior compliance manager” at American Water Company.  The deputy treasuer, Mollie Ogden, is a paralegal at American Water.  And the committee address matches up with American Water.

Uber Picks Up Plouffe

Yesterday the New York Times reported that ride-sharing pioneer Uber hired former Obama advisor David Plouffe.  Read it here.  “The move further signaled the grand aspirations of companies like Uber, which are challenging entrenched industries and running into resistance from some local governments. Mr. Plouffe, who ran President Obama’s 2008 campaign, said he planned to run Uber’s communication efforts much like a political race, pushing to woo consumers and regulators alike in the company’s fast-paced expansion across the world.”

In Missouri Uber had Annie Presley as their lobbyist, until she split with Bryan Cave and the registration was deleted.  They now have no one working in Missouri. Competitor Lyft has lobbyists Jewell Patek, and Dentons’ Rodney Boyd, Brian Grace and Kelvin Simmons on their payroll.

Fundraising Calendar

Today’s fundraising events from Mary Scruggs’ indispensable events calendar:

Rep. Craig Redmon Golf – Norwoods Golf Club, Hannibal.

Lobbyist Registrations

From the Gate Way Group website:

Dustin Backes added RKV Technologies, and Patek & Associates.

Chris Mitchell added ACT Inc.

$5K+ Contributions

Citizens for Rapid Response - $10,000 from Wentzville Professional Firefighters.

Local 41 Political Action Fund - $9,366 from DRIVE Committee.

Southwest Missouri Leadership PAC - $10,000 from Rudolph E and Dorothy Farber.

A Better Missouri With Governor Jay Nixon - $10,000 from MACO Development Company.

Happy Birthday

Happy birthdays to lobbyist Trent Watson, former state senators Chuck Gross (56) and Wayne Goode (77), and Norman Pressman.