Wednesday, September 17, 2014
The Secret Life of Republican Moderates?
Mother Jones has an article about Linda Rallo and her band of moderate Republican women trying to convince the Republican legislature that going from a 24-hour waiting period to 72-hour waiting period for abortions was unnecessary and harmful to women. Read it here.
Pull Quote: Republican state Rep. Chris Molendorp, who opposed the bill, heard similar admissions from his GOP colleagues. In a closed-door meeting of the Republican caucus before the vote, Molendorp argued that the bill most of his colleagues were about to vote for was unreasonably cruel. The bill creates a three-day abortion waiting period, the longest in the country, with no exception for rape or incest victims.
Ticket Land
The tragedy of Ferguson has revealed the quasi-Kafkaesque ticket and court land of small municipalities of St. Louis County which rack up fees on violators with a payday-loan type spiral.
NYTimes follows one man try to start paying off his tickets. See it here.
Post-Dispatch reports that a group of judges is proposing to relax the court fees charged in an effort to reform the system. See it here. We’ll see…
And
If you troll Casenet at all, you’ll notice that Bella Villa pops up with a lot of tickets each week on the St. Louis County docket. Maybe they’ll be meeting their match soon though. Nabbed this week by the super-vigilant coppers of Bella Villa… former St. Louis City Elections leader Scott Leiendecker. Don’t mess with the Leien-man!
Ferguson Boils Over to St. Louis County
The mighty Jason Rosenbaum reports from last night’s St. Louis County Council meeting that citizens protesting the Ferguson tragedy and response were in full force. It’s an interesting read… See it here. It sounds like Steve Stenger needs a strategy to deal with this.
Pull Quote: “Stenger, D-Affton, trounced incumbent St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley a few days before Brown was shot and killed. McCulloch played a major role in Stenger’s campaign, even making appearances in multiple television and radio advertisements. Some in the crowd contended that McCulloch’s support for Stenger was a major liability. Stenger faces Republican Rick Stream, a state legislator from Kirkwood, in November.”
And
Public Radio reports that Bob McCulloch is making plans in case the grand jury doesn’t indict police officer Darren Wilson. He says he will release the transcriptions from the jury. Never a good sign when someone goes into “cover my ass” mode BEFOREHAND… Read it here.
NYT Poll: Bad News for Dems
A NYTimes poll shows the public approval of Democrats is soured by Barack Obama’s unopoularity. “President Obama’s approval ratings are similar to those of President George W. Bush in 2006 when Democrats swept both houses of Congress in the midterm elections. A deeply unpopular Republican Party is nonetheless gaining strength heading into the midterms, as the American public’s frustration with Mr. Obama has manifested itself in low ratings for his handling of foreign policy and terrorism.” See it here.
Roorda Bits
Rep. Jeff Roorda concluded his fifth fundraiser in eight days last night. It’s said his efforts have brought in about $120K. The quarter ends in about two weeks, so we’ll see his results then.
And the brief social media mentioned attempting to mount a protest rally at his fundraiser last night (featuring Governor Jay Nixon) didn’t materialize…
Help Wanted
Missouri Department of Revenue seeks General Counsel for the Motor Vehicle and Driver Licensing Division. “This is professional level work in the Missouri Department of Revenue, Division of Motor Vehicle and Driver Licensing, providing legal advice and counseling to the Division Director on driver licensing, motor vehicle, and dealer licensing laws and conducting hearings…” See the ad here.
Missouri Department of Transportation seeks Assistant Chief Counsel - Human Resources. “The assistant chief counsel - human resources manages legal services (advice, litigation and document drafting) provided to the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission and MoDOT for human resources issues (e.g., hiring, benefits, discipline, termination, etc.) and other areas/projects as assigned….” See the ad here.
Fundraising Calendar
Today’s fundraising events from Mary Scruggs’ indispensable events calendar:
Missouri Senate Campaign Committee – Cardinals vs. Brewers – 7:15 p.m.
$5K+ Contributions
Committee to Elect Jeff Roorda - $25,000 from Missouri DRIVE Fund.
Lavender for State Rep - $10,000 from Teamsters 245 PAF.
Robert Butler Campaign Fund - $10,000 from Teamsters 245 PAF.
Missourians for Safe Transportation and New Jobs Inc - $26,040 from Missourians for Safe Transportation and New Jobs.
Missourians for Tim Jones - $10,000 from Grow Missouri.
UTU-PAC - $10,000 from United Transportation Union PAC.
Schupp for Senate - $25,000 from Missouri Drive Fund.
Friends of Rick Stream - $10,000 from Centene Management Company.
Committee to Elect Jeff Roorda - $25,000 from Missouri State Democratic Committee.
Notes on Large Contributions
Teamsters Deliver Checks
The Teamsters Union sent $25K into Senate 22 (Jeff Roorda) and Senate 24 (Jill Schupp). (No check for Ed Schieffer so far in Senate 10). DRIVE is their “voter education” fund. It stands for Democrats, Republicans, Independents Voter Education. See the website here.
And state representative candidates Deb Lavendar (St. Louis County’s House 90), and Robert Butler (Jefferson County’s House 112) each received $10K.
Transportation Tax
It looks like the $26K left over from their campaign committee was rolled over into a new political action committee. See its filling here. The final filing of the original committee shows that the unsuccessful campaign raised and spent a little over $4.2 million. Jewell Patek’s Election Day Enterprises LLC received a bit more than $200K on the final report for campaign management, field work and other expenses. Patek was among the team of lobbyists who finessed the resolution through the legislature; he also served as deputy treasurer on the campaign committee.
Happy Birthday
Happy birthdays to Sen. Mike Parson (59), Rep. Tom McDonald (68), former attorney general Bill Webster (61), and former auditor Margaret Kelly (79).