Thursday, January 30, 2014
Follow-Up on Tilley for AFL-CIO
As rumored, Steve Tilley registered to lobby for the Missouri AFL-CIO. He’s joined by Danny Pfeifer, Greg Porter, and Alex Eaton of the Catalyst Group, and John Parris of Bardgett and Associates.
This is significant for a few reason, but mainly because it opens a second front on the right to work legislation. Previously the assumption was that it would easily pass the House and be stalled in the Senate. The question was then, how much time the Senate would give it, and would they be willing to PQ the issue.
Now the question is whether the House will be able to pass it. The previous estimate had the House with a cushion of about ten votes. Now you’re adding some folks who can make new and compelling cases to those on the fence.
I would expect it still gets through the House, but it’s not a gimme anymore.
And
In a sign of how unsteady some of those House votes are, the rumor in the halls is that the House won’t be voting on right to work until after filing closes at the end of March. In other words, representatives who are worried about it being unpopular in their district want to make sure they don’t face an opponent based on that bad vote.
Also
While the decision to bring in Tilley was seen as a very smart move by the AFL-CIO, there’s still grumbling from Republicans. This is the same discontent that bubbled up when Tilley gave a contribution to Democrat Chris Koster. Previously they jabbed that Tilley was using money from Republican donors to give to the presumptive Democratic gubernatorial nominee. Now they punch that Tilley is undermining an effort at a major Republican goal: breaking the unions which have supported Democratic statewide candidates for decades.
More Initiative Petitions Filed
More initiative petitions, variations on one already filed, continue to be submitted to the secretary of state’s office. See them here.
One veteran in the hallways says that we’re getting to the point in the calendar where these new arrivals are irrelevant. The signatures must be gathered in the next four months, so it’s getting late in the game to just be submitted the initial petition.
Gubby Appts… Wait a Week
At yesterday’s Gubernatorial Appointments Committee, senators put “holds” on several appointments. But they were not seen as permanent kills, instead rather moves to “send a message.” For example, the holds on the Board of Education appointments were to acts to demonstrate some senators’ displeasure with Chris Nicastro.
Sen. Eric Schmitt has questions about the E-15 issue, which resulted in Richard Fordyce being stalled from director of agriculture.
However Daniel Hall did make it through for the Public Service Commission.
Missouri Early Voting Fund
In the large contributions below, money is starting to flow into the Early Voting Fund. It’s the campaign committee to support the ballot initiative aimed at a statewide vote to amend the constitution to allow early voting.
Education Committee
At the Senate Education Committee yesterday, Chair David Pearce indicated that he intends to take all the student transfer bills in his committee and seek a “common ground” compromise that he can then take to the Senate floor.
$5K+ Contributions
Missourians for Equal Credit Opportunity - $395,000 from Missourians for Responsible Government.
Missourians for Koster - $25,000 from Gregory Wendt.
Missourians for Koster - $10,000 from CHIPP Political Account.
Missouri Early Voting Fund - $25,000 from Davis, Bethune & Jones LLC.
Missouri Early Voting Fund - $25,000 from Davis, Ketchmark, McCreight & Ivers PC.
Friends of Pfister - $5,001 from Harris & Harris LLC.
Lobbyist Registrations
Travis Brown, David Jackson, Deanna Hemphill and Dave Berry added Fair Trade Missouri.
Daniel Pfeifer, Steven Tilley, Alex Eaton, Gregory Porter, and John Parris added Missouri AFL CIO.
Birthdays
Happy birthday to KCPL’s Chuck Caisley.