Thursday, October 3, 2013
CBS News Shines Light on Missouri Medicaid Non-Expansion
CBS News ran a story on Missouri’s Medicaid non-expansion last night. They used Bertha McIntyre as an example. She’s an “unemployed home health aide also cares for her grandson. She does not qualify for Medicaid in Missouri, because her family income is too high -- about $1,200 a month.”
Sen. John Lamping responds as the face of the Republican legislature, “The idea that federal government pays 100 percent of the cost for the first two or three or four years, Missourians are skeptical to that. We're trying to make the best long-term decisions that we can.”
McIntyre gets the last word in the piece: “I would like for any one of the politicians to come and live in my shoes for 30 days.”
On Kinder’s Roll-out
From a source sympathetic to incumbent Congressman Jason Smith comes this arrow concerning Peter Kinder’s radio roll-out yesterday: “Kinder should do talk radio in St. Louis all day everyday. That way he can continue to perform well statewide… While Peter was on St. Louis radio, Jason was on KFVS in Cape talking about the shutdown and fighting Obamacare…”
Electing Judges IP
The Secretary of State’s office has approved for circulation two initiative petitions relating to another proposed change to the Missouri Court Plan. See it here.
I wrote about this last week. In addition to making judges run in partisan elections, the new proposal would increase the number of judges on the Supreme Court. That change ends up creating a $7+ million fiscal note as the work space would have to be reconfigured for more justices.
Readers: Donnelly’s Diss Proves Court Plan Works
Here’s one of the responses I got: “Margaret Donnelly getting dissed shows the Missouri Non Partisan Plan is working. The Missouri Plan rewards those who have actually practiced law, as opposed to those with just political connections. You want the best lawyers becoming judges, not the most politically connected. The Governor has no influence over who gets sent to him anyway and there is not a lawyer in the State of Missouri who would say the Nixon has tried to influence the names being sent to him.”
Here’s another: “Remember that a woman, Mary Russell, was in charge of the panel… and Margaret hasn’t actually practiced law in years. She would have made a great judge, but it was a really strong group of candidates. In my opinion she was pretty far down on the list.”
Dogan in House 98
As had been rumors for a few months (originally in July 10 MOScout), Shamed Dogan announced yesterday that he will enter the House 98 Republican primary where Rea Scharnhorst is planning to run for her husband’s seat.
Dogan’s announcement offers this platform… “My priorities if elected will be to: 1. Do everything in my power to stop the harmful effects of Obamacare on Missourians. 2. Promote the growth of Missouri's private businesses, NOT its government. 3. Defend the God-given Constitutional rights of all Missourians, including the unborn.”
Dogan lost a three-way primary in 2008 to Rep. Andrew Koenig. He’s now an alderman in Ballwin.
State Revenues Continue to Climb
Yesterday’s release from the Office of Administration: “State Budget Director Linda Luebbering announced today that 2014 fiscal year-to-date net general revenue collections increased 2.7 percent compared to 2013, from $1.90 billion last year to $1.95 billion this year. Net general revenue collections for September 2013 increased by 8.3 percent compared to those for September 2012, from $743.2 million to $804.6 million.”
Bits
Citizens for Greene County Committee started. (See it here). It’s in support of ballot question: “Shall The Voters Approve A County Use Tax Of 1.25 Percent On Items That Are Bought Over The Internet Or By Mail From Places Out Of Missouri, And For Vehicles That Are Purchased Out Of State, By Greene County Residents/Greene County”
St. Louis attorney Jerry Schlichter, widely hailed as the prime mover behind the creation of the historic preservation tax credit, won a $30 million lawsuit. See it here.
Help Wanted
Missouri Times seeks a reporter. “We are looking for someone who enjoys covering politics, has great intuition when it comes to news (namely political), is willing to work hard and is organized…” See it here.
Assistant City Attorney: “The City of Kansas City, Missouri Law Department has an open position in its Litigation Division. The starting salary is $58,176 per year plus excellent benefits. A position in the litigation division at the Assistant City Attorney level is available, emphasizing collection cases for the Finance Department/Revenue Division, Neighborhoods and Housing, Water and other departments as assigned, although additional litigation assignments may be made…” See it here.
$5K+Contributions
Committee for Research Treatements and Cures - $400,000 from The Civic Council of Greater Kansas City.
Citizens for Steve Stenger - $10,000 from Eastern Missouri Laborers’ Educational and Benevolent Fund.
Missourians for Tim Jones - $10,000 from Anheuser Busch Companies.
Lobbyist Registrations
From the Pelopidas website:
John E Bardgett Jr, Carol Kemna, Erika Leonard, Brian Millner and Kim Tuttle added Daiichi Sankyo Inc.
Birthdays
Happy birthdays to Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nada, Rep. John Rizzo (33) and Zora Mulligan (37).