Friday, August 23, 2013

HB 331 and HB 345 Head to Court?

Rumor is that the cities of Liberty, Gladstone, Lee Summit, Cameron, Butler and Independence will be filing suit today to prevent HB 331 and HB 345 from becoming law.  These are the telecommunications bills relating to wireless tower siting, public right-of-way and pole attachment.  The claim will be that they are unconstitutional under Hammerschmidt.  One observe thinks that one vulnerable provision is the crossing of railroad right of way by utilities.  “The railroads sold their interest several years ago to a land management company who is charging crazy amounts for utilities to cross.”

Poaching Charges Heat Up

Aided by a few links on peerless John Combest’s website (“Gov. Rick Perry is heading to politically-pink Missouri on Aug. 29 selling Texas as a destination” and “Perry to lead business-recruitment trip to Missouri”), the backlash against Governor Rick Perry impending trip to Missouri heated up yesterday.

It culminated in a letter from Secretary of State Jason Kander.  See it here. 

Sen. Ryan Silvey’s retort, delivered via twitter:  “Funny, I don't remember @JasonKander sending a letter to Gov Brownback for actually stealing jobs from MO. #PoliticalTheater #LookAtMe”   “Seriously, he was a KC Rep. Pretty sure jobs left his own district for KS.”

River of  Bits

Reading time 5 minutes…  Don’t fight it, just go with the flow…

In House 36, forget about that Darrell Curl filing, Rep. Kevin McManus writes to say, “Please know I have every intention of running for re-election in 2014.  You can quote me if you want.” 

And big Dem donor Stephen Bough is set to host a fundy for McManus next month – for House re-election.

But one Kansas Citian notes, “If Kevin runs for City Council he could run for re-election first as the city race is in spring of 2015.”

In Senate 24, no one (that I can find) thinks that John Lamping will be running for re-election. 

But there are plenty of possibilities there for Republicans.  Some names… Mary Danforth Stillman (see bio here), Lamping treasurer Mike Karasick (see bio here).

Meanwhile, Jill Schupp is doing everything right to make Senate 24 Democratic.  Running for her Rep seat will likely be Tracy McCreery (see bio here).

While Senate 24 looks good for Dems now, they’re playing defense in both Senate 10 (Justus termed) and Senate 22 (McKenna termed).

In 10, Dems maybe can’t win, but if they’re smart they’ll invest enough money to keep the GOP occupied.  Because of a difference in the expense of media markets, Dems have an advantage here.  The Jeanie Riddle stronghold is Callaway County and Ed Schieffer’s is Lincoln County.  Dems can spend money hitting Riddle in Callaway for a faction of the cost it will take Republican to buy into the Lincoln media market.

Senate Dems still need to expand the field for 2014.  A possible Susan Montee candidacy in Senate 34 would definitely put that seat in play.   Last night, by the way, 34 incumbent Rob Schaaf was in St. Louis County for a fundy where former senator Jim Lembke rallied about 200 grassroots conservatives, nearly all paying between $25 and $50.

Additionally, Dems need to find a candidate to shake some fear into Bob Dixon.  Dixon is sitting on a paltry $5,355 cash on-hand.  The district is Republicans, but only about a 54%, so not off the table Republican.  One would think that Dems interested in 2016 victory would love to establish a beachhead in Springfield.  Could a Sara Lampe or Craig Hosmer do the trick?

Got a blackboard going? Chalk up John Brunner’s name as another on looking at governor.  Republicans might like that he has an inexhaustible wealth, so Koster’s fundraising advantage would be neutralized.

The others mentioned – Tom Schweich and Catherine Hanaway – have question marks behind their names.

It’s said that Schweich donor base (namely, Sam Fox and Marilyn Fox) would like to see him as a US Senate candidate in 2018 rather than a gubernatorial candidate in 2016.

And folks still recall Hanaway’s 2004 loss.  While Kit Bond (Senate), Matt Blunt (governor), Peter Kinder (LG), and Sarah Steelman (treasurer) all won, Hanaway was beaten handily in secretary of state.  Why would she be a better candidate this time around?

Someone who’s not mentioned for governor is Peter Kinder.  But you never do quite know with Kinder.  Will he run in 8-CD?  Again for LG?  Or something else? 

Final Bits

KC Star columnist Steve Kraske goes to academia.  See it here.

Charlie Dooley shuffles police board.  See it here.  A little late…

And – Time to start planning for Speaker Diehl.  The strong consensus now appears to be a victory in the speaker’s race for John Diehl.

$5K+Contributions

Friends of Tom Schweich - $50,000 from Sam Fox

Citizens for Responsible Reseach - $33,000 from Brad Bradshaw.

Notes: Writes one Schweich ally, “Expect continued support from the Fox family over the coming quarters as they love Tom.”

Lobbyist Registrations

From the Pelopidas website:

James C. Bowers, Jr. added PC Homes LLC, and Friends of Parkville Animal Shielter.

William B. Moore added I-470 Business and Technology TIF Plan.

Bill Stouffer added Cerner Corporation.

Michael T. White added Magna Seating of America.

Birthdays

Happy birthday to Neil Swanson (43).

Saturday: International Institute’s Anna Crosslin (63).