Thursday, July 25, 2013

Obama in Missouri

President Barack Obama visited Missouri yesterday, giving a speech on the economy.   It drew all the major media.  See Combest here for all the headlines.

Jones: Where’s Koster?

Speaker Tim Jones went after 2016 Dem Gov candidate Chris Koster in his comments on Obama’s visit, “Even Democrats are running as fast as they can away from the destructive Obamacare law. It is very telling that the Democrats' 2016 standard-bearer for Missouri, Chris Koster, will not even be seen with President Obama. The Obama agenda is so extreme that it is toxic for Koster’s election prospects. Attorney General Koster might think he can fool Missourians, but all remember that Governor Nixon did the same thing and now, after the election, he is standing united with the Obama agenda. Instead of hiding, Attorney General Koster should tell Missourians where he stands on the Obama administration's failed policies.”

Fauss in House 113

Sean Fauss, Democratic committeeman in Arnold, started a campaign committee to run for House 113.  The current representative Jeff Roorda is running for Senate in 2014.

According to the court’s redistricting numbers, House 113 is a very 57% Democratic district.  Last year, Roorda won with 54% of the vote.

Free-For-All Coming in House 34?

So far two candidates have filed campaign committees so far for House 34 where Rep. Jeff Grisamore is termed. 

They are: Rebecca Roeber who was once Grisamore’s treasurer, Justin Kalwei, an assistant prosecutor in Platte County.

But others are mentioned: Lee’s Summit financial planner Chris Heckadon, Roger Davenport  (brother-in-law to Rep. Dave Hinson), and… former state rep. Bob Johnson!

It’s a 60-40 Republican district.

Crusey to DFER

The press release:  “Lea Crusey, a former classroom teacher and state director for StudentsFirst has been named deputy director of Democrats for Education Reform, the political action committee announced today… Crusey started her career as a middle school teacher in East Palo Alto, Calif. working with high-needs students, where she saw firsthand the inequities that exist in our education system. From there she moved into the policy field, eventually joining StudentsFirst as an early employee and launching operations as state director for Missouri, Iowa, and Nevada before making her most recent jump over to DFER…  Democrats for Education Reform (DFER) is a political action committee with 13 state offices whose mission is to encourage a more productive dialogue within the Democratic Party on the need to fundamentally reform American public education. DFER operates at all levels of government to educate elected officials and support reform-minded candidates for public office.”

And

There’s no word on who will replace Crusey here in Missouri, but the rumor is that there’s no shortage of applications.

MOWonk Update

As Brian Schmidt’s MOWonk prepares to move into new offices in Midtown St. Louis, they re-launched their website.  It now features a new look and a brief analysis on the St. Louis County pool tax issue…

The House appointed embers to a joint committee that is supposed to study the issue but the Senate hasn’t done anything – maybe just hoping it will go away because it’s a messy issue.  But with the dueling Chesterfield mega-outlet-malls coming online, that municipality is likely to feel cheated by the system when their revenues shoot up.  See the article here.

Bits

Today is court day for the Save Gordon Parks coalition.  At the 9am hearing in front of Circuit Judge Daniel Green, they will argue that the State Board of Education did not apply proper standards in their decision to denial Parks charter renewal.

Former US Senate candidate John Brunner has a blog!  See it here.

Vicki Schneider’s construction firm now has its women-owned designation.

Quote of the Day

“If Governor Jay Nixon is showing up at a Barack Obama event, I guess he really isn’t running against Senator Roy Blunt in 2016.” 

eMailbag: Republican on Walker

“If Nate Walker is planning on taking an appointment from Nixon, he better plan on it being something that doesn’t require Senate confirmation.”

eMailbag: Democrat on Speaker’s Race

“Lots of Democratic organizations are worried about Rep. Caleb Jones winning the speaker’s race.  They all know John Diehl will just tell the Senate to screw off if/when he doesn’t get an Eco Devo bill – and be content to let everything die.  That’s the best case scenario for Dems.  The last thing we need is someone of Caleb’s personality finding a way to have people get along and get bills moving.  Gridlock has been our savior.”

eMailbag: Gov Relations Exec On Grisamore “Leaning”

“Sure Rep. Jeff Grisamore’s word is taken as gospel these days. After 7 years in office we know one thing, when he takes a public stand, it can change about as quickly as a baby’s diaper.”

$5K+Contributions

MO State Teachers Assoc Legislative Impact Co - $10,000 from Southwest Region.

Lobbyist Registrations

From the Pelopidas website:

Nicole Allen added Westport Insurance Corporation.

Mark R Reading added Results Engineering, and Ketcher Law Firm LLC.

Birthdays

Happy birthday to former state senator Charlie Shields (54).