Wednesday August 21, 2013
Perry the Poacher?
Texas Governor Rick Perry will be in Missouri next week, but what his mission is here has become unclear.
Originally it was reported that Perry was coming at the invitation of Grow Missouri as an out-of-state superstar to give their arguments for overriding HB 253 some extra firepower. See the St. Louis Beacon article here.
But yesterday, the press release from the governor’s office in Texas made it sound like Perry would be traveling to lure Missouri businesses to relocate in Texas. See it here.
According to the press release, a Texas business group called “TexasOne” has started running television commercials in Missouri extoling the benefits of doing business in Texas. See one such ad here.
Rex Sinquefield previously acknowledged helping the effort to cut Kansas taxes in order to put pressure on Missouri to do the same. Airing the threat of jobs going to Texas looks like a similar tactic.
HB 253 Talk
On HB 253, Reps. Elaine Gannon and Dennis Fowler are said to be against the override. But – as has become the new fudge-phrase – they may be willing to vote for it, if they are the determining factor.
The problem is that right now there’s at least eight, by my count, different people who will be the 109th vote. And if the board is stuck at 101, none of them are going to want to change their vote.
The increasing gap between the votes they have and the votes they need may be the reason that Governor Jay Nixon this week has started to talk about other bill as well…
But supporters predict that “things are going to get loud” on HB 253, a reference perhaps to the bulk of the advertising dollars about to hit the airwaves in the coming weeks.
Other Override Bits
On HB 650 (Doe Run), it’s said that Rep. Kevin Elmer has said that he would switch his vote to help the override effort. For the override to work there, Republicans need to pull back about half their defectors, while doubling the number of Dems that will vote against their governor.
On HB 301 (Sex Offenders), the case appears to have been made convincingly to legislators that their political enemies will hit them for voting for it the first time regardless of how they vote a second time. And Speaker Tim Jones – AG candidate in waiting – takes some solace that his two potential primary opponents (Sens. Kurt Schaefer and Eric Schmitt) also voted for it.
N-Tower-IMBY
A group calling themselves No Towers Here has started a webpage to oppose the Grain Belt Clean Line Express.
Clean Line Express is a company trying to build transmission lines to move wind power across the Mid-West. They’re not expected to seek any legislative action, but rather need to be certified as a utility by the Public Service Commission. That application hasn’t been submitted yet and probably won’t be until next year. They have won similar approval in Kansas and Indiana.
Clean Line is represented by Denton’s Rodney Boyd, Brian Grace, and Kelvin Simmons.
Rumorville: Diehl Primary?
Rumors have Brad Williams considering a primary challenge to Rep. John Diehl next year. Williams ran unsuccessfully for school board. See his bio here.
Witte Gone
Stephen Witte, who has manned Senate Research for 15 years, has resigned. The Senate posted his job here. Witte is said to be making calls looking for his next gig…
Help Wanted
St. Louis Association of REALTORS seeks Assistant Director of Governmental Affairs. “Monitors governmental and legislative affairs developments in St. Louis County municipalities which affect the Association’s membership and reports this data to the membership. Manages the municipal lobbying activity on behalf of SLAR towards the goal that the real estate industry is free of undue local restrictions, regulations, and/or legislation….” See ad here.
“The Department of Social Services, Division of Legal Services has an opening in its Litigation Section located in the Jefferson City, Missouri office. Salary range is between $38,040 - $45,948, depending on work experience. The position provides legal advice and representation for Missouri Children's Division in child protection cases and the Department of Social Services in other matters that impact the department…” See the ad here.
$5K+Contributions
Missouri Roundtable for Life - $36,818 from Fred Sauer.
HealthPAC - $6,800 from Midamerica Division Office.
Committee for Research Treatments and Cures - $10,000 from Kansas City Series of Lockton Companies LLC.
Stand Up Missouri - $5,750 from Wallace Management Co.
Citizens for Jay Wasson - $5,806 from Prime Inc.
Lobbyist Registrations
From the Pelopidas website:
Randy Scherr and Brian Bernskoetter added Mallinckodt LLC.
Rodney S. Bland added Energy Systems Group.
Steve Robino added Aetna Inc.
Birthdays
Happy birthdays to Shane Schoeller (42), Dave Hageman, and Jim Cooper.
eMailbag: On Reagan
“Has anyone else pointed out that people might pronounce Shawn Furey’s daughter’s name as ‘Ragin Furey’ instead of Reagan?”