Monday, February 11, 2013
Congressman Smith
Rep. Jason Smith prevailed in the 8-CD Republican nominating contest over the week with a mighty show of force. He took a first round lead (28 votes) and kept adding to it as others faltered, finally reaching the 50% mark in the sixth round. Lloyd Smith pulled 14 votes in the first round, trailing Jason Smith by 14 votes. Amazingly, that was the closest anyone ever got to Jason Smith during the whole process.
Lloyd Smith outperformed expectations, as did Jason Crowell. By the fourth round, Crowell pulled into second place with 20 votes (to Jason Smith’s 39), with Peter Kinder and Lloyd Smith at 12 and 13 votes respectively.
Rep. Todd Richardson started with 11 votes and never got traction beyond that, slowly fading until his exit after round five.
Winners and Losers in CD-8
Winners
Obviously Jason Smith is the big winner.
Todd Richardson – this is a bit counter-intuitive. I predicted that Richardson would emerge as the dark-horse. I was wrong. Despite solid performances in the forums and an easy personal manner, he never caught fire. Still, if it's possible to lose and still win, Richardson did so. He showed himself to be a substantive and articulate candidate with tremendous potential; this just wasn’t his time.
Jason Crowell - Close only counts in horseshoes and grenades, but it suggests that, if he chooses to primary Jason Smith in 2014, he’d begin with a bedrock group of supporters in counties across the 8th.
Ed Martin – Definitely did not want to have to deal with a Congressman Lloyd Smith, after basing his campaign for party chair on backlash against Lloyd’s tenure as chair.
Jeanne Riddle – Welcome back to the Capitol, Madam Speaker Pro Tem. (The first woman to ever occupy that post?) Would be a nice perch to raise $ from in preparation for a looming Senate race.
Steve Tilley – A quick glance at the Jason Smith campaign finance reports shows payments to the former speaker’s consulting firm.
Chris Koster – Could a LG-appointed Clint Zweifel have been the perfect safety valve from a sharp Democratic gubernatorial primary in 2016? We’ll never know.
Eddy Justice - won praise from all competing corners for keeping the process on-track and with a minimal amount of drama.
Losers
Peter Kinder – he was never as strong as the CW. Did the overwhelmingly rural district may have resented all the time he’s spent in St. Louis over the years? The opportunity cost of the hundreds of urban events he attended as Pro Tem and LG was time not spent in his home base. Ultimately, that did not serve him well in this race.
David Barklage – having been strongly identified as Kinder’s consigliore, as Kinder goes, so goes Barklage.
Sarah Steelman – Put a fork in her. Nobody gets 4 bites at the apple anymore - especially when you still owe your vendors almost a million bucks.
Kurt Schafer / Eric Schmitt / or any moderate Republican in a 2016 AG primary – the hope that Tim Jones could be shunted to lieutenant governor is gone. The paths are narrow to outflank the conservative speaker with $500K in the bank.
John Diehl / Caleb Jones / other aspiring Speakers – You’ve got to factor in Rep. Todd Richardson for the next five years.
Republican rebranding – other than the brief interlude of Rep. Todd Richardson’s rather optimistic stump speech, the other dozen candidates offered the familiar, hard-right, social conservative, anti-government message that served them poorly across the country in 2012.
Speaker’s Office and Black Caucus Detente
It’s said that last week Speaker Tim Jones saw a “steady stream” of Black Caucus members coming to his office and asking for help on their legislative agendas on issues.
As a result of those meetings, Jones recently referred several Dem bills to committee, and has a Black Caucus breakfast set in a few weeks in the Speaker’s office.
Among the bills referred on Thursday: Distress Land Assemblage (Penny Hubbard co-sponsor); Michele Kratky’s HB391, Jeff Roorda’s HB37, HB359, HB362, HB363, HB364; Sharo Pace’s HB285; Jay Swearingen’s HB254; and Brandon Ellington’s HB247, HB242.
Slay-Nasheed Lovefest
“I do want to give a special shout-out to Sen. Jamilah Nasheed. She’s someone that’s out there all over the city. And she knows – like I know – that we’ve got a big city and we need to work together to keep this city moving forward. And thanks for taking a bunch of hits for me, because I know you are.” – Mayor Francis Slay at “Gourmet for Slay” rally.
Lincoln Days Schedule
A look at the Lincoln Days schedule for this weekend shows only two Missouri Republicans highlighted… State Auditor Tom Schweich up for re-election in 2014 is host of the Saturday morning breakfast… and Speaker Tim Jones hosts the Friday night welcome reception. Jones continues to be the only other Republican elevating himself to the statewide stage.
Bits
Former Governor Matt Blunt (now president of the American Automotive Policy Council) writes an op-ed this morning in Politico accusing Japan of “protectionist currency manipulation.” See it here.
From Politico’s Influence: “FORMER MISSOURI SENATOR TAKES TO K STREET: Former Sen. Kit Bond is making a play in the influence game. Kit Bond Strategies is now lobbying for the City of Kansas City Missouri and Broadway Square Partners, according to a recent filing. One interesting twist - Bond himself isn't registered to do the work. His former aides Matthew Roney and Jason Van Eaton are lobbying on an ‘IRS Service Center project and FAA training center project’ for Broadway Square Partners. Rooney and Shana Marchio are lobbying to ‘facilitate housing initiatives that improve urban development’ for Kansas City. Bond retired from the Senate in 2011.”
Governing Magazine on health exchanges: “Various health insurance industry sources have said that they’ll be lobbying states in the next few years to take more control of the marketplaces, also known as exchanges, which are expected to serve up to 24 million people by 2023, according to the latest federal estimates.” Read full article here.
Hearings of Interest This Week
Senate
Small Business Committee – Tuesday, 1pm, SCR1
SB30 & SB68 – weakening prevailing wage laws.
SB 76 & SB134 - bars employers from requiring employees to engage in or cease engaging in certain labor practices.
Commerce Committee – Tuesday, 3pm, Senate Lounge
Likely to exec out the ISRS bill, SB 207
House
Crime Prevention Committee – Monday, 1pm, HR6
HB 362 – Methamphetamine Relief Task Force – Jeff Roorda.
HB 152 – Allow school districts to commission school officers to enforce laws relating to crimes committed on school grounds – Sheila Solon.
Workforce Development Committee – Monday 1pm, HR4
HB 320 – changes the laws regarding unlawful discriminatory employment practices – Kevin Elmer.
Economic Development Committee – Tuesday, 5pm, HR7
Various tax credits and incentives including the Distressed Land Assemblage tax credit (HB423).
Professional Registration and Licensing Committee – Wednesday, Noon, HR5
Hearing from David Stokes of the Show-Me Institute.
Workforce Development Committee – Wednesday, 8am, HR5
HB95 & HB 91 - no person as a condition or continuation of employment can be required to become or refrain from becoming a member of or paying dues to a labor organization.
Help Wanted
State Auditor seeks staff attorney. See ad here.
There’s a vacancy created by the planned retirement of Judge Frederick R. Buckles in the Eighth Circuit. See the details here.
KC-based Infoition seeks analyst. See ad here. “Infoition performs a comprehensive search of print, online, broadcast and social media channels. We track which messages are conveyed, measure volume and sentiment, and identify who is leading the discussions throughout industry coverage to help our clients evaluate and refine their communications strategy.”
eMailbag: One Thing/Two Words
“The big bad monopolies can say all they want to discredit ACU but they cannot deny one thing ‘RATED VOTE.’”
Vansaghi Exits MCC
Last week Tom Vansaghi, Associate Vice Chancellor of College and Community Relations for Metropolitan Community College – Kansas City, deleted his lobbyist registration for MCCKC. He’s leaving this week.
Vansaghi will become executive director of the North American Primary Care Research Group, which is part of the American Academy of Family Physicians (which is based in Kansas City).
Lobbyist Registrations
From the Pelopidas website:
Parker J Bena added The Daley Group LLC.
Sarah Luebbert added Missouri Pharmacy Association.
Debbie King deleted Amgen Inc.
$5K+ Contributions
Home Builders Association of Greater KC PAC - $5,240 from National Association of Homebuilders BuildPAC.
Continue to Care Committee - $50,000 from The Civic Council of Greater Kansas City.
Continue to Care Committee - $10,000 from JE Dunn Construction Company.
A Better Missouri With Governor Jay Nixon - $25,000 from Peabody Investments Corporation.
Slay for Mayor - $11,834 from Anheuser Busch Companies.
Birthdays
Happy birthday to former Reps. Steve Brown (46) and Don Wells (63).
Congratulations
To Rep. Caleb Rowden on the birth of his son Willem Keane Rowden.