Monday, November 19, 2012
Barnes Contra Loesch
Tea Party diva Dana Loesch went ballistic last week when she heard that some Republican legislators thought that it would be okay for the state to set up a health care exchange instead of the having the federal government do it.
Her Facebook holler: “Hearing that some MO GOP are going weak on upholding Prop E. You will have a war on your hands if you don't. That's a promise. I will personally assist in primarying every single Repub who backs off fighting against MO health exchange implementation. Every. Single. One.”
At the top of her list, Rep. Jay Barnes, who went on her radio show to explain the issue and ended up in a shouting match.
Never one to give up, Barnes then penned a 3,500 word “open letter” to Loesch, an interesting use of time considering Loesch appears most comfortable in the anti-intellectual wing of the Republican party. See his essay here.
South Korea Gets Hot for SMRs
From an October 30 Dow Jones research note: “With the latest contract, the government expects that Korean suppliers will be able to take the leadership in the emerging market for SMRs. Although not at the commercialization stage, the global SMR market is forecast to be $350 billion by 2050 when as many as 1,000 such reactors will be built.”
Here is what it means: aside from yet another estimate of the potential massive market, it appears that if Missouri wants to be the major player, it’s not only competing against others states, but other countries as well.
Freshmen Tour
The freshman tour is back. It’ll run for two weeks – the last week of November and the first week of December – and will take the new legislators around the state, looking especially at education and economic development.
Speaker’s RV Tour
Speaker Tim Jones will hop into an RV on December 10 for a 5 day listening tour, handshaking exercise across the state. The tour is yet another step in Jones’ effort to construct a constituency of Republican rank-and-file to support his House agenda and yet undetermined 2016 statewide bid.
(RV provided courtesy of Byerly RV, located in the heart of Jones’ Eureka district).
Fix the Debt
A bipartisan group will step up to the microphones in Jefferson City this morning to call on Congress to avert the “fiscal cliff.”
Former U.S. Senator Kit Bond, Former Governor Bob Holden, Treasurer Clint Zweifel, Lt. Governor Peter Kinder will claim that they’re speaking for a “300,000-member strong grassroots coalition.” See the website here.
More on the Big Bonding Idea
More rumors on the “big bonding” proposal…
First, it appears that Rep. Chris Kelly is one of the prime movers behind the effort.
Second, there is some disagreement between folks whether the higher ed component is linked to the highway funding component or not. On the one hand, the higher ed bonding would draw on general revenue whereas the highway side might involve a sales tax or some other stream. That seems to argue that there would be two separate proposals. However, one savvy source believes firmly that you need the asphalt companies to pay for the campaign to convince voters, therefore higher ed would want to link them so they can piggyback on those campaign dollars.
Third, the amounts we’re talking about appear to be in the neighborhood of a billion on each side: one billion higher ed, one billion highways. In other words, real money.
Fourth, the arguments that Republican leadership will likely make to their caucuses will include: references to similar bond issues during Republican governorships of John Ashcroft and Kit Bond; “money will never be cheaper” due to the historically low interest rates; and these are investments into future productivity, not just “some program.”
It is still unclear whether those arguments will override the fact that “bonding” general revenue is a euphemism for deficit spending, plain and simple.
Lobbyist Registrations
From the Pelopidas website:
Todd Smith deleted Advocates Inc, and Missouri Energy Forum.
David Klarich added Mechanical Contractors Association of Kansas City.
Benjamin Brundage, Jasmine Linda Bryant, Nicholas Charalambides, Alexius Gandy, Dylan Hampton, Rachel Jag, Alexander Mugera, Patricia Poe, Kaitlin Steen, Abigail Thomas added The Associated Students of the University of Missouri.
Mark J Bruns, Gary Burton, Neal English, James Foley, Andrew Foley, Dawn Heidbreder, Don Soph, and Chris Liese added Cognosante LLC.
Marcia Hazelhorst added Missouri Juvenile Justice Association.
Keith Hazelwood added Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
Matt Hill added Superior Senior Care.
David Kent added Missouri Credit Union Association.
Richard A McIntosh added Kansas City Chiefs Football Club.
Hillary Elliott deleted Parents as Teachers National Center.
Ximena Hartsock deleted StudentsFirst.
Amanda Rolat deleted Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
$5K+ Contributions
HealthPAC - $5,500 from Advocating for Care Together PAC Inc.
Committee to Elect Reed - $20,000 from International Assn of Fire Fighters Local #73 PAC.
Birthdays
Happy birthdays t former Rep. Kenny Jones (62) and lobbyist Fred Dreiling (44).