Friday, January 27, 2012

Senate Dems Selling Out On Map?

There’s plenty of finger-pointing on the Democratic side over who lost redistricting.  The maps legislative maps were basically status quo maps, securing Republican majorities for the next decade.

Most of the blame has fallen to the judiciary.  The Democratically appointed supreme court chief justice, Richard Teitelman, was supposed to have the Democrats’ back this redistricting cycle much as the Republican chief justice did ten years ago for the GOP.

But some also place blame at the current Democratic Senate Caucus for the senate map which like the house map, doom Democrats to a deep minority for the next decade.  According to these critics, individual Democratic senators joined with Republican senators to promote the narrow interests of their personal future (or to hand off their seat to successor) at the expense of advancing a map which would have given Democrats greater representation in future cycles.

This would all be history except that with the map redistricting process starting anew, one source says that the Senate Dems are at it again, huddling recently to determine how to best navigate the coming round of the map machinations.

More on Martin

Danforth Drops

Conspicuously absent from Ed Martin’s endorsement roll-out was Jack Danforth.  One assumes that with Koster clearly on the right side of the fence on Danforth’s key issue – life science research – the best that Martin could hope for would be for Danforth to sit the race out.

Ed Could Win

One top Republican says that I shouldn’t discount Martin’s chances to beat incumbent Chris Koster.  His reasoning, “Ed will work hard and will be like the annoying little dog barking at (Koster’s) heels… it’s a bad year for Democrats and Ed will be well-funded.”

Ed’s Element

Martin never seemed comfortable in a Republican primary with someone who was ideological very similar to himself.  His natural posture is to go on the attack and create a vivid contrast between himself and his opposition.  Right from yesterday’s opening, Martin did just that launching his AG candidacy by launching an attack on Koster.

From his announcement:  “Martin said current Attorney General Chris Koster has acted as President Obama's lawyer, not the people's Attorney General… Chris Koster’s complacency while troubling pales in comparison to the ‘pay to play’ mentality of him and his corrupt office.  Koster has filled his campaign coffers to the brim with contributions from law firms competing to work on major lawsuits that State lawyers don’t handle…  This behavior is no different than the despicable practices of the Obama Administration and its tax breaks and giveaways for big donors like Solyndra executives who got $535 million in loan guarantees from the government before going bankrupt and being raided by the FBI.   It is time to start dismantling the Obama Organization starting with his lawyers like Chris Koster...”

Ann’s Next Act

Without a real challenge now, Wagner can consider broadening her portfolio, seeing if she can help out others on the team, nationally.  One observer thinks she has a bright future: “I see her going up fast into leadership.  She’s so tenacious and so connected.”

Rex Doubles Down

According to AP (Read it Here), Rex Sinquefield has added another $1.2 million to the coffers of the initiative petition effort to eliminate the state income tax and replace it with an expanded sales tax.

One assumes that his pollsters/consultants see a path for passage.  Opponents’ confidence has been strong since polling last month showed the early television advertisements has limited impact in Springfield.

2012 Watch

Terry Wilson started a campaign committee to run for House 66 as a Democrat.  Wilson ran for state representative in 2008, losing to Gina Walsh (70-30), and then attempted to run in 2010 against Tommie Pierson but was disqualified by the secretary of state’s office.  Pierson is the current incumbent of House 66.

Lobbyists’ Principals Changes

From the Pelopidas website:

Scott Swain added StudentsFirst.

$5K+ Contributions

Save Our States Jobs Coalition - $6,389 from Missouri Restaurant Association.

Spence for Governor - $25,000 from Missouri Professionals Mutual.

Birthdays

Happy birthdays to Rep. Jill Schupp (57), AMEC’s Mary Scruggs, and Gina Loudon.

Saturday: Former Rep. Van Kelly (47) and Melanie Adams.

Sunday: Reps Tommie Pierson (66) and Craig Redmon (53), Coalition for the Environment’s Kat Logan, MOWonk’s Brian Schmidt (29), and Allison Bruns.