Friday, November 11, 2011
Just a quick note on the lieutenant governor situation…
Caucus
Yesterday at the House GOP caucus Speaker Steve Tilley explained his decision. According to sources it was a moving speech and Tilley choked up a bit.
At the heart of his decision, he recalled an episode in his second term when an important vote was happening. They needed everyone at the Capitol for it, so he had to miss an event for his daughter. But now, he said, he couldn’t even remember what the vote was for, only that his daughter was devastated by his absence.
Names
Meanwhile into the void, names have floating…
From Mr. Combest, the Joplin Globe says Sen. Ron Richard has received “about 50 calls” from people begging him to enter the race. Read it Here. One source tells me Richard is likely to pull the trigger. Richard has $265K on-hand and is off-cycle. He doesn’t forfeit his senate seat in the run.
Also, consider Sen. Eric Schmitt. Unlike Richard, he is on-cycle. He’d have to give up his senate seat to run. He has $336K on-hand, and the strong backing of the St. Louis business community.
Sen. Brad Lager tells the Beacon that he’s giving it a serious look. He’s in his final term; his campaign committee is already designated for a statewide office. He has $71K on-hand.
And Sen. Jim Lembke says he’ll look at the race if he gets an ugly map from the appellate commission…
Executive Director for The Center for Marriage Policy Applauds Tilley’s Decision
Cynthia Davis sends out a classless email on Tilley’s announcement. Interesting to note that having left (or been booted from, depending on who’s telling the story) the Republican Party for the Constitution Party, she still uses “gopchief” as her email address.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Cynthia Davis" <gopchief@gmail.com>
Date: Nov 10, 2011 3:58 PM
Subject: Re: Speaker Steve Tilley will NOT run for LG
The Davis for Lt. Gov. campaign scored another victory with the announcement that Steve Tilley will not be running for this office. As the Executive Director for The Center for Marriage Policy, I applaud Steve Tilley for deciding to spend his time trying to get his family and possibly
his marriage back together…