Monday, April 25, 2011
Leara for Leadership
Rep. Mike Leara is exploring a run for a House Republican Caucus leadership position.
There aren’t, on the surface anyway, many positions open next cycle. Things could certainly change but here’s the current rundown: speaker and floor leader are expected to be filled by Reps. Tim Jones and John Diehl. None of the other leadership positions – Reps. Shane Schoeller (pro tem), Jason Smith (whip), Sue Allen (caucus secretary) and Shelley Kenney (caucus chair) – are held by term-limited legislators.
That leaves assistant floor leader as the only open slot now (Rep. Jeanie Riddle has said she won’t run for that spot again). However the general consensus was that a freshman would be encouraged to run for that position.
Stay tuned…
Getting Paid
Rep. Jamilah Nasheed pulled in $5,000 from the Citizens for a Stronger St. Louis campaign according to their April filing. The committee was the vehicle to keep the city’s earning tax. According to the report, Nasheed was paid for “strategic campaign oversight.”
Morgan Indictment Ripples?
The St. Louis Beacon reported on the potential “concern” for politicos with last week’s indictment of Doug Morgan, former St. Louis County Planning Commission chairman. Read it Here.
One Capitol source, though, adds a name unmentioned by the Beacon – James Harris, whose association with Morgan is said to go back to the Blunt administration when Harris oversaw gubernatorial appointments.
That would explain some of the Democrat’s Republican donations like dollars to Matt Blunt and Harris’ father-in-law, Rep. Mike Lair.
Feedback on the First
A reader adds to my observation Friday that new 1st Congressional District may have more voting age whites than black – and the accompanying thought that this bodes well for Rep. Russ Carnahan should he decide to run there against Rep. Lacy Clay instead of a Republican in the Todd Akin district.
“You are definitely on to something by looking at 18+ which is a better number than overall percentage. Two further considerations should be taken with respect to expected primary turnout. Carnahan is helped by the fact that whites have higher turnout rates than blacks . But that is offset by a Clay advantage that a higher percentage of blacks voters will take a Democratic ballot than white voters. If you assume that 15% of that district is Republican. Those Rs are going to be disproportionally white. There are a couple of other complicated factors but those are the two big ones.”
Feedback on Mayer’s Point of Order Ruling
From one former senator, still patrolling the building:
“This is not the first time a senate committee substitute has been ruled out of order in the Senate. While it may be rare, it has happened in the past. I was sure I remembered this from my days in the Senate and I double checked with an old timer that would know for sure and they did know for sure.
“A point of order can and has been raised that a substitute, whether an SCS or floor substitute, goes beyond the scope of the bill as the Senate received it from the House. The Senate does not look at whether what the House did to a bill is in order, but points of order can and have been raised successfully on whether committee changes were in order.”
Three Weeks and Soon Two Weeks
The legislature is on Easter break today, reconvening tomorrow at 2pm. Then, assuming the fields aren’t totally drenched, they will have an early end to play their annual charity softball game. That leaves them Wednesday and the usual half-day on Thursday. That’s not much of a week, which means probably a late night on Wednesday. And then two weeks left…
Lobbyist Principal Changes
From the Pelopidas website:
Travis Brown added Let Voters Decide.
Birthdays
Unicom’s Ed Finkelstein is 73 today.