Monday, February 12, 2018
Meet Nexus Group
Rodney Boyd, Kate Casas, Brian Grace and Kelvin Simmons are exiting Dentons and starting their own firm.
The press release: A group of the most prominent and successful Missouri lobbyists announced today that they have left the global law firm Dentons to start their own lobbying firm, Nexus Group. The new firm’s clients include some of Missouri’s largest and most influential businesses and organizations, including: Civic Progress, Express Scripts, Centene, Major Brands, Lyft, the St. Louis Blues, Teach for America, the Kansas City Sports Commission, Anthem, Spire, the Kansas City Zoo, Shelter Insurance, Leggett & Platt and the Missouri Economic Development Council.
Nexus Group will be headquartered in Jefferson City and provide governmental relations, contract procurement, and public policy services. The firm will practice in Missouri and continue to lead multi-state and national municipal advocacy initiatives…
Nexus Group will be a member of Dentons 50 – a multi-state lobbying network. Additionally, Rodney Boyd will hold the title of Senior Counsel with Dentons, which will enable Nexus Group to provide its clients access to Dentons legal services… Nexus Group will be a certified Minority Business Enterprise that will also regularly provide pro bono governmental relations consultation for nonprofit organizations in the region.
Q&A #1: Should Greitens Attorneys Be Defending Him in Confide Lawsuit?
Short answer: The Greitens scandals/investigations have become a tangled mess.
One MOScouter writes what he sees as a troubling problem… Dowd, Bennett has a blatant conflict between representing Greitens in both the “personal” criminal grand jury sex scandal and the “official” Confide matter.
What it means in the Confide case is that no one on behalf of the STATE is seeing how he used the Confide app EXCEPT the same lawyers defending him against criminal charges from the state in his other case?..
There could be evidence relevant to the PERSONAL criminal case discovered in the STATE Confide case that his personal lawyers can simply throw in the trash.
The conflict means NO ONE is representing the state in the Confide case - yet it could result in a court judgment that defines the Sunshine Law - the PUBLIC’S law.
There's simply no way Dowd, Bennett can represent the Governor (who is being sued in his official capacity - so that's the State of Missouri) when they are also defending him personally in the criminal case.
And
Missouri Times writes that Greitens personal attorneys are not doing their work pro bono. See it here. This contradicts a previous statement from the governor’s office. It’s hard to tell from the article what the hell is going on. Is Greitens personally paying for his attorney? Is there a third-party paying?
Farm Bureau on Windmill Farms
The Farm Bureau reports on its efforts to come to grips with the opportunities and pitfalls associated with wind farms. See it here.
“[T]he Missouri Farm Bureau legislative team traveled to Atchison County, in the far northwest corner of the state, to learn from local people about the introduction of wind power turbines to the area. President Blake Hurst organized the trip in coordination with Marshall Stewart, Vice Chancellor for Extension and Engagement at the University of Missouri, who brought an all-star group of leaders along to get a firsthand understanding of the situation.
President Hurst, who lives in Atchison County, had heard a wide variety of both concerns and praise for these projects from his friends and neighbors, including many MOFB members. After significant discussion at the Annual Meeting in December, MOFB members adopted the following policy regarding wind projects:
With the rapid growing wind energy industry, we strongly encourage responsible wind energy development including safe siting of wind turbines in accordance with manufacturers’ recommendations without imposing additional restrictions on neighbors.
We support the formation of an interagency task force to examine these and other issues regarding industrial wind energy complexes and report findings to state legislative committees of jurisdiction. In addition, we call for a statewide moratorium on any new wind energy developments until the task force makes their report.
As a first step to act on this policy, President Hurst asked Vice-Chancellor Stewart to come and talk with the people on the ground… The group visited the 73-turbine, 146-MW Farmers City wind farm operated by Iberdrola, a company based in Spain, and stopped at the local headquarters of the new 150-turbine, 300-MW Rock Creek project run by Enel, an Italian company, which is the largest wind farm in Missouri. Afterwards, about 20 local leaders met the group for lunch. Several individuals shared their perspective, both positive and negative, including the Superintendent of Tarkio R-I School District, an Atchison County Commissioner, landowners participating in the project, and MOFB members from DeKalb County who have had mixed and negative experiences with projects in their area.
MOFB and Extension plans to work together to use the knowledge gained on this trip to determine a path forward. MOFB will also continue to work with other local and statewide partners, as well as state legislators, to solve the problems members have encountered with wind farms so that any future developments can be positive for all parties involved.”
Bits
Axiom rolled out its latest company... Vanguard Field Strategies, a nationwide grassroots ground operation. “Vanguard has been working under the Axiom Strategies label since 2014 and has now formed a new standalone company to better service their clients. Vanguard provides clients with a powerful, reliable grassroots network and is a campaign’s central resource for data collection, targeting, messaging, and management needs. Whether your campaign needs door knocking, signature collection or GOTV infrastructure, Vanguard has the resources in all of the lower 48 states to deliver a comprehensive, cost-effective program in the time frame you require…” See the video here.
Rep. Jay Barnes writes a blog post about defending constitutional rights. See it here. He says that legislators can’t pick and choose which rights they’ll protect, explaining his support for the paycheck protection bill, and also his opposition to default arbitration legislation.
Annette Read is the executive director of a new political action committee, America First MO. “Formerly Show-MeTrump, we remain dedicated to furthering the vision and goals of the President… Our office will be located in St. Louis County and open in early March. You can find further information at our website here.”
eMailbag on Dem Wave Talk
Saying Dems will win 20 seats is setting themselves up to fail. Better to predict a 4-5 seat bump and end up with 10 than to predict 20 and come up half-short. Republicans in 2010 kept their powder dry. So should Ds…
New Committees
Craig Fishel formed a candidate committee (Craig Fishel For State Representative) to run for House 136 as a Republican. The current incumbent is Rep. Kevin Austin.
Help Wanted
Equifax seeks Regional Director, State Government Relations. “Equifax is seeking a Regional Director, State Government Relations to develop, execute, and manage state and local government relations objectives for Equifax within several Midwest and Mid-Atlantic states to include: Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and the District of Columbia. The Regional Director will be responsible for direct lobbying, developing trusted relationships with legislators, governors, regulators, and state agencies to influence policy/legislation involving issues consistent with Equifax business interests and objectives. The Regional Director will also be accountable for identifying business risks and opportunities and developing strategies to ensure advancement of business priorities and public policy goals.
This role will have a continual focus on increasing the presence and reputation of Equifax across assigned states, while finding strategic alignment between business objectives, government programs and other trends. The Regional Director will be responsible for managing state government relations priorities in their region, providing sound legislative and regulatory advice, collaborating with other Regional Directors and business leaders, as well as other activities as directed by the Senior Director, Government Relations. This position will be based in St. Louis, Missouri, or remote from a state within the assigned region…”
This Week’s Events
Monday
National Federation of the Blind of Missouri lobby day at the capitol.
Tuesday
Mardi Gras
Special election 8th ward St. Louis City.
Missouri Municipal League 2018 Legislative Conference – Capitol Plaza
Meet and Greet Nicole Galloway at RIS Collaborative – Ladue at 5:30PM.
Wednesday
Ash Wednesday
Missouri Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Missouri), Missouri Immigration and Refugee Advocates (MIRA), and the Kansas Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Kansas) day at the capitol.
Thursday
Ingrid Burnett 2018 campaign kickoff at St. Francis, 300 Gladstone, KC at 5:30PM.
Friday
Steven Roberts 30th Birthday Party at Urban Chestnut in the Grove, STL at 5PM.
Lobbyists Registrations
Andrew Barbee and Robert Shelor added Council of State Governments.
Jay Hahn and Rachel Hassani added Ranger Power LLC.
Kyna Iman added Missouri Association Of Home Inspectors.
Judith Dungan deleted Missouri Children`s Leadership Council, and Beyond Housing.
$5K+ Contributions
MO Insurance Coalition PAC -$9,000 from MOSFA PAC Inc.
Property Casualty Insurers Association of America Political Account - $63,121 from Property Casualty Insurers Association of America.
We Are Missouri - $107,560 from Missouri AFL-CIO General Fund.
We Are Missouri - $50,000 from Missouri National Education Association Ballot Issue Crisis Fund.
United Transportation Union Political Action Committee - $5,500 from United Transportation Union Political Action Committee.
Birthdays
Happy birthday to Louise Tonkovich.
