Wednesday, January 10, 2018
Luetky Whisper #
Word is that Senate 34 candidate Tony Luetkemeyer will have nearly $300K on hand with another $100K raised in the January quarter. That will likely be the most of any state senate candidate. So far he’s lassoed big donors like Doug Albrecht, Sharon Beshore, Brad Boswell, Steve Brauer, Terry Dunn, Tim Drury, LB Eckelkamp, Warren Erdman, Gary Grewe, Stan Herzog, Greg Hoberock, Bill Holekamp, Roy Pfautch, Bill Kapp, Gordon Kinne, John Lamping, Doug Russell and Andy Taylor.
For three quarters, he’s averaged more than $100K. That’s impressive in a post-Amendment 2 world.
Q&A#1: Is There a Path to a SBOE Compromise?
Short answer: For sure.
Eddy Justice was in the building yesterday, doing his due diligence and meeting with a few folks about his nomination to the State Board of Education. The Senate hasn’t acted on him or the other Greitens appointees, but a couple senators have said that they’ll block confirmation.
While Justice and others may be collateral damage as the Senate “teaches” the governor a lesson, there’s clearly a path to break the stalemate which has left the SBOE without a working quorum and DESE without a commissioner.
Driving the compromise will be the fact that if the Senate does nothing, they’ll watch the SBOE sit impotent for five months and then have to accept recess appointments again without any input.
Not wanting those two outcomes should push folks to find a workable agreement. But as one building denizen observes, there are a lot of “big personalities” which makes crafting a deal a bit more difficult.
Corlew Consolidates GOP Support in Senate 17
Tipster writes, “At the Clay County Republican Central Committee meeting tonight, Presiding Commissioner Jerry Nolte and Rep. Noel Shull announced they would not seek the Republican nomination for the 17th Senatorial seat. Kevin Corlew is the only known candidate seeking the seat and Republicans appear to be coalescing around him…”
And a MOScouter reminds me that Corlew is “much more well known than [just his House seat]. He has been active in Northland civic and chamber affairs for years… He ran a very close race in HD 15 and ran and was elected to NKC School Board serving 20,000 students and their families. He will have significant resources to overcome any challenges the Democratic district presents and is the ONLY Republican who can beat a Democrat in this district…”
Williams in Senate 14
Yet another name is being tossed into the Senate 14 ring. Brian Williams formed a candidate committee.
I believe this is his twitter account, and that he works for Congressman Lacy Clay.
Reps Eye St. Chuck Job?
I missed last week’s news that Rich Chrismer not running for re-election Elections Director of St. Charles.
The rumor-mill has Reps. Kurt Bahr and Chrissy Sommer both considering a run, as well as former Rep. Mark Parkinson. Parkinson is working for Sen. Bill Eigel right now. Bahr is term-limited and Sommer has one more term left. The primary is in August.
SOTS Preview
Post-Dispatch does a SOTS preview. See it here.
Pull Quote: After a freshman year of policy wins, rookie missteps and unfinished business, Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens will embark on his sophomore campaign Wednesday with his second State of the State speech. The self-described “outsider” Republican, who was sworn in to his first political office one year ago Tuesday, is set to address a joint session of the House and the Senate at 7 p.m. The speech represents a kick-off to the GOP-controlled legislature’s annual session and will give lawmakers and Missourians a sense of what the governor will be seeking in the coming four months. The speech won’t include an outline of his proposed budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1…
"It would be very surprising if the governor didn't talk about tax reform," [Bill] Eigel said. "We've had conversations with the governor's office ... I'm thrilled to have the governor as part of that discussion."
CRE Announced
Press release: Today Gov. Eric Greitens, along with Senator Dan Brown (Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman) and Representative Scott Fitzpatrick (House Budget Committee Chairman), announced Missouri’s Consensus Revenue Estimate (CRE) for Fiscal Year 2019…
The key figure in the CRE is the projected general revenue collections for FY2019. Net general revenue collections in FY2019 are expected to be $9.418 billion. This represents growth of $229.3 million over the estimated revenue for FY2018. The estimate for FY2019 assumes growth of 2.5 percent. The revised estimate for the current fiscal year is $9.189 billion….
Another Greene County Story
Springfield News-Leader has the latest on the Greene County scandal. See it here.
Pull Quote: The Missouri auditor's office says Greene County Sheriff Jim Arnott called the office in early December "demanding" to know the name of a whistleblower, who alleged the county misused taxpayer resources. Reached by the News-Leader Tuesday morning, Arnott denies asking for the whistleblower's name and said the auditor's office has "mischaracterized everything from the very beginning." The allegations from the auditor's office comes in the form of a letter, sent from attorney Joel Anderson to Arnott's lawyer, Pat Keck. Details in the letter, if true, would directly contradict statements recently made in public by Arnott and Keck…
Bits
Politico’s Influence reports… Christian Morgan, who's Rep. Ann Wagner's chief of staff, will join [Husch Blackwell Strategies] as principal, according to a person familiar with the situation.
The mighty Jason Rosenbaum reports that “Colleen Wasinger, a Republican from Huntleigh, is giving serious thought to challenging County Executive Steve Stenger this year…” Wasinger’s husband, meanwhile, is pursuing the Republican auditor nomination. Busy year in the Wasinger household…
Tipster says that Planned Parenthood CEO Mary Kogut attended the Women’s Networking event at the governor’s mansion last night.
New Committees
Bob Oreskovic formed a candidate committee (Supporters Of Bob Oreskovic) to run for House 109 as a Republican.
Kevin Juergens formed a candidate committee (Citizens For Kevin Juergens) to run for House 109 as a Republican.
Rep. Paul Curtman is the current incumbent in House 109. He’s term limited.
Edwin Hogan formed a candidate committee (Hogan For Representative) to run for House 126 as a Democrat.
Brian Williams formed a campaign committee (Brian Williams For Missouri) to run for Senate 14 as a Democrat.
Lobbyists Registrations
Jean Paul Bradshaw, Kurt Schaefer and Doug Nelson added U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform.
Lee Robinson Camp added ArchCity Defenders Inc.
Jim Creevy added ABB Inc.
William Cummings added Brevan Howard.
Cathleen Flournoy and William Solomon added Economic Development Corporation of Kansas City.
Luana Gifford added Missouri Missouri Retired Teachers Association, and American Federation of Teachers St Louis Local 420 (AFT).
Scott Jones added National Rifle Association of America.
Joseph Mabin Jr. added Kansas City Missouri Board of Police Commissioners.
Tom Rackers added Boone County Fire Protection District.
Karen Burnell Ruff added Southwest Center for Independent Living.
Alexandra Salsman added Missouri Firearms Coalition.
Robyn Silvey added Missouri Pharmacy Foundation, Pharmacy Political Action Committee of Missouri, and Missouri Pharmacy Services Corporation DBA Community Pharmacy Alliance.
Derek Sublette added Norfolk Southern Corporation.
Bruce Taylor added Dexcom.
Mamiko Vuillemin added KC Healthy Kids.
Dale Amick deleted Missouri Pet Breeders Association.
$5K+ Contributions
Missouri Democratic State Committee - $25,000 from CHIPP Political Fund.
House Republican Campaign Committee Inc - $25,000 from Comprehensive Health Management.
Civic Progress Action Committee - $13,000 from Emerson Electric
Birthdays
Happy birthdays to Senator Roy Blunt, Carmen Schulze, Jaci Winship, Randy Jotte, and Trevor Fox.
