Wednesday, March 7, 2018
Job Announcements Coming
In a nice reprieve from the daily scandal headlines, Governor Eric Greitens gets to announce new jobs coming to Missouri…
St. Peters Mayor Len Pagano, County Executive Steve Ehlmann and Missouri Department of Economic Development Director Rob Dixon will make a major job creation announcement at 10AM in St. Peters. Amazon! Up to 1,500 jobs?
And this one coming Friday in the bootheel…
Governor Eric Greitens, Congressman Jason Smith, Missouri Representative Don Rone, the Department of Economic Development, Associated Electric Cooperative, local business leaders, state and local officials will gather Friday, March 9 to celebrate the announcement of a job creation project in New Madrid, Missouri….
This is the fruit of the special session called last summer to create incentives for new investments. It’s a nice win for the governor.
Another Legal Fund
Meanwhile KCStar’s Bryan Lowry reports that Graves Garrett has started yet another legal fund. This one will defend the governor’s staffers.
Kevin Gunn, on Twitter, poked at the various ethical problems this could raise. First, he tweets, lobbyists can’t contribute to the legal fund or it violates the governor’s first executive order barring lobbyist gifts to executive branch employees, as well as OA’s policies (see it here).
But he also raises the broader question… Just how exactly are we going to know if the donors are doing business with the state or are seeking to do business with the state?
In other words, we’re in the same spot as we’ve been in for a few weeks now: the whole thing is a mess.
Other Greitens Investigation Bits
House Special Investigative Committee
Chair Jay Barnes gaveled in the House Special Investigative Committee, and quickly explained – with 12 TV crews filming – that neither he nor the committee members would be discussing their work in the coming weeks. The committee then voted to have this morning’s meeting closed, and gaveled out. This morning’s meeting is at the Jefferson City Police Headquarters. This will presumably be the meeting location of choice as it will give their witnesses a better shot at privacy.
This is good news for the governor, as it means no headlines, no articles, no constant drips for the next month. But of course it’s still not good for governor because at the end, they’ll be dropping a report.
Jury or Bench Trial
Greitens attorney Ed Dowd said last month on KTRS: “We generally always want a jury trial. We have tremendous – Jim Bennett and I and the rest of our team – have tremendous confidence in juries that they will do the right thing under the circumstances, uh, and we have really proven that to be true over and over again, and, uh, we just have a lot of confidence in juries, we think they do the right thing. I think judges do too, but we’re going to give a jury a chance to acquit Governor Greitens.”
But yesterday’s Post-Dispatch article suggest they may be wavering on the issue. “Gov. Eric Greitens’ defense lawyers said Tuesday that they don’t expect to ask for his invasion of privacy trial be moved out of St. Louis and have not yet decided whether to seek a bench trial…”
Who Is Kevin Roach?
On the opening day of filing, Kevin Roach tossed his name in the ring for Auditor. He’s a Republican. Also filed are Rep. Paul Curtman and David Wasinger. Additionally Saundra McDowell has announced as a Republican running, but she hasn’t filed yet.
I’m unfamiliar with Roach, one Repulbican gave me the brief contours of the man… “Former Akin staffer...West County grassroots guy (Ballwin/Ellisville)... big on pro-life issues….”
Wasinger is the considered the front-runner of this gaggle due to his fundraising lead.
Senate 34: Ashcroft for Roberts
In Senate 34, Harry Roberts’ campaign sent out a media advisory that former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft will be endorsing Roberts tomorrow. “General John Ashcroft will be visiting Missouri’s 34th State Senate District with Harry Roberts and endorsing his campaign for State Senate. There will be a campaign rally that is open to the public and the media at JPI Glass in Platte County. Following the event at JPI Glass, General Ashcroft and Harry Roberts will hold an event in downtown St. Joseph, Missouri... Like Former Attorney General Ashcroft, Buchanan County Presiding Commissioner Harry Roberts is a proven conservative leader. Harry is running for the 34th State Senate seat that includes all of Buchanan and Platte counties….”
Roberts is running against Tony Luetkemeyer in Senate 34 to replace Sen. Rob Schaaf.
Bits
The House perfected a bill to repeal prevailing wage, but Democrats took some solace in offering an amendment mandating equal pay between genders. It failed, but they got some Republicans on the record.
The Senate many hours debating Sen Andrew Koenig’s SB 612 to establish a tuition scholarship tax credit program. I think they made progress, but sometimes it’s hard to tell. The bill was laid over.
KMIZ has a story on rape kits and legislation by Sen. Caleb Rowden and Rep. Cora Walker dealing with the issue. See it here.
Washington Post highlights “Black Politics 2.0 – the post-Obama generation” and mentions St. Louis Treasurer Tishaura Jones. See it here.
New Candidate Filings
Steven Bailey filed for House 87 (Stacey Newman’s district) as a Republican.
Helena Webb filed to run in House 100 (Derek Grier’s district) a Democrat.
Holly Rehder filed to run for re-election in House 148 as a Republican.
New Committees
Karen Leydens formed a candidate committee (Missourians For Leydens) to run for House 59 as a Republican. The current incumbent, Mike Bernskoetter, is running for Senate.
Adam Jenning formed a candidate committee (Friends Of Adam Jenning) to run for House 69 as a Republican. This is Gretchen Bangert’s seat.
Robert Bromley formed a candidate committee (Committee To Elect Bob Bromley) to run for House 162 as a Republican. The current incumbent, Charlie Davis, is termed.
Lobbyists Registrations
Shannon Cooper, Mike Grote and Nancy Giddens added Carol Jones.
Mike Grote added Raise Up Missouri.
Sherry Doctorian added Transparentbusiness Corporation.
Emily Van Schenkhof added Children`s Trust Fund.
Jeffrey Craver deleted Cypress State Advocacy LLC.
Thomas Campbell deleted AECom.
Leslie Serene Pritchard deleted Missouri Family Health Council.
$5K+ Contributions
Progress KC - $10,000 from Cerner Corporation.
Tom Lovell for House of Representatives - $10,000 from Tom Lovell.
We Are Missouri - $45,163 from UFCW Local 21 General Fund.
Birthdays
Happy birthdays to Rep. Rory Rowland, Rich AuBuchon, former Sen. Frank Barnitz (the big 5-0), Jeff Layman, and Shawn Rigger.
