MOScout Daily Update: Justice for Senate 25 - Bonding Resolution Filed - Dems Ding MRP on Diehl Dollars and more...

First in MOScout: Justice for Senate 25

Eddy Justice will soon be filing a committee to run for Senate 25 (Libla termed).  He’ll have Axiom Strategies in his corner.

Justice is a grassroots leader in Southeast Missouri who came on the scene during the Tea Party movement. He has since served as the Treasurer of the Missouri House Republican Campaign Committee (HRCC).

Justice would likely be another member of the Senate Conservative Caucus.

Driving the Day

It’s State of the Judiciary today, 10AM. Chief Justice Zel Fischer will make the annual remarks to the legislature. It can sometimes be a snoozer, we’ll see…

Bonding Resolution Filed

Pro Tem Dave Schatz filed Senate Concurrent Resolution 14 yesterday.  See it here.  Passage of the resolution is required for the governor’s bonding proposal.  Being carried by the Senate leader signals that it’s a high priority and he’ll put his full weight behind it.

There will be a few “fiscal hawks” who would prefer to save the state the $100 million-ish interest payments over the next fifteen years.   But really the most controversial part is what’s not in the resolution: the list of projects covered by the $350 million bond issue.  Who jumps in a floor fight…

·         Fiscal conservatives like Sen. Cindy O’Laughlin have raised concerns.

·         St. Charles Senators Bill Eigel and Bob Onder have already expressed displeasure at the project list.

·         St. Louis City Senators Karla May, Jamilah Nasheed and Scott Sifton could join as well for the same reason.

·         The wildcard: could the Dem caucus as a whole decides that the extremely rural heavy project list makes this bond issuance akin to a Republican Christmas tree without enough Dem district projects to garner their support?

What It Means

One possible solution is that the bond plan will actually grow to accommodate the political demands.  We could end up with a $400 million issue!  While that would agitate the fiscal conservatives who would eschew additional debt altogether, it could mitigate a floor fight. 

However, it could also lead to some pushback from the governor’s office and MODoT which generated the list.

And

Governor Mike Parson addressed the Senate Republican Caucus on the bonding proposal yesterday. “Nothing to write home about,” says one insider.

Dems Say MRP Should Return Diehl $$$

Missouri Democratic Party called on the Missouri Republican Party to return a recent $25,000 campaign contribution from former speaker John Diehl.

“This week the Missouri Republican Party reported receiving a $25,000 monetary contribution from the still-active campaign committee of former Missouri House Speaker John Diehl. Diehl resigned from the legislature in 2015 after the Kansas City Star revealed that he had exchanged sexually charged text messages with a 19-year old student participating in the Capitol Internship Program. At the time, Diehl was 49.”

This gotcha game is becoming a more common.  Folks scan political contributions to see if any money has been accepted from embarrassing sources, and then raise the issue to tie the non-virtuous actions to the candidate (in this case the party).

Lobbyist: Diehl took advantage of an intern. He should have donated his campaign funds to some charitable organization…

Bits

·         Matt Morris is Sen. Mike Bernskoetter’s new chief of staff.  He replaces Joe Engler who returned to the House when Leslie Korte went to the Treasurer’s Office.

·         Gordon Kinne, Republican National Committeeman from Missouri, was named "Springfieldian of the Year" for 2019 by the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce.

·         A lot of eyes are staring at the daily revenue numbers now as we come to the end of the January month.  Through close of business Monday, January receipts were down 26% compared to January 2018.  The decline was led by individual income tax receipts, down 35% (that’s $300 million lower).

·         Speaker Elijah Haahr met with the Black Caucus yesterday.  The meeting was described as productive.  Haahr did a lot of listening.  The Black Caucus holds an increasing amount of power within the House Democrats’ super-minority.

eMailbag: Pushback on Parson at House Committee

Is it really appropriate for the Governor to attend a House hearing?  Priority bill of his or not, it borders on intimidation of the Committee Members to either sing his praises or to look the other way if there are flaws that need to be fixed…  least get on the playing field and step up to the mic.  If he feels attending House hearings are his way of supporting his priorities, then - assuming his budget is his top priority - he should be willing to present HIS budget to the House Budget Committee...DOR is up tomorrow and his own office's budget is up on Thursday.   

eMailbag: Final Flipping Senate Districts Comment… For Now

Claire McCaskill won SD 19 by 11 points. She won SD 17 by 7 points. While Trump remains above water in Missouri, it should be remembered that he and Republicans are not popular everywhere.

$5K+ Contributions

Nexus PAC - $10,000 from Paric Corporation.

Lobbyist Registrations

Jeffrey Altmann added American Kratom Association.

Amy Anderson added Jeffersonian Project dba ALEC Action.

Rodney Boyd, Kate Casas, Brian Grace, and Kelvin Simmons added Cigna Corporate Services.

Emma Davidson Tribbs added Secure Democracy.

Karen Gail Settlemoir-Berg added United Food & Commercial Workers Union Local 655.

Brett Sterley added Convention of States Action.   

James Foley and Gary Burton deleted Diamond Game.

New IPs

Attorney Chris Pieper filed the Better Together initiative petition to create a merged “Metro City” from St. Louis City and St. Louis County.  See it here.

New Committees

James Dickinson formed a candidate committee (Dickinson for KC) to run for Kansas City Councilperson as a Democrat.

Steven Basinger formed a candidate committee (Citizens For Steven Basinger) to run for St. Louis City Alderman, Ward 24, as an Independent.

Lee's Summit Democrats was formed.  It’s a PAC.  Its treasurer is Melanie Adkins.

Believe In Life And Liberty - Bill PAC was formed.  Its treasurer is Mandy Lehnbeuter.

Birthdays

Happy birthday to Chuck Caisley.