MOScout Daily Update: Polsinelli Adds to Team - Sinquefield Hearts Trent - Schupp's Big Haul and more....

Polsinelli Beefs Up Hallway Team

Polsinelli is adding two more to their team of lobbyists ahead of the upcoming legislative session. Joan Gummels and Cara Alexander registered to represent Polsinelli’s roster of clients.

Gummels worked in a variety of capacities for Chris Koster including general counsel of the Attorney General’s Office.  She then worked a stint as legislative liaison for the Auditor’s Office under Nicole Galloway.

Alexander was previously nonpartisan staff with the House communications team.

Rex Writes Big Check to Trent PAC

Mega-donor Rex Sinquefield sent $184,900 to the pro-Curtis Trent committee, 417 PAC.  Trent is running for House floor leader against Reps. Dean Plocher and J Eggleston. 

This money may be spread around the caucus to advance Trent’s candidacy for that position.

The Missouri Times reports that Sinquefield’s brain, Travis Brown, “revealed the support Trent is receiving is tied to tort reform issues.”

Others have told me that Sinquefield’s ire was raised when Plocher introduced legislation to derail the Better Together plan that Sinquefield had backed.

Schupp’s Big Day

Press release: Democratic congressional candidate Jill Schupp (MO-02) announced today that she has raised more than $230,000 in just 24 hours since she launched her campaign to represent her community in Missouri’s 2nd Congressional District….

What It Means

This dispels any notion that Schupp won’t have adequate resources to wage a full-scale congressional campaign.

Ride-Sharers Face Safety Concerns

Wall Street Journal reports that “Uber Technologies Inc. said it received 5,981 reports of sexual assault involving U.S. passengers or drivers during 2017 and 2018, underscoring the risk that has been a chief criticism of ride-hailing companies around the world… While the numbers are startling, the incidents represent a fraction of the 2.3 billion Uber rides completed during the two-year study. The vast majority of trips on Uber—99.9%—are completed without any safety related issue, Uber said… Uber has long faced criticism for its screening process for drivers, which has in some cases allowed people with serious criminal backgrounds to drive for the company… Uber said in its report that during 2017 and 2018, more than a million prospective drivers didn’t make it through Uber’s screening process.”

And the Post-Dispatch reports that “A driver for Lyft was accused Thursday in St. Louis of picking up a woman downtown, taking her for a ride and raping her.”

Uber is represented by Catalyst.  Lyft is represented by Nexus Group.

Merit Selection Panel Appointed.

A Merit Selection Panel for the appointment of a new United States Magistrate Judge was established.  See it here.

Bridget Hoy (Chair), Lewis Rice LLC; Hugh Eastwood, Eastwood Law STL; Sheena Hamilton, Dowd Bennett LLP; Catherine Hanaway, Husch Blackwell; Tom Schwartz,

Holloran, Schwartz & Gaertner LLP; Andrew Briscoe, Belinda Dantley, Reverend Lee Goodman, Melany Kniffen, Robert Oliveri, and Laurie Westfall.

Demographer Applications

Press release: Later this month, the State Auditor's Office will deliver at least six completed applications for the position of nonpartisan state demographer to Senate leadership… Applications were accepted during a 90-day period from Sept. 5 through Dec. 4. The six completed applications are: Damon Braidlow, Donald B. Cripe, Sara Hartman, Bryan Kinworthy, R. Zane Price, and Jason J. Ross.

An application that was received on Dec. 4 is under review. Two individuals submitted partial materials, but did not complete the application. A third individual submitted an application after the deadline of Dec. 4, and as a result it cannot be accepted. As outlined in the application instructions, applicants must provide any missing information no later than December 12. To ensure transparency, all submitted applications are posted here….

MMJ Timeline

The Department of Health and Senior Services announced tentative dates for licensing issuance.

·         Testing facilities: approximately December 19, 2019

·         Transportation facilities: approximately December 23, 2019

·         Cultivation facilities: approximately December 26, 2019

·         Infused Products Manufacturing facilities: approximately January 10, 2020

·         Dispensary facilities: approximately January 24, 2020

·         Seed to Sale: January 31, 2020

eMailbag on Conservative Caucus and CLEANER

I think it’s important to note that [Sen. Bill] Eigel was absent for the meeting to vote [CLEANER] out of committee.  How can leadership bargain something away when Eigel was partially responsible for killing it?!

Help Wanted

Department of Revenue seeks Designated Principal Asst. “This position will handle the Driver License Bureau email account. They will also be the point of contact for letters that come from the director’s office and will draft response letters. This position will also be responsible for certain projects, process improvement initiatives, and teams as assigned by the administrator, and may work to some extent on correspondence related to the motor vehicle bureau and the license office bureau. The selected candidate will need to have excellent writing skills and be able to answer all types of Driver License Bureau questions…”  See it here.

Lobbyists Registrations

Cara Alexander and Joan Gummels added Polsinelli and all their clients.

Polsinelli added Friendship Village Senior Services.

John Bardgett, John Parris, Erika Leonard, and Mark Habbas added Missouri State Council of Fire Fighters.

Jake Buxton added Missouri Department of Conservation.

Tyler Schwartze added Conservation Federation of Missouri.

Michael Stern added Chubb INA Holdings, Inc.     

William Kuehling deleted Discovery Pier Land Holdings LLC, GCFC LLC, and FoPa LLC.

Greg Beck, Scott Simon, and Greta Bassett-Seymour deleted Missouri Department of Transportation and Highway Patrol Employees' Retirement System (MPERS).

Jerry Burch, Kelli Richardson, and William Marrs deleted Missouri State University.

Douglas Davis deleted Lon Jackson II.

Robert Edens Davis deleted IGT.

Michael Schler deleted Missouri Beer Wholesalers Association.

Keith Wenzel terminated his registration.

$5K+ Contributions

417 PAC - $184,900 from Rex Sinquefield.

Page PAC - $10,000 from August A Busch III.

House Victory Committee - $10,000 from AT&T.

Birthdays

Happy birthdays to Joe Bednar and Teresa Coyan.

Saturday: Sen. Kiki Curls, Rodney Hubbard, Nick Maddux, Churie Spreng, and Bree Bowen.

Sunday: John Brunner, Linda Rallo, and Patrick Bonnot.