MOScout Daily Update: Clay County Commish Races - Brunner Contra Plocher - Handicapping the Specials and more...

Clay County Commish Races

There was some talk around the capitol yesterday about former Rep. Doug Ervin filing to run for Clay County Commissioner.   Here’s what some folks were saying…

·         “[Incumbent] Luann Ridgeway has a problem” in that Ervin will be a very tough competitor.

·         The press release about Ervin’s candidacy was sent out by former Rep. Brian Baker.  Both Baker and Ervin work for Cerner Corporation.  That suggests that Cerner is at the very least OK with Ervin’s run.  And it could be that after all the embarrassing headlines emanating from the Commission, the corporate giant wants more mature leadership.

·         And Democratic Rep. Jon Carpenter is also running against incumbent Commissioner Gene Owen, so there could be real change on the commission coming.

Handicapping Specials

Party Committees pick their nominees for the special elections that governor Mike Parson called to fill House vacancies. Here’s the early line…

·         Word is that Lee Ann Pitman is tossing her name in the hat for House 99 – and that she’s lining up former Rep. Sue Allen to be her treasurer. 

·         Democrat Trish Gunby has formed a committee, but the guess would be that House 99 stays in Republican hands.

·         Meanwhile I’m told that in House 158, Shell Knob’s Scott Cupps “has a good shot.”  This is strong Republican district.

Brunner Contra Plocher

Former statewide candidate John Brunner has stayed out of the limelight in recent years, but on Facebook he lashed out at Rep. Dean Plocher for being too soft on the 2nd Amendment.  See it here.

Dean, The problem with “Freedom” is that is comes with risks….and accountability. But if you eliminate risks and accountability, through government control/legislation you can only do so by taking away freedom.

So what is your vision of America, Dean… Land of the free or home of the safe?

What would we all do without government solving the problems of too much freedom?..

Next time you are in the area, we need to connect and have a serious conversation.

I wrote to you a few weeks ago about PDMP and the massive personal data base that could allegedly connect with your Red Flag bill to be sure that government confiscates a person’s guns—until they “get well”.

You never responded.

So, in the meantime, I have 164,000 on my social media, where I plan to have a conversation.

John Brunner

Keller, Hatfield Repping for Dark Money

Like a shark whose fin emerges from time to time, Gregg Keller has been revealed as part of the dark money Joseph Wingate Folk Society.  Post-Dispatch reports here.

A little-known Missouri nonprofit has filed an elections complaint against Chesterfield officials, alleging they spent city money campaigning against advocacy group Better Together’s petition to merge St. Louis and St. Louis County… The Joseph Wingate Folk Society is dedicated to holding government accountable, Keller said in the complaint. Keller, a top aide to former U.S. Sen. Jim Talent, now runs the Atlas Strategy Group, has consulted on the campaigns of at least five Republican presidential candidates, and ran a conservative political organization fined for illegally passing campaign contributions to a political action committee. Keller also sits on the board of the Show-Me Institute, a libertarian think tank funded by financier and philanthropist Rex Sinquefield. Sinquefield has also been a major funder of Better Together…

[Chuck] Hatfield, a lawyer at Stinson Leonard Street, sent letters in March to all 88 county municipalities demanding they account for any use of public dollars against Better Together’s petition. Hatfield initially wouldn’t say who was paying him. Better Together denied involvement.

And

Democratic AG Elad Gross sees this news as a potential 2020 attack line against AG Eric Schmitt.  See it here.

Guess we now know why our Attorney General didn't investigate a new dark money fake charity interfering in local St. Louis elections. The President of the Joseph Wingate Folk Society is working to help him get elected.

Title IX Prospects Cool

Even folks who have been supportive of making changes to Title IX are now working under the assumption that the bill is dead for this session, after revelations that lobbyist Richard McIntosh’s son stood to benefit from the legislation.  (Remember the word “dead” needs to get used on at least four separate occasions in the final weeks before anything is truly dead.  And then there’s still a chance it can be resurrected).

Jack Suntrup quotes a weary Floor Leader Caleb Rowden, “Obviously it doesn’t look good. I think it’s unfortunate that you’ve got to legislate big important policies with those kind of outside variables in play.”  And an upset Sen. Jill Schupp, “This is somebody who I think tricked a lot of people into believing this was necessary.”

And one lobbyist noted that on the House side Speaker Elijah Haahr hasn’t been in any hurry to get the bill to a vote.

And

Post-Dispatch lifestyle columnist Aisha Sultan gets into the action throwing a punch at McIntosh as well.  See it here.

Hollywood actors and wealthy West Coast parents embroiled in college admission scandals, step aside. The Midwest is here to represent… lobbyist Richard McIntosh took it to another level after Washington University expelled his son. But back to the real star of our story. After power dad McIntosh’s son was kicked out, he didn’t try to grease hands at the university. That’s so amateur hour. Instead, he began lobbying to change the law for every college and university in the state. He started a dark money group…

Revenues Continues to Climb

State revenues continue to show some gains… As of close of business April 23, tax receipts were $34.6 million ahead of last year, or +           0.47%.

eMailbag on More Mod Dems

On the whole moderate Dems issue, abortion isn't the problem, just a smokescreen.  Democrats did very well statewide just seven years ago with the same abortion positions as now.  There is no polling I've seen that says Missourians have shifted on that issue since then.  No one wants to say it, but it's race and the cultural divide, which the Russians (see Mueller report) and Trump effectively exacerbated from 2015 through today.  Not sure that genie can get put back in the bottle soon, but a stronger Dem presidential candidate than Hillary would help them.  Your most recent poll showed Trump at 51%, where Romney was in 2012 when Dems kept statewide offices.  So 2020 should be more competitive than '16 and '18, if Dems can get decent candidates together by then.  A big if of course but "moderate" and abortion are not the critical elements.

New Committees

Trish Gunby (Friends of Trish Gunby) formed a candidate committee to run for House 99 as a Democrat.

Jamilah Nasheed formed a candidate committee (Friends Of Jamilah Nasheed) to run for “Citywide Office City of St. Louis” in 2022 as a Democrat.

Lobbyist Registrations

Rodney Gray, Tami Holliday, and Susan Henderson Moore added Ronald McDonald House Charities of Mid Missouri.

Thomas Robbins and Steven Tilley added Central States Water Resources.

Birthdays

Happy belated birthdays to Rep. Ingrid Burnett and Lauren Gepford.