MOScout Weekender: WaPo on Opioid Epidemic - MOScout Poll on Senate 29 - WWTW - Hallway Sees No Overrides and more....

WaPo on The Opioid Epidemic

Washington Post has a map of the United States that shows how many opioid pills were shipped to each county, annually per capita.  See it here.  It’s frightening.

Southeast Missouri has some of the highest rates…

Butler County:  99.7 pills per person per year.

Pemiscot County: 89.3 pills per person per year.

Dunklin County: 85.5 pills per person per year.

Scott County: 79.6 pills per person per year.

Ripley County: 79.4 pills per person per year.

Mississippi County: 67.8 pills per person per year.

There’s an accompanying article about the drug companies happily shipping as many of these pills as they could – regardless of the health consequences.  See it here. It’s disgusting.

In May 2008, as the opioid epidemic was raging in America, a representative of the nation’s largest manufacturer of opioid pain pills sent an email to a client at a wholesale drug distributor in Ohio.  Victor Borelli, a national account manager for Mallinckrodt, told Steve Cochrane, the vice president of sales for KeySource Medical, to check his inventories and “[i]f you are low, order more. If you are okay, order a little more, Capesce?”

Then Borelli joked, “destroy this email. . .Is that really possible? Oh Well. . .”

Previously, Borelli used the phrase “ship, ship, ship” to describe his job.

Those email excerpts are quoted in a 144-page plaintiffs’ filing along with thousands of pages of documents unsealed by a judge’s order Friday in a landmark case in Cleveland against many of the largest companies in the drug industry.

In January 2009, Borelli told Cochrane in another email that 1,200 bottles of oxycodone 30 mg tablets had been shipped.

“Keep ’em comin’!” Cochrane responded. “Flyin’ out of there. It’s like people are addicted to these things or something. Oh, wait, people are. . .”

Borelli responded: “Just like Doritos keep eating. We’ll make more.”

MOScout Poll: Parson – Senate 29

This week, the MOScout Poll asked about the brewing Senate 29 Republican primary.  Rep. Mike Moon starts with a lead, but his minimal name ID and enormous undecideds undermine any confidence he can have in it.  And Donald Trump is still very popular among Republican primary voters.  See the full results here.

Survey conducted July 17 through July 18, 2019. 532 likely 2020 Republican Primary Election voters participated in the survey. Survey weighted to match expected turnout demographics for the 2020 Republican Primary Election. Margin of Error is +/-4.3% with a 95% level of confidence. Survey conducted by Remington Research Group on behalf of Missouri Scout.

Q1: What is your opinion Donald Trump?

Favorable: 82%

Unfavorable: 14%

No opinion: 4%

Q2: What is your opinion Mike Parson?

Favorable: 51%

Unfavorable: 12%

No opinion: 37%

Q3: What is your opinion David Sater?

Favorable: 24%

Unfavorable: 12%

No opinion: 64%

Q4: What is your opinion of Mike Moon?

Favorable: 18%

Unfavorable: 15%

No opinion: 67%

Q5: What is your opinion David Cole?

Favorable: 12%

Unfavorable: 13%

No opinion: 75%

Q6: Possible candidates in the 2020 Republican Primary Election for State Senate are Mike Moon and David Cole. If the election were held today, for whom would you vote?

Mike Moon: 21%

David Cole: 14%

Undecided: 65%

MOScout’s Hallway Index: Veto Overrides

This week I asked which bill that Governor Mike Parson vetoed would most likely to be overridden.  The answer: none.

1. SB 147 (Sater, motocycle helmet law)… 0%

2. SB 282 (Brown, outdoor cremation)… 0%

3. HB 399 (Basye, DHSS director requirement)… 0%

4. One of the other bills… 3.8%

5. There will be no successful overrides… 96.2%

Selected Comments

·         I think the sponsors have said as much.

·         I’m not working on any of these items, so I may be overlooking something, but it all seems pretty rinky-dink.

·         I doubt there will even be attempts at overrides.

·         The House might try but no way the Senate goes along with any.

Who Won the Week

Mike Parson – It was a nice week for the governor.  He got to announce 500 new jobs coming from Bayer, the campaign finance reports showed him with a wide money lead that was growing with each quarter, and all indications are that his vetoes won’t be challenged by the General Assembly.

Caleb Rowden – The Columbia Tribune reports that Rep. Kip Kendrick will be running for re-election instead of against Rowden.  Rowden’s former opponent, Stephen Weber, is no longer in Missouri, and Dems appear to be floundering so far in their effort to find a credible candidate.

Nicole Galloway – This week demonstrated again, the power that her office holds to make headlines.  She released an audit of the Lieutenant Governor’s office under Mike Parson highlighting some questionable spending.  And then drafts audits – not yet released – moved former DPS director to Drew Juden jump into a preemptive attack.

Deb Lavender – Hit the ground running in her effort to unseat Sen. Andrew Koenig.  She out raised him in the July quarter by a wide margin, and now has more cash on-hand than the incumbent.

Find a downloadable version here.

Help Wanted

Boeing seeks Senior Regional Advocacy Expert.  The Senior Regional Advocacy Expert is “part of Boeing’s Political Mobilization team – working to produce positive public policy outcomes for the company. The Regional Advocacy Expert will work to leverage and expand Boeing’s relationships among 1) employees, retirees, and other internal stakeholders; and 2) diverse, external audiences that share a connection to Boeing and its government operations agenda at the federal, state, and local levels…    Advocates company position regarding pending and/or proposed legislation/regulations in consultation with subject matter experts, internal and external stakeholders (e.g., government organizations, customers, coalitions, unions, associations) for desired results… Consults and develops strategy for establishing and maintaining relationships with external entities (e.g., government organizations, customers, coalitions, business associations, unions) by networking, sharing information and identifying areas of mutual interest in order to foster future interactions and strengthen the company position through a joint sphere of influence…”   See it here.

Department of Revenue seeks Designated Principal Asst. – Administrator. “This is an unclassified administrative, policy-making classification whose primary responsibility is administration and supervision of operations in an assigned bureau with the department. Employees in this class can be expected to participate in the decision-making process on confidential and policy matters, and exercise considerable discretion and independent judgment regarding issues that apply to the bureau. These employees can also expect to have contact with all levels of staff, public, and government and responsible for solving problems and resolving conflict. Assignments are generally self-generated in response to work situations though special assignments may be received from the Division Director or above…”  See it here.

$5K+Contributions

UAW Region 5 Midwest State Political Action Committee (PAC) (MO) - $6,000 from UAW Region 5 Exchange.

Lincoln PAC - $7,500 from Bryan Magers.