MOScout Daily Update: ACLU Wins Round in Court - Ingle Kicks Off - Beetem Hearts Confide and more....

HB 126 Referendum Ruling

The mighty Jason Rosenbaum reports on the Western District Court of Appeals ruling yesterday concerning the referendum efforts to overturn the abortion bill, HB 126.  See it here.

The court reversed Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft’s rejection of the referendum.

While the ruling revives an effort from the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri to scrap the abortion ban, supporters won’t have a lot of time to gather roughly 100,000 signatures. And there could be more legal fights to come about whether a provision that goes into effect right away will derail the referendum in the future… The three-judge panel, which came to its decision unanimously, did not say whether the emergency clause would make the referendum unconstitutional. Rothert said that leaves open the possibility that Ashcroft could reject the referendum after signatures are submitted.

What It Means

While this was a victory of the ACLU, the ruling did little to clear the obstacles that remain in their effort to hold a referendum on HB 126.

·         Opponents of the abortion bill worry that the AG’s office and SOS’s office will slow-mo their duties – perhaps even appealing the court’s decision to the Supreme Court.  Every delay will devour increasingly critical time to collect the necessary signatures.

·         Once the signatures are collected, one must assume that Ashcroft will again reject the petition on the same grounds he just did.

But

One MOScouter sees a bright side for Dems… Women will come out in droves to sign these petitions… There are college campuses in every legislative district and students will be heading back to school in early to mid-August in time to sign. They probably can register to vote and sign the petition at the same time… [women] should be grateful that the legislature left out a provision for rape and incest so this could actually happen and end the chip by chip attack on reproductive rights.

Comer Steels for Health Battle

Carol Comer, Director of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, tweets a health update.  “And so it begins. After two unsuccessful surgeries, the cancer is more widespread than believed. Chemo starts next week. My journey is now a marathon rather than sprint.”

Ingle Kicks Off

Rep. Keri Ingle has her re-election kick-off tonight (Llywelyn's Pub, Lee's Summit at 5:30PM).  She’s running in House 35.  This was a Democratic flip last cycle, so they’ll be some eyes on it to see if Dems hold in the presidential cycle.  The smart money would bet they do as the suburbs seem to be increasingly solid ground for the Dems.  But of course we’ll see….

Beetem: Sorry Citizens, No Suit on Confide

The first-rate Jason Hancock reports on the effort to hold public officials accountable for using auto-deleting apps to evade the state’s sunshine laws.  They can’t. See it here.

A Cole County judge ruled Monday that former Gov. Eric Greitens didn’t violate Missouri’s Sunshine Law when he and his government staff used a self-destructing text message app called Confide.  Circuit Court Judge Jon Beetem said because the text messages were automatically deleted, it meant they were never officially retained—and therefore were not covered by the Sunshine Law… [Beetem said] that once it was determined that the records in question no longer existed either on phones or a server, the issue was no longer about the Sunshine Law.  It was, Beetem wrote, about violation of the records retention law. Private citizens cannot sue under the that law, and thus, the legal action cannot move forward.

New Committees

Laura Loyacono formed a candidate committee (Committee To Elect Laura Loyacono) to run for House 36 as a Democrat.  This seat is vacant following DaRon McGee’s resignation.

Yvonne Reeves Chong formed a candidate committee (Yvonne Reeves Chong For Us Committee) to run for House 122 as a Democrat.  The current incumbent is termed Republican Rep. Steve Lynch.

Rita Days formed a candidate committee (Committee To Elect Rita Heard Days) to run for St. Louis County Council as a Democrat.  Her treasurer is Charlie Dooley.

Cerner Pac Mo – Federal Committee was formed.  Its treasurer is Ed Enyeart.     

KC Neighbors For Progress was formed.  It’s a PAC.  Its treasurer is Matt Hoefer.

Bold PAC was formed.  Its treasurer is Miles Ross.

Lobbyists Registrations

Rodney Gray, Tami Holliday, Roxsen Koch, and Susan Henderson Moore added Tower International; and deleted Rebuild MO.

David Sweeney deleted Mission St. Louis.

$5K+Contributions

Vote 2020 - $10,000 from SEIU Missouri/Kansas State Council.

MO Opportunity PAC - $10,000 from Jerald L Kent.

MO Opportunity PAC - $10,000 from Drury Development Corporation.

Professional Fire Fighters of Eastern Missouri 2665 PAC Fund - $7,282 from Professional Firefighters of Eastern Missouri.

Birthdays

Happy birthdays to Ron Fitzwater, and Don Ruzicka.