MOScout Daily Update: More Appt Rumors - SOTS Recap - January Quarters - Long vs Tex and more...
Holsy and Curls Say Farewell
Yesterday Sens. Jason Holsman and Kiki Curls were given personal send-offs on the Senate floor and then had their nominations heard in the Gubernatorial Appointments Committee. But it wasn’t much later that the talk tuned to the possibility of more Senate appointments…
Romine Appt Coming
One very strong source says that Sen. Gary Romine has been asking for support from his fellow senators for his expected appointment to the Tax Commission. “That will probably get announced next week or beginning of week after. [That means he’d be] out of Senate by end of January…”
And
Much more in the rumor stage, but I’m also told that the governor’s office is looking at an appointment for Sen. Paul Wieland. The chessboard: “[It would make Rob] Vescovo choose between running for Senate or being Speaker…”
SOTS
Governor Mike Parson delivered the State of the State speech and unveiled his budget. Look inside his budget here.
Best analysis from the 3rd floor: It’s a safe budget, nothing too risky. For those who think he’s spending money with an election in mind, most of his new programs are relatively small and no one can say he went hog wild with capital improvement projects (because he didn’t).
And
His budget helps….
· law enforcement (“witness protection”, county prisoner per diem, etc).
· mental health (provider rate increases, eliminates wait list for developmental disability residential care).
· state employees (2% pay increase).
· local leaders will love Parson (levee repairs, prisoner per diem, MoDOT cost-share program, broadband spending).
January Quarters
Here’s a quick look at some quarters…
AG
In the Democratic attorney general primary new-comer Rich Finneran raised $104,304; spent $21,503; and finished with $82,800 on-hand. That’s OK, but a little underwhelming as I thought he would enter with a blow-out quarter.
It was substantially better than grass-rooting Elad Gross who raised $32,158; spent $23,343; and has $34,767 on-hand. Gross has been criss-crossing the state, and his campaign noted that he has “the most donations; the highest percentage of donations coming from Missourians; the highest percentage of counties represented in our contributions; the widest diversity in occupations reported by donors; and the lowest median donation: $20.”
Republican Attorney General Eric Schmitt meanwhile has over $600K in his candidate committee and another $2.3 million in an allied PAC.
LG
Incumbent Mike Kehoe put up another $140K this quarter. One GOPer calls the lieutenant governor’s office a “notoriously difficult position from which to raise money.” But Kehoe has consistently raised money each quarter and now $369K on-hand. And there’s no Democrat yet with a committee to run for LG…
Senate Races
· In Senate 1, Democratic Rep. Doug Beck raised $60,295. That’s a solid quarter, but this will likely be a tough fight – assuming the Republican is, as rumored, a self-funder. He now has $208K on-hand.
· In Senate 15, Sen. Andrew Koenig raised $53,810. That means he was once again out-raised by his Democratic challenger, Rep. Deb Lavender. Lavender now holds a $100K cash on-hand lead over Koenig.
· In Senate 19 Judy Baker starts the race behind in money. She raised $41,586; spent $3,820; and has $43,164 on-hand. Incumbent Sen. Caleb Rowden raised $64,400; spent $18,797; and has $205,665 on-hand. The pro-Rowden PAC, Missouri Forward, also has $530K on-hand.
· In Senate 25, it looks like a lot of donors are sitting this one out so far. Rep. Jeff Shawan raised $69K, but over $50K was his own or family money. He now has $266K on-hand, with a loan of $262K. Eddy Justice raised $24,600 and now has $132K on-hand with a loan of $60K. And Steve Cookson raised $12,304, and now has $20,500 on-hand.
· In Senate 27, Reps. Holly Rehder and Kathy Swan continued their duel. Rehder raised $42K and Swan raised $40K. Rehder’s cash on-hand is now $219K with Swan at $156K.
· In Senate 29, David Cole raised $35,025 and has $110,678 on-hand, with a loan of $20K. Rep. Mike Moon raised $4,766 and has $38,105
· In the Senate 33 Republican primary Rep. Karla Eslinger only raised about $10K beyond the $150K she lent herself. Her cash on-hand now is $161,777. That’s a little more than Rep. Robert Ross, the only candidate without a loan in the primary. He raised $25,449 and has $141,094 on-hand. And Van Kelly raised $550. He’s still running on his initial $100K loan. Kelly has $80,917 on-hand.
TOP 25 COH
Uniting Missouri PAC - $5,120,860.
Carpenters Help In the Political Process (CHIPP) - $1,711,546.
MO Opportunity PAC - $1,624,904 (this does not include $720K held in CDs).
Parson For Missouri - $1,380,700.
Eastern Missouri Laborers Educational & Benevolent Fund - $1,154,985.
Enterprise Holdings, Inc. PAC - $1,102,096.
Health Care Issues Committee of the Missouri Hospital Association - $825,842.
Leadership For America - $825,301.
Nicole Galloway For Missouri - $730,289.
Keep Government Accountable - $711,072.
Lyda Krewson for Mayor - $696,357.
Citizens For Jake Zimmerman - $644,675.
Greitens For Missouri - $637,977 (with $126,572).
Schmitt For Missouri - $632,381.
Friends Of Gregory FX Daly - $581,085.
American Dream PAC - $580,507 (with $105,163).
MO National Education Assoc-PAC - $573,234.
Missouri Senate Campaign Committee - $557,494.
Missouri Forward PAC - $532,932.
BUILD St. Louis PAC, Inc. - $528,723.
Missourians for Healthcare - $519,497.
Missouri Realtors PAC Inc - $501,754
House Republican Campaign Committee, Inc - $498,677
Callahan for Missouri - $486,800
American Property Casualty Insurance Association Political Account - $439,489.
Another Rural Hospital Down
ABC News17 reports “A Boonville hospital set to close Wednesday night has asked state regulators to suspend its license pending a possible purchase. Pinnacle Regional Hospital leadership said in a news release that it would close its doors at 7 p.m. Wednesday, citing ‘economic hardship.’ However, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services said late Wednesday that the hospital has asked for its license to be suspended for 90 days in case a buyer comes forward… Emergency department staff will remain at the hospital for two weeks to help with any walk-in patients, the hospital says.”
Gambling Bills Coming Next Week?
In the hallway, the expectation is that we’ll see the House start hearing on the various gambling bills next week.
It’s unclear if anything has jiggled in the equation since last year when the bills stalled.
The sport betting bill could probably pass if it was decoupled from the video gaming bill. But video gaming proponents appear to be poised to attempt again to piggyback on the sports betting issue.
Stay tuned…
Get Well Billy!
Rollcall reports…. Rep. Billy Long returned to Capitol Hill last week with a new accessory — a sling. While he was in his hometown of Springfield, Missouri, for the holidays, the congressman fractured his shoulder while “wrangling” the family puppy.
The incident occurred on Dec. 20, while Long was dog-sitting his daughter’s 6-month-old poodle named Tex. In an email exchange with Heard on the Hill, the congressman remembers picking the canine up from “doggy daycare” and sitting “with him for over an hour, and within two minutes of picking him up to go inside, he bolted under the gate” and into the middle of the street.
The 64-year-old Long explained that Tex “doesn’t know a car from a pork chop, so I just knew he’d get killed on my watch, and I wasn’t going to let that happen.”
After several attempts to catch Tex and return him to safety, Long said the final maneuver, the one resulting in his fracture, failed after he pivoted from a “crouched position.”
The Missouri Republican described what sounds like a scene from an action film, as he called for help from people on the sidewalk and yelled,“Get the dog. He’ll get killed — don’t worry about me.” He was then transported by ambulance to a local emergency room and underwent four and a half hours of surgery on his shoulder.
eMailbag on Filling Vacancies
There is substantial angst about the appointment of two KC senators early in the session costing those constituents representation. Perhaps it's time to change the state constitution. Kansas has party committee people from the leaving senator/reps party choosing the replacement. I still think there should be an election, but when vacancies happen just before or during session maybe an interim appointment would be appropriate…
New Committees
Missouri AFL-CIO Committee on Political Education was formed. It’s a PAC. Its treasurer is Julie Hanrahan.
Lobbyists Registrations
Zach Brunnert, Franc Flotron, John Gaskin, David McCracken, Richard McIntosh, and Bill Stouffer added REP WR Holdings LLC.
Keith Hazelwood added B. Michael McMenamy.
Thomas Robbins, Jake Silverman, and Steven Tilley added JBBD Real Estate.
Kelsey Robinson added Steven R Carroll& Associates.
Fred Wickham and Brian Wood added AFT Missouri.
Scott Woodruff added Home School Legal Defense Association.
Andy Blunt and Jay Reichard added Scientific Games Corporation.
Kyna Iman deleted K12.
$5K+ Contributions
New Approach PAC - $67,000 from New Approach PAC.
Missourians for a New Approach - $30,000 from New Approach PAC.
Missourians for a New Approach - $10,500 from New Approach PAC.
RSLC-MISSOURI PAC - $50,000 from Republican State Leadership Committee.
House Republican Campaign Committee, Inc - $7,000 from Caremark RX Inc.
Professional Fire Fighters of Eastern Missouri 2665 PAC Fund - $5,088 from Supporters of Community Fire.
MO Soybean Association State PAC (MO SoyPAC) - $18,964 from Missouri Cattlemens Association.
True North PAC - $10,000 from CHIPP.
Birthdays
Happy birthdays to Mary Still and Don Gosen.