MOScout Daily Update: Dems Scoff at Senate 17 Talk - $1.2M for CLEAN - New Dashboard Blues - Sept Revenues Hold Steady and more...

Dems Scoff at Senate 17 Talk

A heard from lots of folks who think the float of a possible Republican move against Sen. Lauren Arthur is absurd.

Among the points they make:

·         8 points isn’t particularly close, “especially in a district that voted for Trump in 2016.”

·         Arthur’s polling shows her up double digits and above 50% in all scenarios

·         “Non-traditional voters” sounds like a fancy way of saying people who don’t vote

·         Arthur has $450K cash on-hand with another $100K in an aligned PAC, while Younghanz hasn’t filed a report since July which was a “limited activity.”

·         If Senate Rs think they will try and make people spend money in SD 17, they won't.

And one Republican piled on… “Mickey Younghanz is a clown. Trump won't win SD17 and neither will he. With all the drama at the Clay County courthouse, the voters have political clown fatigue.”

CLEAN Gets Another $1.2M

The campaign against Amendment 3 (CLEANER) continues to land big checks with one month until the election.

Today there’s another $1.2 million, the bulk of which is from North Fund, a dark money organization in Washington DC.

What It Means

All signs point to A3 going down.

September Revenues

State tax revenues in September were modest, up about 3%, driven by a near 10% increase in sales and use tax receipts.  Individual income tax came in flattish, up .9%.

By holding ground in September, the state tax revenues for this fiscal year remain $850 million above where they were at this time last year.

That’s a nice cushion which may come in handy.  Economists worry that the economy will weaken as the fiscal stimulus wears off.

Vexing New Dashboard

Chris Prener, a professor at St. Louis University, has been following the COVID statistics closely.  He vents a bit about the recent change in the state’s website reporting data – and questions whether the data is reliable.

See his twitter thread here.

·         This is a gut check, but we’re seeing increasingly unstable changes in daily numbers that are giving me pause. For example, Joplin reported 449 new cases yesterday after averaging ~16 per day over the prior week.

·         Big jumps have happened before, but these come at a time when there are media reports, such as from @KCStar’s @katie_reports, about conflicts between city numbers in #KansasCity and what the state is reporting.

·         It seems like the new dashboard, which I spoke to @michelemunz today about for her @stltoday reporting on the state of the virus in MO, is the culprit.

·         Overall, this is a frustrating thread to write about tonight, with the exception of the flat numbers in #StLouis City and County. It’s hard not to feel like the state is letting all of us down with its data stewardship and reporting. Six months in, they need to do better.

Parson Mum on Staff Tests

KCStar reports on Parson administration shushing any reports of staff who have tested positive for COVID.  See it here.

A spokesperson for Missouri Gov. Mike Parson refused Thursday to say if any of the governor’s staff members have tested positive for COVID-19… Communications Director Kelli Jones said confirming whether any Parson aides have been infected would be a privacy violation.  “That is not public information,” Jones said. “That’s a violation of a privacy code — a HIPAA violation.”

Jones is mistaken. The only entities covered by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act are health care providers, health plans and health care clearinghouses. The Governor’s Office is none of these.

“It’s not a covered entity. Therefore, HIPAA doesn’t apply,” said Ann Marie Marciarille, who teaches law at the University of Missouri Kansas City…

Why It Matters

All about optics. 

Dems would see a spread among the governor’s staff as an indication that his team didn’t take the virus seriously enough.

Republicans want to get back to talking about law and order.

Gubby Forum Rescheduled

From News Tribune: The candidate forum for the four candidates for Missouri governor that was postponed because of Gov. Mike Parson's positive test and isolation for coronavirus is now planned for 2 p.m. Oct. 9.

Gubby Appts

Governor Mike Parson announced three appointments to various boards and commissions and filled five county office vacancies.

·         W. Dustin Boatwright, of Scott City, was appointed to the State Highways and Transportation Commission.

·         Susan Chapman, of Branson, was appointed as the Taney County Assessor.

·         Melissa Heskett, of Stockton, was appointed as the Cedar County Recorder of Deeds.

·         Mark Nolte, PLS, of Kansas City, was appointed to the Missouri Board for Architects, Professional Engineers, Professional Land Surveyors, and Professional Landscape Architects.

·         Lisa Norton, of St. Joseph, was appointed to the Missouri Western State University Board of Governors.

·         David Pulliam, of Corder, was appointed as the Lafayette County Coroner.

·         Timothy Shelby, of Advance, was appointed as an Associate Commissioner for Bollinger County.

·         Gary Swearingen, of Cassville, was appointed as the Barry County Coroner.

eMailbag on Onders

Bob and Jim Onder are very different politically.  Jim is a big time trial lawyer and a moderate.  Bob is a doctor and a conservative.  Like most doctors and most Republicans, he is a tort reformer, and has voted for every tort reform bill going back to his days in the House, and has even carried some tort reform.  And he supports legislation to limit COVID-related liability.

Lobbyists Registrations

Nexus Group added Thermo Fisher Scientific.

Chris Liese, Andrew Foley, James Foley, and Tony Dugger added Renew Missouri.

Greg Johnston added Rockwood Management Corporation, and Redbird Network; and deleted Bluebird Network LLC.

Catalyst deleted Women's Foundation of Greater Kansas City       

Casey Allen Wasser deleted Missouri Amusement Machine Operators Association c/o The Swain Group.

$5K+ Contributions

CLEAN Missouri - $1,000,000 from North Fund (Washington DC).

CLEAN Missouri - $200,000 from Schusterman Family Foundation (Tulsa OK).

CLEAN Missouri - $53,000 from North Fund (Washington DC).

House Democratic Campaign Committee - $8,000 from Sarah Unsicker For State Representative.

Missouri American Water Company Employees Political Action Committee - $10,000 from Flynn Drilling Company.

Friends Of Kathy Swan - $7,000 from Kathryn Swan.

Birthdays

Happy birthdays to Sen. Eric Burlison, Rep. Jeff Knight, Tim Remole, and David Zevan.