MOScout Daily Update: Grain Belt Sweetens Pot - CLEAN - CLEANER Fight Begins - Hawley-Galloway-Schmitt Wrestlemania and more...
Grain Belt Sweetens Pot
Press release: On Thursday, Invenergy-a leading Midwest-based developer, owner, and operator of sustainable energy solutions-and the company approved to build the Grain Belt Express transmission project, announced its plans to include broadband capability on the project infrastructure at no additional cost to Missouri communities or taxpayers. Discussions are underway with Missouri internet service providers who could use the infrastructure to provide internet for nearly 1 million underserved Missourians… Invenergy estimates show that more than a quarter million rural Missouri households, as well as schools and hospitals located within 50 miles of the Grain Belt Express route, do not have broadband access and would benefit from this new infrastructure…
What It Means
· The lack of broadband access in rural Missouri has been a vexing problem.
· If this project could help be part of the solution, that could move some votes in the legislature. As legislators weigh the pros and cons, this very likely could tilt the scales toward the public benefit of the project outweighing the dislike of eminent domain.
CLEAN Itching For a Fight?
And just like… even before it has passed the Senate, CLEAN Missouri has a website up… www.cleanermissouri.com that claims “if you like gerrymandering, you’ll love SJR 38… map-drawing would return to secretive backrooms.”
· CLEAN Missouri has continued to pay their consultants, GPS Impact, for campaign management during the past year since CLEAN passed.
· On their January report, CLEAN Missouri had only $24,626 on-hand, but if you listen to the talk, there’s nothing to worry about: they have deep pockets they can tap for the battle ahead.
Galloway – Schmitt – Hawley Brawl Over Audit
Has ever an audit aroused such passions? It’s Wrestlemania8 or something. US Senator Josh Hawley realizes he’s going to look bad, so starts making accusations at Auditor Nicole Galloway who’s going to release the interview transcripts so the whole world can see behind the curtain. Attorney General Eric Schmitt’s office says Galloway can’t do that. She replies, “Oh yeah?” And does.
See coverage here: KCStar, Post-Dispatch, News-Leader, News Tribune.
Rather than try to judge which take-down scored points, or who came out on top of the jumbled pointing fingers / press release / twitterfest of operatives and allies, let’s stick with the big picture that emerges from all this:
· Josh Hawley has his eyes on higher office now – as he did then. And he’s adopted Trumpian tactic of going on the offense quick and early.
· Nicole Galloway’s audit doesn’t land any knock-out punches. But interesting to see, when she gets pushed a bit, she digs in.
· Eric Schmitt is team player upon whom Republicans can rely. The voluminous back and forth between his office and the auditor’s shows how engaged they were – even though the audit was dealing with his predecessor.
Best Zinger?
KC Editorial: On Dec. 16, 2017, Josh Hawley, then-Missouri attorney general, attended a Chiefs game at Arrowhead Stadium. Hawley says he paid for the ticket but used a state car and driver to travel more than 300 miles for the contest. Hawley and his wife watched the game from a private box. The Chiefs won, beating the San Diego Chargers. How does Hawley justify the use of a state car to see an NFL game? According to Missouri Auditor Nicole Galloway’s audit, released Thursday, Hawley believed he attended in his “official capacity” — that is, he was there as attorney general, not just as Josh Hawley, football fan. The record does not show why an attorney general needed to be at the game. Perhaps the team anticipated a bad call and wanted the state’s top law enforcement officer nearby as backup…
Schmitt Defends SB 5
Following the Missouri Supreme Court’s recent decision on “special laws”, AG Eric Schmitt filed a motion in defense of the enforcement of the SB 5 reforms. See the Post-Dispatch article here.
Those provisions were thrown out in 2016 by a Cole County judge in a decision the Missouri Supreme Court affirmed in 2017. But the high court ruled in December in a separate case that the logic underlying its previous decision “should no longer be followed.”
As a Republican state senator from Glendale, Schmitt had been the architect of the legislation, known as Senate Bill 5, that was aimed at curbing municipal court abuses in the wake of unrest in Ferguson. It banned municipalities in St. Louis County from generating more than 12.5% of their general revenue from traffic fines and fees. The limit was set at 20% in the rest of the state, down from 30% statewide previously.
January Revenues Jump
Press release: “State Budget Director Dan Haug announced today that net general revenue collections for January 2020 increased 7.4 percent compared to those for January 2019, from $801.2 million last year to $860.7 million this year. Net general revenue collections 2020 fiscal year-to-date increased 5.5 percent compared to January 2019, from $5.11 billion last year to $5.39 billion this year…”
Help Wanted
Ameren seeks Community Development Specialist. “The Community Development Executive is responsible for maintaining and cultivating favorable Ameren relationships with local elected officials and their staff members through personal contact and facilitation of day to day activities related to St. Louis City, and Metro Area County government functions, and other local municipal governments as needed…” See the ad here.
New Committees
Citizens for Excellence in Government was formed. It’s a PAC. Its treasurer is David H Mosby.
Gena Ross formed a candidate committee (Gena Ross for Congress Candidate) to run for House 12 as a Democrat. The incumbent, Republican Rep. Ken Wilson, is term limited.
$5K+ Contributions
Relax PAC - $20,000 from Get Right Management Company.
MO Cable PAC - $5,201 from Comcast.
Civic Progress Action Committee - $13,000 from Emerson Electric Co.