MOScout Daily Update: Parson Call Special, Legislators Roll Eyes - July Quarter - New Scism Ad - GOP Summer Caucus Moved and more...
Special Session Called
As expected, Governor Mike Parson called a special session to address violent crime in Missouri. See the formal call here. It is to begin Monday July 27.
Specifically, six different provisions will be considered:
· Police and Public Safety Employee Residency Requirements for St. Louis – The proposal to be considered would eliminate the residency requirement for St. Louis law enforcement so long as the officer lives within an hour of the city. This proposal would also prohibit requiring any public safety employee for the city of St. Louis to be a resident of the City.
· Juvenile Certification – This proposal requires the court to determine if a juvenile should be certified for trial as an adult for the offense of unlawful use of a weapon and armed criminal action.
· Witness Statement Admissibility – This proposal would allow certain statements to be admissible in court that would otherwise not be allowed under current statute.
· Witness Protection Fund – This proposal creates the Pretrial Witness Protection Fund.
· Endangering the Welfare of a Child – This proposal modifies the offense of endangering the welfare of a child for a person who encourages a child to engage in any weapons offense.
· Unlawful Transfer of Weapons – This proposal would increase penalty for a person who knowingly sells or delivers any firearm to a child less than 18 years without the consent of the child’s parent or guardian.
There was an incredible lack of enthusiasm from legislators in response.
· Democrats – and a few Republicans – aren’t happy that there’s no mention of police reform. Sen. Brian Williams tweeted: I am raising this issue because it has been 20 years since there has been a person who looks like me to serve in the @MissouriSenate. I have lived this experience. George Floyd could have easily been me. #policereform #moleg
· One Senate Republican texted me: “Literally no one in our caucus thinks this special session is a good idea.”
· On the House side, there are similar sentiments: “Gov will be righteous about saving kids but this special will do nothing to solve the crime problem.”
· And a couple House staffers have tested positive for coronavirus and others have been directed to stay at home and self-quarantine because they were exposed to the individuals. Taking safety precautions could slow the whole process down.
July Quarters
I’ve created a spreadsheet to easily look through the July quarters. It has the statewide race, plus each House and Senate primary race. I tried to include PACs for the statewide and Senate candidates as well.
A few other quarters of note that aren’t listed on the spreadsheet…
· Once again in Senate 15, Rep. Deb Lavender outraised incumbent Sen. Andrew Koenig by a large margin. She raised $141K to his $11K, and now holds a cash on-hand advantage of $426K to $175K.
· In the St. Louis City Prosecutor’s race Kim Gardner hadn’t filed her July quarter as of this morning, but her opponent, Mary Pat Carl had a healthy quarter. Carl raised $112K and now has $159K on-hand.
· In the St. Louis County Executive race, Sam Page’s PAC raised $653K. That brought his combined candidate and PAC COH to over $1M, plenty of ammo for the final few weeks. Mark Mantovani’s combined COH is a bit north of $500K, and Jake Zimmerman’s is a bit less of $500K.
But
With all of these, things are moving. These numbers reflect where things were back on July 1, and even today there’s more cash coming in ($77K to Gardner, $20K to Mantovani’s PAC).
Top COH
Here are committees with $300K+ cash on-hand…
Uniting Missouri PAC - $5.1M
Missourians for Healthcare - $2.2M
MO Opportunity PAC - $1.9M
Carpenters Help in the Political Process (CHIPP) - $1.9M
Keep Government Accountable - $1.6M
Parson For Missouri - $1.5M
Nicole Galloway for Missouri - $1.5M
Missouri and Kansas Laborers' PAC - $1.3M
Page PAC - $861K
CLEAN Missouri - $817K
Enterprise Holdings, Inc. PAC - $794K
Lyda Krewson for Mayor - $663K
House Republican Campaign Committee, Inc - $658K
Missouri Senate Campaign Committee - $653K
Schmitt For Missouri - $643K
MO National Education Assoc-PAC - $580K
Friends Of Gregory FX Daly - $570K
Missouri Forward PAC - $556K
Leadership For America - $515K
Callahan For Missouri - $486K
Friends Of Eric Burlison - $441K
Believe in Life and Liberty - BILL PAC - $438K
Missouri Realtors PAC - $435K
American Property Casualty Insurance Association Political Account - $430K
Lavender For State Senate - $424K
Citizens For Jake Zimmerman - $402K
We Are Missouri - $398K
Committee To Elect Lauren Arthur - $383K
Sanders For Jackson County - $366K
CL PAC - $363K
Citizens To Elect Mike Kehoe - $360K
Mark Mantovani for St Louis - $354K
Greitens For Missouri - $348K
Scott Sifton For Missouri - $337K
Ashcroft For Missouri - $322K
Luetkemeyer For Senate - $321K
Senate 3: Scism Ad Hit Barrett
Kent Scism’s new television ad touts his positions and then attacks Joshua Barrett. See it here.
“Barrett’s been in trouble with the law multiple times, multiple arrest warrants, filed false tax documents, convicted of drunk driving. We can’t trust Barrett with our vote…”
Scism is going after Barrett instead of Gannon. The theory (which I would guess is correct) appears to be that Barrett voters are more likely to flip to Scism than Gannon’s.
The MOScout poll from a few weeks ago showed Barrett at 24% and Elaine Gannon at 23% with Scism at 19% and plenty of undecideds.
And
In the large contributions, Scism added another $100K to his campaign account.
HRCC Summer Caucus to Branson
Floor Leader Rob Vescovo writes that the House Republican Campaign Committee is moving their summer caucus to Branson…
With the considerable unknowns and potential restrictions our event could have, we had logistical concerns about our ability to move forward in St. Louis this year. Rather than wait to see how things unfolded, we made the proactive decision to move HRCC Summer Caucus to a location we believe allows us the flexibility to hold what will be another record breaking event. This year’s 2020 HRCC Summer Caucus will still take place August 20-22nd but will be moved to the Branson Hilton, where we have previously held many successful events…
But
It could be no place is safe from restrictions. The virus has made southwest Missouri its new hotspot. And it looks like Branson may soon be joining other cities in adopting a mandatory mask ordinance.
Situational Awareness Limited
On the state’s COVID dashboard…
Please note, due to an abrupt change in data measures and the reporting platform issued by the White House on Monday, July 13, and effective Wednesday, July 15, Missouri Hospital Association (MHA) and the State of Missouri will be unable to access critical hospitalization data during the transition. While we are working to collect interim data, situational awareness will be limited. We will resume producing the daily hospitalization snapshot as soon as the data feeds are fully restored.
eMailbag on Parson Hearts McCloskey
· Respectfully, I think you're missing the point on Parson's support of the McCloskeys. The right to protect one's home and property, and the right to bear arms, are central themes of the Republican Party, and important to most Americans. Parson carried the "Castle Doctrine" legislation in Missouri. The McCloskys may be flawed characters, but most people are sympathetic to their response on that evening.
· The unspoken story here is that Former Gov. Greitens went on Fox about cowardice in not defending law and order as Fox creates the McCloskey’s as a poster child for protecting their home and hearth, Tucker did his job of amplifying the issue, and like clockwork, Trump gets on the phone and Parson gets on board the Fox view. Gov. Parson has to take marching orders in order to get funding there are strings that look like ropes from this White House not to mention their re-elects are tied. No one wants to say it, but Greitens pulled on the rope and scored. We really are all in this together.
Lobbyists Registrations
Gamble & Schlemeier added Centurion.
$5K+ Contributions
Scism For Senate - $100,000 from William K Scism.
Citizens To Elect Kimberly Gardner - $77,803 from Missouri Justice Public Safety PAC.
Missourians for a New Approach - $55,000 from New Approach PAC.
Uniting Missouri PAC - $25,000 from Midwest Cement Company Inc.
Keep Government Accountable - $25,000 from Davis Bethune & Jones LLC.
Missourians for Healthcare - $25,000 from Compass Health.
MO Leadership Committee - $15,000 from Tom R Burcham III LLC.
Change STL PAC - $10,000 from Daniel Guirl.
Change STL PAC - $10,000 from Elite Development.
Missouri Forward PAC - $10,000 from Lincoln PAC.
Missouri Forward PAC - $10,000 from Spire Missouri Inc.
Conservative Leadership for Southeast Missouri - $10,000 from Missourians for Research & Innovation.
Six County PAC - $10,000 from Missouri State Teachers Association Legislative Impact Committee.
Birthdays
Happy birthdays to John Sondag, and Jeanette Mott Oxford.