MOScout Daily Update: Mask Mandate Politics - MDP Drama or Chaos? - American Dream COH - House Hearings Today - Faleti on Ballots and more...
Poll: Missourians Prefer Mask Mandate
Governor Mike Parson has steadfastly refused to consider a statewide mask mandate – despite many other governors pursuing this policy as a means to contain the coronavirus.
In last week’s Remington Group/MOScout poll: 65% of Missourians responded that “the spread of COVID-19 is a public health threat, and face masks should be required in public.”
25% said that the “spread of COVID-19 is a public health threat, but face masks should not be required in public,” with 4% saying that “the spread of COVID-19 is not a public health threat,” and 6% responding “not sure.”
Within the party identification, Republicans were split evenly: 44% preferring the mandate and 42% opposing it, with 5% not considering COVID a threat.
Meanwhile Democrats were strongly in favor of the mandate (85%).
What’s interesting is that the non-partisan voters were also clearly in favor of the mandate. 70% of them in favor versus 20% opposed.
One would think that the governor would consider a policy move which would appeal to these non-partisan voters – and help contain the virus which continues to show elevated levels in Missouri, and is comparing unfavorably to other states.
But I think the governor’s campaign team believes that, Missouri being a red state now, they don’t need to broaden their appeal so much as make sure that the base is 100% with them. If Republicans who turn out for Trump also vote for Parson, they will win.
We’ll see…
Driving the Day: House Hearings
Today the House begins again its work on the governor’s violent crime package.
General Laws (noon) holds hearings on HB 11 and HB 16.
Judiciary (also at noon) holds hearings on HB 2, HB 46, and HB 66.
Special Committee on Criminal Justice (2PM) holds a hearing on HB 12.
Rules Committees are scheduled for tomorrow, assuming they pass these out.
MDP Drama or Chaos? You May the Call.
We’re about ten weeks away from Election Day and the Missouri Democratic Party is exploding with drama…
An open letter from MDP staffers protests the termination of Party Data Director Ben Conover.
We, the undersigned, write to you regarding the termination of former Data Director and unit member Ben Conover. The members of the Missouri Democratic Party Staff Union wish to express in no uncertain terms that we believe Ben Conover’s termination was unjust, and we consider it to be direct retaliation against a unit member for their participation in union organizing.
Further, Management’s unjust actions directly led to the departure of former unit members Andy Dove and Dylan Mullins, who resigned in protest of their team member's unjust termination.
As a direct consequence of Management’s mishandling of unionization proceedings, the Missouri Democratic Party finds itself understaffed in all departments and entirely without a Data Department fewer than 90 days from the general election. This is totally unacceptable for a State Party organization, and we are deeply disappointed and embarrassed by this state of affairs.
Signed,
The MDP Staff Union
Jordan Hunt, Finance Director
Sadie Jess, Digital Manager
Tara Logan, Rural Director
Bella Vadovicky, Operations Manager
Jeffrey Bittle, Fellow
Daisy Garcia-Montoya, Fellow
Word is that Conover was fired for side work he’d done. Conover posted his defense against those charges on Twitter here.
One Dem insider makes some interesting points…
· From the get-go [Nicole] Galloway took a hands-off approach and has not been the figure head of the party. She may have been better off taking control of it and actually managing it. This election year chaos isn’t a good look.
· Across the country, state parties have avoided letting staff organize for too long and its come back to bite ‘em.
· Also the progressive wave has worked to take out the establishment who actually got funding for the party... for example, CLAIRE and Webber who’s been the only effective chair in a decade. So good luck running a party on protests and rainbows.
American Dream PAC COH
American Dream PAC, the pro-Mike Kehoe PAC, is down to $119K cash on-hand, according to its filing earlier this month.
For some observers, that awfully low considering that nearly $1 million has been raised for the PAC.
These allied PACs are set-up to allow candidates to receive contributions over the limit imposed on candidate committees. The candidates can raise the money for the PACs, but can’t control or direct how the funds are spent.
Kehoe has done a good job raising money for his PAC. In January the PAC showed $519K raised. In April, another $96K raised. In July, $185K raised. And in the 8-Day report in early August $97K raised. All told about $900K just this year.
The PAC has spent most of the money raised with Camelback Strategy Group: $165K on the January report; $272K in the April report; and $353K in the July report.
According to the memos, Camelback has been paid for grassroots field work, campaign management, office rent, and strategic planning. There’s no indication that some of the $750K+ has been for advance media purchases, or other voter contact for November’s election.
Ron Richard, Kehoe’s friend from the Senate, is treasurer of the PAC.
Kehoe won the LG Republican primary with 59% in a four-way race. According to recent Remington Group/MOScout poll, he leads Democrat Alissa Canady 48% to 39%.
Faleti on Mail-In Ballots
Today at 10:30 AM Yinka Faleti, the Democratic candidate for Secretary of State, will hold a press conference.
Faleti “will be joined by House Minority Floor Leader Crystal Quade, State Representative Kip Kendrick, and State Representative Ashley Bland-Manlove in front of the Kirkpatrick Building to call for Secretary Ashcroft and Governor Parson to immediately call for a special session of the legislature to ensure ballots postmarked by Election Day are counted.”
Springfield News Leader reports on this issue…
Currently, Missouri's policy of only counting ballots received by local election authorities by 7 p.m. on Election Day means a small percentage of absentee ballots — they made up well under 1 percent of total votes cast in 2018 — are not counted because they come in late. But Kendrick said in an interview Friday he's worried that could be a bigger problem this year with many more people voting by mail due to the pandemic and issues with the Postal Service expressed most recently in letters sent to state election officials at the end of July.
In the letter to Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, a USPS attorney said the state's Oct. 21 deadline for ballot requests "may be incongruous with the Postal Service’s delivery standards,” creating a “risk that some ballots requested near the (Oct. 21) deadline … will not be returned by mail in time to be counted.”
Ashcroft, for his part, downplayed the concern in a statement Friday, calling it a “non-issue," noting that the deadline to request ballots is 13 days out to begin with and that absentee voters can speed up the process by emailing their ballot requests and dropping off ballots in-person.
And
On Twitter, Rep. Peter Merideth notes the difference between absentee ballots and mail-in ballots.
For Poll Junkies
NBC-WSJ poll released over the weekend. See it here.
eMailbag on Special
[The House is] not acting in haste just because the governor called a special. I think, despite political pressure, they are passing policy in the right deliberative way.
New Committees
Yes To America Committee was formed. It’s a PAC. Its treasurer is Bruce A Raisch.
AFSCME Special Account was formed. It’s a PAC. Its treasurer is Jami Kallenbach.
Lobbyists Registrations
Jake Silverman added Gillespie & Powers, Inc.
Ginger Steinmetz deleted Credit Acceptance Corporation.
Birthdays
Happy birthdays to David Berry and Vernon Scoville.