MOScout Daily Update: House "Mum" on Jurisdiction Bill - 30-Day Reports from Senate Battlegrounds - Conservation Suit and more...
House Plays Coy on Jurisdiction
After the Senate’s all-night struggle to pass AG jurisdiction, the bill moves to the House – which had previously avoided considering the matter.
Post-Dispatch reports that “House leaders were mum Thursday on whether they would bring the [jurisdiction] measure to the floor. The House schedule does not indicate when or if the full chamber will reconvene before the Legislature’s annual veto session on Sept. 16. A spokesman for House Speaker Elijah Haahr, R-Springfield, said it could be a ‘few days’ before a decision is known. Haahr, who is term-limited and will leave the House in January, did not respond to a request for comment.”
You’d assume that the House would yield to pressure to take up the provision. But a fiery letter from the Missouri Association of Prosecuting Attorneys was issued yesterday. See it here. That gives them a lot of cover. It’s hard to be considered pro-crime when you have the backing of the prosecuting attorneys.
What It Means
Inside the bubble, everyone agrees this special session was an uncoordinated chaos that reflects poorly on Governor Mike Parson’s leadership.
Outside the building, it looks like the normal legislative process, and it helps the Parson campaign by associating him with his topic of choice – violent crime – instead of the unwieldy unpredictable, untamed coronavirus.
Meanwhile
St. Louis City Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner has her general election in November. An independent PAC has been formed to support her Republican opponent, Daniel Zdrodowski. The PAC is Reasonable People For Justice. Its treasurer is Nick Calcaterra.
See Zdrodowski’s website here.
30 Day Reports
Here are the toplines from the financial reports of the three battleground Senate races. These filings cover the period from July 24 to August 29.
· In Senate 1, Rep. Doug Beck raised $100K and has $345K on-hand while his Republican opponent, David Lenihan, raised $11K and has $56K on-hand. There had been some expectation that Lenihan would be putting in more of his own money, but we haven’t seen that yet.
· In Senate 15, Rep. Deb Lavender once again outraised Sen. Andrew Koenig. She raised $116K and now has $521K on-hand. Koenig raised $52K and has $220K on-hand.
· In Senate 19, Sen. Caleb Rowden raised $94K and has $338K on-hand. His Democratic opponent, Judy Baker, raised $92K and has $216K on-hand.
What It Means
The landscape is shaping up nicely for Rep. Doug Beck in Senate 1 (Scott Sifton termed). It looks like Republicans will have their hands full defending their incumbent senators in Senate 15 and Senate 19 to expend too many resources trying to aid Lenhian in Senate 1.
eMailbag: The New HDCC
The MEC makes HDCC report fundraising totals by calendar year instead of by cycle. That said, House Dems have now raised well over $700k this since Jan 2019. It’s a serious entity, helping candidates in tangible ways like trainings, and data access. Compared to similar entities, HDCC's staff and overhead are EXTREMELY efficient, less than $15k/per month. Credit to the younger generation if leadership: Reps. Crystal Quade and Peter Merideth for thinking differently.
Conservation Battle Heads to Court
California Democrat reports on a lawsuit over “omitted language” in last year’s appropriation bill. See it here.
The Missouri Department of Conservation and Conservation Commission filed a lawsuit Thursday against the state's Attorney General Eric Schmitt and Office of Administration Commissioner Sarah Steelman in a dispute over authority to spend revenue for conservation purposes. The conservation bodies argue in the lawsuit filed in Cole County Circuit Court that Steelman has not certified payment from the Conservation Commission Fund for purchase in July of 510 acres of land in St. Clair County, to be an addition to the Linscomb Wildlife Area…
The conservation bodies state Steelman has not certified payment because "during its last session, the General Assembly omitted language from HB 2019, a FY 2021 appropriation bill, that had appeared in such bills in prior years, which expressly stated that MDC could use funds from the Conservation Commission Fund for land acquisition."
The conservation bodies asked the court declare the General Assembly's description of permitted uses of commission fund monies was "superfluous" and the omission of explicit authority for the Conservation Commission to use funds to buy land did not alter the commission's constitutional authority…
It's also argued in the lawsuit the same issue jeopardizes the conservation bodies' ability to pay $743,000 in December to Missouri counties in lieu of property taxes. The Conservation Commission has made such payments annually to counties since 1980 for payments for private land the commission acquired after July 1, 1977….
New Committees
Womens Health PAC of Missouri was formed. Its treasurer is Mistie Mills.
Democratic Association of Secretaries of State was formed. It’s a PAC. Its treasurer is Garrett Webb.
Reasonable People For Justice was formed. It’s a PAC. Its treasurer is Nick Calcaterra.
$5K+ Contributions
Machinists District No. 9 PAC - $10,407 from Machinists Non-Partisan Political League.
Keep Government Accountable - $10,000 from International Association of Fire Fighters Local 42 PAC.
American Property Casualty Insurance Association Political Account - $29,920 from American Property Casualty Insurance Association.
Lobbyists Registrations
Mike Gibbons and Tricia Workman deleted Home State Health Plan.
Scott Penman and Kaycee Nail deleted Missouri Appleseed.
Jewell Patek deleted HTH Companies.
Birthdays
Happy birthdays to Jane Cunningham, and Emily van Schenkhof.
Saturday: Jack Danforth, Kate Casas, Jenee Lowe, John Gaskin III, and Rachel Storch.
Sunday: Sarah Wood Martin and Sam Murphey.
Monday: Sheila Solon and Kathlyn Fares.
MOScout Schedule
I’m taking a long weekend for Labor Day. No Weekend editions. See you Tuesday…