MOScout Daily Update: VaccineGate - Uniting MO to Continue - Proudie Gets Chairmanship - Judiciary Speech Off and more...
Vaccine-gate
Governor Mike Parson started off his press conference yesterday dinging Dems who got vaccinated earlier this week.
“Yesterday again a lot of information was put out that wasn’t very accurate and unfortunately it dealt with the legislators putting some of this information out that was basically untrue. Number one everyone in this building knows what the guidelines are to get a vaccine. If you got a vaccine yesterday and you don’t have underlying health conditions, and you’re under 65 years old and you used your position to be able to get a vaccine is totally uncalled for.
And for the minority leader to come out and say it was confusing about it to try to cover up why they all run over there and got a vaccine is totally inappropriate. Everyone in this building knows what the guidelines are. And legislators by all means should not be able to jump to the front of the line… Really what happened is people just went over there and tried to use their positions to jump the line is the simple truth of what happened.”
But one MOScouter with no dog in the fight tells a very different story…
“Here is some firsthand insight into what happened at the Capitol Plaza State Employee Vaccination on Wednesday:
Tuesday evening, DPS began contacting members of the General Assembly and/or their staff that were on a list as eligible for Phase 1B, Tier 2, to let them know they would be able to get the vaccine on Wednesday at the Capitol Plaza. That is what is believed to have somehow (in part) led to the Wednesday rumors that the Capitol Plaza event was open to ALL state employees. After hearing the rumor, multiple different agencies sent their leadership staff or HR personnel to the Capitol Plaza to verify if the rumors were true. Make no mistake, the uniformed personnel staffing this vaccination, when repeatedly asked the very direct question "Is this for all state employees?" responded that "Yes, this is for all state employees." There was zero mention of eligibility tiers. There were four different checkpoints to show your state ID, and at no time did any vaccination personnel ask any questions to determine if a person qualified for Phase 1B, Tier 2. When you mentioned you worked for a state agency other than MoDot or DPS, no one cared. There were also zero signs stating it was limited to certain agencies, indeed, the numerous signs posted at the event specifically said: "State Employees". The signs didn't say "MoDOT Employees", or "DPS Employees", it said "State Employees."
You cannot refreeze a thawed Pfizer vaccine, and it takes 2-3 hours to thaw them. So if, as DHSS claims, the event was only intended for preregistered MoDOT and DPS employees eligible under Tier 2 of Phase 1B, (or even assuming their later "clarification" that it was opened to all state employees in that tier) what were they planning to do with the massive amount of extra vaccine they had thawed out? Unless every single person vaccinated yesterday had a hidden medical condition, and I'd say over 95% were not age 65 or older, the overwhelming majority were not in Tier 2. Either that event was indeed planned for all state employees, or DHSS is essentially admitting they can't plan OR count, leading to an immense risk of unnecessary spoilage of an already scarce vaccine.
The staff that ran the event did a fantastic job, they were extremely efficient, so to say the vaccine rollout is a complete failure would discredit what those individuals were able to do that day. But for DHSS to not accept blame when they got caught handing out the vaccine to any and all state employees, regardless of tier, they need to understand that many other state agencies attended that event.”
What All This Means
VaccineGate feels like something to distract folks from the state’s poor performance so far in the vaccine rollout. Parson – at the press conference yesterday – said that stories written about the state’s slow vaccine distribution were bias. Those stories cited CDC data showing us lagging every other state in the country. Parson insists that reporters should using the state’s data instead. The difference is marginal. The data still shows Missouri near the bottom. Sometimes it doesn’t matter how you slice it, it still tastes the same.
Yesterday the state dashboard said Missouri had vaccination 5.3% of our population. Compare that with other states’ “old” CDC data, and it moves us up from 49th to 45th. Yay?
Uniting MO to Continue
Uniting Missouri, the PAC which raised and spent millions of dollars in support of Governor Mike Parson’s re-election, will continue as a going concern. Today, in the large contributions (below), two checks were recorded into the PAC. I’m told that the PAC will continue “to do the work of supporting the governor’s agenda and supporting the cause of conservative government.”
What It Means
Parson, having served over half of the truncated Greitens term, is unable to run again for governor again. But it doesn’t hurt to have an independent, yet allied, PAC which can deploy resources or media to help advance an issue.
Senate’s Top Priorities Depend on Health
Next week could see some action in the Senate… Floor Leader Caleb Rowden said that COVID liability legislation and the education reform bill are poised for floor debate. The big determining factor is if senators and staff are clear from the mini COVID outbreak and resulting isolating and quarantining. If they are, the Senate will try to move those bills.
Scrapping the State of the Judiciary
Because of COVID concerns, the House will forgo the traditional State of the Judiciary address. Memo from Floor Leader Dean Plocher to House members…
In consultation with the Supreme Court and the Senate, the General Assembly will not convene a Joint Session on Tuesday, February 2nd, for the State of the Judiciary. In lieu of an in person speech, Chief Justice Draper will submit the State of the Judiciary in writing to both chambers and will also record his speech from the Supreme Court building. It will be posted publicly for Members and Missourians to view.
The House will still convene at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, February 2nd for normal business.
Proudie Gets Urban Issues Chairmanship
Speaker Rob Vescovo announced the formation of the Special Committee on Urban Issues. It’ll be chaired by Democratic Rep. Raychel Proudie. This follows concern voiced by the Black Caucus that Vescovo wasn’t going to include this committee this session, which the speaker’s office denied.
More Jury Time Coming?
An interesting article in the Daily American Republic notes with the end of COVID restrictions in sight there’s going to be some catching up to do in our court system. See it here.
Area residents may be called on for jury duty more often in 2021, as Missouri courts try to catch up on a backlog of cases postponed due to COVID-19 precautions. “I’ve got trials scheduled now through January (2022),” Presiding Circuit Judge Michael Pritchett said Wednesday morning, before a video hearing that would involve attorneys in Kansas City and St. Louis, something unheard of before changes meant to help stem the spread of the coronavirus. “Obviously, not all of those will go, but when we look in terms of dates available for jury trials, I don’t have a first setting until (next) January.” To help catch up, the courts are double booking jury trials. They anticipate not all cases will go, and hope that one will be able to move forward on the scheduled date.
MEC Issues Fines
The Missouri Ethics Commission issued two fines…
· Make Liberty Win Federal Committee, $1,000. See it here.
· Rep. Michael Person, $1,000. See it here.
eMailbag on Parson-Vescovo Tension
It may be bad news for Dems. You want this in May not January.
Lobbyists Registrations
April Hatch added CCTKC, LLC.
Brent Hemphill added Coalition of Surety Agents of Missouri.
Allie McGerigle added Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association (JPMA).
$5K+ Contributions
Uniting Missouri PAC (pro-Parson) - $10,000 from Charter Communications.
Uniting Missouri PAC - $35,000 from MO Opportunity PAC (pro-Schmitt).
Birthdays
Happy birthday to Tommie Pierson Sr., Craig Redmon, Brian Schmidt, Wayne Bledsoe, Allison Bruns, and Karen Buschmann.