MOScout Daily Update: Lembke Back in Building? - Groce to May - Craver to PayIt - Shippy to Schatz? and more...

Happy New Year

Let me start with thanks… Thanks for reading this past year, and a special thanks to everyone who takes time to drop an email or text, give me a tip or a scoop, tell me what I’ve missed, or share an insight into what’s happening behind the scenes.  It makes my job fun, and I appreciate it.

Also, thanks for putting up with my lazy long weekends the past couple of weeks.  I had a very nice, restful end to 2020!  And I’m excited about the new year and the new session.

Finally, here’s my New Year’s resolution: to re-read my post every morning before hitting send.  I hope to drastically reduce the number of typos this year.

And now, away we go….

Rumorville: Lembke Back in the Building

Word is that former Sen. Jim Lembke will once again be working in the building.  He’ll be advising the Senate’s Conservative Caucus.  One source says that several members of the CC will be chipping in from their office budgets to cover his salary. 

Of course, as the CC grows, so too may the difficulty of presenting a unified agenda.  While there are clear areas of agreements (for example, all members appear to be fired up about reopening the economy versus continued lockdowns), in terms of top priorities, they are individuals…

·         Cindy O’Laughlin – As chair of the Senate’s Education Committee, one should expect that education reform is near the very top of her wish list.

·         Bill Eigel and Bob Onder – The St. Charles contingent has made no secret about the importance of seeing their home county undivided in the soon-to-be drawn congressional districts.

·         Denny Hoskins – For years he’s tried to pass gaming legislation.  As he inches toward term limits, will this be the year?

But

Don’t underestimate the Conservative Caucus… if they position themselves as coalition-builders they could be very effective in pushing the chamber to the right. On any given issue they would form a core of eight members.  Working strategically depending on the issue, they could pick up several more Republicans, representing nearly half the GOP Sen. Caucus.

More Staffing Scooplettes

·         GROCE TO MAY… Dr. Jason Groce, chief of staff to termed Sen. Jamilah Nasheed, will move over to Sen. Karla May’s office, taking the same position there.

·         GOOD TO BOYS&GIRLS… Amanda Good is the new topper of the MO Alliance of Boys and Girls Clubs.  She comes most recently from the Humane Society of the United States where she was their Missouri state director.  She’d previously worked for MATA, and the MO Senate Dem’s campaign committee.

·         CRAVER to PAYIT… PayIt hired Jeff Craver as the company’s first Chief Government Relations Officer. Craver was previously with Advantage Capital for many years.  And before that MOChamber.  PayIt facilitates bringing government services into the digital age.

·         SHIPPY TO TEAM SCHATZ??… Steele Shippy is said to be on the short list to replace Dan Kleinsorge as Senate Pro Tem Dave Schatz’ chief of staff.  Shippy was most recently the campaign manager for Governor Mike Parson.  Before Parson, he staffed Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft.

Committees Coming

The expectation is that we’ll have House and Senate committees assigned next week (on the second week of session). 

·         Speaker Rob Vescovo will name the Consent and House Procedure Committee this week, so it can approve the House rules to get things going.

Plocher Profile

MO Indy ran a profile of House Floor Leader Dean Plocher.  See it here.

Nuggets…

·         When [he] was sworn in as a member of the Missouri House for the first time in January 2016, all of his fellow Republican colleagues had been in office for at least a year already… Plocher had won a special election... That meant that in a job where seniority counts, he was at the bottom of the ladder… Plocher, 50, said with a laugh. “The goal there is you keep your expectations low…”

·         He’ll also be on the inside track for the House’s top job when term limits force Vescovo from office in two years. “Dean’s a fun guy, and people underestimate him,” said Jean Evans, executive director of the Missouri Republican Party who previously served with Plocher in the House. “He kind of hides how smart he is. He’s playing chess and people don’t know it. He’s managed to be a very effective legislator without making a lot of enemies.”

STL Mayoral Race

Filing closes today for the City of St. Louis mayoral race.  As of this morning, there are five candidates: Board President Lewis Reed, Treasurer Tishaura Jones, Alderwoman Cara Spencer, Andrew Jones and Dana Kelly.  Incumbent Lyda Krewson isn’t running for re-election. 

Tishaura Jones is considered the front runner having nearly beaten Krewson four years ago.  But the city’s new “approval voting” framework may throw a curve to forecasts as voters can vote for more than one candidate in the initial round.

And

The subplot to the mayoral race will be the ongoing transition of the city’s Black political establishment.

·         Cori Bush’s upset of Lacy Clay last year signaled the demise of the old Clay machine.

·         Term limits have ended Sen. Jamiliah Nasheed’s sixteen year run of representing St. Louis in Jefferson City.

·         With a mayoral win, Jones will become the most prominent Black city politician.  But obviously she has rivals.  Reed will run a tough a campaign, and could pull from Krewson’s base.  And Jones and another former mayoral candidate, Antonio French, are feuding.  French is now writing for the Post-Dispatch and unleashed this zinger column on Jones over the long holiday break.

·         Meanwhile the city’s Black newspaper, the St. Louis American, appears to be entering a rebuilding phase as well.  Its two top journalists – Chris King and Rebecca Rivas – exited for new opportunities last year.  And the paper’s publisher, Don Suggs, 88, isn’t getting any younger.

Help Wanted

Missouri Democratic Party seeks Executive Director.  “The Executive Director is responsible for well-managed Party programs that build the Party at the grassroots level, strengthen its infrastructure, and effectively execute the vision of the Chair. The Executive Director must be committed to the MDP’s values and platform. Missouri will need to fight to be a targeted state in 2022 and the Executive Director will lead a growing team into the 2022 cycle with a U.S. Senate race, State Auditor race, and hundreds of state representative and state senate races. The Executive Director should have a high level of organizational competence and understand Missouri politics. The Executive Director reports to the State Party Chair…. Salary range is $90,000 to $110,000, based on experience…”  See the ad here.

New Committees

Chris Carter Sr formed a candidate committee, Committee To Elect Chris Carter, to run for St. Louis Alderman Ward 27.

Leadership Counts was formed.  It’s a PAC.  Its treasurer is Bob Kraiberg.

Lobbyists Registrations

Gamble & Schlemeier added Milliman Inc.

Catalyst added Evergy and Swedish Match North America Inc.

Nexus Group added Evergy.

Kelvin Simmons added Vantage Airport Group.

Jeffrey Craver added PayIt LLC; and deleted Instate Partners, and Advantage Capital Partners.

Deanna Hemphill added Missouri Soybean Association, Missouri Propane Gas Association, and AARP-Missouri.

Miranda Renee Pratt added Stray Dog Policy, Inc.

John Cozad added AMAROK.

Kevin Johnson added Amgen.

Annette Driver added Driver and Associates.

Daniel Walsh added Daniel J Walsh.

Doug Stone added Pivotal Properties LLC, Quadrant Communities LLC, 25 North Central CID, WSHI LLC, and UIRC Acquisitions Fund LLC; and deleted JPL Development LLC, 48th Place Associates, and BID Group LLC.

Laith Ashraf Almashharawi, Austin Edward Cartwright, Joshua 'Josh' Christopher Conley, Avery Lynn Esquivel, Amelia Carlin Martinez, Georgeann McLemore, Lucas Alan Stieferman, and Michele Xia Yang added Associated Students of the University of Missouri.          

Amanda Good deleted Humane Society of The United States.

Nikki Strong deleted Independent Colleges & Universities of Missouri, and Cardinal Health.

Salvatore Panettiere deleted HMS Host, St. Joseph Medical Center, and St. Mary’s Medical Center.

Ryan Stauffer deleted Missouri Health Care Association

Dan Ross deleted Missouri Municipal League.

Chris Liese deleted Eldorado Resorts.

$5K+ Contributions

Legal Missouri 2022 (marijuana legalization initiative) - $20,000 from RELAX PAC.

Relax PAC - $20,000 from Hub Inc.

Tishaura O. Jones for Mayor - $10,000 from Citizens to Elect Tishaura O. Jones.

314 Forward (pro-Tishaura Jones) - $8,000 from Cafe Soul St. Louis.

The Smith Fund - $10,000 from Clem Smith.

Knapper for Maplewood - $7,000 from Bruce Tarkington.

Birthdays

Happy birthdays to Rep. Dottie Bailey, Rob Schaaf, and Adam McBride.