MOScout Daily Update: KC to Pitch 2024 RNC - Meet Greitens Big Donors - Politico on Hawley's in Senate Primary - Ogling Hawley's Bookshelf and more...

KC to Pitch for 2024 RNC

Word is that Kansas will be making a pitch for the 2024 Republican National Convention this week.  They were a finalist for the 2016 convention.

·         Adding juice to the presentation… a brand new single terminal airport, brand new convention hotel, and extended streetcar line.

Meet Greitens Biggest Donors

I went down a wormhole yesterday looking at the Greitens joint-fundraising PAC, “G Team PAC.”  It’s a pretty interesting collection of folks who have maxed out ($10,800) to the PAC… Crossfit founder, billionaire hedge-funder, co-founder of Home Depot among others….

Donald Bedell – nursing home owner – Missouri.

Carl and Gabriella Bolm – owner Cedar Lake Cellars – Missouri.

Bryan Robertson Bradford – son of Nashville brokerage owner – Georgia.

Mike Burns – chairman of Ideal Semiconductors – Pennsylvania.

George and Michelle Carr – CEO of The Durham Company – Missouri.

Dan Cobb – retired health information founder – Missouri.

Arthur Fisher – Fisher Realty – North Carolina.

Emily and Andy Frisella, founders 1stphorm – Missouri.

El Gerson – real estate management – Illinois.

Greg and Maggie Glassman – founder of Crossfit – Arizona.

Manuel Gomez – Palm Beach Tactical – Florida.

Hamid Hamrah, SVP with a mortgage company – Missouri.

Chris Klein, COO of Frisella’s Supplement Superstores – Missouri.

Bernard and Billi Marcus – co-founder of Home Depot – Georgia.

Melinda Musselman – dietitian – Missouri.

Greg Nichols – owner Technology Partners – Missouri.

Rick Pogue – president of Venture Group Investments Inc – Missouri.

Bobby Robertson – owner Nurses and Company – Missouri.

Colby Robertson – Robertson Contractors – Missouri.

Julian Robertson, hedgefund godfather – New York.

Mayra Ruiz - wife (or ex-wife?) of trial attorney John Ruiz – Florida.

Pat Sechler – wife of Springfield businessman – Missouri.

Grant Shaw – The Range at Austin – Texas

James Sparks – veterinarian – Missouri.

Elliot and Sarah Tamir – real estate investors – New York.

Lewis and Margaret Topper – owner Fast Foos Systems Inc. – Florida.

Richard Uihlein – owner Uline – Illinois.

John Wilbers, trial attorney – Missouri.

Also

Giving to G Team, though only a $4,320 contribution was former Missouri Health director Randall Williams – listed as “retired.”

Politico on Greitens

Politico has a new article about Eric Greitens.  See it here.  It focuses on the role Josh Hawley might play in the primary.

·         Looming awkwardly over the primary is Hawley, the state’s junior senator, whose relationship with Greitens has been strained in recent years. Hawley, then the state attorney general, investigated Greitens in 2018 over Greitens’ use of a charity’s donor list to solicit campaign funds, turning the findings over to a St. Louis prosecutor. Greitens was subsequently charged with computer tampering, though the charge was dropped as part of a deal with prosecutors to resign from office…

·         Greitens at the time blasted Hawley for being “better at press conferences than the law.”

·         Hawley and Trump “remain in contact about who to support in the primary,” said Kyle Plotkin, Hawley’s former chief of staff who continues to serve as a political adviser. Trump and Hawley discussed the Missouri race as recently as the last two weeks.

·         Greitens is keenly aware of Hawley’s growing stature within party circles — after announcing his Senate run on Fox News March 22, one of Greitens’ first calls that evening was to Hawley. It went to voicemail.

·         Hawley’s campaign consulting firm, OnMessage Inc., is working for Rep. Vicky Hartzler in the race…

New Hawley Podcast

US Senate Josh Hawley and his wife, Erin, have started a new podcast about how they deal with everyday life.  Check out the first episode here.

Of course I’m a bookshelf voyeur…

·         The cornerstone texts: The Bible and The Federalist Papers.

·         As expected, a heavy dose of Republican titles: Henry Olsen’s The Working Class Republican, Colin Powell’s My American Journey, and the Fred Barnes and Mort Kondracke biography of Jack Kemp. 

·         A lot of what look like religious titles… William Bennett’s Tried by Fire, How God Became King, God on Mute, The Relevance of Religion. 

·         History gets some play: Boys on the Boat, Japan At War, and a Coolidge biography.

·         There’s some fiction titles as well.  Classics like Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment, and Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina.  And “new classics” like Tom Wolfe’s A Man in Full, and Matthew Thomas’ We Are Not Ourselves. And what looks like Jonathan Frazen’s Corrections on the top shelf.

Ed Equity Summit

The Department of Higher Education and Workforce Development kicks off its “Equity in Higher Education Summit.”  See it here.  Governor Mike Parson will give introductory remarks this morning.

Luckily no sign of CRT in the agenda topics, though DEI does get mention or two in there – and you know some legislators are wary of that acronym as well….

Messenger on Tilley PACs

Tony Messenger manages a whole column on the fact that two Steve Tilley-related PAC showed different starting numbers this quarter from their ending numbers last quarter.  It’s a nice catch by Messenger, but we’ll see if it’s as earthshaking as he makes it out to be.   The amount isn’t small, $160K, still, one would expect it’ll be resolved with a few amended filings correcting some omissions or errors.

COVID Hospitalizations Below 1K

This morning fewer than 1,000 Missourians are hospitalized because of COVID, according to the state’s dashboard.

The delta peak saw 2,456 hospitalizations on one day in August.

Likewise, only 268 Missourians are in ICUs with COVID, down from a delta peak of 693.

Neustadt Promoted

According to LinkedIn Jennae Neustadt was promoted to Director of Government Strategy at SHI International Corp.

Current lobbyists for SHI in Jefferson City are: Joe Bednar and Kelli Stiles, and Mike Gibbons and Trish Workman.

Gubby Appt

Governor Mike Parson appointed First Assistant Attorney General Cristian M. Stevens to the Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District. Mr. Stevens will fill the vacancy created by the Honorable Judge Robin Ransom's appointment to the Missouri Supreme Court.

New Committees

Back on Track PAC was formed.  Its treasurer is Nelson Knapp.  The PAC is to support Steve Makoski, though its unclear was Makoski is running for.  He ran for Springfield City Council in 2013.

$5K+ Contributions

Onder for Missouri - $10,000 from John O’Brien.

Onder for Missouri - $5,001 from Doug Mueller.

Onder for Missouri - $5,001 from Matthew Conoyer.

Legal Missouri 2022 - $25,000 from QPS Missouri Holdings LLC (Ann Arbor MI).

Legal Missouri 2022 - $10,000 from Mountain High Suckers LLC (Denver CO).

Jackson County Leadership PAC - $10,000 from Evergy Metro Inc.

St. Charles County Association of REALTORS Political Action Committee - $26,482 from Missouri REALTORS PAC, Inc.

Kansas City Regional Association of Realtors Missouri PAC - $10, 349 from Missouri Realtors PAC, Inc.

UAW Region 5 Midwest States Political Action Committee (PAC) (MO) - $6,000 from UAW Region 4 Exchange Account.

Lobbyists Registrations

Caroline Hoover added Navient, and Rosen Law Firm; and deleted Bluestem Cannabis Corporation.

Timothy Keck added Mission Health Communities LLC.

Birthdays

Happy birthdays to Lauren Hieger, Freddy Barnes, and Jennifer Bukowsky.