MOScout Daily Update: Alford in CD-4 - Brattin Files Paperwork for Congress - Scherr Gets Cole - Hospital Fines - New Economy Lobbying and more...

New Candidates in CD-4

The 4th Congressional field is in the midst of doubling.  Last week it was just Kalenda Bruce, Taylor Burks and Rep. Sara Walsh.  But now there’s three new names…

·         Yesterday on a local radio program, KC TV personality Mark Alford announced he’s running.  He left Fox4 earlier this month after 20+ years as a newsman.  See his website here.  Within hours of the news rippling across MO political circles, two operatives sent me items.  One, a federal tax lien against Alford; the other, Alford’s home address clearly not in the 4th Congressional District.  It’s getting real folk!

·         Sen. Rick Brattin filed paperwork starting a federal committee earlier this week.  But there’s been no public announcement from the state senator. The email address listed on   that paperwork is from the office of attorney James C Thomas III.  Thomas has long worked with Axiom Strategies, a hint that they could end up being Brattin’s consultants.

·         As noted yesterday, Sen. Caleb Rowden has redone his logo, creating buzz that his long-rumored entry is teed up for early next month.

What It Means

·         Like nearly all the 2022 races, this field is fluid.  With no special session, the congressional maps won’t be finished until the end of January.  And filing doesn’t open until February 22 (and doesn’t close until March 29).  So there’s plenty of time for folks playing footsie to decide to jump in or out.

·         Brattin and Rowden’s possible candidacies create one more crosscurrent for next session’s Senate.  The more folks are eying higher office, the more every vote and floor speech will be scrutinized and there will be a general disinclination for compromise.

Scherr To Rep Cole

News Tribune reports that “at Tuesday's [Cole County Commission] meeting, R.J. Scherr & Associates of Jefferson City was awarded the contract. Presiding Commissioner Sam Bushman and Western District Commissioner Harry Otto voted in favor of the contract; Eastern District Commissioner Jeff Hoelscher voted against, saying he had nothing against the firm, just the amount of money that was being paid… According to the contract, Scherr will be paid a fee of $4,000 a month, starting next month and running through June, plus documented expenses incurred on behalf of the commission…”

·         “In February, the County Commission hired Strategic Capitol Consulting, the lobbying group Cole County first contracted with in 2018, to provide consulting services for the county for six months… The contract called for the county to pay Strategic $5,000 per month for a total of $30,000, the amount the commission had set aside in its 2021 budget. The agreement with Strategic Capital ended in June; the county bid out the services for 2022 in September.”

Hospital Medicaid Payments Cut

Kaiser Health News reports on the latest round of penalties from the Federal government over hospitals’ readmission rates. Read it here.

·         The Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program (HRRP) was created by the 2010 Affordable Care Act and began in October 2012 as an effort to make hospitals pay more attention to patients after they leave.

·         In its 10th annual round of penalties, Medicare is reducing its payments to 2,499 hospitals, or 47% of all facilities. The average penalty is a 0.64% reduction in payment for each Medicare patient stay from the start of this month through September 2022. The fines can be heavy, averaging $217,000 for a hospital in 2018, according to Congress’ Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, or MedPAC.

See the list of hospitals here. Scroll down a way to get to Missouri. 

·         “2,216 hospitals are exempt from the program because they specialize in children, psychiatric patients or veterans. Rehabilitation and long-term care hospitals are also excluded from the program, as are critical access hospitals, which are treated differently because they are the only inpatient facility in an area. Of the 3,046 hospitals for which Medicare evaluated readmission rates, 82% received some penalty, nearly the same share as were punished last year.”

The Crypto Lobby

From Politico’s Influence on cryptocurrency lobbying in Washington DC.  Read it here.

·         Crypto startups and their industry associations spent about $2.2 million from July through September, more than doubling what they spent during the same period a year earlier, according to lobbying disclosures. Many digital asset firms hired Washington lobbyists for the first time, turning to K Street amid an aggressive lobbying fight over a provision in the bipartisan infrastructure bill that would force cryptocurrency exchanges and other firms to report transaction information to the IRS.

·         Coinbase , the largest crypto exchange in the U.S., dished out $625,000 on lobbying last quarter, according to lobbying disclosures filed last week. Compared with some of Washington’s biggest spenders, it’s a drop in the bucket. But for Coinbase it was an increase of 681 percent from the $80,000 the company spent on lobbying in the previous quarter.

FYI

In Jefferson City, Coinbase is represented by Catalyst’s Danny Pfeifer, Alex Eaton, and Rebecca Lohmann.

Meanwhile

In another segment of the new technology economy, Andy Blunt and Ginger Steinmetz signed up Waymo, the company known for developing autonomous vehicles. 

Tesla, which incorporates assisted driving technology in its cars, is repped in Jeff City by Catalyst Group as well as Steven Tilley and Ton Robbins.

·         According to the National Council of State Legislature’s autonomous vehicle legislation tracker, there hasn’t been much progress in Missouri to pave the legislative road for AV regulations.  Sen. Mike Moon introduced SB 452 on the topic, but it never received a hearing.

Feds Seize MMJ $$$

NPR reports on federal agents seizing money from MMJ shops, creating a tricky legal situation.  Read it here.

·         According to federal court records, a van operated by Empyreal Logistics, a cash transport company, was stopped on Interstate 70 in May for an unspecified traffic violation by a Dickinson County, Kansas, sheriff’s deputy.  The driver explained to the deputy that she was headed to Kansas City to collect proceeds from Missouri marijuana dispensaries and transport them to a credit union in Colorado.

·         Surveillance the next day by the Drug Enforcement Administration showed the driver stopping at and entering various marijuana dispensaries in Kansas City. When the driver headed back west and reached Dickinson County, the same sheriff’s deputy stopped the Ford Transit van once again. This time the deputy seized the contents of the van — five bags containing $165,620. Later, a drug-sniffing dog alerted authorities to traces of marijuana on the currency.

·         Three months later, the U.S. Attorney’s office in Kansas brought a civil forfeiture action in federal court, arguing the seized cash was traceable to sales that violated the federal Controlled Substances Act.

$5K+ Contributions

Legal Missouri 2022 - $10,000 from Certified Alternative Medicine Providers LLC.

Jackson County Leadership PAC - $10,000 from Charter Communications Inc MO PAC.

House Republican Campaign Committee, Inc - $7,000 from Committee to Elect John Black.

Lobbyists Registrations

Dustin Backes added Mighty Good Solutions, and Catalyst Group.

Andy Blunt and Ginger Steinmetz added Waymo LLC.

Daniel Griffith added Secure Democracy.

Birthdays

Happy birthdays to Sen. David Schatz, and Katie Steele Danner.