MOScout Daily Update: Schaefer for CD-4? - Good Griesy #s - Team Gregory - Columbia Chief Against SAPA - MOGrowth Amends - Nixon's Judges and more...
Schaefer Mulls CD-4 Bid
Former Sen. Kurt Schaefer is actively considering a congressional run in CD-4. One source says he’s in the “final phases of making a decision. Much more in than out.”
In last weekend’s “Hallway Index”, multiple lobbyists names Schaefer as their best guess to ultimately win the CD-4 race, despite the fact the he hasn’t entered yet.
That speaks to the lack of any giant among the current field.
After his time in the Senate, Schaefer ran unsuccessfully for attorney general, losing to Josh Hawley in the Republican primary. He is currently a lobbyist with Lathrop GPM Consulting LLC.
Good Numbers for Griesy
One supporter of Rep. Aaron Griesheimer was happy with the Remington/MOScout poll numbers from the weekend…
I’ll take those numbers. With the district almost assuredly shedding all or most of STL County, things should only get better for Aaron. The district likely moves into Warren (his dad represented), Gasconade (Aaron currently represents), Osage (Aaron currently represents), and maybe others. Bottom line, if the district gets more rural, we feel good, and Ben Brown’s fight against Sam Page becomes almost irrelevant.
Another Take on the Poll…
Old Capitol hands call it “The Norman Merrell Effect” - the Senate President Pro Tem has enormous power and receives much ass-kissing on his marble half-acre, but nobody two miles away ever heard of them. Norm Merrell thought being pro tem would propel him to the governorship. He flopped.
The same lack of name ID is apparent for Pro Tem Dave Schatz, once floated as a possible US Senate candidate. Yet nearly half of voters in his home base have no opinion of him.
Q2: What is your opinion of David Schatz?
Favorable: 37%
Unfavorable: 18%
No opinion: 45%
Team Gregory
Team Gregory has assembled the major players on their team…
· Timmy Teepell, one of the architects of Senator Hawley’s statewide victories.
· Strategist Gregg Keller.
· Communications veteran Rich Chrismer.
· Pollster Wes Anderson, named AAPC Pollster of the Year in 2018.
· and Brian Lyle, 2018 AAPC Digital Strategist of the Year, leading the digital efforts.
SAPA Under Fire Again
After a shooting in downtown Columbia Sunday, Police Chief Geoff Jones and Mayor Brian Treece held a somber press conference. Among their comments was criticism of the Second Amendment Preservation Act (SAPA) passed by the legislature last session.
See the news article about the shooting here.
See the video of the press conference here. Key moments…
· At 9:50, Jones: Part of this is that people have gone to guns instead of fighting… When I was young, people used to fight. Now they pull guns on each other. And I think it’s an act of cowardice. Honestly it infuriates me that people have to pull guns on each other to solve an issue.
· At 13:30, Treece: We need to address the Second Amendment Preservation Act that prohibits local law enforcement from working with the federal AFT to make sure that felons – federal felons – cannot possess hand guns. Because we had a joint violent crimes task force that was addressing this. We had Columbia police officers that were deputized. And their hands are now tied. And I think part of what we’re seeing here is the consequence of that.
· At 33:45, Jones: We have had partnership is the AFT, the FBI, the DEA… just about anyone in the alphabet soup. We’ve worked with them and we’ve done very well. We were and are addressing violent crime with a group of people who are dedicated to stopping these press conference. And they were very effective… As I said before I’m not a politician. Maybe I should care more about politics. But when you make laws that take away the ability for people to partner to stop criminal behavior, a lot of people should stand up and take notice, and they should fix it… that’s how I feel about the Second Amendment Preservation Act.
Missouri Growth Amends
Missouri Growth PAC amended its filings. This was the other “Tilley PAC” highlighted by Tony Messenger for having numbers that didn’t add up. The amended files went back to October 2019, and involved a lot of missing contributions.
One assumes these PACs will make some staffing changes to avoid such sloppiness in the future.
IE PACs
I continue to update the list of independent expenditure PACs. Find it here. The latest additions…
· Kingdom Leadership PAC – in support of Travis Fitzwater.
· MACK PAC – in support of Ian Mackey.
Nixon’s Judges
With the City of St. Louis pursuing a potential $1 billion award from the NFL, one long-time Jefferson City insider raises the question: are Jay Nixon-appointed judges inherently conflicted with cases involving the former governor’s law firm?
Nixon is a partner at Dowd Bennett, the law firm which stands to make (if the settlement or verdict hit $1B) perhaps hundreds of millions of dollars.
In the City, Circuit Judge Christopher McGraugh (who Nixon appointed to both associate circuit and circuit judgeships), rejected the defense change of venue motion, despite mountains of evidence of negative pretrial publicity.
The defense took its venue change writ request to the Missouri Court of Appeals-Eastern District. There, Chief Judge Robert Clayton, a former state rep elevated to the appellate bench by Nixon, signed a decision for his colleagues rejecting without explanation the defense writ for change of venue.
The defense seems likely to appeal that decision to the Missouri Supreme Court. That’s where the lunching lawyers noted Chief Justice Paul Wilson has one of the longest Nixon-friendly pedigrees of any sitting Missouri judge… Wilson started a two-year term as chief justice this summer. Now Wilson is in position to oversee a venue ruling and other appeals that, if adverse to the Rams defense, could reap millions for his patron Nixon’s law firm… It remains to be seen if Wilson will stay on the Rams case. Judges can withdraw and they don’t have to cite any reason, even when the world can see their potential or actual conflict of interest.
Gubby Appt
Governor Mike Parson announced the appointment of Talley M. Smith as Associate Circuit Judge for Monroe County in the 10th Judicial Circuit. She will fill the Associate Circuit Judge vacancy created by the retirement of the Honorable Michael P. Wilson. The appointment will become effective on November 17, 2021.
New Committees
Reform St Louis County Now was formed. It’s a PAC. Its treasurer is Peggy Barnhart.
Lobbyists Registrations
Jeffrey Altmann added Bear Medical Group.
$5K+ Contributions
Legal Missouri 2022 - $10,000 from Green Precision Analytics Inc.
Birthdays
Happy birthdays to Kelli Dunaway.