MOScout Daily Update: Vescovo Out of JeffCo Senate Race? - MO Supremes on MMJ Cone of Silence - Shake-Up on Funeral Board and more.....
Rumorville: Vescovo Out of Senate Race
Lots of chatter that Speaker Rob Vescovo has decided against running for the Jefferson County state senate seat. The JeffCo senate race once had four contenders. But with Becky Ruth’s recent appointment and now Vescovo apparently dropping out, it’s looks to be down to a one-on-one duel between Reps. Mary Elizabeth Coleman and Dan Shaul.
Vescovo’s towering war chest had made him the favorite in the race. However, it appears that the prospect of another campaign and then eight more years of a Jefferson City commute away from his family dissuaded him. We’ll see.
What It Means
· If true, this is the latest shake-up of a Republican state senate race in the past week. Rep. Justin Hill is resigning and exiting the St. Charles senate race, and Rep. Aaron Griesheimer is similarly resigning and no longer a candidate in the Franklin County senate race.
· A lot of folks in the hallway are watching these developments largely through the lens of the “regulars” versus “Conservative Caucus” tug of war. But things are so fluid still – with potentially new candidates being recruited – that it’s hard to see with any certainty if one side benefits from these new twists.
· Floor Leader Dean Plocher will naturally accumulate more power as this session goes on and Vescovo becomes a lame-duck. The fact that he’s not running for a higher office will accelerate that dynamic.
Falkner Gets Local Government Gavel
As expected, Speaker Rob Vescovo appointed Rep. Bill Falkner to chair the House Local Government Committee. Falkner was vice-chair of the committee which had been headed by the late Rep. Tom Hannegan.
Driving the Day: MOSupremes on MMJ Confidentiality
One of the cases on the Missouri Supreme Court’s oral arguments docket this morning is State of Missouri ex rel. Department of Health and Senior Services v. Renee T. Slusher, Commissioner, Administrative Hearing Commission. It involves a question of the extent of confidentiality provided the applicants of Medical Marijuana licenses.
Funny Business on Funeral Board
AP has a humdinger of a story about a brouhaha on the Board of Embalmers & Funeral Directors. Read it here.
· Gov. Mike Parson’s office appointed four new members to a state board that oversees funeral homes amid complaints that the previous members had beefed up inspections too much after one crematory was found in such disrepair that body fluids were leaking onto the floor. In their first meeting in October, Parson’s new appointees fired two top officials…
· During the meeting on Oct. 14, the new appointees followed a script as they fired Lori Hayes, the executive director of the board, and Randall Jennings, who oversaw financial examinations of sellers of prearranged funeral services. “I thought it was bizarre, to put it mildly,” said Republican State Sen. Cindy O’Laughlin, who was listening, and had her staff reach out to the governor’s office to express concerns…
· Parson spokeswoman Kelli Jones said in an email that the governor’s office had received complaints from funeral home owners about the board and investigators but didn’t seek more lenient inspections because of them. She also said the office wasn’t behind the script.
· Sheila Solon, the newly appointed acting director of the Division of Professional Registration, which oversees the board, told the members that the photographic inspections must stop…
· Jones, Parson’s spokeswoman, said the orders weren’t from the governor. Lori Croy, a spokeswoman for the Missouri Department of Commerce & Insurance, said Solon and the division she leads have no comment…
· Don Otto, executive director of the Missouri Funeral Directors and Embalmers Association, a trade group, who complained to the board about the pictures, said that if you discuss hiring outside legal counsel to sue the state and can’t figure out what’s going to happen, “you haven’t been around Jefferson City very long.”
FYI
Sam Licklider is the lobbyist for the Missouri Funeral Directors and Embalmers Association.
SOS Races Get $$$, Not MO
Axios reports that secretary of state races are getting a cash influx as they’re seen as the battleground for post-election claims of fraud that will be made if Donald Trump loses again in 2024.
“The Democratic Association of Secretaries of State plans to bring in about $15 million this cycle… The Republican State Leadership Committee, whose portfolio includes secretary of state races, raised $19 million for itself and an affiliated nonprofit group from January through September… Democrats and Republicans agree on one thing: these races — once little-noticed elections to posts generally thought of as springboards to higher office — are going to be much more competitive next year…”
But
Not here in solid red Missouri where the SOS isn’t up until 2024. And there’s no rumblings of folks thinking about that race yet – though SOS Jay Ashcroft is expected to run for governor that year.
MEC Fines KC Leadership Fund
Missouri Ethics Commission fined KC Leadership Fund $2,000 for a pair of violations. See the consent order here. KC Leadership had backed Scott Wagner in his 2019 KC mayoral bid.
New Committees
Alan Bennett formed an exploratory committee to run for House 1 as a Republican. Rep. Andrew Allen is termed.
Lobbyists Registrations
Chris Roepe added Alubar Metals.
Doug Stone addednExeter Property Group, Sanford Real Estate LC, and Madison Avenue Investors LLC.
$5K+ Contributions
Independent Physicians PAC - $16,000 from Signature Medical Group.
Birthdays
Happy birthday to Cheryl Dillard.