MOScout Daily Update: Friends of Erika Leonard - More Rex $$$ - IP $$$ - Labor for Page - No COVID in Cape and more...
Friends of Erika Leonard Formed
Friends of Erika Leonard was formed. It’s a PAC to support Leonard who is running for Jefferson City School Board. Its treasurer is Jason Schwartz (husband of current board member Lorelei Schwartz); and its deputy treasurer is Brenda Hatfield.
Erika Leonard is a lobbyist with John Bardgett and Associates.
Money News
Little nuggets of news in the large contributions (see below) over the weekend.
· Rex Sinquefield is reemerging as a Republican mega-donor after a year in hiatus. After big checks to the PACS of Scott Fitzpatrick and Mike Kehoe, he’s giving smaller (but still substantial) checks to Sen. Cindy O’Laughlin’s PAC, and the Republican Senate campaign committee.
· Legal 2022 – The stream of checks to fund a marijuana legalization ballot initiative continue, with about $300K in new money coming in over the weekend.
· Page PAC – St. Louis County Executive Sam Page recorded $55K in checks from organized labor. He’s up for re-election in the summer.
· Better Elections – Dave Roland is the treasurer of this effort to change the way Missourians vote. Another $1 million showed up from their national sponsor. MOIndy did a good explainer on this; read it here.
No COVID Deaths in Cape
MOIndy reports that in “Cape Girardeau County, the coroner hasn’t pronounced a single person dead of COVID-19 in 2021. Wavis Jordan, a Republican who was elected last year to serve as coroner of the 80,000-person county, says his office ‘doesn’t do COVID deaths.’ He does not investigate deaths himself, and requires families to provide proof of a positive COVID-19 test before including it on a death certificate. Meanwhile, deaths at home attributed to conditions with symptoms that look a lot like COVID-19 — heart attacks, Alzheimer’s and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease — increased.”
Ashcroft in WaPo
With election-denier Douglas Frank coming to Jefferson City to talk to lawmakers, one MOScouter forwarded this Washington Post article in which Frank and Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft are mentioned.
[Frank] said he has met personally with numerous state officials, including Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft (R). On Dec. 1, Frank wrote on Telegram that he had “negotiated a deal” in which Ashcroft “agreed to take up the cause if we brought him 100 phantom voters.” Ashcroft declined to comment, as did several other Republican officials whom Lindell or Frank said they contacted.
Cleaver Has Biden’s Ear
Axios reports on behind the scenes in the Biden Administration where apparently Congressman Emanuel Cleaver has Biden’s ear. Read it here.
Previewing his remarks to mostly Democratic lawmakers in the conference room of the iconic aircraft, Biden's found a way to catch up on the kinds of in-person interactions and instant feedback that COVID-era precautions have greatly curtailed on the ground in Washington. In the process, he's made some lawmakers feel a part of his team, building goodwill for battles down the line… And for the lawmakers, it's a rare opportunity to share unfiltered thoughts with a president with a notoriously protective staff… “He listened,” Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) who flew to Kansas City with Biden earlier this month, said of their conversation on the plane. “The reason I know he listened is because he changed some of his speech.”
MEC Issues “Letter of Concern” to STL Approves
The Missouri Ethics Commission issued a “letter of concern” to Mike Pridmore and STL Approves for their access to a canvassing software without recording it as an in-kind contribution. See the order here.
Pridmore is one of the top Democratic fundraisers. STL Approves was a successful campaign in the City of St. Louis to change the way residents vote.
eMailbag on Cleaver’s Call for Lobbying Diversity
What about women of any color?? and please let us not ignore the experience of white women… Are women so far down the list of who should lobby they don’t make any list? In Jefferson City until the culture changes and people see past a woman’s appearance, it is the bastion for misogyny…
Lobbyists Registrations
Dex Battista and Misti Rice added Magna Services of America, Inc.
Jerry Hobbs added Towering Oaks Preeminent Capitol Consulting, LLC.
Kaycee Nail added ACLU of Missouri.
Jason Dial, Douglas Hayter, and Paul Ziegler added Missouri Council of School Administrators.
Jason Dial, and Paul Ziegler added Missouri Association of School Administrators.
M’Evie Mead deleted Planned Parenthood Great Plains Votes.
$5K+ Contributions
NEMO Leadership PAC (pro-O’Laughlin) - $25,000 from Rex Sinquefield.
Missouri Forward PAC - $50,000 from Rex Sinquefield.
Missouri Forward PAC - $10,000 from Evergy Metro Inc.
Missouri Forward PAC - $10,000 from Supporters of Health Research & Treatments.
Page PAC - $10,000 from Ullico Management Company.
Page PAC - $12,500 from Laborers International Union of N.A. Local Union No. 42 PAC Fund.
Page PAC - $12,500 from L.I.U.N.A. Local 110 PAC Fund.
Page PAC - $10,000 from Iron Workers Local No. 396 Voluntary Fund.
Page PAC - $10,000 from I.U.O.E. Local 513 Political & Educational Fund.
Better Elections - $1,010,978 from Article IV (Alexandria VA)
Committee to Elect Lydia Porter (running for presiding commission Camden County) - $10,000 from Tammara Street.
Legal Missouri 2022 - $230,000 from Good Day Farm Missouri LLC.
Legal Missouri 2022 - $30,000 from Focus Partners Manchester LLC.
Legal Missouri 2022 - $10,000 from Timeless Select LLC.
Legal Missouri 2022 - $25,000 from Beleaf Medical.
Legal Missouri 2022 - $10,000 from New Growth Horizon, LLC.
Majority Forward - $10,000 from MO Coalition for Video Lottery PAC.
Birthdays
Happy birthdays to Rep. Tricia Derges, and Jay Barnes.