MOScout Daily Update: Declining MO COVID Deaths - Sifton Announces - MEC for State Senate - House GOP Boots Derges - Gaines Passes

Declining COVID Deaths

Missouri’s death rate from COVID is declining.  Because of the reporting lag between deaths and when they show up on the state’s dashboard, it’s impossible to quantify the rate of decline.  However, by following the numbers each day, it’s clear that fewer Missourians are now dying from COVID.  Hopefully, as more high-risk Missourians are vaccinated, this trend will continue.

Sifton Announces

Former Sen. Scott Sifton jumped into the 2022 US Senate race yesterday declaring himself a candidate.  See his announcement video here.  The video opens with Sen. Josh Hawley’s fist-pump pose from the January 6 DC riot even though it is Sen. Roy Blunt – not Hawley – who is up for re-election in 2022.  See Sifton’s website here.

Team Sifton also rolled out his campaign team…

General Consultant: Eric Hyers

Fundraising: Erika Brees

Senior Advisor: Ryan Burke

Media Strategist: Three Point Media

Polling: Molly Murphy and Kevin Akins at ALG Research

Digital: Blueprint Interactive

Direct Mail: Gumbinner & Davies

The Talk

Dems like Sifton, but they’re still disheartened after the 2020 schlocking.  After getting swept without any close races, they can’t imagine the path to a winning statewide campaign.

But 2022 may hold two distinct gamechangers for Dems…

·         First, it’s possible without Donald Trump on the ballot, the Rs enormous turnout will recede a bit, dampening the state’s inherent red tilt.

·         Second, a possible Greitens – Blunt primary could be traumatic for Republicans, and good news for Sifton if the GOP doesn’t unify afterwards.

Additionally, one lobbyist notes, “Josh Hawley beat Claire McCaskill by campaigning in large part that she was a career DC politician whose family has got rich off of her connections.... I’m pretty sure that’s the angle Sifton will take. Roy can’t escape the fact that he’s is a career politician… Washington is broken. Sifton isn’t a DC politician.”

MEC for State Senate

Rep. Mary Elizabeth Coleman announced that she would run for state senate in 2022. See her website here.  The announcement notes that “redistricting of State Senate Districts occurs this year and will determine what district she will run in. Currently, she resides in the 22nd Senate District held by Paul Wieland, who is termed out in 2022.”

Mary Elizabeth’s Priorities are:

·         STOP CANCEL CULTURE & PROTECT GOD GIVEN RIGHTS: The radical left, biased media, Hollywood, and Wall Street all want to change our way of life and force Missourians to live like they are Californians or New Yorkers. Mary Elizabeth says NO MORE….

·         HOLD THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION ACCOUNTABLE: Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, and Joe Biden are waging a war on our values. Joe Biden has already shown he values pleasing radical environmentalists over protecting Missouri jobs…

·         SUPPORT POLICE AND STOP ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION: We have far-left radicals in Missouri who believe we should defund law enforcement. These same radicals think we should open our borders and grant amnesty to illegal aliens in our country. Absolutely not on Mary Elizabeth’s watch…

·         IMPROVE OUR SCHOOLS:  As a mother of six, Mary Elizabeth will continue to prioritize education and fight for Missouri’s children. Children belong in the classroom and on the sports fields, not at home falling behind in learning every single day…

House GOP Boots Derges from Caucus

House Speaker Rob Vescovo, R-Arnold, House Speaker Pro Tem John Wiemann, R-St. Charles, and Majority Floor Leader Dean Plocher, R-St. Louis, issued the following statement following the decision made by the House Republican Caucus to remove state Rep. Tricia Derges from the caucus:  “Our leadership team and the members of our caucus strongly believe Representative Derges should resign her seat to focus on her family and her legal issues. The vote taken today in caucus is reflective of the incredibly serious nature of the federal charges filed against her and the fact these issues compromise her ability to serve her constituents effectively. We hope Tricia will make the right decision for herself, her family, and the good people of the 140th district.”

Gaines Passes

Travis Brown, Gaines’ former lobbying partner, posted on Facebook yesterday: In 1997, I first met L. Kent Gaines working then for Monsanto, at John Britton’s lobbyist parlor.  Over nearly a decade, we had worked on a ton of different issues together:  the KC Chiefs stadium, to his soft spot for animal rights advocates.  Over the last five years, I had the privilege of working with him again, at a very different time in our lives.  Kent played his high stakes in life, but I never once questioned his survival, until covid struck him last month.  Today, Kent Gaines passed after weeks of his body’s battle with this lonely challenge to humanity.  RIP Kent, you were one of a kind.  I love you man.

Meet Opportunity Trust

Another nugget from that recent Post-Dispatch article about St. Louis City charter schools…

One group left out of those discussions is the Missouri charter school commission, which is looking to sponsor the six new charter schools in the pipeline for St. Louis and Normandy. Most are supported by The Opportunity Trust, which is funded in part by national grant-maker City Fund. The fund’s strategy is to increase the number of schools that are run by private boards or nonprofits instead of traditional school boards.

See The Opportunity Trust’s website here.

Its lobbyists: David Barklage, Alex Eaton, Tracy King, Rebecca Lohmann, Danny Pfeifer, Greg Porter, Tom Robbins, Steven Tilley, Jasmine Wells, and David Willis.

Pre-Existing Conditions on 2022 Ballot?

Missouri Independent reports on the possibility that voters will be asked to enshrine the pre-existing conditions protections in 2022 – thanks to Republican legislators.

·         It’s been nearly three months since Rep. Brenda Shields was diagnosed with COVID-19, but her lung issues still persist. Shields said she feels her condition improving every day, but she still has difficulty breathing — especially when she exerts even a small amount of energy.  Lawmakers are concerned the pandemic will add to the more than 1 million Missourians with pre-existing conditions, making it more difficult for them to obtain health insurance if a GOP-led effort to overturn the Affordable Care Act is successful before the U.S. Supreme Court.

·         Legislation filed by House Majority Floor Leader Dean Plocher, a Republican from St. Louis, would have voters decide whether to prohibit health insurance providers from excluding benefits, denying coverage or charging residents more as a result of their pre-existing conditions.

·         Shields’ joint resolution, and its Senate companion, sponsored by Sen. Karla Eslinger, R-Wasola, would offer similar protections and also include language requiring health insurance plans continue to allow coverage for children on their parents’ plans until they turn 26 years old.

New Committees

Brad Christ formed a candidate committee (Brad Christ For Missouri) to run for House 96 as a Republican.  This is Rep. David Gregory’s district.  He’s not term-limited, but is expected to run for auditor.

Lobbyists Registrations

Andy Arnold added Steven R Carroll & Associates, and Truckstops of Missouri LLC.

Nancy Giddens and Shannon Cooper added Missouri National Education Association.

Mark Bryant added Flaherty & Collins Properties, Gates Bar B Q of Missouri, Onyx Development Corporation, Rouse Frets White Goss Gentile Rhodes PC, and Velvet Tech Services LLC.

Benjamin Williams added College Board.

Tracy King added Cole County.

$5K+ Contributions

Together KC - $10,000 from UMB Bank NA.

Together KC - $50,000 from Burns & McDonnell.

PT-PAC of Missouri - $10,000 from Central Missouri Physical Therapy.

Birthdays

Happy birthdays to Rep. Jered Taylor, and Ryann Summerford.