MOScout Daily Update: Senate Defeats MedEx Amendment w Rowden Voting in Favor - Crumbling Conservative Caucus? - MRP & Trump Cash - Jones Visit and more...
The Latest MedEx Battle
The Senate defeated an amendment to insert Medicaid expansion funding into the state budget. The proposal went down 20-14. Four Republicans joined the ten Democrats. They were the three who had previously voted in favor of MedEx in the Appropriations Committee (Sens. Justin Brown, Mike Cierpiot, and Lincoln Hough), and in a surprise twist, Floor Leader Caleb Rowden.
Rowden explained he’d done some soul searching. He didn’t view it as a “litmus test” or “black and white” issue. And while he predicted some would see this vote as the “end of my political career,” he insisted that he’d “always voted my district and voted my conscience.”
What It Means
· First, the Senate avoided a protracted filibuster and never came close to a “nuclear showdown” aka using the PQ. In that respect the Senate remains a “functional” body for the next two weeks.
· Second, Rowden’s decision to vote contrary to the Appropriations Chair and the majority of his caucus, on a “tough” vote could have some reverberations. It’s too early to tell.
· Third, the ball is now in Governor Mike Parson’s court. He was against expansion during the campaign, then favored implementing it after the voters passed the measure. Now some think his administration will implement it anyway, drawing down federal dollars. Or he could sit on his hands and wait for a lawsuit in July which would toss the matter to the courts.
· Finally, there’s the question of the broader impact this will have on state politics. Former MRP Executive Director Jean Evans tweeted that “Voting against the funding of voter-approved Medicaid expansion will hurt MO Republicans in the suburban and ex-urban areas.” But legislators seemed to take the opposite tack, betting that by voting how their specific districts did on the issue, they’ll be fine. We’ll see.
Conservative Caucus Crumbling?
Conservativecaucusologists have been buzzing with what appear to be numerous fractures emerging lately in the majority’s minority caucus.
· Sens. Bob Onder and Bill Eigel have seemed less chummy in recent months.
· Eigel’s poking inquiry a few days ago of a wind turbine provision from Sen. Cindy O’Laughlin.
· Sen. Mike Moon’s referendum amendment on Sen. Denny Hoskins’ gaming bill.
But one person who’s sympathetic to the Conservative Caucus shrugs: look, they’re not carbon copies of each other. This isn’t the House, they’re not going to agree on everything. But they’re still together on the big stuff.
Another insider explains the befuddling state of the Senate: No question their “caucus” is fractured, but depending on the issue they are banded together… Cindy is definitely no longer a part of the mix… Moon is a wild card for anyone to pin down on a subject matter... and the other 5 don’t always see eye to eye with one another... but that would also describe the other factions in the senate right now. So... Will be an interesting 10 days left…
What It Means
Does a splintering Conservative Caucus mean the Senate now has even more mavericks on the loose to cause havoc during the final two weeks? Or does it weaken the CC so the regulars can more easily control the floor?
Madame Mayor’s Visit
Newly inaugurated St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones visited the capitol on Tuesday. Her one-day tour demonstrated the benefits of having previously served in the building.
· She and Governor Mike Parson already knew each other having briefly served together in the House, and then serving with overlapping tenures (she was in the House, he in the Senate).
· Similarly, she was welcomed by Speaker Rob Vescovo because his ally Scott Dieckhaus has served with her in the House. Dieckhaus vouched that she was someone the speaker would find common ground with.
Parson and Jones pledged to focus on areas of common interest, setting aside for the time being those issues which have been staples of disagreement between the city and the state in the past, for example gun policy. Three obvious areas where they can work together.
· Early Childhood
· Infrastructure
· Poverty
MRP Funneled Trump Cash
Axios reported that “federal regulators are probing financial reporting discrepancies stemming from an effort to funnel $75 million through state Republican parties to the national GOP effort to reelect Donald Trump.”
· In comments to Axios and filings with the Federal Election Commission, some state party officials seemed unaware of their roles.
· It’s not clear mechanically how such large transfers could have taken place without explicit buy-in from state parties ostensibly responsible for them.
· Trump Victory made 260 disbursements to the state parties last year, totaling more than $75 million. In every case, the state parties — usually on the same day — passed on the precise sums they’d received to the RNC.
· It’s a tactic pioneered by the Democratic National Committee during Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign. And it’s legal, as long as the state parties actually take control of the funds before sending it to their national affiliate. A Biden joint fundraising committee also engaged in some similar transfers last year, though not in as large or comprehensive a fashion as Trump Victory.
Missouri was part of this apparatus – although it’s unclear whether party officials knew they were.
Trump Victory made three deposits ($338,974 on 10/15/20, $59,493 on 10/23/20 and $92,442 on 10/30/20) which were immediately sent out from the state party to the Republican National Committee.
Schnelting to Ft Leonard Wood
Rep. Adam Schnelting, a member of the Missouri National Guard, had his last day of session yesterday as he is to be deployed to Fort Leonard Wood.
$5K+ Contributions
Uniting Missouri PAC - $10,000 from Blue Arrow Missouri LLC DBA Blue Arrow Botanicals.
Uniting Missouri PAC - $25,000 from MO Majority PAC.
American Property Casualty Insurance Association Political Account - $10,000 from ROOT Insurance Company (Columbus OH)
Debbie Cook for Mayor - $30,000 from Carpenters Regional Council CHIPP Political Acct.
Lobbyists Registrations
Jessica Pabst added Missouri Automobile Dealers Association.
Birthdays
Happy birthdays to Brad Bates and Belinda Harris.