MOScout Daily Update: McCloskey In - Hartzler Announcement Coming - Kelly for Floor - O'Laughlin Out of CC and more....

McCloskey In US Senate Race

Mark McCloskey became the third announced Republican candidate for US Senate.   See his website here.

·         The consensus is that this hurts Eric Greitens, as he’ll play the same “outsider” persona.

·         One Republican says McCloskey is “Greitens without the baggage of a scandal (pointing a gun at BLM doesn’t count as a scandal in GOP primaries).”

After his announcement video went live (see it here) there was a fair amount of focus on social media about McCloskey looking out of place and uncomfortable in his flannel, riding a tractor, and carrying hay to his pick-up.  One politico sent me this…

But more than the usual social media snarking, some were already setting up lines of attack if McCloskey should appear to break through.

·         One reader sent me this: I'm sure some aspiring politico could find a scandal on McCloskey by sifting through the 49 entries with his name on CaseNet. Or try this: https://law.justia.com/cases/missouri/court-of-appeals/2005/ed86199-2.html

·         Another: McCloskey’s donations to McCaskill and other Democrats will come back to haunt him. 

·         And: saw your text update, which mentioned BLM. The McCloskeys, as you will recall, said they “support the BLM movement” and are “BLM people,” which will matter to GOP primary voters.

Hartzler Announcement Coming

I’m told that Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler will be announcing in the early June.  The source says to looks for a traditional roll-out.  Perhaps a brief fly-around ending at the Lincoln Days event in Kansas City on June 11.

What It Means

·         In a four-way Republican race, Hartzler is a serious contender, perhaps even the favorite.  She’d have some demographic advantages: the only woman, the only non-St. Louisan.

·         She’s a legitimate conservative, in actuality much more credibly than the other three (Schmitt has a moderate past from representing suburban St. Louis, and the other two are mere chest-thumpers).

·         But can she raise the money? 

Also in the Senate Race

Steve Price.  It looks like he’ll be an Independent from his website.  See it here.  It quotes himself: “They say we can't win without the support of one of the two major political parties. I say they are wrong.”

Kelly for Floor Leader

Rep. Hannah Kelly announced that she’s running for House Floor Leader. She’s currently Assistant Floor Leader.

She’s faces Reps. Mike Haffner and Jon Patterson in that race.

Unlike the speaker-designate election, the floor leader vote won’t happen until after the 2022 elections.  It’s a long campaign.  Those vying for the role will be criss-crossing the state, meeting with reps and potential candidates for the next fifteen months.

From where I’m sitting it’s too early to start handicapping the race.

O’Laughlin Out of Conservative Caucus

Sen. Cindy O’Laughlin is close friends with many of the conservative caucus members and while she enjoys a positive relationship will all senators inside that caucus, she has not been in that caucus for a couple of months now.

Hospital Playing “Hardball”

CNN did a long report on Community Health Systems suing its patients over bills.  Post Dispatch notes that Community Health Systems owns three hospitals in Missouri:  Moberly Regional Medical Center in Moberly, Northeast Regional Medical Center in Kirksville, and Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center in Poplar Bluff.  Read it here.

·         As the coronavirus spiked in Missouri last fall, a wave of cases hit a nursing home in the state’s rural heartland. Robin Bull, a part-time nurse, remembered an ambulance “coming and going constantly” on one especially scary morning, rushing residents to Moberly Regional Medical Center, the local hospital.

·         But even as Bull was helping send patients to Moberly Regional, the hospital was in the process of suing her and at least one other former employee at the nursing home. They were two of more than 600 former patients that the hospital has sued over medical bills during the coronavirus pandemic, according to a CNN analysis of court records.

·         Moberly Regional sued Bull last May for $9,281, costs that Bull said came from an emergency room visit for food poisoning several years ago. After a judge ruled in the hospital’s favor late last year, the company filed a motion to start garnishing part of her roughly $850-per-month salary.

·         Bull’s experience is hardly unique. Hospitals owned by Community Health Systems Inc., one of America’s largest hospital chains, have filed at least 19,000 lawsuits against their patients over allegedly unpaid medical bills since March 2020, even as other hospitals around the country have moved to curtail similar lawsuits during the coronavirus pandemic, a CNN investigation found.

FYI

In Jefferson City, Community Health Systems are represented by: Andy Blunt, Chris Moody, Jay Reichard, Angie Schulte, Ginger Steinmetz, and Noel Torpey.

Updated IE PACs

I did a quick update the Independent Expenditure PAC listing.  Find them here.

I added JB PAC which is associated with Sen. Justin Brown.  He’s up for re-election in 2022.

eMailbag on Session Winners

·         Pretty sure Medicaid expansion meant more dollars and growth to the Missouri Chamber than any of those three [you mentioned]…

·         You forgot Cara Hoover [as a session winner] with Evergy on the securitization issue.

Lobbyists Registrations

Ginger Steinmetz and Noel Torpey deleted Maritz Motivation Solutions.

$5K+ Contributions

UFCW Active Ballot Club-Missouri Federal Committee - $14,000 from United Food and Commercial Workers International Union Active Ballot Club.

House Democratic Campaign Committee - $6,000 from Citizens For Crystal Quade.

Birthdays

Happy birthdays to Chuck Purgason, Gary Cross, and Scott Callicott.