MOScout Daily Update: Parson to Pick Ransom? - Healthcare Headaches - Hartzler The Trumpiest? and more....

Rumorville: Parson to Pick Ransom

Governor Mike Parson announced he’ll hold a press conference at 4:30PM today to name a new Missouri Supreme Court Justice.  The rumor is that Robin Ransom is his pick.

If true, Ransom will fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Laura Denvir Stith.

The Appellate Judicial Commission chose a panel of three nominees last week from which the governor may choose one.  The other two panelists are Judge Don Burrell and Bill Corrigan.

·         One Republican told me that “passing over two lifelong Republicans (Corrigan and Burrell) will surprise conservatives who hoped this appointment would shift the court back to the center after a 20-year liberal majority.”

·         But Parson is said to have a personal affinity for Ransom.  One source saying that they “hit it off when he interviewed her for the Court of Appeals a few years ago.”

·         And, her appointment would groundbreaking as the first African American female to the Missouri Supreme Court.

The Gov’s Healthcare Headaches

As we head into the summer, Governor Mike Parson has two healthcare headaches with which to deal: renewal of the FRA tax, and a court battle over Medicaid expansion.

Both could have been nipped in the bud with greater legislative engagement during the session.

The governor’s non-existent communication with the speaker’s office – going back to the blow-up over where the State of the State speech would be held – was a clear weakness in managing the MedEx situation.

Imagine if the governor had repaired that relationship, and could have picked up the phone when he got wind of Budget Chair Cody Smith’s deliberations about not funding the program.  Instead, the train left the station and was soon running off the tracks.

Similarly, the governor’s team could have prevailed on Appropriations Chair Dan Hegeman, explaining the necessity of reinserting the governor’s budget request to fund the program.

Perhaps most importantly, the missing ingredient in these scenarios is Medicaid Director Todd Richardson.  He was on personal leave as the session unfolded.  Richardson is so well-liked and so well-respected in the building with legislators and lobbyists alike, he may have been able to inject a shot of statesmanship, heading off the ever-present impulse for political posturing.

Not only was Richardson absent, but the governor left his position unfilled.  That void created a lot of space for legislators.

One building denizen shakes his head at the situation: “These two issues were small problems during session and now have become huge problems.”

Hartzler Trumpiest

One reader reacted to my post last week which showed that Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler had the lowest ACU rating of Missouri’s congressional delegation by sending along these rating from 538.

They show that has the 2nd highest, 95.1%, voting record in support of Trump. And since Luetkemeyer is running for re-election, not Senate, you could argue Hartzler has the highest pro-Trump voting record of any candidate looking to run for US Senate.

The conventional wisdom is that Trumpiness is high on the list of things that matter to Missouri Republican primary voters.  See the ratings here.

Luetkemeyer 95.7%

Hartzler 95.1%

Smith 94.1%

Long 93.9%

Graves 93.3%

Wagner 92.4%

eMailbag on FRA Language

On the FRA and the “abortion drug” language. The language has the effect of banning IUD’s for women. Do women understand that certain members of the legislature have moved to banning certain forms of birth control?   Also when the legislature speaks of the 8th week of pregnancy or 15th week of pregnancy they include weeks prior to conception, because our statutes define the gestational age is calculated beginning with the first day of the last menstrual period, not from the time of conception. Yes the weeks determining a woman’s right to choose and have available healthcare includes the time of preconception…

Lobbyists Registrations

Michael Winter deleted Missouri School Boards' Association.

$5K+ Contributions

BNSF Railway Company RAILPAC Missouri - Federal Committee - $45,000 from BNSF Railway Company RAILPAC.

Page PAC - $10,000 from Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 562 Political Education Fund.

Page PAC - $15,000 from L.I.U.N.A. Local 110 PAC Fund.

Birthdays

Happy birthdays to Sam Page, Jake Hummel, Heather Navarro, and Byron DeLear.