MOScout Daily Update: Wasson in 7-CD - Ham Breakfast Review - $400M for Rural Broadband - Richardson to Return and more...

Rumorville: Wasson In CD-7

A good source says that former Sen. Jay Wasson is making calls and saying he’s running to replace Congressman Billy Long in the 7th District.

Wasson was mayor of Nixa and then served two terms in the Senate, leaving in 2018.  It’s said that Wasson could seed his campaign a substantial starter amount.

Wasson is the latest of folks rumored to be considering or laying the groundwork to run.  Others include: Dr. Sam Alexander, Sen. Eric Burlison, Joelle Cannon and Sen. Mike Moon.

Wasson’s entry would seem to hurt Burlison the most.  Wasson represented Burlison’s district, so their voter bases will split.

The usual caveat applies here that we don’t have district lines yet. But in this district, it seems less important as the 7th will presumably cover this corner of Missouri quite broadly.

Governor’s Ham Breakfast

One MOScouter reports on the US Senate candidates working the tent at the Governor’s Ham Breakfast and the dispatch reads almost as a microcosm of each candidate…

·         “Hartzler seemed introverted which is a surprise…”  Hartzler’s challenge is the same as the other regional candidates. She has to introduce herself to the 7/8th of the state that doesn’t know her.  It’s the flipside of Greitens’ major advantage.

·         “McCloskey seemed fine in a rural setting. He is good at retail politics…”  This is the buzz on McCloskey.  I heard a similar review of his appearance at the Defense of Liberty dinner: he has the ability to connect with folks.  I’m not sure you can handshake your way to a Senate seat though.

·         “Billy brought the bus and it looks great…” There’s some question whether Long is going to be running an effective campaign or just a colorful one.  The bus expense incapsulates this critique of Long.  A twelve month bus tour?

·         “Everyone came up and thanked Schmitt for his efforts on masks etc…” This is Schmitt’s major advantage. He holds a job where he can generate action and news on the events of the day.  While building folks roll their eyes at most of his going-after-China-type lawsuits, it gets him on the news.

·         “Greitens wasn’t there…”  His campaign strategy is exactly the same as last time: money + ads.

$400M for Rural Broadband Plan

Press release: During a press conference at the Missouri State Fair hosted by the Missouri Farm Bureau, Governor Mike Parson announced plans to deploy more than $400 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to increase broadband internet access, adoption, and assistance statewide… The plan was developed through a multi-agency effort designed to address a diverse range of broadband connectivity challenges and is expected to impact hundreds of thousands of Missouri families. The plan will be presented to the Missouri General Assembly in January for appropriation.

What It Means

This is a critical and vexing problem.  Broadband is rightfully considered infrastructure and the government has a role in seeing that the whole state has access. But…

No plan was released.  And increasing rural broadband has been a devil of a problem.  $400 million is a lot of money, but the obvious questions remain: how will it be spent? and how much bang for the buck will it get?

·         There’s no market incentive to spend huge amounts of capital with a limited market to recoup the investment.

·         One often touted idea is to piggyback on the rural electric co-ops’ infrastructure.  That association was missing from the press release.

·         And there’s always the concern that after spending oodles of money, technology will leapfrog fiber – for example, satellites improving reliability and affordability.

Richardson to Return

Missouri Independent reports that Todd Richardson is returning to work next month.

·         At a Thursday meeting of the MO HealthNet Oversight Committee, Kirk Matthews, the interim director of Missouri’s Medicaid program, told attendees that Todd Richardson would be returning in mid-September.

·         Richardson, a Poplar Bluff Republican and former House speaker, temporarily left his role as director of MO HealthNet, the state’s Medicaid program, to spend more time with his family, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported in late February.

eMailbag on Redistricting

One obsever writes: Just saw your column today. My opinion on Cunningham and Lembke is not so much they found themselves in trouble because of population shifts but because Senate leadership and others found them extremely difficult to work with and that’s the reason they were hung out to dry. If they had better relations with leadership, they wouldn’t have either lost their seat entirely like Jane or made their district unelectable like Lembke’s was.

Lobbyist Registrations

Amanda Ashley Lick added Emergent BioSolutions.

$5K+ Contributions

Kansas Area Council HBA-PAC - $6,000 from Home Builders Association of Gr Kansas City PAC.

American Property Casualty Insurance Association Political Account - $158,981 from American Property Casualty Insurance Association.

Birthdays

Happy birthdays to Trent Watson, Stacey Newman, Rose Windmiller, and Chuck Gross.