MOScout Daily Update: Moon in CD-7? - 2022 Spreadsheet - Martin, Loudon on Jan 6 List - Barklage Pleads Guilty and more...
Moon In?
Two folks tell me that Sen. Mike Moon is making calls saying that he’s running for Congress. Moon would join a pack of others in CD-7 who are eying the vacancy created by Congressman Billy Long announcing for US Senate.
No one has formally declared yet.
Moon has super conservative credentials and a strong grassroots following. Still, you need money to be competitive in a congressional race, and Moon hasn’t demonstrated much fundraising capacity before.
And
I’ve started a 2022 election spreadsheet. It’s a work-in-progress with a lot of holes. I plan to update it regularly. Find it here.
Martin, Loudon Make Jan 6 Records Request List
The January 6 Committee made a request yesterday for records of contacts between the Trump White House and outside groups.
On that list of requests are two folks with Missouri roots…
· Ed Martin, former chief of staff to Governor Matt Blunt and now head of the Schlafly Eagles.
· Gina Loudon, wife of former state senator John Loudon.
Barklage Plea
Republican consultant David Barklage pled guilty yesterday to tax fraud.
· Barklage, who has been a fixture in Missouri Republican politics for decades, was indicted in April for failing to pay more than $150,000 in taxes over the course of a three-year period.
· In a statement released after entering his plea, Barklage said he takes “full responsibility for my actions and intend to make full restitution. I am deeply grateful for the support of my family and friends, and apologize for any embarrassment my personal tax issues have caused for them.”
· His attorney, Joseph Passanise, said he intends to ask the court for probation. He’s scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 2.
· In the 1990s, Barklage led campaign committees in both the Missouri House and Senate that eventually helped engineer the Republican takeover of the legislature for the first time in 50 years. He’s also long been a part of Gov. Mike Parson’s political team, most recently as a consultant for Uniting Missouri, a political action committee formed to help Parson win a full four-year term.
The Limits of IP Reform?
Changes to the initiative petition process are said to be high on the House Republicans agenda priorities for next session. A recent court ruling in Idaho might offer some caution to the supermajority not to overreach in their zeal to rein in.
· In a new ruling Monday, the Idaho Supreme Court blocked the implementation of a new ballot initiative law that opponents said would have made it nearly impossible to bring a ballot initiative or referendum forward.
· Writing for a majority of the court, Idaho Supreme Court Justice Gregory W. Moeller wrote that the ballot initiative law requiring signatures from 6% of voters in all 35 legislative districts violates the Idaho Constitution “because the initiative and referendum powers are fundamental rights, reserved to the people of Idaho, to which strict scrutiny applies.”
· The ruling represents a victory for Reclaim Idaho, the volunteer-driven political group behind the 2018 Medicaid expansion effort in Idaho.
· Reclaim Idaho sued the state in May, saying the new ballot initiative law makes it near impossible to get an initiative or referendum on the ballot because of the requirement to gather signatures from the most rural and isolated corners of the state.
Rapid Testing Logistics
Kaiser Health News reports on the difficulty in implementing rapid tests in schools despite their availability. Read it here.
· Early in the tumultuous 2020-21 school year, Missouri officials made a big gamble: set aside roughly 1 million rapid covid tests for the state’s K-12 schools in hopes of quickly identifying sick students or staff members.
· What began as an ambitious plan landed with a thud. Few of the tests were used; according to state data updated in early June, schools reported using just 32,300.
· Missouri’s effort provides a window into the complexities of covid testing at K-12 schools, even before the highly transmissible delta variant surged through.
eMailbag on Richardson Endorsing Fitz
Back in the dark age of the late 1990s…. the rule we followed was not supporting anything personally that was not non-partisan… Have the laws changed allowing MHD Director Richardson to endorse a candidate for a Republican primary?
$5K+ Contributions
Missouri A/C and Mechanical Contractors - $30,000 from Hoffmann Brothers Heating & Air Conditioning.
American Property Casualty Insurance Association Political Account - $59,984 from American Property Casualty Insurance Association.
Lobbyist Registrations
Steven Carroll added Curo Group LLC.
Kashfi Anwar-Viveros deleted Emergent BioSolutions.
Birthdays
Happy birthdays Anne Zerr, Ray Salva, Robert Butler, and Stephanie Bell.