MOScout Daily Update: COVID Chart - Irwin Jumps into CD-4 - MO GOP Thinks Trump Won - Better Elections Bipartisan Team and more...
Coming Soon… COVID Off the Charts
I won’t be surprised if this week the COVID hospitalizations are literally “off this chart.” Yesterday according to the state dashboard 3,235 Missourians were hospitalized with COVID smashing the old record and jumping above 3,000 for the first time.
One source tells me that the governor’s aides were against not extending the state of emergency, but the governor himself thought it was time to move past the emergency declaration. Bad timing. Hospitals need those waivers and regulatory relief right now.
Parsonologists will tell you he won’t reverse. He’ll just ride it out. This wave will peak like all the rest. Maybe it’s got another couple days, maybe another couple weeks, but he’s more likely to hunker down than act like it’s a crisis. For the hospitals: it is a crisis.
· One on-the-ground source: Not to be overly dramatic, but we have broken all records for COVID inpatients. Over 70% inpatients have not been vaccinated. This is NOT a drill.
· St. Louis Business Journal reports…
SSM Health is already reallocating staff and rescheduling some elective procedures amid a surge in patients hospitalized with Covid-19.
"It's all hands on deck," said Jeremy Fotheringham, SSM Health St. Louis regional president, adding that third-party staffing firms, which are in high-demand, are of little help. "We have hospital presidents that are coming in and cleaning rooms, or emptying trash or transporting patients back and forth. Every aspect of leadership has gone all-in to make sure that we're meeting the needs of the patient."
That comes as an SSM spokeswoman said Friday the system, with eight local hospitals and 14,000 local employees, is at 96% capacity, with intensive care units beds also 96% full amid the latest wave of the Omicron coronavirus variant. Twenty-four percent of all SSM beds are filled with Covid patients, she said. Omicron has also prompted far more absences for sickness or quarantining from SSM staff, with 500 more than is typical on Thursday, Fotheringham said.
And
DHSS is trying to walk-back governor’s recent comment of having a stockpile of tests. Read it here. There is a stockpile; there isn’t a stockpile; it’s not a stockpile you’d want… I don’t know what to make of it.
Driving the Day: A New 4-CD Candidate
This morning Bill Irwin will announce he’s running for Congress in the 4th District. He is a… (maybe sit down first)… retired Navy SEAL…
· From the announcement: “Today I am announcing my campaign for US Congress to push back against the lies and cons of socialism and oppressive government. I’ve been told we need experienced politicians and only experienced politicians can serve us in Washington. But I ask you, where has this so-called experience led us as a country?... The Biden administration and drive-by politicians continue to fail the American people. We not only can do better, but we must do better…”
· And… he’s kicking in $100K. On his website (see it here): “Barbara and I are 100% committed to this mission. That is why we are spending $100,000 of our own money. Please consider supporting the campaign today to help us reach our goal of raising $200,000 before the end of February…”
Better Elections’ Bipartisan Team
A look at the January campaign finance report from Better Elections shows a bipartisan team working on the initiative petition. Better Elections is trying to bring ranked voting to Missouri elections. (Here’s a Missouri Independent explainer on the initiative petition.)
The January report shows there are Democratic firms working on it.
· GPS Impact - $14,936 for campaign management.
· MO Political - $15,000 for coalition building and outreach.
And Republican firms working on it.
· Husch Blackwell Strategies - $15,000 for coalition building and outreach.
· The Barklage Company - $20,000 for coalition building and outreach.
· Hancock & Prouty LLC - $10,000 for communications and coalition building.
Carpenters $2M Warchest
When the St. Louis Carpenters dissolved last fall amid rumors of wrongdoing, I wondered if a political powerhouse might be disappearing. Not at all. Their January campaign finance report shows their PAC, CHIPP (Carpenters Involved in the Political Process), had $220K in contributions in the last three months and now has over $2 million on-hand.
Their website matter-of-factly explains, “The St. Louis-Kansas City Carpenters Regional Council recently merged with the Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters to form the new Mid-America Carpenters Regional Council.”
· The Carpenters’ Jefferson City lobbyists, The Giddens Group, recently deleted the now-defunct St. Louis - Kansas City Carpenters Regional Council and added the new Mid-America Carpenters Regional Council to their client list.
MO GOP Buys Big Lie
Aside from the horserace of the 7th Congressional, the Remington/MOScout poll the results showed the Republican primary electorate has bought the “Big Lie” that Donald Trump has perpetuated – that he could only lose an election because of fraud. This is consistent with other polling we’ve done.
Q1: What do you believe to be the greatest threat facing the United States today?
China: 15%
Election Fraud: 32%
Federal Debt: 8%
Illegal Immigration: 12%
Inflation: 6%
Terrorism: 3%
Something else: 12%
Not sure: 12%
Q4: President Donald Trump has claimed that he won re-election, and that Joe Biden’s victory is only due to fraudulent voting. Do you agree?
Yes, Trump won: 64%
No, Trump did not win: 26%
Not sure: 10%
Axios reports that US Senate candidates using the Big Lie to bolster their campaign.
Trumpy Republicans are using baseless 2020 election fraud claims to fill their coffers for this year’s Senate primaries… In the immediate aftermath of the Jan. 6 attack, even former President Trump's most fervent supporters were unwilling to fight against certifying the election and fuel far-right claims Joe Biden didn't win. A year later, that's no longer true.
· So far, Eric Greitens has been the most aggressive on this front, but all the Republican candidates have played footsie with the lie by dog-whistling vaguely about “election integrity.”
eMailbag
Your survey in CD 7 is just flat out sad.
Gov Starts Early Childhood Advisory Council
Governor Mike Parson signed Executive Order 22-1 to consolidate Missouri's early childhood advisory groups into one with the creation of the Missouri Early Childhood State Advisory Council…
Currently, there are two early childhood advisory groups with unique memberships - the State Interagency Coordinating Council and the Missouri Coordinating Board for Early Childhood (CBEC).
CBEC's primary purpose was to coordinate early childhood programs and services between DHSS, DSS, and DESE prior to the creation of the Office of Childhood. Given the integration of the state's early childhood programs into one office, CBEC is no longer necessary.
Executive Order 22-1 redesignates the federally mandated activities of CBEC to the Missouri Early Childhood State Advisory Council, whose membership will be shared with the State Interagency Coordinating Council. This action effectively establishes one early childhood advisory group with the ability to fulfill all necessary federal requirements.
Mark Your Calendar
Lobbyists Registrations
Aaron Baker and Hannah Beers Sutton added Missouri Civil Justice Reform Coalition, Inc.
Robert Harris Blaine, Joanna Schooler, and Rose Windmiller added Washington University.
Trent Ford added Lutheran Senior Services.
Kathleen Hallgren added Everytown For Gun Safety Action Fund.
Sean Ostrow added Bally’s Corporation, and FBG Enterprises LLC; and deleted PGA Tour Inc, Major League Baseball (MLB), and National Basketball Association (NBA).
$5K+ Contributions
Legal Missouri 2022 - $10,000 from Show-Me Alternatives LLC.
Birthdays
Happy birthday to Senator Roy Blunt, Trevor Fox, Jaci Winship, Carmen Schulze, and Randy Jotte.