MOScout Daily Update: Wasson $800K+ Quarter - 5-Day Weeks Coming? - Someone's Polling Bush - More Redistricting Talk - Sale Revenue Surge and more...
Scout Scoop: Wasson To Report $800K+
Jay Wasson, the last major candidate to announce his bid for the 7th Congressional District to replace Congressman Billy Long, will report raising over $830,000 on his January FEC filing, according to Wasson’s General Consultant Josh Thompson.
· Wasson will also report over $800,000 cash on-hand.
· This is the largest quarter of any congressional candidate in a competitive Republican primary in Missouri history.
· The FEC report will show 90% of donations coming from within the 7th Congressional District.
· The biggest chuck came from Wasson himself. When Wasson announced, word was that he would ante up $500K in personal money. And that’s what he did in this quarter.
Get Ready for 5-Day Weeks…
The legislative session opens tomorrow. And with a jammed front-end to the session, 93.9 The Eagle reports that “State Rep. Sara Walsh (R-Ashland) says Missouri House Speaker Rob Vescovo (R-Arnold) has scheduled the House to work a few Fridays in January. House members will need to finish congressional redistricting and the state employee pay raise issue. That involves a supplemental budget.”
Onder Birthday Fundy
Sen. Bob Onder will celebrate his big 6-0 birthday tomorrow night (Wednesday) with a fundraiser at Grand Café on High Street. 5-7PM.
On the Move
· Amy Ramsey Berendzen on Facebook announced that she “will be joining the MO Department of Economic Development team as their Communications Director!” She was previously Communications Director for Lieutenant Governor Mike Kehoe.
· Matthew Choinka has been hired as Senator Jeanie Riddle’s new Chief of Staff. He was formerly with State Treasurer Scott Fitzpatrick as his Senior Policy Advisor.
· The Missouri Chamber of Commerce has hired Carol Mitchell as its new general counsel. Mitchell previously was Director of Regulatory Affairs and Government Relations for Isle of Capri Casinos. And Kara Corches was promoted to Vice President of Governmental Affairs.
More Congressional Map Fallout
More ongoing debate on the proposed congressional maps…
· Conservatives are coalescing behind the narrative that Missouri is not playing hard enough ball on congressional map. Read RedState here.
· Post-Dispatch looks at the numbers to try to get the map passed with an emergency clause. It’s tougher now due to vacancies in the House. See it here. This makes a 7-1 map very very hard to pass.
· I’m told that Congressman Emanuel Cleaver is happy with how his district is drawn. It’s a relatively safe Dem district, but not too safe! “Too safe” is code for too progressive which could potentially open him up to a left-side, Cori Bush-esque primary challenge.
· One consultant’s view: Congresswoman Ann Wagner’s district is actually a stronger GOP district than folks are seeing because Donald Trump’s unpopularity in areas of St. Louis County has weighed it down in recent cycles. Her 54-55 GOP district in the map becomes 57-ish without Trump on the ballot. She’s safe, assuming that Trump and GOP can be separated at some point in the future…
Only in MOScout: Someone’s Polling Bush
It sounds like a possible challenger to Congresswoman Cori Bush is polling, but it could be Bush’s team as well assessing her potential weaknesses. Questions…
· Fav / UnFav on: Bush, “The Squad,” AOC, Pelosi, Biden and Harris.
· For sure voting for Bush, or would you vote for a “moderate African American Democrat”
· Want someone who “brings people together” or “stands up for progressive values”
· Persuasiveness of reasons to replace Bush: defund police, voted against Biden agenda, voted against Boeing contract, defund military, has private security, “most interested in getting on TV,” voted against capitol police funds.
December Revenues
It’ll be interesting to see the final numbers when they come out today or tomorrow, but it looks like tax receipts were on fire in December. In particular, sales tax receipts more than doubled from a year ago! Revenue from sales tax in December 2021 was $202 million; this year it was $420 million.
· There’s been a well-reported shift in consumer spending for “things” away from “experiences” in the COVID time, leading to supply chain bottlenecks among other issues. This could explain the huge sales tax number as goods are hit with sales tax while services aren’t.
· The sales tax surge drove a 30%+ increase in tax revenue in December compared to a year ago.
Follow Up on Emergency Expiration
While many Missourians may not feel an impact of Governor Mike Parson’s decision to let the COVID state of emergency expire, a couple folks point to rural hospitals as particularly vulnerable right now.
They say that rural hospitals face more acute staffing shortages and were mostly likely to use the regulatory waivers (involving scope of care or telehealth for example) that evaporated with the expiration.
One source predicted the quick expiration of these waivers will accelerate rural hospitals ongoing move to send their patients to suburban and urban hospitals.
The Missouri Independent outlined some of these concerns here.
“The main focus of our state of emergency was to provide regulatory flexibility to support and assist Missourians, health care facilities, and businesses and coordinate a COVID-19 response that saved lives and livelihoods,” Parson said. The kinds of rules that helped hospitals to handle increased caseloads from COVID-19, along with other care, allowed them to exceed licensed bed capacity and bring in clinical staff without licensing delays, [Missouri Hospital Association spokesman Dave] Dillon said. Now each hospital at capacity would need an individual waiver of its limit and new staff will have to wait weeks, or months, for licensing… Other waivers allowed advanced practice nurses and physician assistants to do work otherwise reserved to physicians.
And
Hospitalizations due to COVID continue to surge. It’s unknown when the current wave will crest.
Amazon Cracks KC Top Ten
KC Business Journal reports that “several development seeds Amazon.com Inc. planted throughout the Kansas City metro sprouted in 2021, bolstering the online retail giant's ranks among area employers with thousands of new jobs. Amazon opened four area facilities between May and September — two apiece on each side of the state border. The new facilities support nearly 2,300 jobs, the company said in an email… Amazon now employs more than 5,000 total associates in the region — enough to rank eighth on the Kansas City Business Journal's list of largest private sector employers, ahead of Honeywell Federal Manufacturing & Technologies LLC and behind Hallmark Cards Inc…”
Gubby Appts
Kaitlyn Roach will be appointed as Associate Circuit Judge for Johnson County in the 17th Judicial Circuit.
Ryan J. Helfrich was appointed as Circuit Judge for the 20th Judicial Circuit.
Mr. Helfrich will fill the Circuit Judge vacancy created by the retirement of the Honorable Isidore I. Lamke.
Krista Peyton was appointed as Associate Circuit Judge for St. Louis County in the 21st Judicial Circuit.
Ms. Peyton will fill the Associate Circuit Judge vacancy created by the appointment of the Honorable Virginia Lay to Circuit Judge.
The Honorable Jessica Kruse was appointed as Circuit Judge for the 38th Judicial Circuit.
Steven Ward was appointed as Associate Circuit Judge for Christian County in the 38th Judicial Circuit.
Ericka Baxter, of Highlandville, was appointed to the Air Conservation Commission.
Amy Brown, of New Madrid, was appointed as the New Madrid County Clerk.
Sandy Dustman, of Jamesport, was appointed as the Daviess County Circuit Clerk.
Dr. William Anson Elliott, of Fair Grove, was appointed to the Missouri State University Board of Governors.
Ann Kampeter, of Holts Summit, was appointed to the Missouri State University Board of Governors.
David Christopher Martin, of Bernie, was appointed to the Southeast Missouri State University Board of Governors.
Dexter Martin, of Florissant, was appointed to the Harris-Stowe State University Board of Regents.
Valerie Patton, of Saint Louis, was appointed to the Harris-Stowe State University Board of Regents.
Harry Roberts, of Saint Joseph, was appointed as the Missouri Military Advocate.
Stephanie Vestal, of Marshfield, was appointed as the Webster County Circuit Clerk.
Michael Williams, of Doniphan, was appointed as the Ripley County Clerk.
Lobbyists Registrations
Richard AuBuchon added Google LLC and Its Affiliates.
Ron Berry added Planned Parenthood Great Plains Votes.
Rodney Boyd, Kate Casas, Brian Grace, and Kelvin Simmons added Opportunity Solutions Project.
Kevin Breslin added Botts 150 LLC, and Promontory 150 LLC.
Mark Ell added Gas Workers 11-6.
Ronald Gladney added Iron Workers Local Union No. 396; and deleted Rebuild Saint Louis Inc.
James Harris added Four Corners Development; and deleted Affordable Homes Development Inc.
Robert Hunt added Molson Coors Beverage Company USA LLC.
Brad Ketcher added Consumer Action Network, Inc.
Tracy King, Brittany Robbins, Christopher Schoeman, and Garrett Webb added Draiver.
Sam Licklider added National Association of Professional Employer Organizations.
Daniel Pfeifer, Alex Eaton, Rebecca Lohmann, Greg Porter, Jasmine Wells, and David Willis added Sports Betting Alliance; and deleted Commonwealth Missouri, LLC.
Ryan Rowden added American Chemistry Council.
Scott Swain added Midwest Natural Fiber; and deleted American Clean Power Association.
Jeff Smith added American Civil Liberties Union, and New Approach.
Jonathan Demettuir Smith-el added Excellence Janitorial Services LLC; and deleted Welcome To The Free City-State of Jonathan D. Smith-el.
Tamitha Rene’ Ague deleted United States Association of Social Workers.
Amy Blunt deleted Macro Companies.
Michael Michelson deleted GlaxoSmithKline.
Steven Tilley, Tracy King, and Thomas Robbins deleted Sterling Bank.
$5K+ Contributions
Better Elections - $355,144 from Article IV.
House Republican Campaign Committee, Inc - $25,000 from Centene Management Company LLC.
Birthdays
Happy birthday to Rep. Dottie Bailey, Rob Schaaf, and Adam McBride.