MOScout Daily Update: Schmitt Quarter - Anti-A3 - Foundation Formula - Recession 2023 - Gubby Appts and more...
Schmitt Pre-Announces Quarter
Press release: Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt's campaign for U.S. Senate reported its strongest quarter yet, raising $2.5 million during the third quarter of 2022… In the most recent quarter, Eric Schmitt added nearly $1.5 million to his campaign, bringing his committee total to nearly $5 million since the launch of his campaign. The Missouri Schmitt Victory Committee also added $500,000 to its efforts, while another supporting campaign, Save Missouri Values, raised $508,000.
Meanwhile
Trudy Valentine picks up the endorsement of a few Republicans. Tom Coleman and Bob Johnson wrote an op/ed…
We are former Missouri Republican officeholders. One was a Member of Congress, the other a state senator, city council member and school board member. Together we have over 60 years serving the people of Missouri… Our country is divided not only politically, but also over what is fact or fiction; what is truth and what is misinformation. A great country cannot long exist if these divisions are ingrained in common acceptance. To confront this challenge, we must restore civility in our national dialogue and speech. We must treat each other with respect… We believe Trudy Busch Valentine is the only candidate who will put our country over political party considerations in order to find common ground.
NO on A3 Coalescing?
It’s about three weeks before Election Day, and the opponents to the marijuana legalization Amendment 3 are trying to make their case...
· Save Our State, the campaign vehicle for the opponents, launched a website slamming “Dangerous” Amendment 3.
· Save Our State’s Scott Dieckhaus swung hard in an op-ed published in The Joplin Globe and The (Washington) Missourian, calling the proposal “Marijuana Monopoly Amendment 3.”
· Missouri Independent’s Jason Hancock put a spotlight on the flood of money supporting the proposal “from companies in the medical marijuana industry, which under Amendment 3 would get first dibs on the more lucrative recreational licenses by the state to grow, manufacture and sell marijuana.”
· Former Missouri Supreme Court Chief Justice and SLU Law Dean Mike Wolff, a legalization advocate, weighed in with his own unease about cementing the 39 pages of Amendment 3 into the Constitution: “But this amendment has flaws; I can’t get to ‘yes’.”
· Reporters are digging into Amendment 3’s extensive fine print. Kansas City NPR raised questions Sunday about a centerpiece of Amendment 3, so-called “microbusiness” marijuana licenses that would have constitutional limits on their competitiveness, and thus their viability and value. They quote experts saying the microbusiness licenses as set up in Amendment 3 “are likely to create a separate market that could put newcomers at a disadvantage.”
· The mighty Jason Rosenbaum weighed in with an interview with Rep. Ashley Bland Manlove about “why having a limited number of licenses to sell marijuana perpetuates a lack of equity within the cannabis industry.”
But…
There’s yet to be big checks reported by the Save Our State campaign. (We’ll see their October report tonight). And without money, it’s unlikely these criticisms will get enough traction to counter the well-funded Legal Missouri 2022 campaign.
· Since August 1, Legal Missouri 2022 has raised $1.6 million.
Time to “Tune Up” Foundation Formula?
Stacey Preis, writing in the Missouri Independent, offers an overall of how to improve the formula which divvies up education dollars in Missouri. See it here.
· Each year, the Missouri General Assembly appropriates billions of dollars in public school funding using a formula built in 2005. Given the age of the current funding formula and the level of investment made by the state, are we ready to trade it in for a newer model or is it just time for a tune-up?..
· Because of the strong relationship between poverty and lower academic outcomes, the formula includes a weight that sends additional funds to districts with higher concentrations of poverty… Missouri needs a better way to measure poverty, one that’s accurate, comprehensive, and allocates resources with greater precision…
· Under Missouri’s funding formula, the IEP weighting is the same regardless of the costs associated with serving students. Many other states that add weighting for students with special needs incorporate two to five different tiers of support based on costs…
· For the near term, changes to low income and special needs weights are formula improvements at the intersection of principle and practicality that the Missouri General Assembly can and should address immediately.
Gloomy 2024 Outlook
Wall Street Journal: Economists' forecasts for 2023 are increasingly gloomy. They now expect gross domestic product to contract in the first two quarters of the year, a downgrade from the last quarterly survey, when they penciled in mild growth. On average, the economists now predict GDP will contract at a 0.2% annual rate in the first quarter of 2023 and shrink 0.1% in the second quarter. In July’s survey, they expected a 0.8% growth rate in the first quarter and 1% growth in the second.
What It Means
A recession in 2023 would make 2024 a tougher year on Dems, as the party in the White House usually received the electoral benefits or penalties from the state of the economy.
Gubby Appts
Governor Mike Parson announced appointments on Friday…
· Melissa Davis, of Charleston, was appointed as the Mississippi County Public Administrator.
· Robert Dobsch, of Washington, was appointed to the Health and Educational Facilities Authority of the State of Missouri.
· Beverly Finch, of Patterson, was appointed as the Wayne County Assessor.
· Timothy Kean, of Rolla, was appointed as the Phelps County Assessor.
· Ralph Munyan II, of Kansas City, was appointed to the Kansas City Board of Election Commissioners.
$5K+ Contributions
Majority Forward - $10,000 from Protect Missouri Workers PAC.
B PAC - $10,000 from Missouri Growth PAC.
B PAC - $10,000 from MO Majority PAC.
MO Republican Party - $25,000 from Uniting Missouri PAC.
Catalyst PAC - $60,000 from Quality Schools Coalition.
MO Republican Party - $15,000 from Rex Sinquefield.
MO Republican Party - $15,000 from Jeanne Sinquefield.
Missouri Senate Campaign Committee - $21,654 from Franklin County Leadership PAC.
Page PAC - $10,000 from ASAPAC Missouri Federal Committee.
Page PAC - $10,000 from Laborers Union Local #42 Voluntary Political Fund of N.A.
Together KC - $15,000 from MAC Property Management LLC.
Legal Missouri 2022 - $10,000 from Curio Holdings LLC.
Legal Missouri 2022 - $10,000 from Curador Holdings Inc.
Legal Missouri 2022 - $25,000 from Hippo's LLC.
Legal Missouri 2022 - $50,000 from QPS Missouri Holdings LLC.
Legal Missouri 2022 - $100,000 from New Growth Horizon LLC.
MO Six PAC - $10,000 from Rex Sinquefield.
Friends Of Kip Kendrick - $6,000 from Kip Kendrick.
Freedom Incorporated - $7,500 from Jackson County 4 Kids.
Freedom Incorporated - $7,500 from Heavy Constructors Association.
Birthdays
Happy birthdays to Scott Rupp, Jamilah Nasheed, Warren Erdman, Ray Hefner, and Sara Baker.