MOScout Daily Update: New Ads - Librarians Against Ashcroft - Billy Busch Speaks (about his sister, not to his sister) and more....

Quick Friday update.  Let’s start with some ads…

New Coatar Ad

In the St. Louis City race for President of the Board of Aldermen, Jack Coatar’s latest ad (see it here) focuses on perceived problems with the city’s 9-1-1 response.

When you call 911 you shouldn't wonder if you're going to be put on hold. Too often that is what happens. Our 911 center is understaffed, underpaid, and needs new technology. It is unacceptable. If you call 911 you deserve an answer right away. It is a basic city service. We’ve got the money to fix it. There are no excuses.

·       It’s interesting because it feels like an ad about crime, but it’s not the usual platitudes about “supporting police etc.”  It’s a tangible technical problem that feels solvable.

New Valentine Ad

Trudy Busch Valentine’s latest ad goes back to women’s health and abortion politics.  See it here.

It’s a testimonial ad from a woman: My Missouri doctors were allowed to give me the care that I needed. All because of the mandate Eric Schmitt put into place. Eric Schmitt doesn’t care about women like me.  Imposing a mandate that doesn’t have exceptions for rape, incest, or health of the mother. And it could even send women or doctors to jail. It’s just too extreme.

And

Post-Dispatch’s Kurt Erikson writes about Valentine’s estranged brother, Billy Busch giving an interview to Gina Loudon (wife for former MO state senator John Loudon). It’s at the 8-minute mark if you care to watch.

·       He said he is supporting Republican Schmitt over his sister, Democrat Trudy Busch Valentine… “Sometimes she looked down on the middle class and the poor people and didn’t think they were good enough for a Busch.”

·       “I haven’t talked with my sister in the last five or six years,” Billy Busch said.

·       During the interview, he also repeated debunked claims that Trump won the 2020 election and said he appreciated Schmitt’s failed attempt to intervene as attorney general in the electoral process on behalf of the former president.

Librarians Contra Ashcroft

Missouri Library Association tweets about the proposed Ashcroft rule to which seeks to snuff out books with sex scenes from teenagers who are trolling the libraries of Missouri to pursue their “prurient interests.”

Read the MOLibrary statement here.

The Missouri Library Association considers Secretary of State Ashcroft’s proposed rule for libraries an infringement on the professional judgment of librarians, and an effort to further stoke division in the communities that libraries serve. Libraries support access to information and ideas. The placement of books and materials in libraries is something that should be left up to people with training and experience in the profession of librarianship.

Ashcroft’s proposed changes also place undue burden on small and urban libraries by undermining not only their sense of agency but their ability to access information…

MO GOP: No on A3

The Missouri Republican Party’s Executive Committee passed a recommendation against Amendment 3, the marijuana legalization ballot question.

The recommendation from the executive committee urges Missouri voters to vote against Amendment 3 citing that the amendment is opposed by law enforcement organizations, drug counselors, the medical community, agriculture groups, and religious organizations; other states that have legalized marijuana have seen increases in addiction, mental health problems, traffic deaths, and rising rates of marijuana consumption among youth; legalizing marijuana through the Constitution would make it nearly impossible for local governments to change any aspect of the law; and no industry has ever been given a Constitutional right to sell their product in the state of Missouri.

And

Kansas City Star reports that the “Missouri State Highway Patrol has sent a cease-and-desist letter to the primary group advocating for legal recreational marijuana in the state after it used video footage featuring a state trooper in a campaign ad.”

But

Is this spirited opposition to A3 just shouting in the wind without money to fund a robust statewide ad campaign?  I guess we’ll see….

Cities Powering MO Private Sector

Looking a little deeper into the September jobs report (find it here)…

In the last twelve months, Missouri has added 70,000 private sector jobs.  Of those new jobs, 73% have come from the state’s coastal urban areas.

·       36,200 from the St. Louis metropolitan area.

·       14,900 from the Kansas City metropolitan area.

Lobbyists Registrations

Madeleine Ashour added Excellence In Education National, Inc., DBA Excellence In Education In Action.

James Harris added Missouri Association of License Offices.

$5K+ Contributions

Serve Missouri PAC (Pro-McCreery) - $10,000 from Laborers' International Union of N.A. Local No. 42 PAC Fund.

Teamsters Local Union No 688 Political Action Committee - $7,846 from International Brotherhood of Teamters Missouri PAC- Federal Committee.

Page PAC - $10,000 from Roy Pfautch.

Jackson County 4 Kids - $25,000 from The Childrens Mercy Hospital.

Freedom Incorporated - $12,000 from Seven Points LLC.

Birthdays

Happy birthdays to Derek Ramsay, David Kent, and Stephen Nittler.