MOScout Daily Update: Transition Time Ticks Away - STL's Crime Problem - Hawley Flouted Sunshine - MOGOP Breaking Up W Trump? and more...
Clock Ticking on Parson Appts
Governor Mike Parson is on a foreign trip right now, and won’t return until Sunday. But the clock is ticking away as folks wait for his appointments to the statewide offices of attorney general and state treasurer.
If the delay persists, it could hinder the appointees’ ability to make adequate preparations to take over those spots. While both positions contain some complexities, the AG’s office in particular has an employee roster that dwarfs the other statewide offices.
Each week that passes without Parson making his appointment is less time the office will have to be prepared for the January transition.
· Parson appointed Eric Schmitt to be attorney general on November 13, 2018.
· And… neither of the two names currently mentioned (Andrew Bailey for AG, Kalena Bruce for treasurer) have Schmitt’s experience of previously having run a statewide office. Their learning curve will presumably be steeper.
STL’s Crime Problem
There’s an interesting article from the St. Louis Business Journal about St. Louis City’s crime problem, saying it’s having an impact on corporate relocations. And – that the problem isn’t just the crime rate, but the perception of how seriously the local officials are in dealing with it. Read it here.
· “One of the big reasons you see migration from California, New York and Philadelphia is not just high taxes, but crime statistics,” [John] Boyd said. “St. Louis hasn’t enjoyed the type of growth Kansas City has in recent years, and crime is a big reason why.”
· Boyd said his firm routinely measures statistics for clients including costs, taxes, available incentives — and also crime. And while the city of St. Louis had high per-capita crime in the first half of this year, companies increasingly are taking note of something else, Boyd said. "They're not merely looking at crime statistics but how crime is and isn't being prosecuted," Boyd said…
· High-growth areas like Miami have seen increasing crime, "but there's a feeling that you can trust the police and the prosecutor to at least work with you," Boyd said. "That's not the feeling that exists today in Chicago, St. Louis, Philadelphia and New York."
· In St. Louis, KMOV-TV earlier this year reported that St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner's office had seen an increase in the backlog of criminal cases that police had solved, ID'd a suspect and brought to the prosecutor's office, without charges being filed. Those cases are called pending application of warrant, or PAWS…
Why It Matters
Speaker-elect Dean Plocher is expected to make public safety as one of his top priorities for the upcoming session. Articles like this one (and this one) will fuel the desire of the state legislature to address the situation. And the feeling that local officials haven’t shown the necessary urgency to tackle the problem could lead to legislation that the city feels is heavy-handed.
We’ll see…
Hawley Flouted Sunshine Law
Missouri Independent reports on the sad situation where the state’s top law enforcement office didn’t follow the law. Read it here.
· A Missouri judge on Monday ruled staff in the attorney general’s office, while it was being run by now-U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, used private email accounts to “knowingly and purposefully” subvert the state’s open records law. Cole County Judge Jon Beetem determined the attorney general’s office violated the Sunshine Law by taking steps to conceal emails between Hawley’s taxpayer-funded staff and his political consultants during his 2018 campaign for U.S. Senate.
· The attorney general’s office must pay $12,000 in civil penalties — the maximum allowed under state law — plus attorney’s fees.
· The emails in question were requested by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in late 2017. Hawley’s office told the DSCC at the time that it had “searched our records and found no responsive records.” Among those included in the private email discussions was Daniel Hartman, who was the attorney general’s office’s custodian of records… On Monday, Beetem agreed that Hartman was aware communications responsive to the DSCC request existed and should have turned them over. It appears he didn’t, Beetem concluded, because it could have been politically damaging to Hawley during the 2018 Senate race.
One MOScouter: “I’m old enough to remember when Hawley filed a complaint against Galloway for even mentioning this in her audit. And Parson’s Board of Accountancy responded by launching an investigation on her in October 2020, less than 30 days before the gubernatorial election.”
MOGOP Becoming Less Fearful of Trump?
Kansas City Star reports that Senators Josh Hawley and Eric Schmitt are hedging their support for Donald Trump…
“Senator-elect Eric Schmitt, a Missouri Republican who enthusiastically courted Trump’s endorsement in his recent campaign, remained silent when asked twice whether he would endorse Trump… Sen. Josh Hawley, a Republican from Missouri, said it was premature to talk about the 2024 Republican presidential primary…”
And
The Remington/MOScout poll this weekend will test Missouri Republicans preference between Trump and Governor Ron DeSantis…
Lobbyists Registrations
Paul Mouton added Missouri CASA Association.
Jeremy Jacobs added Jeremy Jacobs.
Birthdays
Happy birthdays to Sen. Justin Brown, Reps. Marlon Anderson, Mike Person, and Cheri Toalson Reisch, and Jeff Grisamore.