MOScout Daily Update: Map Stalemate Continues - GOP Women Against Greitens - Parson Calls End to COVID - Gregory Fundys and more...

No Map Deal

The Senate refused the House’s offer of conferencing on the congressional redistricting map, continuing a stand-off.

·         ROTO (Reminder of the Obvious): Republicans control both chambers and the governor’s mansion and yet are in danger of letting the judicial branch control what congressional districts look like for the next ten years.

Trafalgar Releases US Senate Poll

The Trafalgar Group released a Missouri Senate poll.  See it here.

·         It’s the first one to show Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler in the lead (though she’s really tied with Eric Greitens).

·         This poll gives the same picture as the Remington/MOScout polls for the past three months or so… a two-tiered race with Greitens, Hartzler and Eric Schmitt positiond competitively, while the other three candidates (Billy Long, Mark McCloskey and Dave Schatz languish in the single digits).

GOP Women Speak Out Against Greitens

In successive Twitter posts, three Republican women who have been in the Republican State Party leadership posted their objections to Eric Greitens becoming the Republican nominee for US Senate.

Kay Hoflander: As a Christian woman, a wife and mother, and as a woman active in the Missouri Republican Party, State Committee, and as the immediate past chair of MOGOP, I find the allegations against former MO Governor Eric Greitens deeply disturbing…

Carla Young: This is not the scandal-ridden leadership we need in Washington…

Pat Thomas: I feel these revelations raise the question of whether Eric Greitens has the values and moral character to represent Missourians in the U.S. Senate….

What It Means

The urgency among Republicans to not nominate Greitens seems to have intensified in the last couple days with the emergence of Trudy Busch Valentine.  There’s a fear that they could really lose this seat to a no-record, self-funding Democratic woman.

Parson Declares COVID “Endemic”

Missouri Independent reports that “Missouri will officially transition from treating COVID-19 as a public health crisis to treating it as endemic, much like the seasonal flu.”  See their article here.

Governor Mike Parson has sough since late last year to put the pandemic behind him, declaring an early end to the crisis just as the omnicron variant surged bringing new stains to Missouri hospitals.  But now, with COVID hospitalizations plummeting dramatically, the end appears to be finally here.

However, despite about two-and-half years remaining in office, COVID, and his response to it, will be Parson’s legacy of his time in office. 

Already the jockeying between Lieutenant Governor Mike Kehoe and Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft has begun for the 2024 gubernatorial race, and after November’s mid-term election, Parson’s influence will continue to wane.

Gregory Holding Fundys Across State

Rep. David Gregory, running for state auditor is holding fundraisers across the state in the coming weeks.  They’re hosted by local state representatives who are supporting his candidacy.

March 31… Poplar Bluff… Former Rep. Jeff Shawan.

April 1… St. Joseph… Rep. Bill Falkner.

April 21… Kansas City… with added star power featuring KC Chief Hall of Famers Deron Cherry and Neil Smith.

See the invites, and full listing of reps, here.

Price Files Exemption Committee

In Senate 10, Joshua Price filed an exemption committee.  That means that he won’t be raising of spending more than $500.  In other words, his candidacy won’t have an impact on the race.

But the puzzle of this newly sprawling district remains with three state representatives (Reps. Travis Fitzwater, Jeff Porter and Randy Pietzman), one former rep (Bryan Spencer), and a judge (Mike Carter) in the running.

Blunt Could Benefit From New Loophole

Axios reports on a new loophole in campaign finance.

Federal regulators last week allowed a legal loophole that could effectively let former members of Congress spend leftover campaign money on personal expenses…

A Federal Election Commission complaint filed by the nonprofit Campaign Legal Center in 2019 alleged former Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) violated that prohibition… The deadlock effectively killed FEC enforcement efforts — and signaled a divided commission won't enforce the personal spending ban for money that's transferred from a campaign to a leadership PAC. The commission's three Republicans took a narrow reading of the law: the money was no longer bound by personal-use restrictions because it was no longer in a campaign committee's bank account, they ruled.

·         Retiring US Senate Roy Blunt’s campaign committee had $986,949 cash on-hand in its most recent filing…

Notes on Money

For the next couple of weeks, with lots of new candidates seeding their new campaign committees, I’m going to be adding quick notes in parenthesis to the $5K+ Contributions explaining what folks are running for. 

·         Also, note the $2M transfer from the old Carpenters union to their new one.  This reflects the change in control now coming out of Chicago after the investigation into Al Bond.

$5K+ Contributions

Mid-America Carpenters Regional Council Missouri-Kansas Area Political Action Committee - $1,996,059 from Carpenters Help in the Political Process (CHIPP).

Reform St Louis County Now (pro-Dogan) - $25,000 from Blackford Brauer.

Committee to Elect Greg Mathis (running for Presiding Commissioner of Stoddard County) – $20,000 from Greg Mathis.

Titus For Missouri (Republican running for House 137, Nixa) - $20,000 from Robert Titus.

Committee to Elect Bob Tullock (running for Jefferson County Council) - $20,000 from Robert Tullock.

Friends Of Suzie Pollock (primarying Sen. Justin Brown) - $25,000 from Darrell and Suzie Pollock.

Karen Vennard for MO108 (Republican running in House 108, Lake St. Louis) - $30,000 from James Vennard.

La Raza Political Club Inc - $6,000 from Together KC.

Make Missouri Great PAC - $6,000 from Chouteau PAC.

UAW Region 5 Midwest States Political Action Committee (PAC) (MO) - $6,000 from UAW Region 4 Exchange Account.

New PACs

Blue Line PAC was formed.  Its treasurer is Denise Cantrell.  Its deputy treasurer is Melissa Largent.

International Union of Operating Engineers Local 101 Political Action Committee was formed.  It’s a Federal PAC.  Its treasurer is Michael Teihen.

Birthdays

Happy birthdays to Rep. Mark Ellebracht and Allen Icet.