MOScout Daily Update: Kehoe Gets Corn Support - Moon, Hicks Growl At Leadership - What's Next With MO Abortion Politics? - Polling Memo on IP Reform and more...
Breaking: Kehoe Gets Corn Endorsement
The Missouri Corn Growers Association (MCGA) announced its endorsement of Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe in the 2024 gubernatorial race. A membership-based organization representing corn farmers across the state, MCGA supports candidates with proven records on policy issues impacting corn growers.
· This is the third early big Ag endorsement Kehoe has collected. He previously was endorsed by MO Soybean Association, and the Cattlemen Association.
GOP Members Chafe Under Leadership
In the Senate, Sen. Mike Moon and his Conservative Caucus colleagues held the floor for hours to protest that his bill dealing with trans athletes was not being brought immediately back for debate. Their protest effectively the day in the Senate pointless.
Meanwhile in the House, Rep. Ron Hicks took to social media to attempt to rally public support for his marijuana legalization bill. Missouri Independent reports that Hicks “said he was initially told his marijuana legalization bill would come up for debate in the House Monday night, with only two weeks left before the legislature adjourns for the year. Instead, Hicks says House Majority Leader Dean Plocher informed him that the bill would not move forward without further discussion about including caps on licenses to grow, transport and sell marijuana.”
· Every session is different, but one thing is always the same. When you get to the end, there are always more bills than there is time.
Schmitt’s Grants Farm Event
Source: Attorney General Eric Schmitt had a blowout event tonight at his Grant's Farm event at the Busch Estate, raising over $100,000 with about 100 supporters attending… [Schmitt] worked summers at Grant's Farm while in college. Also of note, Trudy Busch's full-blood brother, Andy, was an event host…
House Redistricting Committee to Meet on Wednesday
House Redistricting Committee Chair Dan Shaul has noticed up a meeting for Wednesday. It’s a sign that maybe they’ll be one more effort made at drawing a new congressional map.
Polling Memo on IP Reform
An American Strategies polling memo on recent polling finds that Missourians are generally okay with the current initiative petition process.
From the memo…
· Both Republicans and Democrats are supportive of the status quo – a rare area of agreement in today’s partisan environment.
· After hearing a short description of the ballot initiative qualification process, nearly three-quarters – 72 percent – felt that the current process for getting something on the ballot seemed about right. Just nine percent said it was too easy, while 15 percent felt it was too hard. Among Republicans, 73 percent said the current process seemed about right. A nearly identical 72 percent of Democrats agreed.
· After messaging, almost half – 45 percent - were less likely to vote for a state legislator who voted to make it harder for citizens to put petition initiatives on the ballot. Only 18 percent were more likely to vote for such a legislator while 37 percent said the issue would not make a difference to how they voted.
MRL Contra Better Elections
Missouri Right to Life, in an email blast, says that they see ranked-choice voting “as an attempt by progressives to break down our conservative pro-life majorities in Missouri.”
MRL is opposed to the initiative petition to put “ranked-choice voting” on the ballot. We encourage you to not sign the ranked-choice voting initiative when approached by any person asking for your signature….
If you would like to stand with conservatives opposing “ranked-choice voting”, please see the rally information below for Tuesday, May 3, at the Missouri State Capitol.
Rally Against Ranked Choice Voting
Date: Tuesday, May 3
Time: 12:00 – 3:00 p.m.
Location: Missouri State Capitol Rotunda, 201 W. Capitol Ave, Jefferson City, MO
Politico: Roe To Be Overturned
Politico has obtained an early draft of a Supreme Court decision which would overturn Roe v Wade. Read the article here.
The draft opinion is a full-throated, unflinching repudiation of the 1973 decision which guaranteed federal constitutional protections of abortion rights and a subsequent 1992 decision – Planned Parenthood v. Casey – that largely maintained the right. “Roe was egregiously wrong from the start,” Alito writes.
“We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled,” he writes in the document, labeled as the “Opinion of the Court.” “It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives.
What It Means
The debate over abortion rights has been a central part of Missouri politics for decades. The pro-life movement has been a unifying force among Missouri Republicans, and helped them define the Democratic Party as too liberal for rural Missouri. This would definitely remake the landscape. A few thoughts…
First, Missouri will become a no abortion state. 188.017. Right to Life of the Unborn Child Act… “no abortion shall be performed or induced upon a woman, except in cases of medical emergency. Any person who knowingly performs or induces an abortion of an unborn child in violation of this subsection shall be guilty of a class B felony, as well as subject to suspension or revocation of his or her professional license by his or her professional licensing board…
The enactment of this section shall only become effective upon notification to the revisor of statutes by an opinion by the attorney general of Missouri, a proclamation by the governor of Missouri, or the adoption of a concurrent resolution by the Missouri general assembly that: The United States Supreme Court has overruled, in whole or in part, Roe v. Wade…”
Second, the issue won’t just go away. There are many pro-life advocates who believe that “life begins at conception.” This article from the Washington Post about the Hobby Lobby lawsuit explains that there are implications for birth control with that guiding principle.
· They contend their religious freedom rights would be violated if they are required to cover four specific forms of birth control — implanted devices such as intrauterine devices (known as IUDs) a contraceptive rod implanted in a woman’s arm and two forms of emergency contraception commonly called “morning after pills.” They say those four methods are abortifacient because, in the words of Hobby Lobby President Steve Green “We believe life begins at conception.” In their view, fertilization, conception and pregnancy are synonymous.
· The federal government and major medical voices, such as the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American Medical Association, disagree. “A pregnancy exists once a fertilized embryo has implanted in the uterus. Prior to that implantation, we do not have a viable pregnancy,” said Dr. Barbara Levy, vice president for health policy for the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
Finally, here’s the polling. From MOScout/Remington, conducted June 2-3, 2021. 926 sample, +/- 3% margin of error….
Do you consider yourself to be generally pro-life, generally pro-choice, neither?
Generally pro-life: 64%
Generally pro-choice: 30%
Neither: 6%
And of course there’s a partisan split…
· Republicans… 89% generally pro-life, 8% generally pro-choice.
· Democrats… 30% generally pro-life; 60% generally pro-choice.
Candidate Withdrawals
Kyle Haubrich (Republican) withdrew from running for House 113. That leaves two candidates for the Republican nomination, Terry William Burgess, and Phil Amato. There is no Democratic candidate. Burgess ran in this district two years ago – as a Democrat – losing to Rep. Dan Shaul by 25 points.
New Committees
JEFF PAC was formed. Its treasurer is Donna Kramer.
$5K+ Contributions
MO Republican Party - $18,000 from Uniting Missouri PAC.
JanePAC (pro-Dueker) - $10,000 from Airport Investment Co., Inc.
Lobbyists Registrations
John Dustin Backes added Zimmerman Properties; and deleted MTX Group, Inc.
Ashley Lawson added Husch Blackwell Strategies.
Steven Tilley, Thomas Robbins, Brittany Hyatt Robbins, and Christopher Schoeman added Security Concepts Training Group.
Matthew Roney added KC WFC StadCo, LLC.
David Sweeney deleted Washington University, and Alterra Worldwide.
Birthdays
Happy birthdays to Rep. Sarah Unsicker, Susan Henderson Moore, Sarah Steelman, Roy Temple, Steve Danner, Michael Frame, Alvin Brooks, and Joe Carmichael.