MOScout Daily Update: MRL's House Endorsements - RightPath Hearts Cierpiot - Anybody But Greitens PAC - Battle for St. Chuck and more...

MRL House Endorsements

Missouri Right to Life PAC formally issued their House endorsements yesterday.  See them here. As with their Senate endorsements, pro-life House members were largely shunned by the organization due to the chamber passing the renewal of the FRA tax without the anti-abortion language that MRL sought. But even that vote wasn’t necessarily enough to get the organization’s nod.

13 House Republicans voted against the FRA renewal. 

Reps. Hardy Billington, Mary Elizabeth Coleman (for senate), Bishop Davidson, Michael Davis, Bruce DeGroot, David Gregory (for auditor) Michael McGirl, and Richard West were endorsed.

Of the others: Rep. Sarah Walsh is no longer running for office.  Shane Roden and Nate Tate were denied the endorsement for their respective senate runs. Rep. Tony Lovasco didn’t get endorsed in his re-election battle. And neither did Rep. Chris Sander – though he faces no opposition.

Meanwhile interesting to note that missing the FRA vote ended up as a plus for purposes of MRL endorsements.  Both absent Reps. Adam Schnelting and John Simmons were endorsed.

·       One observer: I do not see anyone running for any position in House Republican leadership that got endorsed. What friends will they have left? Freshmen?

Plocher Mulls Interim Workgroups

Speaker-designate Dean Plocher is considering forming some “study groups” to prep for the upcoming session.

The groups would be informal gatherings of legislators, organized around topics that the House would want to address next year.

Among the subject matters being talked about: crime and public safety, MODoT and transportation, and reforming the Certificate of Need process.

The idea would be to flesh out some consensus ideas before pre-filing begins in December.

RightPath Watch: Cierpoint Gets Check

Although it hasn’t been report to the Missouri Ethics Commission yet, I’m told that the PAC associated with Sen. Mike Cierpiot received a $25,000 check from the RightPath PAC.

Cierpiot, who faces a primary challenger, would be the second Republican senator who the behemoth PAC is backing.

Anyone But Greitens SuperPAC

Politico reported yesterday that a new PAC, Show Me Values, “is set to start running TV advertisements targeting [Eric] Greitens, beginning Friday. The outfit is set to air more than $1-million worth of commercials through the end of June, and a person involved with the organization said it planned to remain involved in the race up until the Aug. 2 primary.”

The article cites Rex Sinquefield as one of the donors to the PAC.  Sinquefield is backing Eric Schmitt in the race.  However, I’m told that there are donors who are supporting different candidates in the race, united by a dislike, distrust, or disgust of Greitens.”

The PAC is being run for Johnny DeStefano, who Politico describes as “a Kansas City native and former top official in former President Donald Trump’s White House.”

He’s also a registered lobbyist in Jefferson City.  His clients are: Anthem, IGT, Utility Strategic Missouri.

Battle for the Soul of St. Charles

St. Charles this August appears to be a microcosm of the split the Missouri Republican Party is facing.  Aggressive, Conservative Caucus-esque candidates are facing off against traditional Republicans. 

The showdown between Sen. Bob Onder and St. Charles County Executive Steve Ehlmann was expected to be the marquee race among these races.  Onder withdrew on the last possible day citing bad timing for his family.  But it remains the archetype of these races.

Ehlmann was considered a competent and stalwart Republican.  St. Charles has experience continuous growth during his tenure, and there have been no scandals – something that can’t be said for its neighbors in St. Louis County and St. Louis City.  But Onder was running to his right saying Ehlmann wasn’t conservative enough – citing his response to the COVID crisis.

One of the simmering issues is a proposal by Sen. Bill Eigel to phase out the county’s personal property tax.  Some conservatives find the tax an affront to their sensibilities.  They ask, “if I have to pay the government every year for something I own, do I ever really own it?”

Meanwhile the Republicans who have served on school board or on city councils tend to be skeptical of tax cuts.  “Yeah, yeah that’s cute,” they might reply, “but we need money to run the basic services that people expect.”

Races to watch…

·       Senate 2: Onder has endorsed Rep. Nick Schroer as his replacement.  Schroer has confrontational style in tune with the Senate’s Conservative Caucus, while Rep. John Wiemann – a conservative in anyone’s book – is less bellicose.

·       House 64: Incumbent Tony Lovasco is being challenged.  Mike Swearingim spent twenty years on the local school board, and represents the establishment.  He’s endorsed by the police and firefighters.  The third candidate, Deanna Self has been active in the local MRL chapter.

·       House 106: This race in Tom Hannegan’s old district features Buddy Hardin who’s been a political player for decades, counting operatives, consultants and former governors among his friends. There’s two traditional candidates, Travis Wilson and Linda Sanchez.  And one wild card: Ali Graeff. She says the 2020 elections were fraudulent, and she may be the favorite at this point as the other three split the mainstream Republican vote and she corners the crazies. We’ll see.

·       House 108: This is Justin Hill’s old seat.  Justin Hicks is running on a Conservative Caucus type platform, but having recently moved back, he doesn’t have the deep history with the area that his two opponents do.  Matthew Griese is a coach, and Karen Vennard served as alderwoman in Lask St. Louis and has been active with the Realtors.

Transportation Infrastructure

A big headline yesterday was our immediate neighbor to the south (Arkansas) has submitted plans for a state wide EV charging network.

“Arkansas plans for electric car charging stations every 50 miles along highways Arkansas is set to receive $54 million.”  Read the story here.

These dollars are coming from the bipartisan Infrastructure and Jobs Act passed by congress last November. Missouri’s apportionment is nearly twice that of Arkansas ($99M). And, filling an EV with today's electric energy cost is equal to about $1 per gallon of gas…not a bad deal given sky rocketing gas prices. Missouri will need to submit a state plan for EV charging every 50 miles by August 1 or forfeit at least 20% of these dollars. And maybe more importantly, lose out on building vital infrastructure for Missourians for the long term.

Help Wanted

On Facebook Cindy O'Laughlin announced, “My Chief of Staff, Fred Barnes is leaving for another opportunity so I will be hiring a new Chief.  The Chief of Staff position is kind of hard to quantify but basically it is to research and shepherd legislation and solve problems as assigned. Liaison with state agencies and do whatever your legislator needs done. If you are interested in applying you can send an email to Cindy.olaughlin@senate.mo.gov... It is not uncommon for me to email and/or text frequently when we’re not in session and involve my staff in about a million issues. So it’s not easy. I find it very interesting and rewarding but I am a pretty big stickler on being responsive to constituents so you need to be “invested” in the people I represent. I am more interested in the constituent service ability than political acumen. I pretty much have the political end figured out so I don’t need advice on that. I am looking for someone to help me solve problems.”

Lobbyists Registrations

John Bowman added W.E. Shoehigh.     

Gamble & Schlemeier deleted SA Hospital Acquisitions Group, LLC.

$5K+ Contributions

Hallmark Missouri PAC - $10,000 from Hallmark Cards, Inc. (HALLPAC).

Jack PAC (pro-Coatar) - $10,000 from theLOUpac.

Page PAC (pro-Page) - $25,000 from Laborers International Union of N.A. Local No. 42 PAC Fund.

Legal Missouri 2022 - $30,000 from Heya Missouri Holdings.

Legal Missouri 2022 - $25,000 from Missouri Leasing and Consulting LLC.

Legal Missouri 2022 - $8,000 from OXG LLC.

Better Days PAC (pro-Rita Days) - $15,000 from Mid-America Carpenters Regional Council Missouri-Kansas Area PAC.

Gladius PAC - $75,000 from Rex Sinquefield.

Birthdays

Happy birthdays to Kevin Austin, Shelley Kenney, and Danielle Moore.