MOScout Daily Update: Bribery Charges in STL - Lottery Shake-Up - Uniting MO Ads Continue - Ride-Along Fallout? and more...

STL City Officials Indicted

Lewis Reed, President of the St. Louis City Board of Aldermen, and two city aldermen were indicted on corruption charges.  Reed has been in public office over twenty years and has run for mayor several times. 

The indictment (see it here) has conversations on tape as a local businessman dishes out money over and over in increments of $1,000 and $2,000 as he pursues tax abatement and other favors.

In exchange for his agreement and use of his official position to assist and support John Doe in obtaining MBE certification and trucking contracts John Doe gave Lewis Reed $2,000 cash.

John Doe: “Do cash rather than check?”

Reed: “Yeah, that’s fine too. That’ll work, yeah.”

Using an automatic money counter, John Doe then counted out $2,000.

Reed: “That’s nice.”

John Doe: “Right?”

Reed: “That… that’s nice.”

What It Means

·         Reed has been a foe of Mayor Tishaura Jones.  This news delighted some of her supporters across social media.

·         It’s an infuriating blow to the City of St. Louis.  The indictment reads like a backwater municipality where you have to hand over petty bribes to grease the functioning of government.  Who the hell wants to do business in a place like that?

Lottery Shake-Up

Lottery director May Scheve-Reardon announced she was exiting. 

Post-Dispatch reports that she cited the General Assembly’s hostility to the organization as her reason.  They’ve continually cut advertising expenditures, and they haven’t reined in the so-called “gray” video lottery machines.

One House Budget committee member pushed back against claims that cutting ad dollars was harmful…

For perspective, the lottery advertising appropriations from FY 19 to FY 22 are as follows:  $15M, $5M, $1.5M, $400K.

·         FY 19 (Advertising = $15,999,997 and Total Lottery Proceeds = $1,466,202,389)

·         FY 20 (Advertising = $4,148,780 and Total Lottery Proceeds = $1,513,049,912)

·         FY 21 (Advertising = $1,499,999 and Total Lottery Proceeds = $1,812,249,955)

Proceeds has increased 100s of millions since advertising has been cut from 16 million to 400k.

Meanwhile this year the House Budget committee discovered lottery was spending millions out of their expense and equipment budget for sponsoring events and “promotions.” Many lawmakers felt this also should have come out of the advertising line - not expense and equipment and therefore had been mislead. There was a hearing specifically on this with lottery in both House Budget and Senate Appropriations.

Meanwhile

Legislative staffer Rachel Bauer announced on Facebook she’s heading to MO Lottery to be their new Policy Director.

Uniting MO Keeps Plugging

Term-limited Governor Mike Parson has no political campaign on the horizon.  Yet his PAC, Uniting Missouri, is staying active. 

One Republican texts me… “I just saw a Uniting MO ad while at the gym. Touting Parson and veterans. Wtf is that about?”

There’s a feeling that maybe the money could be better spent helping Republican House or Senate candidates rather than propping up the approval ratings of a termed governor.  Though I suppose the counterargument is that Parson’s popularity can trickle down across the state.

Fallout From Ride-Along-Gate?

One MOScouter says “a situation is bubbling in Kansas City that could blow up Eric Greiten’s posturing as a friend of law enforcement.”

Back on April 22, Greitens used Kansas City Police Department facilities and an unmarked cop car with its lights flashing as props in a couple of Senate campaign videos he tweeted, but later removed at the KCPD’s request. In the videos, Greitens boasted that he was going on a ride-along with KCPD officers. But it turned out Greitens didn’t have KCPD approval for a ride-along. And as a former governor who appointed members of the Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners, Greitens is presumed to be familiar with strict state prohibitions, dating to the Pendergast era, against any political activity using KCPD people or property or campaigning while in uniform or on duty.

The 1939 law prohibits any KCPD employees or members of the board of police commissioners from using “official authority or influence for the purpose of interfering with any election or any nomination for office, or affecting the result thereof.” The criminal penalty for a violation is up to six months in jail and a fine of $50 to $500.

The Kansas City Star reports that a KCPD police captain from the North Patrol Division, where Greitens made his videos and did his ride-along, is under criminal investigation by a special prosecutor. Documents indicate the captain is the only one under criminal investigation – not Greitens – even though the stunt was to boost Greitens’ campaign, on the same day his Senate race rival Eric Schmitt was endorsed by the Fraternal Order of Police. It’s unclear whether the special prosecutor will eventually expand the investigation to look into possible charges against Greitens, though the specific ban is on KCPD employees.

Lobbyists Registrations

Heath Clarkston, Doug Nelson, and Kurt Schaefer added FORVIS; and deleted BKD.

Dick Andrew added Electrify America.

Richard McIntosh added Steady Paws.

Rebecca Lohmann deleted Seven Points Cultivation, and VC Missouri 3 LLC.

$5K+ Contributions

Uniting Missouri PAC - $25,000 from Phoenix Home Care & Hospice.

Uniting Missouri PAC - $10,000 from Missouri Senior PAC.

Birthdays

Happy birthdays to Ward Franz, Ray Weter, Abe Rakov, and Lynda Brotherton.