MOScout Daily Update: Carpenters Back Wiemann - Schmitt Hits Hartzler - Dems Down on PCM - The Next AG? and more....
Money Trails
July campaign finance reports are due by today 5PM. I’ll have a rundown for you tomorrow morning. Here are interesting developments in today’s large contributions…
· Carpenters back Wiemann – In Senate 2, the Carpenters’ union sent $100K to Rep. John Wiemann’s PAC. Wiemann isn’t known as a labor-friendly Republican, but maybe the prospect of Rep. Nick Schroer being Sen. Schroer has Carpenters willing to play ball. On Wiemann’s end, one lobbyist sees it as realpolitik: “If trial lawyers are sending $$$ to the conservative caucus, I understand Wiemann looking for ways to counter.”
· More Rex $$$ for Coleman – In Senate 22, there’s another $25K check to Rep. Mary Elizabeth Coleman’s PAC from Rex Sinquefield. It’s the third such check (being the total to $75K – so far) in the last 30 days.
· Herzog money goes after Wieland – Grudges never die in Missouri politics. Remember when Sen. Paul Wieland gave Todd Graves a hard time in his confirmation hearing to join the Mizzou curators? There’d been some bad blood there before because Eric Greitens (who Team Graves backed) and Wieland had squared off. Well, one day after Herzog Contracting (Team Graves) sent money to a new PAC, that PAC turns around and contributes to Wieland’s primary opponent down in the Jefferson County Executive race.
Medical Emergency Mess
Governor Mike Parson rejected Democrats’ ask for a specials session to clearly define the parameters by which an abortion can be performed as a “medical emergency.” In doing so, he gave a gobbledygook answer that seemed to only magnify the need for a clearer law.
· Read the Department of Health and Senior Services one-page explainer on situation here. Can DHSS provide legal advice so that medical professionals and patients can know what is and is not legal? No.
Schmitt PAC Hits Hartzler
The pro-Eric Schmitt PAC, Save Missouri Values, released an ad attacking Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler as getting rich during her time in Washington. The ad also uses Donald Trump’s recent “anti-endorsement” and calls her “Tricky Vicky.”
What It Means
It’s the first indication that Team Schmitt might think Hartzler, not Eric Greitens, is their main competitor…
Missouri Freedom Foundation PAC July Quarter
Missouri Freedom Foundation PAC appears to be the vehicle where Conservative Caucus-esque donors are coalescing to throw darts at incumbent Republican senators.
On their July report were contributions to…
· Jill Carter (running against Bill White).
· Joe Nicola (running against Mike Cierpiot).
· Suzie Pollock (running against Justin Brown).
· Scott Riedel (running against Mike Bernskoetter).
· Angela Romine (running against Lincoln Hough).
Looking Around the Corner
Chatter is starting about who the governor might appoint to statewide positions later this year – depending on the outcome of elections. If Eric Schmitt and/or Scott Fitzpatrick win, he’ll have a chance to replace them. Here are some names being thrown around.
Attorney General
· Only two Republican state senators who are lawyers so not much depth there to pick from (Luetkemeyer and White)
· Edward Greim (Team Graves)
· Kurt Schaefer
· Chris Limbaugh
· Jay Ashcroft (to get him out of the gov’s race)
Treasurer
· Sandy Crawford is the name everyone assumes would be on Parson’s short-list. She’s from his neck of the woods and has a financial background.
· Other possibilities: David Gregory (as a consolation prize of sorts), Holly Rehder, Caleb Rowden, and Cody Smith.
Ray Epps Conspiracy
New York Times interviews Ray Epps from an undisclosed location. Read it here. Epps was at the center of a right-wing conspiracy theory that the January 6 riots were a “false flag” operation by the FBI or the Venezuelans, or the Martians… He’s had to reconstruct his whole life because of the widespread right-wing conspiracy theory.
· The Missouri angle: As you might expect, Greitens recklessly perpetuated it.
eMailbag: Dems Down on Pro-Choice MO
· Pro-Choice Missouri is eating its own. Staunch pro-choice vocal supporters of and advocates for choice are being shunned because Pro-Choice MO’s misguided goal seems only to be reelecting Cori Bush. Hard enough to fight supermajorities in MOLeg… dividing the supporters because some believe “innocent until proven guilty” is short-sighted and wrong-headed.
· The Roberts thing is just an excuse. They did this to Cara Spencer and others and it wasn’t about Roberts… It’s almost like those candidates using certain consultants get endorsed…
· Seems like the most inopportune time to burn bridges, especially given fights on birth control and leaving the state and constitutional amendments loom ahead. The best thing they could have done for the people they purport to care about would have been to endorse Tracy McCreery and worked their asses off to get her elected. It’s amazing how these organizations, left-leaning and right-wing, have allowed their leadership’s own self-importance and ego get in the way of their missions. And the ironic part is they’re all more irrelevant than ever.
· If they want to elect pro-choice candidates then they should focus on that or change the name of their organization… These holier-than-thou Twitter progressives are going to destroy any gains we have and make us an even redder state.
Lobbyists Registrations
Rodney Boyd, Kate Casas, Brian Grace, and Kelvin Simmons added Educational Testing Service.
$5K+ Contributions
JW Leadership Fund (pro-Wiemann) - $100,000 from Mid-America Carpenters Regional Council Missouri-Kansas Area PAC.
Great Northwest PAC (pro-Black) - $50,000 from Herzog Contracting Corp.
BB Freedom Fund (pro-Ben Brown) - $25,000 from Believe in Life and Liberty.
Conservative Solutions for Missouri PAC (pro-Coleman) - $25,000 from Rex Sinquefield.
JEFF PAC (pro-Roorda) - $15,066 from Mid-America Carpenters Regional Council MO-KS Area PAC.
Gannon For Jefferson County - $10,000 from Mid-America Carpenters Regional Council MO-KS Area PAC.
Gannon For Jefferson County - $49,999 from Let’s Go Brandon PAC.
Friends of Kyle Marquart (running in House 109) - $9,000 from Kyle Marquart.
PT-PAC of Missouri - $10,000 from SSM Select Rehab St. Louis.
Steve White for Judge - $75,000 from Steven White.
UAW Region 5 Midwest States Political Action Committee (PAC) (MO) - $6,000 from UAW Region 4 Exchange Account.
Kaye Today (running for Jefferson County Council) - $5,500 from Robert Kaye.
Friends For A New Day (running for Jefferson County Clerk) - $8,000 from Julie Day.
Birthdays
Happy birthdays Adriane Crouse, and Dionne Flowers Baker.