MOScout Daily Update: Hawley's Fist-Pump Fundraising - White's $200K+ Debt - Prepping for Special - Gardner Fined - Pinner Un-quits and more...
Fist Pump = Fundraising Gold
The fist pump image accompanied Senator Josh Hawley’s last minute fundraising appeal yesterday… “It's Josh Hawley. My VITAL end of month deadline is TOMORROW & I need 653 more conservatives in the next 5 HOURS to stand w/me & FIGHT BACK against the Dems' blatant CORRUPTION. Take a stand now…”
Just days earlier Team Hawley hawked his “merch” with the same image…
It speaks to the remarkable divide that half of the country sees that image as opportunistic and reckless leadership encouraging citizens to disrupt the peaceful transition of power, while others cheer it as “fighting back against blatant corruption.”
Special Huddle
House and Senate leadership are expected to meet today and plot out plan for next week’s special session. I’ll keep an ear to the ground to see if there’s optimism or concern in the air.
Meanwhile
Sen. Tony Luetkemeyer went on KCUR to defend the governor’s plan. “In addition to broad relief, the Governor’s proposal eliminates the bottom tax bracket, meaning clearly this is tax relief targeted at lower income families… It is not the role of state government to solve every social woe. But we need to make sure that as Missouri families are struggling with record inflation, that we are taking care of those families by putting money back in their pockets.”
And
News Tribune reports on the state of the House ahead of the special session and Veto Session.
Missouri lawmakers will return to concrete floors and temporary folding tables with laptops in the House next week. Renovations to the House chamber will not be complete when legislators return to the state Capitol on Sept. 6 for a special legislative session focused on tax cuts and agricultural tax credits. The renovation work has been put on hold until after the session concludes.
· One lawmaker tells me she’ll be “wearing comfortable shoes for sure.”
Tale of Two Reports
As 30 Day After reports are tricking in (they’re due at 5PM Thursday) there’s an interesting contrast between two Republican state senate candidates…
· Rep. J Eggleston spent about $80,000 in the final days on advertising across all media. What he didn’t do is spend the $100,000 he’d loaned his campaign at the beginning of the race. In the end, that ante was simply a bluff.
· Meanwhile Sen. Bill White’s report tells a different story. Locked in a tight race with Jill Carter, White kicked in $40,000 to his campaign committee in the final days, in addition to substantial amounts earlier. The report shows his final cash on-hand only $20,000 while his debt ended up being $235,000. White lost by about 1,200 votes. The committee has transitioned to a debt service committee.
Easing Off Abortion Ahead of November?
Axios reports that some Republicans are soft-touching the abortion issue ahead of the November elections, seemingly concerned that the Dobbs decision could be spiking Democratic enthusiasm.
· Attorney General Eric Schmitt doesn’t mention the issue at all on his campaign Issues page.
· But it’s front and center on Trudy Valentine’s website.
Gardner Fined
St. Louis City Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner was fined by the Missouri Supreme Court for her conduct in the investigation of Eric Greitens. Read the Missouri Independent’s article here.
In an agreement between Gardner and the Chief Disciplinary Counsel Alan Pratzel in April, Gardner admitted to unintentionally failing to produce documents to a judge for review and failing to correct misstatements from her contracted investigator during the Greitens investigation…
Further, there was no finding that the Circuit Attorney or her office had “an improper motive or strategy regarding the production of materials in the Greitens case,” it states…
The court’s decision to accept the recommendation for a reprimand is likely the final official action tied to the events that drove Greitens from the governor’s office in 2018.
And
Greitens, who had silent since his Election Night loss, reemerged on Twitter to claim exoneration and vow vengeance…
Twice now in two days, the court has ruled that people lied about me. The lies were aided and abetted by a willing media and millions of dollars in paid political ads…
Those who knowingly perpetrated these falsehoods will be held accountable in a court of law. May we all look forward to justice…
Pinner To Stay in STL Race
Post-Dispatch reports that Katherine Pinner, the unexpected Republican nominee for St. Louis County Executive, has decided that she’s going to stay in the race after all.
Pinner won’t have any money to wage a campaign, and some of her positions are a little nutty.
· The upside: this will give a good reading for the number hard-core Republicans in St. Louis County’s electorate.
$5K+ Contributions
Legal Missouri 2022 - $150,000 from Organic Remides MO Inc (Carlisle PA).
Legal Missouri 2022 - $50,000 from Green Four Ventures LLC.
Committee for Liberty (pro-Ashcroft) - $10,000 from John Binkley (Dallas TX).
CLCP PAC - $10,000 from Missouri Corn Growers Association Inc.
Lake For Jackson County Executive - $7,000 from Bryan Danaher.
Jackson County 4 Kids - $10,000 from Operation Breakthrough.
Jackson County 4 Kids - $7,500 from New House.
Lobbyist Registrations
Betsy Beck, Dmitri Jarocki, and Robbie Lynn added Google LLC and Its Affiliates.
Birthdays
Happy birthdays to Chris Koster and Chris Carter Sr.