MOScout Daily Update: Cierpiot Rips Lembke, Klein, Plemmons - Reaction to Trump Raid - Make Liberty Win Scorecard and more...
Cierpiot Rips Conservative Caucus
Sen. Mike Cierpiot let loose on the Pete Mundo radio show yesterday. Listen to the interview here. It’s about 17 minutes. But it’s jammed packed. Biggest takeaways…
· Cierpiot blames the Conservatives Caucus for Senate’s troubles, and Jim Lembke in particular.
· He says that the other Republicans senators will be establishing a social media presence to counter that of the Conservative Caucus.
· He takes aim at Missouri Right to Life, saying they’ve lost trust with a number of senators.
From the Cierpiot quote machine…
· It all started in ‘18. We had leadership race. And two people lost. Shortly after that they formed this thing that they call the conservative caucus. I think it’s more accurate to call it the chaos caucus. They are dead-set on just being obstructionists… Some of them want to expand gambling which absolutely goes against goes against the platform committee… They wanted some things that helped their political goals at a future date…
· Jim Lembke lies as easy as he breathes…
· We’ve have a tradition in the Senate, and now that we’ve been through this I understand why these things were in place where senators didn’t do to other senators’ districts and areas and stir the pot... I think we’re going to find out why that was a long-term gentlemen’s agreement because the hard feelings that develops coming to other districts to stir the pot is going to be difficult to get through…
· Mike Moon, who offers a lot of silly amendments...
· The year we got [abortion banned] we’re having a fistfight with Missouri Right to Life because they are a member-driven. They have to raise money… For the next four years, Missouri Right to Life is not welcome in my office until they fire Susan Klein and Dave Plemmons. These people have no trust and amongst the majority of senators...
· One thing is going to change though. Ever since ’18 when this chaos caucus formed, the adults in the Senate have tried the abide by the rules as they’ve been and the traditions of the Senate. And we’ve been proven that has not worked… We’re going to have a media presence now, the adults will, I don’t know what it’s going to be called. And we’re going to tell people exactly what’s going on…
· [Lembke] is [Conservative Caucus’] puppet-master. When he says “Jump,” the rest of them say “How high?” What they’ve got to do somehow is get away from him because he has a very big financial interest in this. He’s making a lot of money from these PACs…
What It Means
· The Republican civil war in the Senate is alive and well. It sounds like the Regular Republicans – angry at the tactics during the primary season – will be more aggressive in pushing back.
· Buckle in for another contentious session next year. (Good news for Dems.)
Make Liberty Win Scorecard
The federal Make Liberty Win PAC spent nearly $400K in Missouri during the primary as they once again brought their field program to the aid of several legislative candidates. Here’s who they backed and who won and lost. They were 4-3 in their Senate races and 4-7 on their House races.
WINNERS
Nick Schroer – Senate 2
Curtis Trent – Senate 20
Benjamin Brown – Senate 26
Jill Carter – Senate 32
Mazzie Boyd – House 2
Chris Lonsdale – House 38
Tony Lovasco – House 64
Darin Chappell – House 137
LOSSES
Bryan Spencer – Senate 10
Suzie Pollock – Senate 16
Angela Romine – Senate 30
Jasper Logan – House 1
Willard Haley (worked against) – House 58
Jessica Levsen – House 62
John Brunner – House 101
Duell Lauderdale – House 103
Matthew Griese – House 108
Elaine Edgar – House 147
Reaction on Trump Raid
· Rep. Ben Baker on Facebook: In light of todays FBI raid on a former presidents home, I propose that we add to our upcoming special session regarding a tax cut in the Missouri legislature some legislation amending our laws on federal agencies and their activity outside the purvey of our state laws….
· From Politico: GOP REACTION — The immediate political impact in the GOP was a rally to Trump’s defense… House members, senators, 2022 nominees, and potential 2024 GOP presidential candidates flooded social media with condemnation of President JOE BIDEN, MERRICK GARLAND and the FBI and in solidarity with Trump. But there was one corner of the GOP establishment notable for its restraint: Senate Republican leadership. Minority Leader MITCH MCCONNELL (R-Ky.), Whip JOHN THUNE (R-S.D.), Republican Conference Chairman JOHN BARRASSO (R-Wyoming), Republican Policy Committee Chairman ROY BLUNT (R-Mo.), Vice Chairman of the Senate Republican Conference JONI ERNST (R-Iowa) all refrained from tweeting about the raid as of early this morning…
Too Early for 2024 Talk?
Tipster says Rep. Adam Schwadron “is putting out feelers about running for Secretary of State in 2024… I think his logic is that Ashcroft running for Gov creates an opening and if he serves a full 8 years in the House, he’ll miss out on the chance to run statewide. And I think SOS is particularly interesting to him since he ran for Director of Elections in St. Charles in 2018.”
eMailbag: Not Everyone Loves Fitzwater
I’m really pushing back on the [Travis] Fitzwater piece today. He works for a lobbying organization for gods sakes. The guy is as much a lobbyist as I am… See for yourself. He’s a walking ethics nightmare…
$5K+ Contributions
HBS MO State PAC - $20,000 from Tenaska Clear Creek Wind LLC.
Missouri Realtors PAC Inc - $5,622 from St. Louis Associations of REALTORS.
theLOUpac - $10,000 from Anheuser-Busch Companies Inc.
Birthdays
Happy birthdays to Lyndall Fraker, and Christopher Till.