MOScout Daily Update: Inflation Effect - Bannon to STL - Wilson's Warning - Next Trans Fight? - Jetton to Revenue and more....

Visuals are usually a Sunday thing, but I’m throwing some in today’s update as well…

Inflation Impact

When watching the state’s sale tax revenue (or income tax revenue for that matter), it’s important to note that inflation is going to drive some of the gains we see.  And that’s equally important to keep in mind as the legislature considers any non-indexed “triggers” for future tax cuts.

Here’s a chart from Daily Shot showing US retail sales figures in nominal dollars, and indexed dollars…

Door to Door in the Dorms?

Missouri Mapper has this cool map of districts where the electorate has a heavy helping of voters in college housing. 

House 45 (Columbia): Kathy Steinhoff (D) is unopposed.

House 79 (St. Louis): Rep. LaKeySha Bosley (D) is unopposed.

House 99 (St. Louis County): Rep. Ian Mackey (D) faces LaVanna M Wrobley (R).

House 132 (Springfield): Minority Leader Crystal Quade faces Stephanos Freeman (R).

House 135 (Springfield): Rep. Betsy Fogle (D) faces AJ Exner (R).

Bannon in STL

Recently indicted Trump administration alum Steve Bannon will be in St. Louis tomorrow for an Ed Martin event. Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft also on the bill.

Chief Justice Wilson Issues Warning

Chief Justice Paul Wilson at the opening luncheon of the joint meeting of The Missouri Bar and the Judicial Conference of Missouri yesterday issued this sobering warning.  See the full speech here.

But now there’s a new threat to the public’s trust and confidence – a bigger one – and it’s far more dangerous than a lack of civic education. The public square is increasingly filled with those – including, to my great shame, more than a few lawyers – who are willing to lie to the public, to pour gas on their lack of trust, simply to gain a little short-term popularity.

When a bully pushes you, you have to push back. When someone attacks the rule of law and the judicial system on grounds you know are false, you have got to say something. The public might not believe everything we say, at least not at first, but I know you people and you’re a pretty persuasive bunch when you get going … so get going!

Institutions don’t survive because they’re institutions. They survive because the people who serve in them are committed to making them survive…

But history, as it usually does, provides cautionary tales as well. In 1930s Germany, the judiciary failed in its duty. They were told to render decisions more in keeping with the prevailing will, rather than the law ... and they did. So, bit by bit, German judges and German lawyers followed the mob down into the worst hell anyone has ever imagined. It took a decade and tens of millions of lives to pick up the pieces when an independent judiciary stopped being independent.

Next Trans Battleground?

NYTimes reports that “transgender people born in Montana will no longer be able to change the sex listed on their birth certificate to accurately reflect their identity under a new state rule that is among the most restrictive in the country, according to transgender rights groups.”

·       Under the rule, which took effect on Saturday, transgender people may change the sex listed on their birth certificate only if it was recorded incorrectly as a result of a clerical error or if the person’s sex was “misidentified” on the original certificate and they can prove it through DNA or other scientific testing.

·       “This has made it virtually impossible for trans folks to amend the gender marker on their birth certificate,” said Alex Rate, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Montana.

·       Tennessee, Oklahoma and West Virginia are the only other states that do not currently issue corrected birth certificates for transgender people, according to the National Center for Transgender Equality.

And

Here’s the polling from Pew Research on a variety of trans issues…

Jetton at Revenue

I wrote it as rumor a few weeks ago, but the Missouri Accountability Portal confirms that former speaker Rod Jetton is now working at the Department of Revenue.  The website lists him as an administrative manager.

$5K+ Contributions

Uniting Missouri PAC (pro-Parson) - $10,000 from Hamid Hamrah.

Missouri Leadership Forum - $15,000 from Warrenton Oil Company.

Missouri Leadership Forum - $15,000 from Witte Bros. Exchange, Inc.

American Dream PAC (pro-Kehoe) - $10,000 from Zimmerman Properties, LLC.

Lincoln PAC (pro-Hough) - $10,000 from Missouri Soybean Association.

Lincoln PAC - $10,000 from Missouri Cable Telecommunications Association.

Lincoln PAC - $7,500 from Charter Communications.

XCALIBER MOPAC - $15,000 from Bruce Taylor (Palm Beach FL).

XCALIBER MOPAC - $15,000 from Lee Levinson (Tulsa OK).

Missouri Senate Campaign Committee - $12,500 from Charter Communications.

Lobbyist Registrations

Scott Dieckhaus and Garrett Webb added Atlas Strategy Group.

Cassandra Allana Grewing added Major League Soccer Players Association, National Basketball Association Players Association, Major League Baseball Players Association, National Football League Players Association, and National Hockey League Players Association.                     

Laura Louise Lyacono added AARP-Missouri.

Steven Tilley, Thomas Robbin, Brittany Hyatt Robbins, and Christopher Schoeman added Strategic Air Services.

John Bardgett, Jacqueline Bardgett, Erika Leonard, and Chris Roepe deleted City of Independence.

Birthdays

Happy birthday to Paul Mouton, Sarah Schlemeier, Karen Mohan Day, Joan Bray, and Jim Kottmeyer.