MOScout Daily Update: SOTS Day - Bowlin in Senate 15 - Hawley in Town - Eigel Q4$ > Ashcroft - Malek Swearing In and more...

SOTS Day

Governor Mike Parson will deliver his penultimate State of the State speech.  It sounds like the speech could be full of “legacy” items – money for I-70, money to expand child care services…

With some $6 billion sitting in the state bank accounts screaming to be spent, you’d think his wish-list will be like spoon-feeding a baby, but there’s a mini Tug-of-War in the building…

·       Tax Cut: Some Republicans would like another tax cut (personal property, corporate).

·       Spend: Most Dems believe the state sitting on a pile of cash is a huge opportunity cost for Missourians who could benefit from needed investments.

·       Save: Some fiscal hawks are nervous (recession fears, influential budget watcher Jim Moody sees a peak in state revenue).

Parson has made a career of navigating a reasonable course between competing interests, so it wouldn’t surprise me to see a little bit of each.

Counter-SOTS

House Minority Leader Crystal Quade will hold a news conference to respond to the governor’s SOTS in the House Lounge immediately following the speech.

Senate 15 Gets a Primary

Wildwood Mayor Jim Bowlin will announce for Senate 15 this morning, creating a Republican primary to succeed term-limited Sen. Andrew Koenig.

From the announcement: Bowlin, whose second term as Mayor ends in 2024, seeks this position out of his belief in the need for transparency and accountability within the region.  “Crime is hitting everyone in the District and our State and Federal governments are spending too much.

This has resulted in higher costs for everyday items and it is hurting our families,” Bowlin said. “I will fight for greater transparency at all levels of government, support law enforcement, punish criminals, and eliminate waste and abuse of Missourians’ tax dollars.”

·       Bowlin will fight to give the voters of St. Louis City the right to recall their prosecutor, Kim Gardner, should she let one more murderer go free.

Bowlin will face former Rep. David Gregory who announced his intention to run for the seat last year – and has a fundraiser scheduled for tomorrow night.

Driving the Day: Senate Hearings on Priority Bills

The Senate will start the process on a couple of its top priorities…

·       Health and Welfare (10:15AM, SCR1) will hold a hearing on insuring Medicaid services for pregnant and postpartum women.

·       Education (Noon, Senate Lounge) will hold a hearing on a couple of “Parents Bill of Rights” bills.

Driving the Night: Hawley Hosts Legislators

US Senator Josh Hawley will be in Jefferson City tonight to host a reception (Revel, up on High Street) for Republican legislators and statewide elected officials.

Last year’s event was widely attended, including every Republican statewide elected official.  It’s a must-attend Missouri political event not only for current Republican office-holders, but for those interested in higher office…

Notes from the Malek Swearing-In

One capitol veteran shared his insights from yesterday’s swearing-in of State Treasurer Vivek Malek, the first person of color and the first person of Indian descent to hold statewide office in more than two centuries…

·       The people’s House: Three busloads of immigrants, mostly Indians from the St. Louis and Kansas City areas, packed the House chamber, many seated at desks usually occupied by representatives. Former Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, the emcee and an old friend of Malek, asked for a show of hands of first-time Capitol visitors. Probably 80 percent of the audience raised their hands.

·       Spellbinding speech: Malek delivered a spellbinding speech: “I was born in India. My mother and father were born on farms. My parents worked tirelessly all their lives… Through a friend, I met a professor from Southeast Missouri State University who was visiting his family in India. The professor encouraged me to enroll at SEMO… This was a big step. For one thing, I had never flown on an airplane! I started my journey from my small hometown of Rohtak, in the State of Haryana, in India. I flew non-stop more than 14 hours and landed in Chicago on August 11th, 2001. I had two suitcases, $300 in my pocket, and a mixture of hope and apprehension…”

·       A potentially huge donor base: Capitol insiders chatting with the many Indian visitors learned Malek’s story is not so unusual, and that there is startling wealth in the Indian immigrant business community. For example, one VIP guest at Malek’s inauguration was Chicago-based billionaire Indian-American industrialist Shalabh "Shalli" Kumar, whose family contributed some $4 million to Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. Another VIP was St. Louis Indian business leader Andy Patel, who has raised big money for Parson and other Republicans.

House Committee Appointments

House Minority Leader Crystal Quade made her appointments to House committees.

• Freshmen landing spots on the Budget committee: Reps. Aaron Crossley, Anthony Ealy, Stephanie Hein, Kathy Steinhoff, and Del Taylor.

Here’s the Ranking Minority Member on each committee…

Administration and Accounts – Donna Baringer.

Agricultural Policy - Emily Weber.

Budget - Peter Merideth.

Children and Family - Sarah Unsicker.

Subcommittee on Appropriations- Agriculture, Conservation, Natural Resources, and Economic

Development – Ingrid Burnett.

Subcommittee on Appropriations- Education – Kevin Windham.

Subcommittee on Appropriations- General Administration – Maggie Nurrenbern.

Subcommittee on Appropriations- Health, Mental Health, and Social Services – Deb Lavender.

Subcommittee on Appropriations- Public Safety, Corrections, and Revenue – Rasheen Aldridge.

Conservation and Natural Resources – Paula Brown.

Corrections and Public Institutions – Rasheen Aldridge.

Crime Prevention and Public Safety – Marlon Anderson.

Economic Development – Jerome Barnes.

Elections – Joe Adams.

Elementary and Secondary Education – Paula Brown.

Emerging Issues – Ashley Aune.

Ethics – Richard Brown.

Financial Institutions – Doug Clemens.

Fiscal Review – Donna Baringer.

General Laws – Keri Ingle

Government Efficiency and Downsizing – Gretchen Bangert.

Health and Mental Health Policy – LaDonna Appelbaum.

Healthcare Reform – Patty Lewis.

Higher Education – Kevin Windham.

Insurance Policy – Steve Butz.

Judiciary – Robert Sauls.

Legislative Review – Ingrid Burnett.

Local Government – Joe Adams.

Pensions – Richard Brown.

Professional Registration – Richard Brown.

Rules Legislative – LaKeySha Bosley.

Rules Administrative – Ian Mackey.

Rules Regulatory – Keri Ingle.

Rural Community Development – Michael Burton.

Special Committee on Government Accountability – Maggie Nurrenbern.

Special Committee on Homeland Security – Jerome Barnes.

Special Committee on Election Contests – Kimberly-Ann Collins.

Special Committee on Small Business – Raychel Proudie.

Special Committee on Tax Reform – Deb Lavender.

Special Committee on Tourism – Ingrid Burnett.

Special Committee on Urban Issues –

Transportation Accountability – Steve Butz.

Transportation Infrastructure – Gretchen Bangert.

Utilities – Keri Ingle.

Veterans – Jerome Barnes.

Ways and Means – Ashley Bland Manlove.

Workforce Development and Infrastructure – Bridget Walsh Moore.

Team Eigel to Drebes: Remember Us?

I wrote yesterday about the contrast between the PACs of Mike Kehoe and Jay Ashcroft, omitting the third candidate in the gubernatorial primary race, Sen. Bill Eigel.  One Eigel supporter fills in my gap: The real take away is what happened apart from the Kehoe PAC… Eigel total raise: $135K. Ashcroft total raise: $10.7K.

Eigel had 600 individual donors. 

So the take away is even with his daddy’s help and last name, who has the momentum????

Webber Forms Candidate Committee

Stephen Webber has formed his candidate committee to run for Senate 19.  See the paperwork here.  Two points of interest…

·       His treasurer is Lisa Finn, sister of former Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill.

·       The committee’s name is Webber for Boone County – a nice touch to play on the pride of Boone County to have a senate seat all their own.

Stevenson to MFFH

Craig Stevenson was be named to the Missouri Foundation for Health board.  Stevenson is Stakeholder Engagement Manager for Home State Health (Centene).  He was previously with Kids Win Missouri.

Lobbyists Registrations

Nexus Group added United Way of Greater St. Louis.

Nancy Giddens and Shannon Cooper added Civic Council of Greater Kansas City.

David Jackson, Sarah Schlemeier, Olivia Wilson, John Gamble, and Kathryn Gamble added Operation Sand, LLC.

$5K+ Contributions

Ozark Gateway Leadership PAC (pro-Cody Smith) - $6,000 from MO Majority PAC.

Ozark Gateway Leadership PAC - $6,000 from Missouri Growth PAC.

A Better Missouri Political Action Committee - $13,885 from Anheuser-Busch Cos.

Francis Howell Families - $6,000 from Ed Stiften.

Birthdays

Happy birthdays to Robert Knodell, Shawn Rhoads, Carl Bearden, Bill Lant, and Bob May.