MOScout Daily Update: Chinese Disinvestment in 2024? - Hicks Hits - Rupp Book - Pro-Hewkins PAC - Chiefs to KS?! and more...

Quick catch-up from the long weekend…

Chiefs Drama

From KCUR:  Jackson County 1st District Legislator Manny Abarca IV says he worries that Kansas City may have missed its shot to secure the stadium.  Abarca, who chairs the county’s Stadium Improvements Committee, told KCUR’s Up To Date that the Royals — and Chiefs — were both made offers to move to neighboring Kansas.  “We have heard from direct sources that there are serious considerations for a move to the Kansas side,” he said.

·       There will be no shortage of finger-pointing if we look back in a few years asking, “who lost the Chiefs?”  I assume Governor Mike Parson will do every. single. thing. possible. to prevent let this process go off the rails and ending in Kansas.

1 Big Thing: China Disinvestment Have 2024 Legs?

Treasurer Vivek Malek’s proposal to jettison the Chinese investments in the Missouri State Employees Retirement System (MOSERS) $9 billion portfolio feels like an issue that could have legs as we enter 2024.

It seems like a natural extension of where red meat politics has been going in the past couple of years.  From President Donald Trump’s hostility to immigration and initiation of a trade war with China to Missouri legislature’s attempt to ban foreign ownership of farmland.

It wouldn’t surprise me if we see a bill addressing this – pre-filing for the next legislative session starts this Friday – or amendments later in session tacking this on.  One assumes that Malek’s team will be working legislators to promote the issue.

·       Joplin Globe opines in favor of the idea… “Vivek Malek raises a great question. The state treasurer wants to know why Missouri’s state employee pension plan is investing in China.  Malek is on point here.  Such investment needs to reevaluated and stopped.”

Calfo Kicks Hicks

Post-Dispatch’s Jack Suntrup writes about reports that Rep. Justin Hicks “as a teenager he attempted to choke his then-girlfriend and that more recently he misrepresented his military record.”  Read it here.  The allegations being spread by his Republican primary challenger Max Calfo.

·       The documents that Calfo published on his website say Hicks was the subject of a protective order in 2010 after his female partner alleged that he grabbed her by the neck and attempted to choke her.

·       “I can’t speak to his character now. I mean, I believe people can change,” the woman said, asking that her name be withheld from publication. “I feel it is in the past for me, but I just hope this isn’t happening to anyone else. I do think that the truth needs to be told because people, especially victims of any kind, deserve a voice.”

·       Calfo also claimed Hicks lied about his military record with statements such as “I’ve spent my life fighting for this country on battlefields” in campaign literature as well as his statement that he “fought in wars” in a 2022 radio interview.

·       Bryce Dubee, a U.S. Army spokesman, told the Post-Dispatch that Hicks served as a human resources specialist in the Army between April 2011 and September 2017.

Rupp on Managing in the Post-COVID Era

Over the long weekend, I had a chance to read Public Service Commission Chairman Scott Rupp’s new book, I Quit!

I’m admittedly a sucker for books written by Missouri pols.  For example, I thought I knew Sen. Holly Thompson Rehder’s story, then I read Cinder Girl, and WOW, I did not know her story at all.

Rupp’s book isn’t a memoir.  It’s an exhortation to company CEOs, and managers to embrace the changes roiling the labor force, and treat their employees as valuable assets.

But it still does have some funny MOLeg moments.  One recollection in particular, involving a charity sheet-shooting event, is worth the price of the book alone.  For building denizens, it perfectly encapsulates what it is like to be a Missouri state senator.

You can order I Quit! Winning The War For Top Talent from Amazon here.

Parson Cheers Buc-ee’s

Governor Mike Parson cheered the opening of a new Buc-ee’s by having his photo taken in front of their famously clean restrooms…

One MOScouter shares texts he received…

·       "This is the most Mike Parson Tweet of Mike Parson Tweets: VIP reception at a new truck stop toilet with free tee shirts."

·       I know elites are laughing but Buc-ees restrooms are so clean and spacious, its key to the total travel experience"

Pro-Hewkin PAC

RX for MO Pac was formed.  It’s to support John Hewkin who is running in Senate 3 as a Republican.  Its treasurer is Mark Milton.  The PAC will allow Hewkin to raise money beyond the limits imposed on his candidate committee.  The PAC name refers to Hewkin’s occupation as a pharmacist.  See Hewkin’s website here.

·       There have been rumors that incumbent Sen. Elaine Gannon won’t be running for re-election. Her fundraising has been lackluster; her campaign committee has about $20K on-hand.

Steinmetz in House 87

In House 87, I’m told that Rep. Paula Brown has decided against running for re-election.  In her place, Connie Steinmetz has formed a campaign committee. According to LinkedIn, Steinmetz is a reading teacher in the Hazelwood School District.

·       Brown eked out a win against Republican Mark Mattheisen in 2018 (back when it was House 70).  She won by 111 votes.  Since redistricting, this is now a solid Democratic district (it was Biden +22 in 2020).

Meet the Flywheelers?

In the past few weeks, Owens Corning has added two DC lobbyists: Sawyer Olson on November 15, and Brandon Peck on November 21.  Both are with Flywheel Government Solutions.

·       Owens Corning is an Ohio company that produces insulation, roofing, and fiberglass products. It claims to be the “world’s largest manufacturer of fiberglass composites.”

Gubby Appts

Governor Mike Parson announced judicial appointments to the 18th and 31st Judicial Circuits.

·       The Honorable Jeff Mittelhauser, of Sedalia, will be appointed as Circuit Judge for the 18th Judicial Circuit.

·       The Honorable Nathan Taylor, of Strafford, was appointed as Circuit Judge for the 31st Judicial Circuit.

$5K+ Contributions

American Dream PAC (pro- Kehoe) - $10,000 from Missouri Chamber PAC.

Liberty and Justice PAC (pro-Bailey) - $7,500 from Elster Law Office, LLC.

Heart of SGF PAC (pro-Stinnett) - $10,000 from Rex Sinquefield.

Conservative Solutions for Missouri PAC (pro-Mary Elizabeth Coleman) - $10,000 from Rex Sinquefield.

Missouri Senate Campaign Committee (GOP Senate campaign committee) - $10,000 from XCaliber International LTD LLC (Pryor, OK).

Growth and Opportunity PAC - $10,000 from Ameren Missouri.

Birthdays

Happy birthday to Ward Cook.