MOScout Daily Update: Schoeller for SOS - Dem Filibuster - $118M Fraud?! - Biden Says "MissourAH" and more...

Exclusive: Schoeller to Enter SOS Race

I’m told that Greene County Clerk Shane Schoeller will announce his candidacy for Secretary of State this weekend at Lincoln Days.

Schoeller brings some strengths to the race…

·       Geography – Greene County is one of the larger pools of Republican voters.

·       Timing – By getting in early Schoeller will have the advantage of hitting the Lincoln Days circuit as an announced candidate this year.

·       Curtman – Schoeller’s committee treasurer is former Rep. Paul Curtman, much-loved amongst the far-right base.  Expect Curtman to be “very involved in the overall campaign.”

·       Campaign Experience – Schoeller was the Republican candidate for SOS in 2012, edging out Scott Rupp and Bill Stouffer in a tough three-way primary.  2012, the year of the infamous Todd Akin “legitimate rape” comments, saw Democrats win every statewide race except lieutenant governor incumbent Peter Kinder held on.

What It Means

With each announced candidate, the pressure will grow on others to make a decision and announce, lest they find they’re being out-hustled on fundraising and endorsements.

·       I’ve listed a pretty big pool of potential 2024 Republican candidates, so we’ll see if they start to make their intentions known.

Meanwhile

One Republican considering 2024 offers this warning, “I would NOT rule out the possibility of Greitens making a return in some way…”

$118M Fraud?!

Jim Moody, over at the Moody Report, noted a crazy footnote in the most recent Department of Revenue’s Daily General Revenue Report…

The January GR numbers are inflated approximately $118,000,000 due to an individual fraud scheme identified at the beginning of February 2023.  The fraudulent payments will be reversed during the month of February 2023.

I did a quick news search and couldn’t find a $118 million fraud story.  It’s a head-scratcher of a “footnote.”

Dems Filibuster

The Senate experienced its first filibuster of the session.  Democrats stood in opposition to Sen. Mike Bernskoetter’s SB 21.  It would lower the maximum unemployment benefits based on the current unemployment rate.  Right now the maximum duration is 20 weeks.  Under the bill that would drop to 8 weeks when unemployment is below 3.5%. 

This has long been a goal for many Republicans.  Senate research notes that the bill’s “provisions are identical to SB 1114 (2022) and substantially similar to SB 183 (2021), HB 756 (2021), HB 215 (2021), SCS/HCS/HB 649 (2021), SB 680 (2020), provisions in SCS/HB 1559 (2020), HB 1921 (2020), SCS/HB 332 (2019), HB 217 (2019), SB 869 (2018), HB 1409 (2018), SCS/SB 189 (2017), HB 288 (2017), HB 150 (2015), which was vetoed by the Governor, and SB 220 (2015).”

FYI

Right now, Missouri’s unemployment rate is 2.8%

SOTU Headline: Missourah

Among Missouri political Twitter-ites, the big news from President Joe Biden’s State of the Union was his pronunciation of Missouri

·       Mark Maxwell: Missouri gets a shout out in President Biden’s State of the Union. He says more timber has been burned in American forest fires than all the trees “in Missourah.”

·       Alex Witt: President Biden comes out with a bold new detail in tonight’s #SOTU: He is a Missour-AH, not Missour-I guy.

Lobbyists Registrations

Renee Bivens and Monica Yalamanchili added Dish Network LLC.

Jonathan Dalton added Build Senior Living LLC, and Jefferson County 911 Dispatch.

Tim Lynch added National Insurance Crime Bureau.

Roosevelt Lyons added Quality Schools Coalition.

Matt Welsh added Opiant Pharmaceuticals, Inc.     

$5K+ Contributions

NEMO Leadership PAC (pro-O’Laughlin) - $10,000 from Charter Communications.

Birthdays

Happy birthdays to Terry Swinger, and Kathie Conway.