MOScout Daily Update: Ashcroft Throws Punches - Approps Axes DEI - 15 Days Left - Snark-Bag and more...

House Debate

Sometimes in a debate it’s almost like the two people aren’t really listening to one another.  For example, watch Reps. LaKeysha Bosley and Doug Richey here (70 seconds).

Ashcroft Throws Punches

Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft isn’t pulling punches as he tries to muscle his way to the governor’s mansion.

He pummeled the Senate yesterday, saying that its bill banning foreign ownership of farm land had a “loophole” which undermined the bill’s effectiveness.

Ashcroft called out Sen. Bill Eigel in particular (misspelling his name, perhaps as a typo, perhaps as a poke).

Ashcroft is running as an outsider against the Republican establishment.  That means we’ll probably hear more along this line in the next eighteen months.

·       It did have the strange effect of compelling Pro Tem Caleb Rowden to jump to Eigel’s defense.

And

Post-Dispatch reports that Ashcroft also poo-pooed Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s rules regarding transgender care.  Read it here.

Ashcroft said adults should be able to make their own decisions and predicted the Republican attorney general’s regulation won’t actually take effect.

“I wouldn’t want to be the attorney that was defending it… If you’re an adult, you have the capacity to make your own decisions,” Ashcroft said. “It’s a decision I would disagree with, but I don’t believe it’s the role of government to forbid it.”

Senate Approps Jettisons DEI Langugae

The Senate Appropriations Committee axed the House’s DEI language in the budget as they made their revisions.  Missouri Independent reports on the move – and the lack of dissent within the committee.

There are fears that this could spark another time-consuming fracas between the House and Senate.  But it feels like, with the governor’s office and business interests behind the Senate position, this will pass without much protest.  And anti-DEI language elsewhere will suffice for conservatives.
We’ll see…

15 Days

After today’s session, there are 14 more working days remaining. 

Among the big issues remaining are IP reform, open enrollment, transgender care, sports betting, and the St. Louis crime situation.

Here’s the best guess on these issues right now…

·       IP reform: This is a PQ-able issue for the Senate majority. Democrats may put up a stink, but faced with that prospect their options are pretty limited. Some believe that the changes will fail at the ballot box and that may ease their conscience when they finally sit down.

·       Open enrollment: This is the big education issue for reformers this session.  It was a tight enough vote in the House that there has to be fear it could falter if it changes too much in the Senate. The lack of action would indicate there’s a lot of behind the scenes negotiating and vote-counting going on.

·       Transgender care: The Senate is done with this issue.  House will have to pass their bill.

·       Sports betting: The MOScout Hallway Index last weekend showed that lobbyists are largely writing this issue off for the session after a compromise failed to emerge. 

·       St. Louis crime: With Rex Sinquefield and Mayor Tishaura Jones focused on retaining control of the police, my best guess is that they hit Kim Gardner, but leave the police alone.

Snark-bag

·       Eigel’s report was 2,200 pages and only raised $54k - $26 per page. Just think of he actually raises a real Amt for a Gov candidate- Say $500k, his report will be over 20,000 pages.

·       We’re all waiting with bated breath to see what Sifton runs for (and walks away from) next.

Lobbyists Registrations

Angie Schulte added Holistic Industries.

Mike Talboy added Starling MHP LLC.

$5K+ Contributions

MBA River Heritage Region PAC - $6,835 from Sterling Bank.

Tina Spallo for City Council - $6,348 from Taxpayers Unlimited.

Missouri American Water Company Employees Political Action Committee - $10,000 from Loellke Plumbing, Inc.

Missouri American Water Company Employees Political Action Committee - $10,000 from Warning Lites of St. Louis, Inc.

Missouri American Water Company Employees Political Action Committee - $10,000 from G & S Construction and Farms, Inc.

Missouri American Water Company Employees Political Action Committee - $10,000 from C.E. Bollmeier Co., Inc.

Missouri American Water Company Employees Political Action Committee - $10,000 from Bommarito Construction.

Missouri American Water Company Employees Political Action Committee - $10,000 from Fred M. Luth & Sons, Inc.

Clay County Democratic Central Committee - $10,000 from UAW Region 4 Midwest States CAP Council.

Birthdays

Happy birthdays to Chris Roepe, Chris Moody, and Pam Dixon.