MOScout Daily Update: Parson Mum on IP Reform - Freedom Caucus Plans Rally - Quade Endorsements - Riley for Clubb and more…

Parson Mum on Legislative Issues

Governor Mike Parson delivered his final State of the State speech yesterday.  As expected, the address was largely a look-back.  A fair amount of the speech’s ink was spent reminding the audience of his major accomplishments.  Still there was some news in the speech…

·       New budget proposals to boost childcare subsidy rates.

·       Establishment of a “I-44 Improvement Fund” to lay the groundwork for upgrades that interstate.

·       Consistent retirement of debt means there will be no “HB 1” this year, an indication of the state’s solid financial footing.

·       The backlog of “nearly 4,000 pending clemency applications” Parson inherited has been cleared.

Maybe more interesting is what wasn’t in his speech… the big hot-button legislative items of the Republican supermajority…

·       Not a word about initiative petition reform.  Even after crowing about the state’s prohibition of abortion as one of his major achievements, he didn’t follow up with an exhortation to change the IP process.

·       Only fleeting mention of school choice.  Again, he mentioned school choice as one of his administration’s accomplishments, but didn’t call on an expansion of educational savings accounts, or open enrollment, the two school-choice vehicles moving this session.

·       Nothing on sports betting.  Another issue which occupies a lot of legislative bandwidth that doesn’t seem to be on the governor’s radar.

·       Personal property tax phase-out.  While Parson touted the tax cuts he’s overseen as governor, there was no call for any new ones.

What It Means

Don’t expect the governor to wade in and try to help the legislature sort out those thorny issues.

Freedom Caucus Mind-meld

How the Freedom Caucus sees their situation: This is not a battle between The Freedom Caucus and whoever you mean by “Regulars”. This is a battle between true Missouri Republicans and movement conservatives versus the center-left leaning leadership team that has governed the Missouri Senate for the past 5-6 years and failed to deliver “Big Red” Republican victories like the ones that have been passed time and time again in states like Florida, Texas, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Arkansas, South Carolina, and many others.

Echoing the sentiment that this is really a battle for the heart and soul of the Missouri GOP, the St. Charles County Republican Central Committee and the Boone County Republicans issued statements in support of the Freedom Caucus.  And the FC plans a rally in the capitol next week.

But

The Freedom Caucus’ problem is that they’re basically calling every other Republican senator a RINO for opposing their tactics.  It’s just not a credible charge to say that Missouri Senate is full of RINOs.

·       Americans for Prosperity’s Jeremy Cady pushes back against the Freedom Caucus’ narrative on Twitter.  “They've done nothing but waste time.  They are the problem.  They need to sit down and let us get to our priorities, like education.”

Quade Endorsements

Minority Leader Crystal Quade continued to pile up labor endorsements, adding the Communications Workers of America District 6 and UNITE HERE Local 74 to her long list.

·       The Democratic primary is shaping up as two Springfield candidates coming to the battlefield with different arsenals.  Quade will have the traditional establishment constituency endorsements, and businessman Mike Hamra will have a larger campaign account.

Clubb to Kick Off

Vinnie Clubb, a Republican who’s running in House 153 where Rep. Darrell Atchison has decided not to run for re-election, will kick-off his campaign next month.

Rep. Alex Riley, who’s the shoo-in to be the next House Floor Leader, will be his special guest. That’s a good get for Clubb who’s working hard to get ahead of his primary opponents.  Right now there’s only one, Keith Eliott. 

·       House 153 is a heavy Republican district; Trump won it with 83.8% of the vote in 2020.

Another Special Committee

Speaker Dean Plocher announced the formation of another committee, the Special Committee on Innovation and Technology.  Rep. Chad Perkins will chair the committee.  Other members: Reps. Marlon Anderson (ranking minority member), Danny Busick, Sheri Gallick, Michael Johnson, Cameron Parker, and John Voss (vice-chair).

Keller on Israel

Conservative consultant Gregg Keller pens piece on his takeaways from a recent trip to Israel.  Read it here.

The judicial reform movement last year saw tens of thousands of Israelis across demographic and political spectrums come out and protest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s administration. It risked tipping the country into American-style political dysfunction. But those fissures have disappeared, post-Oct. 7. Israelis of every stripe are united once again against a common, external enemy. The unity across Israeli society at this moment is palpable.

$5K+ Contributions

House Republican Campaign Committee, Inc - $5,050 from Dirk Deaton for Missouri.

Lobbyist Registrations

Gamble & Schlemeier added Lou Fusz Athletic.

Nexus Group added ITG Brands, LLC.

Strategic Capitol Group added Binti, Inc.

Brent Hemphill added Missouri Soybean Association.

Rich AuBuchon added CFM Insurance, Inc.           

Jay Hahn added Digital Monitoring Products, Inc.  

Taylor Henry and Noah Sudow added ReUp Education, Inc.

Yancy Williams deleted Indivior.

Birthdays

Happy birthdays Mark Rhoads, Jack Oliver, Gracia Backer, Mike Corcoran, and Debby Kring.