MOScout Daily Update: Trump on AZ and What It Means for MO - August or November? - Impatient Eigel and more…

What Trump Says About AZ

Politico reports that “former President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Arizona went too far after the state’s high court issued a ruling outlawing abortion unless a patient’s life is in danger. ‘Yeah, they did and I think it’ll be straightened out and, as you know, it’s all about state’s rights and it will be straightened out,’ Trump said at a campaign event in Atlanta when asked if Arizona’s ruling went too far. ‘And I’m sure the governor and everybody else have got to bring it back into reason and that it will be taken care of I think.’”

Why this matters: Arizona’s law is basically the same as Missouri’s law right now. 

This puts Trump now precisely inline with what has been the position of Lieutenant Governor Mike Kehoe.  And it puts Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft and Sen. Bill Eigel supporting a law that Trump thinks must be brought “back into reason.”

Parson’s Potential Choice

The evolving Trump position on abortion has brought new fluidity to the abortion debate – and reasserted itself in the Missouri political landscape.

Assuming that the pro-choice initiative petition is able to gather enough signatures, Governor Mike Parson will decide whether it goes on the August primary ballot or the November general election ballot.

I had assumed that the grand old plan would be to put IP reform on the August ballot in hopes that it would pass and pro-life groups could sue to try to impose its new difficult standard on the November pro-choice IP.

But it could be that Parson’s advisors are more worried about the causalities that a November pro-choice IP could bring than a long-shot legal strategy.  They might think: settle the issue in August so suburban House and Senate candidates don’t face a wave of angry swing voters who – like Trump – feel the state’s abortion law has gone too far.

IVF and GOP

Yesterday I wrote about the Senate debate over the anti-Planned Parenthood legislation.  I wondered by Dems didn’t sit after the McCreery amendment to protect IVF.

One reader’s take: “I wonder if the Ds don’t want them to take a vote – so they can run against them all – or suggest that all Rs would want to take [IVF] away. If some of them voted in favor of IVF, it would not make them seem as draconian.”

This could be, though, Republican leadership doesn’t seem to be in any hurry to bring the matter to a vote either.  Rep. Bill Allen’s HB 2845 (“Nothing in the laws of this state shall be construed to prohibit any activity associated with in vitro fertilization procedures.”) remained stalled.  It hasn’t even been referred to a committee for a hearing.

Eigel Growing Impatient

Sen. Bill Eigel on the Senate floor yesterday tapped his toes and looked at his watch, wondering why the Senate was working on a House bill when the House hasn’t passed the Senate’s IP reform.  It is the #1 favorite pastime of the Freedom Caucus to second-guess and back-seat drive the Senate Floor Leader, 10x worse than kids on a long car-ride.

“Let me take you back in a little trip back in time, just a little bit… SJR 74, which would modify provisions in the Constitution, relating to initiative petition reform.  The Senate third read that bill, if you recall, the Senate third read that bill on February 22nd. February 22nd. So, today is April 10th, which means that the House has been sitting on this bill, SJR 74, for 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, tomorrow will mark 7 weeks that they've been sitting on SJR 74, the initiative petition reform bill. And I guess I don't understand why the Senate, who put so much effort into getting that passed, would go to any House bill, especially a House bill that we've already passed on a Senate bill, when the House continues to sit and do nothing on what has been identified as one of the most important priorities of the session.”

What It Means

This is our life for the next five weeks.  The Senate is poised to avoid the landmine of the FRA tax renewal, and another landmine appears. 

Oliver Bust

Press release: House Speaker Dean Plocher and the Missouri House of Representatives are honored to announce the induction of Marie Watkins Oliver into the Hall of Famous Missourians. Marie Watkins Oliver, hailed as the "Betsy Ross of Missouri," played a key role in designing and crafting the Missouri State Flag.

·       Marie Watkins Oliver is the great-great-grandmother of Bryan Cave Strategies’ Jack Oliver.

$5K+ Contributions

American Dream PAC (pro-Kehoe) - $5,650 from Beau Brauer.

Bootheel Values PAC (pro-Burger) - $5,200 from Drury Development Corporation.

Missourians for Truth in Petitioning (anti-Ozark casino IP) - $46,216 from Strategic Capital Consultants, LLC.

HBS MO State PAC - $10,000 from Midwest Solar Devco CEI, LLC (Scottsdale, AZ).

Missouri First - $30,000 from Republic Services (Phoenix, AZ).

Families for a Strong St. Joseph - $14,000 from American Advancement, Inc. (Hyattsville, MD).

Protect Majority Rule - $6,678 from The Fairness Project (Washington, DC).

Birthdays

Happy birthdays to Cara Stark, Heidi Kolkmeyer, Matt Sain, Meghan McCann, Steve Roberts Sr., and Dave Leipholtz.