MOScout Daily Update: Freedomers Target Patterson - Kehoe PAC Spent $1.6M - Razer PAC for Contreras - WSJ on Suburban Women and more….

Kehoe PAC Raises and Spends $1M+

American Dream PAC, the pro-Mike Kehoe PAC, filed its April quarterly report.  See it here.  It reported raising $1.8 million and spending $1.6 million, closing with $4.5 million on-hand.

Team Kehoe has started deploying its cash.  This seems prudent because there can be capacity issues.  How much can you spend in a short amount of time – and, how much can your audience digest in a short amount of time?  Spend too early and they’ll forget your message, spend too late and you may have too much ground to cover and too much noise cluttering your path.

Among the top expenses…

·       Media buys: $725K ($425K AX Media; $300K DDI Media).

·       Fundraising expenses: $200K ($100K Capitol Consulting; $75K Capital Enhancement; $25K Tidwell & Co).

·       Polling: $80K (American Viewpoint)

·       Media production: $60K (Madison McQueen)

And

I’m told that the Kehoe’s candidate committee today will report over $550K raised, with approximately $1.7 million COH.

Big PACs On the Sideline

The filing deadline for the April quarter is tonight (5PM).  I’ll have a rundown tomorrow.  But among the political action committee which have already filed, some are sitting on mounds of cash.  We’ll see how aggressively these PACs play in this election cycle, but they could tip the scales in close primaries and swing district general election races.

·       Mid-America Carpenters Political Action Committee - $1.8 million.

·       Missouri and Kansas Laborers' PAC  - $1.3 million.

·       RightPath PAC (Washington University supporters) - $1.3 million.

Freedomers Target Patterson

Last week Sen. Bill Eigel growled that he was worried that IP reform was taking too long to come back from the House.  Now, a St. Louis group, Freedom Principle MO, is echoing his concerns.

They sent an email blast to their supporters blaming House Floor Leader Jon Patterson for “blocking IP reform.”  They claim that Patterson is “controlled by dark-money billionaires from Missouri and Texas who want SJR 74 to fail… because these billionaires believe non-citizens SHOULD be able to vote in our elections.”

There’s no shortage of imagination from this group of Freedomers as they see SJR 74 as the only thing to prevent Democrats from sweeping Missouri elections… “The pro-abortion-on-demand crowd is close to getting enough signatures to get their initiative petition on the November ballot. If they get their IP on the November ballot and we have not implemented Concurrent Majority Ratification, Missouri could become a blue state overnight. This means four more years of Joe Biden. This means a Democrat governor and a Democrat legislature.”

·       Unmentioned in the blast is that the House has passed IP reform.

What’s Keeping Hannah Up At Night

This blurb and graph from the Wall Street Journal is surely giving House Republican Campaign Committee Executive Director Hannah Beers Sutton something to worry about…

A recent Wall Street Journal poll of seven battleground states found that 39% of suburban women cite abortion as a make-or-break issue for their vote—making it by far the most motivating issue for the group. Nearly three-quarters of them say the procedure should be legal all or most of the time, and a majority thinks Trump’s policies are too restrictive.

More on Appts

Still digesting Governor Mike Parson’s long list of appointments. A few notes…

·       One source with an inside view says that “Senators are very upset with these appointments, not being considered for their opinions.  Expect a huge fight.”  But another veteran dismisses the concern: “People will bitch about it. But [it won’t derail things] at the end.”

·       Sen. Greg Razer is 100% behind Pat Contreras as his successor.  His PAC, KC Neighbors for Progress, is now fully supporting Contreras.  That means that Contreras “walks in with just shy of $100,000 before beginning to fundraise.”  That PAC’s just filed April report showed $93,587 on-hand.

·       John Mitchell’s appointment to the Public Service Commission will take the place of former Sen. Scott Rupp.  Another former senator, Maida Coleman, is also serving beyond her term right now.

More on Poll

The result I found most interesting from last weekend’s MOScout/Remington poll of Senate 15 (St. Louis County) Republican voters was the extent to which immigration has eclipsed other bread-and-butter issues with Republicans.

Q3: Which of the following should be your State Senators’ top priority? Creating jobs, fighting illegal immigration, improving education, lowering taxes, reducing crime, or something else?

Creating jobs: 9%

Fighting illegal immigration: 46%

Improving education: 10%

Lowering taxes: 12%

Reducing crime: 15%

Something else: 8%

And

One Dem smiles at the poll: The SD15 poll is good news for [Democrat] Joe Pereles. These Republicans are going to have to go extreme to win the primary. This leaves moderate Pereles in a good position after the primary in a district that isn't as 'Trump' Republican as other areas. This will be a top target of Dems.

MO Corn for Schaefer

The Missouri Corn Growers Association (MCGA) endorsed Kurt Schaefer in CD-3.  See it here.

“Kurt Schaefer, who practices environmental and agriculture law, has been a champion for Missouri corn growers during his time serving in the Missouri Senate and in his professional career. We are confident he will relentlessly advocate for agriculture if elected to Congress…”

Lincoln Curators and Alumni Association Rift

Last month the Alumni Association of Lincoln University issued a statement of no confidence in university’s Board of Curators.

Last week the Board fired off its own missive which one observer summed up was telling the Association to “go pound sand.”  Read it here.

“Your letter unfairly and inaccurately portrays Lincoln as a university in dire straits and stagnating under President Moseley’s leadership during the last two years.  This is simply a false narrative.”

Lobbyists Registrations

Ashley Hayek added America First Works.

Mike Southard added Amplify Education, Inc.         

Kent Kaiser added Domestic Policy Caucus.                      

$5K+ Contributions

Osage River Gaming and Convention (Ozark casino IP) - $200,000 from RIS, Inc.

Birthdays

Happy birthdays to David Wood, Leonard Hughes, Ira Anders, and Scott Muschany.                                                

Congratulations

To reporter Emily Manley and husband Adam, who announced they’re infanticipating…