MOScout Daily Update: Hoskins Explains Outburst - Labor Shakes Fist at Defectors - Coleman’s Critics - $29/Hour for Signatures and more…

From the street: The final push is happening NOW, and it’s costing $$$.  Less than two weeks remain until initiative petition signatures are due at the secretary of state’s office.  I asked the dude outside my grocery store this weekend (he was collecting for the sports betting IP) how much he was getting paid… $29/hour!

Hoskins: I Was Sticking Up For My Wife

The video I posted in Saturday’s edition of Sen. Denny Hoskin chewing out Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft was a humdinger.  Here’s Hoskins’ explanation: Last night after Ashcroft did his Perry County [Lincoln Days] speech, he came up to my wife Michelle who was seated at a table, pointed his finger in her face and lipped off to her. I was there and confronted Ashcroft in the back of the room and called him a few choice words. I will always honor and defend my wife, and I won’t tolerate another man putting his finger in my wife’s face and lipping off to her because “she looked at him”. [Rep. Adam] Schwadron videoed the incident on his phone and sent it to his campaign and the media to try to embarrass me. I will never be embarrassed about sticking up for my wife. I’ve had several people send me Schwadron’s video so I wanted to let you know what happened.

Webber Shakes Fist at Defecting Dems

Senate 19 candidate Stephen Webber, in his role as Communications Director Missouri AFL-CIO, writes that Reps. Steve Butz, Chantelle Nickson-Clark, and Marlene Terry “turned their back on public education” with their votes for the huge education bill.

Meanwhile…

Senate Floor Leader Cindy O’Laughlin sees those three Dems as profiles in courage.  In her latest capitol report (see it here) she lauds Rep. Terry.  “I can’t tell you how incredibly brave this was. It is one thing to vote for something when most others are with you and it is quite another to step out and vote against your party’s position because you feel morally compelled to do so. In today’s world when the slightest disagreement can result in your being eviscerated on social media and in the halls of the capitol it is beyond brave to vote against your entire party. Two others joined her; Representatives Nickerson-Clark and Butz. They too stood for what they felt was right… Marlene Terry has my undying admiration for being the leader she was elected to be. I know we do not agree on every issue but she is brave enough to question long held beliefs and work to find the solution. She is one in a million. I am hopeful others who witness this will find the strength to follow her example.”

Coleman and Her Critics

Although inside the building Sen. Mary Elizabeth Coleman is someone who’s labored to craft conservative policy to help the most vulnerable (education reform, criminal justice reform, tax cut on food), to the outside world she’s embraced the firebrand image, taking lead roles on hot-button issues like the drives to defund Planned Parenthood and to raise the bar for initiative petition efforts. 

Her willingness to be a lightning rod on high-profile issues has earned her enemies across the spectrum. In the past months she’s faced weekly protests everywhere…

·       Her office in Jefferson City – people demanding she shepherd legislation that would charge women who have abortions with murder.

·       Her home in Jefferson County – pro-Palestinian protestors decried her sponsorship of a resolution supporting Israel.

·       Private fundraisers – progressives attacked her opposition to abortion and gender-affirming care for transgender children.

Even though people like Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft and Attorney General Andrew Bailey have statewide offices and higher visibility, MEC seems unique in her tendency to rile the grassroots.

·       Will all of the haters hurt – or help – her Secretary of State bid? We’ll see...

Bush Legal Bills

Axios reports on the legal bills of Congresswoman Cori Bush.  Read it here.

Bush announced in January that the Justice Department was investigating whether she misused campaign dollars in hiring her husband as part of her security team. From January through March, Bush paid law firms approximately $86,000, according to recently released campaign finance records.

In the final months before the August primary election, Bush's campaign has $528,000 with $91,000 in debt while her primary opponent, Wesley Bell, has more than $1.1 million cash on hand and zero debt.

Gubby Appt

Press release: Governor Mike Parson announced that the Missouri Conservation Commission has selected Jason Sumners as the next director of the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC), effective June 1, 2024. Sumners currently serves as the deputy director of resource management for MDC and will succeed Sara Parker Pauley, who will retire after 30 years of public service. Sumners will become the tenth director in the Conservation Department’s 87-year history.

Lobbyists Registrations

Jason Zamkus added Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Inc.

Birthdays

Happy birthdays to Dana Rademan Miller, and Gary Romine.