MOScout Daily Update: Osage to Appeal? - No Talk of Kehoe Administration Yet - Gregory to Rebrand? - Fears of a “Cleaner” Abortion IP and more…

Breaking… Osage To Appeal?

Tipster says that attorneys Chuck Hatfield and Marc Ellinger will file a petition in Cole County Circuit Court today on behalf of the Osage River Gaming & Convention Committee seeking to place their ballot initiative on the November ballot.

·       The Missouri SOS ruled last week their initiative petition was just over 2,000 signatures short in the 2nd Congressional District but ORGC’s internal audit found over 2,500 valid and legal signatures from St. Louis County alone which simply just weren’t counted.

·       ORGC chalks this one up to overworked election officials making a simple and honest mistake.

Seitz CoS for Hudson

I wrote yesterday that rumors were circulating that Rep. Doug Richey would be Sen-elect Brad Hudson’s chief of staff.  That is wrong. Dan Seitz, who ran Hudson’s campaign, will be the chief of staff.

·       Seitz will be returning to Missouri from Oklahoma where he’s been Communications Advisor to Speaker Charles McCall.

·       Seitz is the son for Rep. Brian Seitz.

Gregory To Rebrand?

David Gregory’s website now has a simple space-holding message: “New Website Coming Soon.” It suggests that the Gregory campaign is prepping a rebrand, perhaps pivoting from his primary campaign themes to a more moderate general election message.

Gregory won a tough 3-way Republican primary with 41%.  In his late barrage of ads, Gregory embraced MAGA and Donald Trump. 

Trump won the district by 3% in 2020.  That was down significantly from 2016 when won it by 15%.  I think it’s an open question whether Trump wins it this November.  It may be that Democrat Joe Pereles campaign is itching to tie Gregory to Trump (and the Dobbs decision) in this St. Louis suburban district.  We’ll see….

Kehoe Administration Talk

I’ve tried to suss out some names about who will populate a likely Mike Kehoe administration in January, but the refrain has been consistent: Kehoe is truly focused on his general election campaign; he’s not talking to anyone about possible positions yet.

Kehoe would enter the governor’s office with an extremely large political network.  It’s enormous compared to those of Mike Parson and especially Eric Greitens.  Kehoe could probably sketch ten deep on depth charts for cabinet positions.

Folks assume that there will be spots for Kehoe’s long-time aide Adam Gresham, as well as campaign folks like Derek Coats, Gabby Picard, and Nick Perryman.

·       One Kehoe support offers this piece of advice for would-be job-seekers: be a hard worker.  That’s Kehoe’s nature, and he’ll surround himself with similar folks.

Fears of A “Cleaner” Abortion IP

Even as the fight over abortion rights promises to finally end the debate over reproductive rights by enshrining it in the state constitution, wary politicos foresee a never-ending war ahead.

Assuming that Amendment 3 passes, there’s fear among activists that, as with Medicaid Expansion, there will be a series of court battles before the levers of government yield to the will of the people.

But, there’s also the fear that Republican legislators would propose a new “reproductive health rights” amendment – presumably with ballot candy – to modify A3 into something more pro-life.  This would a replay of the 2018-2020 redistricting plans which saw voters enact Clean Missouri, only to be followed by a “Cleaner” Missouri reversal two years later.

·       If Missouri travels down that path, it’d be planting a big landmine in the upcoming sessions as a PQ would be required for passage.

Lobbyists Registrations

Catalyst added HDR Engineering, Inc.        

Eapen Thampy added Peerless Canna, and Hemp Hill.

Doug Nelson and Heath Clarkston deleted Ehawk Inc, and Carfax Inc.

$5K+ Contributions

Missourians for Healthy Families & Fair Wages (minimum wage IP) - $1,225,000 from Sixteen Thirty Fund (Washington, DC).

Missourians for Constitutional Freedom (pro-choice IP)- $12,968 from American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri, Inc.

American Dream PAC (pro-Kehoe) - $10,991 from DDI Media (Drury Displays Inc.)

NEMO Leadership PAC (pro-O’Laughlin) - $10,000 from Conservative Leadership for Southeast Missouri (pro-Bean).

Missouri Health Plan Association PAC - $75,000 from Centene Corporation.

Spire Political Action Committee - $10,000 from Magnolia River (Hartselle, AL).

Spire Political Action Committee - $10,000 from Miller Pipeline (Indianapolis, IN).

Clay Dems Political Action Committee - $30,000 from UAW Region 4 Midwest States CAP Council.

Birthdays

Happy birthdays to Trent Watson, Stacey Newman, Rose Windmiller, and Chuck Gross.