MOScout Daily Update: Stadium Sticker Shock - Spire Whistleblower - Webber Raises STL $$$ for Boone? and more…

Quick Friday update….

Stadium Sticker Shock

It’s seeming more likely that the General Assembly will be asked to kick in some dough to Missouri’s sports teams.  And it’s reasonable to assume that St. Louis and Columbia will want to hitch a ride on whatever package moves.  That could make a huge subsidy deal even huger!

·       KCUR reported last Spring that the Chiefs were “in conversation with city officials and Missouri Gov. Mike Parson to fill a $700 million funding gap with taxpayer dollars from Kansas City and the state.”

·       The same article had the Royals looking for “$350 million from Missouri.”

Also potentially jumping on board…

·       St. Louis Cardinals Busch Stadium – The team plans to “engage in conversations with the city, county and state about the improvements, aimed at extending the lifespan of the more than 18-year-old stadium.”

·       Mizzou Memorial Stadium – “There seems to be a substantial chance that the university will seek at least some state funding to go toward Memorial Stadium’s new north concourse.”

·       Upgrading the old Rams Dome – “The Dome authority will likely need some help… Annual maintenance payments from the city, St. Louis County and the state of Missouri, long the authority’s lifeline, ended earlier this year.”

Public subsidies for stadiums are never popular with voters.  One wonders if this is how the next governor would want to start off their term.  If it’s Mike Kehoe, is he inviting a primary challenge from the populist right if his first big piece of legislation is a handout to sports owners?

FYI – Registered Lobbyists

·       Chiefs: Rich AuBuchon, Jeffrey Michael Kipping, and Trent Watson.

·       Royals: David Frantze, Cara Hoover, Sammy Panettiere, and Jewell Patek.

·       Cardinals’ lobbyists: Jackie Bardgett, John Bardgett, Lou Hamilton, and Chris Roepe.

·       Mizzou: Andy Blunt, Mun Choi, Mohammad Dehghani, Maddie Green, Emily Rose Lucas, Ryan Rapp, Jay Reichard, Dusty Schnieders, Angie Schulte, Ginger Steinmetz, Steven Tilley, Noel Torpey, and Olivia Wilson.

·       St. Louis Sports Commission: Rodney Boyd, Kate Casas, Brian Grace, and Kelvin Simmons.

Spire Whistleblower

Post Dispatch has a front-page article today about a former Spire employee telling the Public Service Commission that he was “in a Spire Regulatory Department meeting, where the Regulatory team was instructed how to hide documents (specifically so certain documents would not be discoverable by the PSC).”

·       See the email to the PSC here.

Spire’s lobbyists in Jefferson City are: David Abernathy, Andy Arnold, Andrew Arnold, Rodney Boyd, Kate Casas, Theresa Garza, Brian Grace, Tim Green, Jon Hensley, Jewell Patek, Larry Pleus, Zach Pollock, Emily Romines, and Kelvin Simmons.

Webber Comes to STL – To Raise Money for Boone

Next week Stephen Webber – a shoo-in for the Senate 19 – will be in St. Louis for a fundraiser with a high-powered host list…

·       Yesterday I reported on rumors that Webber’s Homefront PAC will not be helping other Senate Dems candidates despite a war-chest exceeding $400,000.  That’s because Webber felt betrayed by Senate Dems accepting charter school expansion in Boone County last session.

Lobbyists Registrations

Kristen Dart added Everytown For Gun Safety Action Fund.

$5K+ Contributions

Missourians for Constitutional Freedom (pro-choice IP) - $750,000 from Planned Parenthood Great Plains.

Missourians for Constitutional Freedom - $7,500 from Mark Utterback.

American Dream PAC (pro-Kehoe) - $25,000 from Robert Lowe.

American Dream PAC - $10,000 from Matthew Lowe.

Liberty and Justice PAC (pro-Bailey) - $10,000 from XCaliber International LTD LLC (Pryor, OK).

Liberty and Justice PAC - $10,000 from J Brunner.

Majority Forward (Senate Dems) - $14,000 from UFCW Local 655 Political Fund.

MoCannTrade PAC - $25,000 from New Growth Horizon Inc.

MoCannTrade PAC - $6,000 from Heartland Enterprises LLC.

MoCannTrade PAC - $6,000 from Christopher Jensen.

MoCannTrade PAC - $6,000 from Craig Ward.

MoCannTrade PAC - $6,000 from Kansas City Cannabis Company.

Birthdays

Happy birthdays to Richard Moore, David Sweeney, and Paul Wagner.