MOScout Daily Update: Hunting DEI - VLT Day - Greitens Alum to White House - McCaskill Alum Fired by Trump - SOTS Preview and more…

Situational awareness: Big Chiefs win.  They head to the Superbowl.  February 9 in New Orleans.  A lot of politicos will work their Rolodex to snag tickets.  I’d bet on a technical session on Monday February 10 for those plotting your calendars.

Wasinger to SCOMO: No More DEI

Last week, Lieutenant Governor David Wasinger penned a letter to the Missouri Supreme Court rebuking them for mandating DEI training.  See his tweet here.  His letter was co-signed by Senator Eric Schmitt, Attorney General Andrew Bailey, and Treasurer Vivek Malek.

A few years ago, the Missouri Supreme Court mandated lawyers engage in “DEI” training each year, i.e. “woke indoctrination”.  Today, three other statewide officer holders/lawyers joined me in requesting the Missouri Supreme Court repeal this rule. Glad to lead the charge….

·       The “woke indoctrination” is one hour of continuing education in “explicit or implicit bias, diversity, inclusion, or cultural competency.”

What It Means

This indicates two things.  First, Wasinger isn’t going to be a potted plant LG content to cheerlead tourism, and gavel in the Senate.  He will have his own agenda beyond the traditional functions of the office – and he has political aspirations beyond being LG.

The other takeaway is the political landscape now…

DEI on the Run and Being Hunted as Sport

After the police killing of George Floyd, efforts spawned to dismantle systemic racism.  Most of these efforts became known as DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) and were viewed as an attempt to build a more just society.  However, the framework to explain systemic racism was disorienting for many people and led to a backlash.  The main critique was that DEI was incompatible with a functioning meritocracy.

That backlash is now the majority position in Missouri. And while words like diversity and inclusion were once consensus goals for public institutions, they are now life-signs for those hunting DEI.

·       Rep. Ben Baker’s HB 742 will be voted out of the Emerging Issues Committee this afternoon.  No funds shall be expended by any state department for intradepartmental programs, staffing, or other initiatives associated with "diversity, equity, and inclusion" or "diversity, inclusion, and belonging"…

And

DEI in decline in Corporate America too.

Source: Wall Street Journal.

Driving the Day: Hardwick’s VLT Bill

Also in Emerging Issues (it’s a hot committee this session), Rep. Bill Hardwick’s HB 970 will be heard. 

I don’t want to be a pessimist before things get rolling, but it really seems hard to figure out where a compromise is on this issue. 

·       Torch, obviously, has their machines in place.  They say they’re playing by the rules, and they’re going to fight to keep what they have.

·       Out-of-state VLTers want Missouri to open up to their products.

·       Casinos don’t want Torch machines there, and they don’t want to legal VLTs everywhere and be facing a thousand (or ten thousand) mini-casinos popping up in every gas station across the state.

·       A lot of regular folks don’t distinguish between the gray machines and VLTs.  They feel besieged by the whole situation, and want some reasonable restrictions.

Kehoe To Talk Abortion Tomorrow

After nary a mention in his Inaugural Day speech, New Tribune reports that abortion will get some airtime in Governor Mike Kehoe’s State of the State speech on Tuesday. 

·       "You will hear a lot about our belief that we should protect innocent life," he said at a press conference Thursday.  "We said throughout the campaign that if Amendment 3 were to pass -- which we were 100 percent against -- we were going to put our hands on the Bible and protect the Constitution, but we're always going to look for ways to protect innocent life," he added.

·       Of the various abortion-related bills making their way through the legislature, Kehoe said he "will support any bill that we think is constitutionally right and also gives the ability for Missourians to continue to protect innocent life."

Trump-MO Intersections

·       Dylan Johnson will join the White House as Special Assistant to the President and Assistant Communications Director for Special Projects after serving as a Deputy Director of Communications for the Trump-Vance 2024 Campaign. Johnson previously served as the Campaign Manager for the Greitens for U.S. Senate campaign and was an Executive Producer for Just The News.

·       This is from a week or so ago, but Ed Martin was named U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia.

eMailbag on Fitz Primary

[Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick] won’t get a primary opponent because there’s no money to raise against it. And he hasn’t ticked anyone off. The real question is who challenges Fitz for MOGOV in 2032, and that’s [Andrew] Bailey…

On The Good Start to Session

I think you missed a thing or two about why [the building’s running smoothly]…

1) JP smacked down Sparks convincingly enough without any real damage that it shut up some (tho not all) of the grassroots for a bit.

2) we have a governor with extensive relationships built over 15 years actually walking the halls of the building.

3) Kinder about to smack down Eigel in bid for party chair, which is making people less fearful of crossing the FC.

Lobbyist Registrations

Andy Arnold added MO Coalition for Video Lottery, LLC.

Will Marrs and Kelli Richardson added Visit Springfield.

Gamble & Schlemeier deleted Teladoc Health.

Chris Liese, Jim Foley, Andy Foley, Tony Dugger and Craig Redmon deleted Missouri Probation and Parole Officers Association.

Chris Liese, Jim Foley, Andy Foley, Tony Dugger, and Neal English deleted Missouri Pawn Brokers Association.

Andrew Foley, and Tony Dugger deleted Missouri Cattlemens Association.

Damon Stewart deleted DirecTV LLC, and Dish Network LLC.

Jerry Hobbs deleted Mid-Missouri Sports Park.

Birthdays

Happy birthday to Jill Schupp, Mary Scruggs, and Dan Guenther.