MOScout Daily Update: JP Kicks Off - PNP Sues Hoskins Again - Martin Under Fire - Rupp Registers and more…
Quick Friday update….
Huge Patterson Kickoff
Nearly 400 people crowded the Stoney Creek Hotel banquet room in Independence last night for Jon Patterson’s state senate race kickoff. For a guy who didn’t appear to be running six months ago, it was a helluva turnout. Attendees ranged from young to old and included Governor Mike Kehoe and a group of high school seniors who recently formed a local TPUSA chapter. Supporters waited in a long line to snag a photo with the Speaker.
While the crowd munched on burgers and sipped drinks, J.P. not so subtly shouted out the Jackson County Central Committee members and the We the People Republicans in attendance. These are the same people who gathered signatures on a resolution against his speakership in January. They seem to be all-in on JP now.
· One MOScouter: “It was the most well attended non-statewide official kickoff I’ve ever seen, both in amount and quality of attendees.”
What It Means
JP isn’t taking the primary for granted.
Latest Legal Wrangling Over Referendum
People Not Politicians sued Secretary of State Denny Hoskins yesterday. See the suit here. It centers on Hoskins’ ballot language for the referendum on the redistricting map.
Hoskins’ summary: Do the people of the state of Missouri approve the act of the General Assembly entitled “House Bill No. 1 (2025 Second Extraordinary Session),” which repeals Missouri’s existing gerrymandered congressional plan that protects incumbent politicians, and replaces it with new congressional boundaries that keep more cities and counties intact, are more compact, and better reflects statewide voting patterns?
The suit makes two arguments…
· That the language is “inaccurate, unfair, and insufficient to describe House Bill 1.”
· And that while the Secretary of State is statutorily required to draft summary statements for initiative petitions. The law “does not authorize or allow the Secretary to draft a summary statement for a referendum.”
People Not Politicians’ attorney is, of course, Chuck Hatfield.
Rupp Registers
Former Sen. Scott Rupp has registered to lobby in Missouri. Rupp had previously served on the Public Service Commission. The Post-Dispatch recently counted over 30 former legislators among those registered to lobby.
And
Last month, Rupp created Tikkun Strategies LLC, to “provide executive coaching, leadership development, public speaking and strategic consulting services to individuals, organizations, and public sector clients.”
Martin Under Fire
ABCNews reports that “the DOJ and FBI are scrutinizing whether U.S. Pardon Attorney Ed Martin and Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte enlisted individuals outside the Department of Justice to probe allegations of mortgage fraud amid ongoing investigations of Sen. Adam Schiff and New York Attorney General Letitia James.”
· In what would be an extraordinary breach of DOJ protocol, Martin is also believed to have shared sensitive grand jury information about the James case with at least one unauthorized individual as well as worked with another person from outside the federal government to examine potential evidence in the Schiff and James probes, sources familiar with the matter said.
· Senior Trump administration officials have expressed concerns that the potential misconduct may have compromised the investigations and jeopardized the viability of the cases if they proceed to trial.
What It Means
One veteran Missouri pol shrugs that the overzealous Martin “never lasts long in government jobs!”
New Mexico Tries Free Childcare
Wall Street Journal reports that “New Mexico this month became the first state to guarantee free care, regardless of income, starting at six weeks of age.”
The state says the plan—covered largely by a fund set up with oil-and-gas revenues—should save families roughly $16,000 a year on average on full-time daycare bills.
The initiative expands on free child care New Mexico has provided for people under an income cap since 2022, a program that cost the state $345 million in the last fiscal year. The state estimates the expanding program will cost $445 million in the current fiscal year, then $600 million in the next year.
The program aims to get more people into the workforce and improve child development. The state, which has long struggled with high levels of poverty and poor educational rankings, also wants to attract and keep families with young children.
· For those doing the math: New Mexico’s population is approximately one-third the size of Missouri. That would put a back-of-the-envelope similar price tag for Missouri around $1.5 billion.
Mallory Passes
Arthur Mallory, the fifth president of Southwest Missouri State College (now Missouri State University) and longtime Commissioner of Education for the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education in the 1970's and 1980's, passed away yesterday in Springfield at the age of 93.
· Among his many accomplishments was working with Governor Kit Bond to establish the "Parents as Teachers" program.
$5K+ Contributions
KBS PAC - $25,000 from Clinical Reference Laboratory Inc. (Lenexa, KS).
Conservative Justice for Missouri PAC - $25,000 from Evergy Metro Inc.
Lake of the Ozarks Community Gaming - $500,000 from Signature GLP LLC.
417 PAC (pro-Trent) - $10,000 from Shelter Mutual Insurance Company.
417 PAC - $10,000 from Cigna Holding Company (Washington, DC).
Missouri Leadership PAC (pro-Riley) - $5,500 from Missouri American Water Company Employees PAC.
Missouri Rural Investment PAC - $10,000 from Xcaliber International LTD LLC (Pryor, OK).
Lobbyist Registrations
Dena Ladd added Partnership for Innovative Action.
Todd Richardson added Catalyst Group.
Alex Margolies added Fortress Capital Formation LLC.
Scott Rupp added Google and its affiliates.
Birthdays
Happy birthdays to Rep. Ed Lewis, Henrio Thelemaque, and Ginger Steinmetz.