MOScout Daily Update: PubDefs Comply with House Budget - Byrnes Hotline Test - Butz Kicks Off - Wasinger’s Focus on $$$ and more…

Pub Defs Comply With House Budget

PubDefs blinked, and probably wisely so, in the face of a united House Budget Committee. Rep. Lane Roberts opening statement: I want the committee to know that the Public Defender's Office has complied with everything we called upon them to do. They've included some substantive changes in their hiring protocols which I appreciate very much and throughout our discussions they have remained professional and courteous. So I would like to ask the committee this morning to consider this matter closed and give their budget the consideration due the important and difficult work that that they do as they move forward with their presentation.

What It Means

Purse strings are the ultimate power in government.

Wasinger Will Focus on Government Efficiency

Columbia Missourian profiles Liuetenant Governor David Wasinger.  A few interesting nuggets…

·       He is the first lieutenant governor since William S. Morris, who served from 1969 to 1973, to never have held any office in the Missouri General Assembly.

·       Chris Walker, the director of policy and communications for Wasinger, said that the lieutenant governor has been in ongoing conversations with senators about ways to improve the legislative process. Walker noted that Wasinger has questioned work-from-home policies and the specifics of Senate rules and procedures.

·       Oversight of the budget is not generally under the purview of the lieutenant governor’s office, but Wasinger said that he will make recommendations for changes to the budget.

·       The lieutenant governor is required to sit on many boards, including the Missouri Arts Council and Missouri Housing Development Commission. Wasinger’s interest in efficiency is something Missourians should expect to see expressed in these boards.

Byrnes Under Fire

KC Star’s Kacen Bayless reports on controversy swirling around Rep. Tricia Byrnes for “testing” the state’s suicide hotline.  Read the story here.

·       Rep. Tricia Byrnes, a Wentzville Republican, told The Star she sent the series of texts to the hotline last week while she pursues legislation to change how the system responds to people in crisis. She wanted to expose the cold, automated responses people receive, she said.

·       But the nature of the text messages prompted a flurry of calls from Jefferson City and St. Louis police and have sparked an ongoing investigation by Missouri Capitol police, who met with Byrnes at the state Capitol on Thursday.

·       Capitol police have released little about the investigation. But an incident report from the Jefferson City Police Department said that law enforcement used “a lot of resources” to respond to her texts, “which turned out to only be a false report for her experiment.”

·       She said she sent the texts in the state Capitol building while meeting with representatives from Compass Health Network, which operates behavioral crisis centers in the state. A Compass employee did not immediately respond to an email on Tuesday.

·       “I didn’t do anything wrong,” Byrnes said. “I was testing 988 under the guidance of 988.”

I’d expect Speaker Jon Patterson will get some questions about this the next time he holds a press conference.

71 Percent PAC

In the large contributions (below) there are a couple big checks into a relatively new political action committee, 71 Percent PAC.  It’s unclear from the filing (see it here) what its purpose is. 

The treasurer is Tom Platten.  He works at Show-Me Victories, so its presumably elated to a campaign they’re working on.

Butz Kicks Off

Tonight, in South St. Louis Rep. Steve Butz will kick-off his Senate campaign.

Why It Matters

·       This is for Sen. Karla May’s seat, and is expected to be a hot primary.  Butz is the first one to officially kick-off and will have a bit more lead-time raising money.

·       His January quarterly filing showed $97,246 on-hand.

$5K+ Contributions

71 Percent PAC - $25,000 from Robert Brinkman.

71 Percent PAC - $10,000 from Robert Clark.

71 Percent PAC - $10,000 from Gary Grewe.

Committee for Independence MO - $10,000 from McCown Gordon Construction.

POL PAC - $50,000 from Polsinelli.

Lobbyist Registrations

Claudia Alley added Missouri Motion Media Association.

John Cozad added Happy Bottoms.

Jake Silverman added Green Wave Distro, LLC.

Jeff Smith added Holistic Alternatives Recovery Trust.      

Louis Trombetta added FanDual Group, Inc.

Birthdays

Happy birthdays to Hannah Beers Sutton, Doug Crews, and Robert Wayne Cooper.