MOScout Daily Update: Kinder Squeaks By Eigel - Tariffs Coming - Legal Challenge to ESA $$$? - Owen Contra Jones and more…
Situational awareness: Chappell Roan won Best New Artist at last night’s Grammy Awards. She’s a Missouri native – and the niece of Rep. Darin Chappell.
Eigel Once Again Outperforms – and Loses
Over the weekend, Peter Kinder was elected Chairman of the Missouri Republican Party.
According to Seth York, the vote was pretty close…
Kinder: 36 votes
Bill Eigel: 32 votes
What It Means
That’s much closer than I thought it would be, demonstrating the growing strength of the “Freedom Caucus” wing of the MOGOP Party…
· The talk has been that Eigel will pivot to the St. Charles County Executive race now (2026). We’ll see….
House Committees Poised to Move Bills
The House is chugging along. Several high-profile bills are scheduled to be voted out of committee this week…
· House Emerging Issues Committee: Rep. Bill Hardwick’s VLT bill (HB 970). It has support from Torch, J & J Ventures, and the convenience stores, but is opposed by the casinos.
· House Agriculture Committee: Rep. Dane Diehl’s pesticide bill (HB 544)which trial attorneys oppose.
· House Economic Development Committee: Rep. Brenda Shields’ childcare tax credit bill (HB 269) which has strong support across the business community.
· House Education Committee: Rep. Brad Pollitt’s open enrollment bill (HB 711) which is very similar to the bill the House passed (86-73) last year on the issue.
And
Expect a big crowd Tuesday (4PM House Children and Families Committee) when Rep. Melanie Stinnett’s HJR 54 will get a hearing. It would ask voters to roll-back Amendment 3’s legalization of abortion while keeping some exceptions.
Tariffs Coming
President Donald Trump announced he would slap hefty tariffs on imports from Canada, Mexico and China, sparking retaliatory threats from those countries.
· According to the Office of the United States Trade Representative, Canada is Missouri’s top trading partner, $6.5 billion in goods in 2023 “representing 37 percent of the state’s total goods exports.” Mexico was number two ($3.9 billion), and China number four ($598 million).
And
American Farm Bureau “expressed alarm” about the impact of a trade war. “[O]ver 80% of the United States’ supply of a key fertilizer ingredient — potash — comes from Canada. Tariffs that increase fertilizer prices threaten to deliver another blow to the finances of farm families already grappling with inflation and high supply costs…”
May: Legal Challenge Likely to ESA Funding Plan
In Sen. Karla May’s recent Capitol Report, she predicts that Governor Mike Kehoe’s proposal to use general revenues to fund the Empowerment Scholarship Accounts (ESA) Program could involve a court battle.
The governor’s proposal to appropriate $50 million in taxpayer money for the program marks the first time the state has attempted to directly fund tuition for private K-12 schools. If lawmakers approve the funding during the budget process, it will almost certainly face a legal challenge for violating constitutional restrictions.
And
And Jack Suntrup quotes Sen. Lincoln Hough – a Kehoe ally – sounding cautious: “I’m not a fan of going, you know, zero to 100, or in this case, zero to 50 (million dollars),” Hough said Thursday. “If we’re gonna spend that kind of money, better make sure we know where it’s going and how it’s being used and that it’s getting the best bang for the buck.”
Foreign Land Ownership
Remember the issue of China buying Missouri land? It was on our television sets for weeks straight in July leading up the Republican primary election.
There hasn’t been too much talk about it yet this session. But that may change. Protecting America Initiative (see their website here) has over $130,000 of ads reserved for the first two weeks of February in the Mid-MO TV market.
Owen Contra Jones
Renew Missouri’s Executive Director James Owen takes on Caleb Jones in his latest Youtube video. See it here.
I want to talk to you about an article that appeared in your rural Missouri magazine… usually every month there is some political, ideologically driven column by the Missouri Association of RECs CEO Caleb Jones.…
[Regarding] solar and wind, they say the wind doesn't always blow and the sun doesn't always shine. The reality is the Association of Rural Electric Cooperatives… could be investing battery storage so when that doesn't always shine and that wind doesn't always blow they’ll have backup.
More importantly… when they talk about reliability they do not talk about the unreliability of their coal fleet right now… Back in 2021 they had a shutdown of one of their turbines. That reduced their capacity, their ability to make power, to 66%. Then just last year one of those turbines exploded and the coops had to bring in a 70-year-old turbine from Louisiana to get that going back up to its regular capacity. You have to ask yourself how reliable is that power…
Yes, I know change is hard Caleb Jones is very clear that change is hard but the inability to change is just as scary…
· One MOScouter: Going to war with Caleb Jones in Jefferson City is never the answer, doesn’t matter what the question is.
Help Wanted
Saint Louis Public Schools seeks Director of Community Engagement and Governmental Affairs/Senior Strategist. The Director of Community Engagement and Governmental Affairs/Senior Strategist is responsible for maintaining and cultivating favorable SLPS relationships with local elected officials, their staff members through personal contact and facilitation of day-to-day activities, and other key stakeholders under direct supervision of the Superintendent as it relates to St. Louis City government functions, and other local municipal governments as needed… Starting Salary: $140,000.
eMailbag on Gunn Slater
That firm is going to be a powerhouse. Extremely important to the new firm’s influence, Erica Slater is a member of the Judicial Commission for STL City. Thus, associate and circuit judges are subject to the firm’s review…
New Committees
Rural Conservative PAC was formed. It’s a political action committee to support Rep. Matthew Overcast. See the filing here.
Lobbyist Registrations
Patricia Ann Miller added Missouri Alliance of YMCAs.
Nikolas Nartowicz added Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
Tonya Shellnutt added ADF Action.
Ginger Steinmetz added AT Government Strategies, Armstrong Teasdale LLP, Mizzou Greek Alliance Inc., St. Louis Economic Development Partnership, Missouri Society of Eye Physicians & Surgeons, and eBay, Inc.
Cara Hoover added Northwest Missouri State University; and deleted Lenovo Group.
Catalyst deleted Quality Schools Coalition.
Gamble & Schlemeier deleted DJI Technology, INC.
Birthdays
Happy birthdays to Rep. Phil Amato, Justin Alferman, Jason Crowell, Kent Hampton, Dave Hinson, and Warren Love.