MOScout Daily Update: DHEWD’s Big Target - Dueker’s Common Sense - House Dems’ Spring Break Vote Counting - Parson to Ag HOF and more…
Happy St. Pat’s Day: Governor Mike Kehoe and First Lady Claudia Kehoe will travel to St. Louis today to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day by participating in the parade in Dogtown.
DHEWD Targets 70% Labor Participation
The Missouri Department of Higher Education & Workforce Development released its updated strategic plan. See it here. The two big goals:
· 60% Missourians with educational attainment beyond high school
· 70% labor force participation by 2030.
A lot of legislative attention has focused on making childcare services more accessible to help bring more workers into the labor force.
Here’s the long-term labor participation rate in Missouri…
More on Team Oust Vs Team Aune
The Dem Caucus is poised to vote on retaining Rep. Ashley Aune as Minority Leader when they return from Spring Break next Monday.
That makes this a week of cajoling and counting votes – for both sides.
· One Dem who’s on Team Oust says the week gives Aune “plenty of time to plead with folks not to vote her out.”
· My informal asking around this weekend leads me to believe that Aune’s numbers are solid enough to turn back the challenge.
· One lobbyist tells me that the rebellion is back on its heels after their initial rollout. “Their donors like Ashley and they found that out fast.”
But we’ll see…
New SOS Filings
· Onken Associates LLC was formed. The register agent, Margaret Onken, is Jay Nixon’s former fundraiser. See the filing here.
· Common Sense St. Louis was formed. It’s a non-profit “to educate the public on and advocate for Common Sense leadership and issues in the St. Louis region…” Its registered agent is police lobbyist Jane Dueker. See the filing here.
Session of Women Winners?
I’ve heard from various readers extolling the impact of various women legislators during the first half of this session…
· Cindy O’Laughlin ought to “win the week” until further notice. She is truly the master of the Senate.
· Patty Lewis… The freshman senator showed a willingness to cross the aisle and vote for the crime bill (and the accompanying emergency clause), extracting an unknown concession for her constituents in KC. Not everybody is able to come from the House Superminority and pivot to power player status so quickly.
· Tracy McCreery deserves a ton of credit for making [Cierpiot’s utility] bill better. She fought and won some really good customer protections: some the best in the country. She negotiated in good faith and stuck to her deal. She will probably get beat up for sitting down, but she worked really hard on this, won a lot of respect and made the bill a lot better.
National Realtors Back Grier
The Realtors do a good job supporting agents who decide to run for public office. They do this at all levels, which helps build a strong bench for higher office.
In the latest non-committee expenditure report, the National Association of Realtors Funds spent $64,000 on digital ads and direct mail backing five candidates across Missouri running in April’s municipal elections…
· Derek Gander – Joplin School Board
· Terry Gannon – Normandy City Council
· Ron Graves – Columbia City Council
· Derek Grier – Chesterfield
· Jonathan Russell – Neosho School Board
Washington in Brouhaha
KCStar reports that a “lawsuit filed in Jackson County Circuit Court in late October 2024 alleges Missouri state Sen. Barbara Washington, a Democrat who represents southeastern Kansas City and Jackson County, held on to a woman during an election event on Nov. 8, 2022. Washington flatly denied the allegations in a text message and phone call with The Star, saying she has never assaulted anyone. She also denied knowing the plaintiff, Kansas City resident Shaquita Williams, or anything about the alleged incident.”
· “I honestly have no idea where this comes from,” she said in the phone call. “I really, really don’t. I don’t know that person. I don’t know anyone with that name.” Washington, a lawyer by trade, is representing herself and on Thursday filed a counterclaim alleging defamation and libel against Williams… Court records reviewed by The Star show that the lawsuit against Washington is one of several suits filed over the years against people in Jackson County by a person named Shaquita Williams.
Parson to Ag HOF
Press release: The Missouri State Fair Foundation and the Missouri Department of Agriculture are excited to announce the 2025 inductees into the Missouri Agriculture Hall of Fame. The 2025 inductees are: Lowell Mohler, David Baker, Eddie Sydenstricker, Gary Schell, Richard Kampeter, and Mike Parson.
· The induction ceremony takes place on Tuesday, April 8th at the Capital Bluffs Event Center in Jefferson City.
Hedlund to CEA
Another Missourians is headed to the Trump Administration… Aaron Hedlund announced that he’s joined the White House Council of Economic Advisers as Chief Economist. Hedlund was previously Chief Economist at the Show-Me Institute.
· Maybe he can bring back the Council of Economic Advisors website which used to have interesting reports on it?
$5K+ Contributions
Together KC - $25,000 from Heavy Constructors Association Local PAC.
Association of MO Electric Cooperatives (AMEC PAC) - $7,500 from Southwest Electric Cooperative.
Progress for Park Hill Schools - $10,000 from Newkirk Novak Construction Partners (Lenexa, KS).
Together KC - $25,000 from Northland Strong PAC.
YES for KC Kids - $25,000 from Mid-America Carpenters Regional Council Missouri-Kansas Area PAC.
Lobbyist Registrations
Michael Lodewegen added Sullivan County Memorial Hospital.
Heath Clarkston, Doug Nelson, and Michael Henderson added Knox Company.
Ron Berry added MariMed, Inc.
Amy Blunt deleted Aegion Corporation.
Sherry Doctorian deleted Transparentbusiness Corporation, and CMOY, LLC.
Jerry Hobbs deleted OVH Consulting, Cole Kids Community Child Development Center, Strategic Workforce Development, and Missouri Valley Youth Services.
Nathan Nickolaus deleted Village of Kingdom City.
Birthdays
Happy birthdays Joe Maxwell, Pat Rowe Kerr, Earl Simms, Tom Self, and Patrick Lynn.