MOScout Daily Update: GOP Wrestles With Map Flub - Dean Text Hubbub - Nail’s New Gig - Burlison Hunts UFOs and more…
Dealing With The Map Flub
The ACLU’s lawsuit, in which they point out that the redistricting legislation contained a serious error, is causing consternation among Republicans as they strategize how to deal with it. The suit (see it here) says that in the “slapdash” process to quickly redo the map, the legislature assigned a voting district to both CD-4 and CD-5. This is the basis of their claims that the map violates the constitutional requirements for the equal population and contiguity.
One MOScouter says there are two paths (you can go by)…
1. Throw Trump’s team under the bus and call everyone back to “fix” the precinct error.
2. Have Governor Mike Kehoe issue a signing statement clarifying the errant precinct was a glitch and not legislative intent. His team hoping that such a statement could be used in court to beat back the lawsuit.
The mess has Republican lawmakers shaking their heads. While some GOPers have talked themselves into the idea that the extra Republican congressman was an important move to make, most thought the mid-decade redistricting amounted to political gymnastics.
The Process and The Product
The map flub will add credence to the argument that critics of the Senate process have been making: the chamber’s product is much worse when there’s not the give-and-take and the compromise that debate forces.
The insistence from Pro Tem Cindy O’Laughlin that the map be passed as received from the House, greatly reduced the level of scrutiny it received from the upper chamber.
Ultimately, 2026 will render its judgment. And when it does, we may find that the lack of compromise in the Senate yields poor results – for the majority.
The Republican-majority legislature might get swept at the ballot box next year. In other words, I wouldn’t be surprised if voters reject the new abortion law, the new redistricting map, and the new initiative petition process.
Debate and compromise not only help vet the legislation, they also make the end result more palatable to Missouri voters.
Realtors Will Fight IP
On their website, Missouri Realtors post about the initiative petition change: This misguided proposal is now headed to Missouri voters in November 2026, and the Missouri REALTOR® Party is committed to working hard to stop it. We will continue to keep members updated and share opportunities to get involved as our advocacy efforts move forward.
Dean Under Fire For Obscene Text
Missouri Independent has the humdinger of a story about Rep. Jeremy Dean sending an obscene text message to Rep. Cecelie Williams. Read it here.
The message included a description of an oral sex act with the president and questioned how Republicans could talk while engaged in it.
House Minority Leader Ashley Aune, a Democrat from Kansas City, said she removed Dean from his committee assignments after learning about the text. “What Jeremy sent was wrong,” Aune said.
The text also inspired an ethics complaint against Dean. The House Ethics Committee, which conducts all its business confidentially until it has finished an investigation, met Sept. 10 to begin inquiries into two complaints.
“Typical behavior from a degenerate homo,” Aaron Dorr, a longtime gun-rights activist and lobbyist for the Missouri Firearms Coalition, wrote on social media…
· Dean has apologized to Williams, Aune said… [But if] Republicans try to make an example of Dean, Aune said, members of her caucus will respond. “One of the things I shared with the speaker was that if this rises to the level of a big deal,” Aune said, “then I’ve got news for him and his caucus, because my caucus has receipts, too.”
Nail Joins DC Boutique
Press release: Shaw Bransford & Roth, P.C. has named Kaycee Nail as its new Manager of Government and Public Affairs. Shaw Bransford & Roth, established in 1982, is a boutique employment law and government affairs firm in Washington, D.C. Kaycee will lead the firm’s Government and Public Affairs practice, representing professional associations of federal managers and law enforcement employees.
· In addition to this new role, Kaycee will continue her separate position with The Penman Group as Director of Congressional Affairs, based in Washington, D.C., where she will maintain her long-standing work advancing client priorities at the federal level.
NBC: Declining Vax Rates in STL
NBC News reports on the decline in vaccination rates. It takes a deep look at St. Louis.
In 2010, almost 90% of kindergartners attending school within the St. Louis city limits had received their recommended MMR shots, which prevent nearly all cases of measles — the most contagious virus known in the world. In the last school year, MMR coverage rates among kindergartners plummeted to 74%.
That’s below even Gaines County, Texas, the epicenter of the 2025 measles outbreak, where 77% of kids were vaccinated last school year. That puts St. Louis at a high risk for a surge of the virus, which tore through largely unvaccinated communities in West Texas. The outbreak killed three people, including two young girls.
“That’s a heavy, heavy fact,” said Virginia Wilson, head nurse at the Premier Charter School in St. Louis, which has 1,058 students from pre-K through middle school. “We’re just in a waiting phase before measles comes and rocks the state of Missouri.”
Burlison Hunts UFOs
Missourinet has the story. Read it here.
Southwest Missouri Congressman Eric Burlison is accusing the federal government of “actively blocking” information on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP), formerly referred to as UFO’s.
“Look, I (have) not jumped to the conclusion that I believe that there are, you know, aliens coming from another planet. But I’m open to that,” Burlison said…
Burlison also asked Dylan Boreland, an Air Force veteran who worked in geospatial intelligence, about whether he’s seen evidence of extraterrestrial technology. “Have you been exposed to undeniable confirmation of N-H-I technology?” he asked. “And then my second question is, is BAE Systems involved in any way with reverse engineering exploitation of Non-Human Intelligence craft?”
Boreland responded, “We’re going to have to have a conversation for that, whether I’m legally even allowed to answer that and whether you’re even allowed to hear it, sir.”
What It Means
I’m always happy to see Burlison when I bump into him, but for goodness sake, doesn’t he have anyone on staff to tell him, he doesn’t want to be the UFO guy in Congress?
Lobbyist Registrations
Scott McMahon added Western Governors University.
$5K+ Contributions
American Dream PAC (pro-Kehoe) - $25,000 from Matt Mills.
Tony PAC (pro-Luetkemeyer) - $50,000 from Missouri Law Enforcement for Good Government PAC.
Rocker P Brand PAC (pro-Pollitt) - $10,000 from Rex Sinquefield.
Birthdays
Happy birthday to the first woman to ever hold statewide office in Missouri, Margaret Kelly (90 years young today).
Other birthdays: former Governor Mike Parson (the big 7-0), Bill Webster, Travis Smith, Tim Van Zandt, and Ryan Burke.