MOScout Afternoon Update: Pro-Lifers Push for Court Realignment - VLTs Eyed for $$$ and more…

A few nuggets I wanted to get out today…

Pro-Life Advocates Push Court Realignment

Yesterday in the Senate General Laws Committee, Sen. Rick Brattin presented SB 856.  It’s the first bill he prefiled this session.  And it would move the circuit court of Cole County from the Western District of the Missouri Court of Appeals to the Eastern District.

Only two individuals gave testimony on the issue.  They were both in favor of the bill and they are both well-known pro-life advocates: Sam Lee (Campaign for Life) and Susan Klein (Missouri Right to Life).

Neither mentioned the abortion issue as the reason for their support.  For example, Lee explained that the Eastern District was preferable because it’s closer… “It takes, according to Google at least, two hours and ten minutes to get there whereas if you go to Kansas City, it's anywhere from two hours and twenty seven minutes to two hours and thirty three minutes and of course depending on the traffic.”

I’m told the motivation behind this move is not so much about saving on gas money as it is that the belief that the Eastern District is more hospitable to conservatives.  One pro-lifer I spoke to explained that the Western side had more appointees from Governor Jay Nixon’s time.  This move, he promised, wouldn’t just benefit the pro-life movement, it would help Republicans across an array of issues.

VLTs Eyed For $$$

There’s clearly a move afoot this session to try to legalize video lottery terminals.  J & J Ventures has lobbyists working the issue and has been writing checks.

Although Governor Mike Kehoe didn’t mention VLTs in his State of the State address on Tuesday, the issue may have gotten a nice boost from the message of austerity.

The stunning depletion of the state’s reserves could send folks casting about for new streams of revenue.  Rep. Bill Hardwick’s HB 970 last session had a positive fiscal note, forecasting hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue.  See that fiscal note here.

Alford Rejects Judicial Meddling

One conservative MOScouter shakes his fist at Congressman Mark Alford for being the sole member of the Missouri Republican delegation that didn’t go along with cutting staff from “activist” Judge James Boasberg.

·       Senator Eric Schmitt has called for Boasberg to be impeached.