MOScout Daily Update: Butz and Mitten Trade Blows - GOP’s Rural Ed Split - Quiet Session Winners - Seitz on GOP’s ‘Downfall’ and more…

J&J Rewards Legislators

In the large contributions, J & J Ventures sent $50,000 to the PACs of Sen. Curtis Trent and Rep. Bill Hardwick.

They both championed J & J’s position of legalizing VLTs in Missouri. 

It shows their continued investment to open up the Missouri market. 

·       Hardwick is running for Senate. 

·       Trent faces a primary, but could end up in Senate leadership – along with another pro-VLT senator, Jason Bean – next year, a 180-degree change from this year’s hostility from Pro Tem Cindy O’Laughlin.

One hard-nosed realist texted me: Money talks. And the VLT forces are spending it. If the casinos don’t ante up significantly, this battle will be over before it starts.

Senate 4: Mitten And Butz Trade Punches

Rep. Steve Butz’s campaign committee ran a full-page ad in the Labor Tribune this past Friday and has another full-page ad planned for this Friday.  The ads hit Mitten for failing to do her job as an Administrative Law Judge in the Division of Workers’ Compensation.

The QR code in the ad takes readers to GinaMitten.org which provides the dismissal letter from the Missouri Department of Labor.

Meanwhile, Mitten’s latest email blast calls Butz a “conservative in Democratic clothing, a ‘MAGA Lite’ Democrat at a time when we need strong, principled leaders to fight for us…”

·       Butz voted to give Republican politicians in Jefferson City control over St. Louis’ police department and budget, leaving City residents footing an enormous bill of $274 million that could bankrupt the City of St. Louis.

·       Butz voted for a total ban on abortions (HB 126) - Voting “yes” on a trigger ban that outlawed all abortions with no exceptions. He is the most pro-life Democrat to ever run in this district.

·       Butz is bankrolled by MAGA donors like Rex Sinquefeld and accepts thousands of dollars in untraceable corporate PAC money.

Senate 14: Palm

In Senate 14, Joe Palm probably has the best slogan…

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Quiet Winner: MO Soybean

Missouri Soybean is coming off a strong session, notching a number of under-the-radar wins... 

·       Mizzou’s soybean cyst nematode research/diagnostics lab had $2 million of restricted funds released by Governor Mike Kehoe. One of the few groups seeing funding released in the tight budget environment. 

·       The passage on the final day of session of the clean SB 913, agricultural tax credits, sponsored by Sen. Kurtis Gregory.  There was a mini-revolt from fiscal hawks in the House, but House Dems stepped up to fill the vote gap.

·       The legislature passed a Missouri Works expansion allowing qualified companies to receive tax credits for large capital-investment projects – a change that could make ag-related capital projects more competitive with other states.

Quiet Winner: Vernetti

Rep. Jeff Vernetti was the only freshman House member to land two bills on the governor’s desk.

·       HB 2057, relating to the establishment of certain entertainment districts in Osage Beach and Chesterfield.

·       HB 2366, relating to employment of undocumented workers.

One MOScouter credits his “frenetic style.”

GOP’s Educational Split

I came across this academic paper which resonates with how we see votes on school choice split in the Missouri legislature with rural Republicans less enthusiastic about the issue than their suburban counterparts.  Take a look.  It’s an interesting read.

·       Rural = Republican.  In many policy domains, this spatial realignment by partisan identity means that “rural” and “Republican” are nearly interchangeable…

·       But education policies are less aligned.Increasingly, conservative education politics in the United States has emphasized school choice, privatization, parental authority, and even state preemption of local control.  Yet rural school systems face distinctive material constraints that may put them at odds with such policies: smaller enrollments, longer transportation routes, teacher shortages, lower property values, and the relative absence of private school options that make many of these reforms especially challenging to implement… Schools are often the largest employers and central civic institutions in rural communities…

·       Rural distrust.Often used to explain rural Americans’ distrust of urban-centered policies and elites, “rural consciousness” could also help explain why education policy may be a wedge issue, breaking down the alignment between rurality and Republican identity (Cramer, 2016). In Cramer’s account, rural identity involves more than attachment to place; it is about both injustice and disrespect. Rural individuals believe that power and resources flow toward cities and that government is urban and distant. Cramer articulates that many rural individuals express a belief that government policies are designed for and specifically benefit urban areas and the individuals who live in them. Many market-based education policies, such as charter schools and voucher programs, in fact, were designed with urban areas in mind—areas that have multiple schools from which to choose.

What It Means

Education policy is a potential wedge issue if Dems can ever broaden their tent and recruit the right candidate to compete in exurban districts.

Seitz on GOP’s Danger

Dan Seitz, chief of staff to Sen. Brad Hudson, wrote on social media: The downfall of the Republican Party won’t be moderate Republicans who are honest about their values but don’t agree on all of the specifics.

The downfall of the Republican Party will be the holier than thou Pharisees who think they are the morally superior experts on everything because they have a podcast and an opinion.

Our own infighting, on what should be small points of disagreement, will be our undoing…

Follow-Up on Hanaway Rumor

Folks at the AG’s office were baffled by yesterday’s rumor of law enforcement officers “dissing” Hanaway’s press conference last week, but insist they’re just going to continue to apply the law.

Follow Up on Kehoe’s Timing Dilemma

One reader explains the mechanisms of moving ballot questions…

The reported Friday deadline for a ballot placement decision is incorrect. There is no specific date by which the Governor must make a decision, provided it is at least eight weeks prior to the election… While Kehoe mentioned hoping for a decision by this Friday, HJR 173 has not yet been certified for the ballot. Certification must occur before any movement from the November ballot can happen.

It is likely that the two joint resolutions passed last week will remain on the November ballot, as the SOS will probably not have enough time to certify them. Joint Resolutions are treated like petitions; they must be reviewed by the SOS and the Attorney General, and the Auditor must write a fiscal note. This process takes considerable time, even when expedited…

eMailbag on Schmitt

Eric Schmitt seems destined to be on a national ticket at some point. Pretty fascinating for a guy who was called the 13th Democrat in the state Senate.

$5K+ Contributions

Missouri Health Plan Association PAC - $50,000 from Elevance Health, Inc. (Cincinnati, OH).

417 PAC (pro-Trent) - $50,000 from J&J Ventures Gaming LLC (Effingham, IL).

Teamsters 245 PAF - $8,004 from IBT Missouri PAC.

Missouri Enterprise Fund (pro-Hardwick) - $50,000 from J & J Ventures Gaming of Missouri, LLC (Effingham, IL).

Baird For Jackson County - $15,000 from Operating Engineers Local 101.

Lobbyist Registrations

Rodney Boyd, Kate Casas, Brian Grace, and Kelvin Simmons added LiveView Technologies.

Richard AuBuchon deleted Missouri Credentialing Board.

Birthdays

Happy birthdays to Justin Arnold and Kyle Juvers.