Yesterday I wrote about the talk around where several issues – and personalities stood – in this legislative session.  Here’s some feedback:

·         Sen. Bill Eigel himself texted to debunk any talk of using the prescription drug monitoring program as leverage for other priorities.  It sounds like he’s completely opposed  to it in its current form. “I just spit out my coffee! I would not ever trade PDMP for Wayfair!”

Senate 25 candidate Eddy Justice filed his April quarter well ahead of the deadline.  Here’s the press release: “Justice, a Conservative outsider who has never run for public office, has seen a groundswell of support, receiving donations from hundreds of individual donors since announcing his campaign… Justice raised $109,000 during the first reporting period between January and March from 180 donations, averaging over $600.00 per donation

Education Stalls Again in Senate

The Senate spent hours and hours yesterday, going past midnight, debating Sen. Bill Eigel’s charter expansion bill, SB 292.  However it couldn’t overcome a bipartisan filibuster to get to a perfection vote.

More Post-Stenger Talk

The talk imagining a post-Stenger County continues even as Steve Stenger himself declared he wasn’t going to resign.

The St. Louis Business Journal referenced my initial rumors of possible successors with a list of six possibilities.  See it here. New names on their list:

·         Councilman Sam Page – “the most likely successor because he's the current County Council chair and has led that body in its fights with Stenger.”

·         Councilwoman Hazel Erby – “an attractive choice for county executive because she also was council chair in 2009 and 2014.”

·         Councilwoman Lisa Clancy – “she's seen as an outsider who's open to new ideas.”

·         Businessman Mark Mantovani – “After losing the August Democratic primary to Stenger by just 1,157 votes, Mantovani could claim that he has the most county-wide support of any of the options.”

Watching Tuesday

A few other races to watch in tomorrow’s municipal elections – in addition to the Columbia and Kansas City mayoral races…

·         School Board in St. Louis.  STLPublic Radio reports: After 12 years of oversight, the Missouri State Board of Education is getting ready to return power of St. Louis Public Schools to a local, elected school board…

·         Former Rep. John Bowman is running for Mayor of Northwoods, a small St. Louis County municipality (population 4,127).