TOP STORY
Big Biz News
Big business news hit both of Missouri’s coasts yesterday.
On the eastern side: “Bunge Ltd., an agriculture, food and ingredients company, will move its global headquarters from White Plains, New York, to its offices in Chesterfield..."
On the western side: “Missouri Gov. Mike Parson and Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly on Tuesday celebrated what they said is an end to the longstanding economic border war..."
What It Means
This is likely the central theme of the Parson re-election campaign: jobs, jobs, jobs.

Meet MadamPAC

Madam for America is a new political action committee, organized last month, which has been soliciting folks for funds.According to their website (see it here) they are “dedicated to identifying, recruiting, training and electing Black women to every level of government in the Midwest who believe in our agenda of criminal justice reform, quality housing, education and healthcare as well as economic equality, voting rights and supporting small businesses.”

Galloway Says She’s In

Breaking this morning…. Audit Nicole Galloway has posted a snappy 2-minute video announcing that she is running for governor.  See it here.

From the video: “Dark money flows from corporations to lobbyists.  The governor takes their money, and does their bidding… it’s a broken system, the old way of doing politics.”

This week, the MOScout Poll looks at the Senate 27 Republican primary.  Survey conducted August 7-8. 520 likely 2020 Republican Primary Election voters... Margin of Error is +/-4.3%.

TYPE OF GOP: Thinking about the various types of voters within the Republican party, which type of voter do you consider yourself to be? Evangelical, a Trump Republican, Traditional, Libertarian, or something else?

Evangelical: 21%

Trump: 46%

Traditional: 19%

Libertarian: 2%

Something else: 12%

Copycat Shooter Comes to MO?

Missourinet reports on some bozo walking into a Walmart in Springfield wearing combat fatigues, with a tactical rifle and ammo. See it here. 

He was arrested, but the thing is, as Jeremy Cady tweets, I’m not sure there’s any law broken.  With a few exceptions, you can walk around with guns (and body armor and ammo) wherever you want. 

Stenger Sentencing Back and Forth

Post-Dispatch reports on the Steve Stenger sentencing: Federal prosecutors say 37 months in prison is not enough for former St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger…

What It Means

My reading of this is that Stenger didn’t/couldn’t help the Feds enough.  If he’d been cooperative and brought information and testimony to land a bigger fish, I imagine Goldsmith wouldn’t be hammering away.

This could be the end of the show, folks.

Mission Creep in the GOP?

The series of polls I’ve done to baseline the Republican Senate primaries all show exceptional support for President Donald Trump with Republican primary voters.

It’s interesting because Trump’s politics continue to veer from the conservative principles which used to dominate the Republican Party.

Driving the Day

St. Louis County takes another step as it tries to move past the Stenger days.  It’s special election day.  Voters will fill the vacancies on the County Council.  Up for election are District 1 (Hazel Erby) and District 2 (Sam Page’s old seat).  Democrats Rita Heard Days and Kelli Dunaway are the favorites.

Gossip from HRCC’s Summer Caucus

Tidbits from the House Republican Campaign’s Summer Caucus last weekend in Kansas City….

• As I wrote Saturday, a special session running concurrent with veto session is a real possibility.

• Rumors have the governor appointing some term-limited legislators to state positions between now and the start of session…

More Stenger Scarface Quotes

Post-Dispatch reports on the Feds’ sentencing memo for Steve Stenger.  See it here.  It’s full of crazy, profane quotes.  But honestly this St. Louis County scandal hasn’t produced any quotes as snappy and memorable as our Jeff City brew-ha-has… “Green balloons,” “Munich is a cool place,” “Eric, why you gettin’ all yelly,” “Proper pull-up,” etc….

Nothing here that will enter the lobbyist lexicon, unfortunately.

Shippy to Campaign

Team Parson announced that Steele Shippy was moving from the government side to the campaign side.  Shippy has been serving as communications director in the governor’s office.  He’s now taking the helm as campaign manager for Governor Mike Parson’s re-election effort.

What It Means

·         The first of likely several moves we’ll see in the next couple of months as Parson moves toward a war-footing ahead of next year’s campaign.

·         Look for similar moves from Team Galloway, probably soon after or in conjunction with a mid-August official entry announcement.

Economist: MO Should Expand Medicaid

Springfield News Leader reports that “Missouri's low taxes and diverse manufacturing sector are strong economic assets for the Show-Me State, but that the state lags in educational achievements and that embracing Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act would likely lower health care premiums…

O’Laughlin on Tax Credits

Sen. Cindy O'Laughlin on Facebook before chairing the first meeting of the Interim Committee on Tax Credit Efficiency and Reform, writes: I think there's a case to be made for economic incentive but the reality is massive amounts of tax credits result in a consequence which is lower general revenue… When you look at the picture in totality it's startling. I'd like to see greater accountability in the tax credit system and I'd like to see the credits scaled back. Scaled back a lot….

Medicaid Expansion Committee Formed

In the new committees, there’s a campaign committee formed to support a Medicaid expansion ballot question.  The treasurer is Joe Pierle. He’s the executive director of Missouri Primary Care Association.  See his bio here.

Huge Turnout Coming in 2020?

From Bruce Mehlman’s visual-storybook update on the 2020 election (see it here)…

If actual voting once again exceeds enthusiasm to vote, expect highest turnout since 1896 (which was 79.6%)

Ryan Myers formed a candidate committee (Myers For Missouri) to run for Senate 9 as a Democrat.  The current incumbent, Sen. Kiki Curls, is termed.  Myers is an alderman in Raytown.  See his bio here.

$$$ Start to Flow into Galloway PAC

In the large contributions, there’s a spurt of big money heading into Keep Government Accountable.  That’s the PAC aligned with Auditor Nicole Galloway.

A little over $50,000 came in from unions and a law firm.  These are the stalwart Democratic constituencies.  But Galloway has a long way to go to close the money gap with the incumbent.

Barnes to O’Laughlin

With the departure of Paul Curtman to Wisconsin, Sen. Cindy O’Laughlin has hired Fred Barnes to be her new chief of staff. Barnes comes from Sen. Tony Luetkemeyer’s office where he served as legislative assistant last session.

Senate 33: Kelly Antes Up

In the race to succeed Sen. Mike Cunningham, Van Kelly put $100K into his campaign committee.  Kelly is a former state representative.  Follow him on Twitter here.

He faces Rep. Robert Ross (see his bio here) in the Republican primary.

Trump = GOP Primary Gold

What stands out from last week’s MOScout poll on Senate 29 isn’t the relative numbers of the two largely unknown Republican candidates.  It’s the towering approval number of President Donald Trump with Republican primary voters.

Q1: What is your opinion Donald Trump?

Favorable: 82%

Unfavorable: 14%

No opinion: 4%