Impeachment Trial Starts

The U.S. Senate’s impeachment trial begins today.  MOScout’s Hallway Index has consistently yawned at this having a meaningful impact on Missouri politics.  In fact, the last time I asked the question (in November) twice as many folks thought the whole thing would be of greater benefit to Missouri Republicans than to MO Dems.

·         Trump won MO by 19. Anything that fires up his base benefits R’s. Trump will call this a witch hunt for the next 12 months.

·         It seems to be just cementing folks to whatever camp they were in to start with.

·         Everyone is already in their corners. I don’t think it swings much either way.

With his resignation, Jason Holsman handed off sponsorship of two pieces of his legislative agenda to other senators.  Sen. Lauren Arthur is now the sponsor of SB 544 which would create a fund for homelessness services to which people can donate via text.  And Sen. Bill Eigel is the sponsor of SJR 36, a constitutional amendment to exempt from taxes personal property older than ten years.

SOTS

Governor Mike Parson delivered the State of the State speech and unveiled his budget.  Look inside his budget here.

Best analysis from the 3rd floor: It’s a safe budget, nothing too risky. For those who think he’s spending money with an election in mind, most of his new programs are relatively small and no one can say he went hog wild with capital improvement projects (because he didn’t).

Arthur Hits $100K Again

Word is that Sen. Lauren Arthur raised $100K again in her January quarter.  With still no Republican filed, Arthur keeps chugging along with impressive fundraising.

• This is one more step along the way of Senate 17 falling off the “competitive races list” for this fall.

• If that happens, Republicans would likely focus on flipping Senate 1 where they have recruited a potential self-funder – and of course on their defenses of incumbents in Senate 15 (Andrew Koenig) and Senate 19 (Caleb Rowden).

Pro-Trent PAC Spreads $$$

The pro-Curtis Trent PAC, 417 PAC, filed its latest funding raising quarter.  It showed $215,100 raised in the last three months.  The majority of that came from a $184,900 contribution from Rex Sinquefield.

Bloomberg’s Boots in MO

The press release: Mike Bloomberg 2020 announced the hiring of 28 staff members in Missouri, including eight senior staff and 20 regional organizers deployed across the state. Veteran Democratic operatives, Ryan Hawkins and Grant Campbell, partners in St. Louis-based Winding Creek Strategies, are leading the state’s campaign efforts…. 80 percent of current staff members are women and/or people of color.

Democrat Maite Salazar, who is challenging Congressman Emanuel Cleaver, apologized (on Twitter) after accusing Cleaver (on Twitter) of keeping a picture of Bill Cosby under his desk.  See it here.  The picture was actually of Al Jarreau. See it here.

New Committees

Tax Fairly was formed.  Its treasurer is Martin Bennet.  It was formed to oppose a Kirkwood School District bond issue on the April ballot.  See the paperwork here.

Follow-up on MO’s Slow Growth

A few folks asked for the link to the (depressing) GDP stats I wrote about yesterday.  Find it here.  “Between 2009 and 2018, Missouri’s compound annual GDP growth rate was 0.8 percent—almost a third of the US annual growth rate (2.3 percent) during the same period.”

Dems Hotspots

Missouri Democrats have put up an interactive map showing their legislative recruiting efforts.  See it here.

Giddens Group Lands KC

The Giddens Group registered over the weekend for the City of Kansas City, signaling they prevailed in that hotly contested contract bid. 

Nancy Giddens and Shannon Cooper are the twin towers of that firm. They also represent the Kansas City Chamber of Commerce.

4 in Senate 25

Word is that Jason Bean is entering the Senate 25 Republican primary (Libla termed). Bean is the son of former Rep. Otto Bean.  He joins three others: Reps. Steve Cookson and Jeff Shawan, and Eddy Justice.

December Revenues Slip

December state tax receipts fell about 1.5% compared to December 2018, driven by lower sales tax receipts and higher refunds.

This brings the fiscal year to date number to +5.15% compared to last year.

Skelton Out in Senate 19

News Tribune reports that “Michela Skelton, a Democratic candidate, has announced she has withdrawn from her campaign for Missouri's 19th state Senate district.”

What It Means

• Good news for Dems who are eyeing Senate 19 as a possible pick-up.  Former Democratic Rep. Judy Baker now becomes presumptive nominee to face Sen. Caleb Rowden.

• MOScout/Remington polling from September showed the race in a statistical tie: Rowden at 49% and Baker at 45% with a margin of error +/- 4.7%.

MMJ Growers Licenses

The Department of Health and Senior Services issued the “list of 60.”  These are the lucky folks who won licenses for medical marijuana cultivation facilities.

MEC: Curators Needn’t Register as Lobbyists

The Missouri Ethics Commission issued an advisory opinion that “the members of the University of Missouri Board of Curators are not required to register as legislative lobbyists by virtue of their appointment in and of itself, and they are not required to register in order to respond to inquiries from the General Assembly…”

See it here.

Former Rep. Mark Parkinson has left Sen. Bill Eigel’s staff and is going to work for former Rep. Kurt Bahr at the St. Charles Election Board.

The State Board of Education met via conference call yesterday afternoon.  Topics tackled were more money (preschoolers), more money (teachers), more money (transportation), more career education and less violence.

Springfield New Leader reports on Rep. Tony Lovasco wanting to rein in the MODoT clever signs. 

Franks Documentary Shortlisted

Waiting for Superman, a documentary about former Rep. Bruce Franks advanced to the Oscar Shortlist in the nomination process.