Tilley Hires Brown

Steven Tilley announced that his firm, Strategic Capitol Consulting, was hiring Travis Brown and Tracy King.

Travis will help grow SCC’s footprint nationally and in Washington. He has over 20 years of experience and government affairs experience in almost half of the 50 states. Prior to joining SCC, Travis founded government affairs and lobbying firm First Rule…

Tracy will focus on tax issues, economic development, local government, and education. She brings extensive experience in issue advocacy and legislative initiatives on topics such as tax, budget policy, economic development, education, transportation, energy and tort reform.

Lou Brock, Stan Musial, and Two Mickey Mantles

Press release: Missouri State Treasurer Scott Fitzpatrick returned approximately $30,000 worth of baseball and other sports cards to a St. Charles resident this morning. The cards, including a Lou Brock rookie card, a signed Stan Musial card, and two Mickey Mantle cards, were found in a safe deposit box that was turned over to the unclaimed property division… The collection returned today contained approximately 100 baseball and basketball cards.

Sinquefield Reaction

The Missouri political world reacted to news that Rex Sinquefield had dropped his longtime lobbyist Travis Brown.

Most people I spoke to viewed it like a California earthquake: for years, they’d been 100% sure it would happen, but they were totally surprised the day it actually occurred.

WWTHD? (What Will The House Do?)

The expectation is that we’ll get some clarity from House leadership about how they plan to proceed (or not proceed) with the jurisdiction bill which the Senate passed last week.

Look for some indication by the end of the week

St. Louis City Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner has her general election in November. An independent PAC has been formed to support her Republican opponent, Daniel Zdrodowski. The PAC is Reasonable People For Justice. Its treasurer is Nick Calcaterra.

Senate PQs Jurisdiction

After hours of a Democratic filibuster, the Senate’s Republican majority used the PQ to push through the controversial provision giving Attorney General Eric Schmitt some jurisdiction in St. Louis City murder cases.

Uniting MO Unveils Three New Ads

Uniting Missouri unveiled three new ads, hitting their same themes.

· One is the relative of a victim of violent crime who is “tired of soft on crime politicians” so isn’t supporting Nicole Galloway. See it here.

· One is a businessman who appreciates Parson’s efforts on workforce training. See it here.

· And the third shows a disintegrating society and says Galloway is “standing with those who want to completely abolish our local police departments.” See it here.

Court Rewrite CLEANER Again

The Western District Court of Appeals rewrote the CLEANER ballot language yet again. The latest reworking is more favorable to the proponents of the proposal, but still not as advantageous as the original language put forth by the legislature.

The state’s COVID numbers continue to go in the wrong directions.

· Hospitalizations are now touching the 1,000 mark. It had been in the 500-600 range back in May and June.

· The positivity rate is over 12%.

· And the cases are spreading out across Missouri and hitting rural counties now.

1. Americans self-identified party affiliation

2. Trump approval / disapproval

3. Generic ballot

4. Electoral map based on history

5. The crisis didn’t unify

6. Consumer spending starting to cool

7. How to gerrymander

8. Map of racial inequality

9. Hard to keep the band together

Watson Passes

John Watson, who served as Governor Jay Nixon’s chief of staff, died. In 2015, he was appointed State Auditor to fill out the term of Tom Schweich. And then later he headed up the Missouri State Employees Retirement System.

JeffCo Gets Mask Mandate

The virus remains an electoral wildcard. It’s just not knowable what things will look like in two months when people line up at polling places.

CLEAN Lands Another Big Check

While the court battle continues to determine what the official ballot language will be, the CLEAN campaign committee is landing some big checks. Today there’s a half-million check from the National Education Association.

Greitens on the Offense

Greitens filed a sweeping sunshine request of the General Assembly. It also asks for records from many individuals associated with the LIHTC industry.

• One Dem politico wonders if Greitens is searching for an October surprise to daisy-cutter on Parson.

Galloway Ad

Auditor Nicole Galloway released her first gubernatorial TV ad. It’s called “urgency,” and Galloway speaks fast with a subtle drumbeat behind her.

The ad hits Parson as Galloway simply refers to “him” and “he.”

The tag: We can’t have a governor who does so little. I’ll do things differently – with a sense of urgency.

Driving the Day: Galloway’s COVID Action Plan

Media Advisory: Auditor Nicole Galloway will deliver remarks in Kansas City and Springfield where she will lay out what steps, as Governor, she would take to contain COVID-19 in Missouri…

Top of the list: statewide mask mandate.

1. The Auditor’s draft report on SLEDP.

2. MO 1% threshold.

3. STL homicides stats.

4. Almost always with a gun.

5. Americans feel COVID crisis getting worse.

6. Job postings indicator.

7. Face mask mandates across the country.

8. Morgan Stanley’s economic scenarios.

9. Food column?

Hancock to New MO States Newsroom Affiliate

KCStar’s Jason Hancock announced over Twitter that he was leaving the paper to start a new venture.

Galloway Makes Big Media Buy

The Galloway campaign has made its first big TV buy. It’s a $2.1 million reservation across eight weeks starting after Labor Day.

GOP Focuses on Crime

Although COVID, back-to-school and the economy seem to dominate neighbor conversations, Republican candidates are focusing on crime as their top issue for the general election.