MOScout Daily Update: Stadium Talk - Alexander Raises $75K - Session Grades and more…
Stadium Talk
Team Kehoe has one eye on Kansas as they work toward an early June special session. From KCMU talk radio… Kansas Speaker Dan Hawkins “kind of expects” to have a deal. Yikers!
· One lobbyist: The ultimate leverage a member of the state legislator has is his/her vote. It won't surprise me if the Senate Dem’s try to leverage their votes on a stadium deal for the projects in HB 19... My guess is Cindy O doesn’t have 18-votes for the stadium bill
· Meanwhile, one MOScouter: As if things couldn’t get worse for Kehoe - trying to spend $900 million on a stadium tax break for a billionaire while STL businesses and citizens will be begging for scraps to rebuild…
Senate 28
Word is that Sam Alexander “raised just shy of 75k at his fundraiser at the Pensmore Saturday night.”
· Alexander, running to replace Sen. Sandy Crawford, faces Rep. Brad Pollitt in the primary.
Vivo Missouri
A new charter school being proposed in St. Louis. Vivo will serve as one of four pilot recovery high schools as defined by Missouri Statute 167.850. Recovery high schools support the education and recovery needs for students with a history of substance useand related mental health challenges. Statute 167.850 calls for communities in Missouri to create four new recovery high schools across the state…
· Vivo Missouri would use the template of Vivo Colorado.
Session Grades Part I
Statewides…
Mike Kehoe: A-. The new governor was quick to convert his election win into policy gains. He checked off all three of his major promises: control of the St. Louis police, a tax cut, and finally the expansion for funding for ESAs. That deserves an A+, but he suffered defeats in the homestretch with his budget priorities getting beat up by the Senate, a failed nominee to school board, and then the stadium subsidy dying.
Scott Fitzpatrick: B+. The one statewide official who consistently produces quality results. But politics is no longer a game of production, it’s a game headlines. Does he make enough?
David Wasinger: C. Hasn’t found his Senate legs, so to speak, as he lurched back-and-forth. Is the president of the Senate who enjoys introducing guests? Is he a constructive critic who thinks the Senate should move faster? Is he an outsider who thinks the Senate is swampy? Is he a political player using this as a stepping stone to the next position? This session he seemed to be all of these things.
Senate…
Cindy O’Laughlin: C+. Presided over a very productive and relatively placid session until the final month, balancing the demands of the Freedom Caucus with those of mainstream Republicans, while accommodating Democrats to keep the Senate functioning more smoothly than it had in many years. However, the ending wasn’t pretty. The Prop A negotiations fell apart not once but twice, leading to mutual recriminations. Then, when presented with a real opportunity for leadership to seal a global deal and avoid PQs, she chose to defer to a first-year senator who had neither a record of working through tough issues in the House, or any discernible interest in compromising. This led to PQs, a disappointing outcome was the product of a process that many of her caucus members found inexplicable – especially the lack of a caucus to discuss the deal that was on the table.
Tony Luetkemeyer: B-. Similar assessment to O’Laughlin’s, with a slightly higher grade only because he got most of his legislative wish list enacted on HB 495 (the state takeover bill). That said, there is a large group of senators (of both parties) and House members (Republicans) who came away from session feeling burned by Luetkemeyer for one reason or another – in many cases, a failure to follow through on what others claim he promised. It’s possible that this resulted from deals he made with Freedom Caucus members last fall; that keeping certain commitments to FC members made it impossible for him to stick to commitments made to other legislators.
Doug Beck: B. The Democratic Caucus – like every caucus – has its factions and fissures. And he kept things together, by and large, throughout the session, especially where major issues were involved. He gets dinged because he couldn’t deliver a deal when Dems needed it at the end of session, but it’s hard to say what exactly he could have done to make it happen as, in hindsight, the fix seems to have been in from the start.
Jill Carter: B. Pass her education bill – and got her pick as the executive director of the Joint Committee on Education, promising more policy pushes in the future as she makes her mark on the state’s educational system.
Mike Cierpiot: A-. The heavy lift of a utility overhaul which it seems like he’s been waiting for years for a window to manage. He’s had to wait out the turbulent Eigel years for his chance to move his legislation. The floor attack on MRL during the final week will be remembered, as well as his hilarious expression of hatred, that he wished he “wasn’t so pro-life so he could flip on them.”
Sandy Crawford: A. Another A session for Crawford, like the best student in the class who’s too humble to tell you she aced another test. Probably once again passed more bills than anyone else in the chamber without anyone hardly noticing.
Kurtis Gregory: A. Hard to believe he’s just a freshman. Calm and at ease on the floor, handling huge pieces of legislation, getting the Farm Bureau’s insurance legislation across the finish line.
Lincoln Hough: B. Plenty of times it seemed that Hough was burnt out, or checked out, or ready to move on from the Senate. And yet, he comes alive when it’s showtime. Still dangerous on the floor, still skilled at the budget as he maneuvered once again to shape the budget to his liking.
Karla May: B. She got rolled on the St. Louis police issue, but everyone in the building knew that was an impossible stand. She did, however, deliver the session’s best line: “God made government, but the devil made politics.”
Joe Nicola: B+. One of the more interesting new members of the Senate as he’s political philosophy defies some traditional partisan lines. While hard to pin down exactly where he might fall on an issue, but had a good year impressing folks as he led with his heart.
Steven Roberts: B+. Got the potentially transformative Downtowns and Main Streets Act, only to see it languish in the House for weeks at the end of session. But big bills often move one step farther each session and only get accomplished over a career.
Nick Schroer: A. Handled the governor’s rime package, and transitioned from Freedom Caucus winger to center, and in the process helped lead that bloc into a constructive role within the Republican supermajority.
$5K+ Contributions
Missouri Voter Project - State PAC - $15,000 from United Food & Commercial Workers International Union AFL-CIO PAC (Washington DC).
House Republican Campaign Committee, Inc - $20,000 from HTH Companies, Inc.
House Republican Campaign Committee, Inc - $50,000 from J & J Ventures Gaming of Missouri LLC (Effingham IL).
Missouri Senior PAC - $25,000 from Protection Plus LLC.
Birthdays
Happy birthdays to Justin Arnold, and Kyle Juvers.