Elections Archives - Missourinet

Ashcroft defends handling of referendum request attempting to overturn abortion ban

August 16, 2019 By Alisa Nelson

Pro-choice supporters say Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft “manipulated” an effort to overturn new abortion regulations through “obstructionist behavior”. Ashcroft approved a referendum effort on Wednesday to gather signatures for a public vote. The move makes it extremely difficult for abortion rights collectors to gather signatures before most of the new restrictions take effect on August 28. Ashcroft defends his office’s work on the request.

The Missouri Capitol in Jefferson City

“The ACLU, frankly didn’t file the referendum in a timely manner. They had ten days to file it before the law went into effect, which would have changed how we approached that referendum,” says Ashcroft tells Missourinet at the State Fair in Sedalia. “But they waited until after the governor had signed it – until after the emergency clause had gone into effect.”

Ashcroft, a Republican, goes on to say the petition took more investigation to make sure his office was following the law.

“The same organization (the ACLU) that was saying that I wasn’t listening to the voice of the people, was trying to stop me from having the statutorily-mandated 15 day comment period for the people of Missouri to comment on the referendums. By the end of that 15 day period, we had over 1,100 comments,” says Ashcroft.

In a statement from Robin Utz, treasurer of the No Bans On Choice Committee, she says the crusade will continue.

“Our commitment to protecting Missourians’ right to legal abortion is unwavering. The referendum is one tool to protect the rights of the people. There are others, and we will evaluate the best route forward to ensure Missourians retain control over their bodies, their decisions, and their democracy,” says Utz. “We are reviewing the ballot language released by Secretary Ashcroft today. He dragged his feet for 78 days before providing this ballot language, leaving Missourians with the impossible task of collecting 100,000 signatures in 14 days. He has effectively prevented voters from defeating the extreme eight-week abortion ban at the ballot box. It is outrageous that Secretary Ashcroft, Missouri’s chief elections officer, ran out the clock.”

Under House Bill 126, it would ban abortions around eight weeks of pregnancy. Medical emergencies are exceptions but not rape or incest.

Physicians who violate the law would face five to fifteen years in prison. It would also forbid doctors from doing abortions if the baby would have Down syndrome or for sex or race-selective abortions.

Additionally, the legislation requires both parents to be notified if a minor child wants an abortion.

For 67th year, ham and eggs bring together thousands of Missouri politicians and constituents

August 14, 2019 By Alisa Nelson

In 1953, the first Governor’s Ham Breakfast was held at the State Fair in west-central Missouri’s Sedalia. That would have been around the time when Democratic Governor Phil Donnelly was in office.

For 67th year, ham and eggs bring together thousands of Missouri politicians and constituents

The finishing touches are being put on Thursday’s 67th annual breakfast – an event where you can find hundreds of Missouri political figures and thousands of Missourians there to rub elbows with them. State Fair Marketing Director Kari Mergen tells Missourinet all 1,000 meal tickets have been sold.

“Some of our State Fair arena events will go into the thousands,” Mergen says. “Our office helps to coordinate the Ham Breakfast event and we coordinate a lot of the other special events that happen on the fairgrounds. This is one of the top events.”

Plenty of standing room only tickets for spectators are still available for $10.

The breakfast is especially popular during a presidential election year when so many candidates are running.

“We kind of joke about that internally sometimes ‘It’s a presidential election year – it’s probably going to sell out.’ This year is not a presidential election year but it did sell out,” Mergen says. “It doesn’t always sell out but it sells really well. I can safely say I think in the 900s even on a slow year. I think that’s just a fact that Missouri agriculture is a great group of people that want to come together and the State Fair is certainly a great place for that. The governor is a great advocate of agriculture. I think people want him to come to the breakfast to support him and support Missouri agriculture is definitely evident in the fact that the event is so well attended.”

What does it take to serve breakfast to 1,000 people? It’s not a small task for the catering service. About 2,000 eggs, 5,000 ounces of ham, 200 pounds of hash browns and 100 gallons of coffee will be used for what some consider to be the most important meal of the day. Several Missouri partners provide some of the food.

Some of the proceeds go to the State Fair Foundation and agriculture scholarships. Mergen says the auction portion brings in big bucks.

“Actually last year, all three of those set a record, she says. “Last year’s Grand Champion ham sold for $16,000. The reserve sold for $10,000 and the bacon sold for $9,000.”

The tickets for the breakfast do include fair admission for the day. Mergen says she thinks the event helps to boost fair attendance for the day.

The breakfast starts at 8 a.m. Thursday at the Fair Director’s tent.

Speculation is over. Galloway enters Missouri governor’s race

August 12, 2019 By Alisa Nelson

State Auditor Nicole Galloway wants to be Missouri’s next governor. In a video released today entitled “Every Dollar”, she announced her 2020 bid for the state’s highest office.

State Auditor Nicole Galloway

“Government isn’t doing much to make a difference for you and your family unless you are a well-connected insider. Health care costs are going through the roof and parents are worried about their kids being able to make a good life close to home. I’m one of them,” Galloway says in the video. “It’s hard to trust Jefferson City with our tax dollars. I’ve never settled for things just being the way they are and neither should Missourians. Dark money and insider deals have rigged the system against working families. As Auditor, I’ve fought it. As Governor, I’ll end it.”

The move ends speculation swirling about the Columbia Democrat’s future plans, especially since she started weighing in on the GOP-controlled Missouri Legislature’s passing in May of a bill banning abortions at eight weeks.

Galloway touts her record of exposing fraud at all levels of local and state government.

Her office’s audits have identified more than $350 million in government waste, fraud, and mismanagement. Partnering with law enforcement, her audits have led to 40 criminal counts brought against corrupt public officials, both Democrats and Republicans. In the past year, she uncovered a nationwide medical billing scheme operating through a small rural Missouri hospital that is now the subject of a Department of Justice criminal investigation.

Galloway was appointed to her current position in 2015 by former governor and fellow Democrat Jay Nixon. Before becoming auditor, she worked as the elected treasurer of Central Missouri’s Boone County.

Gov. Mike Parson, a Republican, is expected to announce soon that he’s running for the position.

Galloway files for 2020 Missouri governor’s run

August 9, 2019 By Alisa Nelson

State Auditor Nicole Galloway

State Auditor Nicole Galloway has filed paperwork with the Missouri Ethics Commission to run for governor in 2020. Galloway, a Democrat from central Missouri’s Columbia, has not made a formal announcement yet.

She was appointed to her position in 2015 by former Governor and fellow Democrat Jay Nixon. Last November, Galloway won a four-year term as auditor.

Gov. Mike Parson, a Republican, is expected to make an official announcement soon that he plans to run for the state’s highest office. He has already named Steele Shippy as his campaign manager.

Southwest Missouri voters oppose tax increase to help fund hospital

August 8, 2019 By Alisa Nelson

Voters in southwestern Missouri’s Cedar County have decided not to raise property taxes to help fund an area hospital.

Southwest Missouri voters oppose tax increase to help fund hospital

Missourinet affiliate KSGF in Springfield reports Cedar County Memorial Hospital in El Dorado Springs has been operating on the same $1.15 tax levy since it opened in 1960. Tuesday’s special election ballot proposal would have raised the tax levy for the average house by around 22 cents a day, or around $80 a year.

The hospital says it’s doing its best to keep things running. It ran a deficit of $1.5 million last year.

Springfield television station KYTV reports the vice president of the Cedar County Memorial Hospital board in El Dorado Springs, Carla Griffin, says the hospital “is not in IMMINENT danger of closing,” but employee cutbacks will need to be made.

The 25-bed hospital has more than 120 employees and is the second largest employer in the county. It includes a surgery center, sleep lab and wound care clinic.

Hundreds of rural health care centers have closed nationwide over the last 5 years, including seven in Missouri.

Kansas City leaders sworn into office

August 1, 2019 By Alisa Nelson

Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas (Photo courtesy of his Twitter page)

Kansas City has a new mayor. Quinton Lucas, 34, has been sworn into office as the western Missouri city’s 55th mayor. He defeated outgoing City Councilwoman Jolie Justus by 17 points in June.

Lucas, who succeeds two-term Mayor Sly James, was elected to the City Council as a 3rd District at-large councilman in 2015. He grew up in poverty in Kansas City. Lucas went on to attend Washington University in St. Louis and Cornell Law School – an Ivy League university in New York.

During today’s inaugural address, Lucas promised to lower violent crime, including the city’s high murder rate.

“I ask my colleagues to stand with me as we commit by the end of this term to getting our city off the FBI top 10 most dangerous cities list,” Lucas said.

Six new and six returning City Council members, including former state Representative Brandon Ellington, were also sworn into office today. Ellington, the former House Minority Whip, resigned yesterday from his state position.

Lucas has appointed Councilman Kevin McManus to serve as Mayor Pro Tem. McManus is a former state Representative from Kansas City.

Missouri independent congressional hopeful focusing on Social Security (AUDIO)

July 26, 2019 By Brian Hauswirth

A man from southwest Missouri’s Nevada hopes to become the first independent elected to Congress from Missouri since 1996.

35-year-old Robert Smith of Nevada plans to run for Congress as an independent in 2020 (photo courtesy of Mr. Smith)

Robert Smith says he will run as an independent in 2020 against U.S. Rep. Vicky Hartzler, R-Harrisonville, in the sprawling fourth district. He says the two major parties have a duopoly which disenfranchises voters.

“I feel that whenever you’re elected as a Republican or a Democrat, you have to hold party lines, you owe favors,” Smith says.

He says preserving Social Security is one of his top priorities, along with reducing the national debt. He also wants to see increased livable wages. Smith, who worries Social Security will be insolvent by 2035, supports legalizing marijuana and hemp to provide funding for Social Security.

“I believe with the cannabis and the hemp, hemp can open up new industries,” says Smith. “We can make paper, you can make biodegradable plastics which can start fighting pollution.”

Hartzler, who was elected to Congress in 2010, is expected to seek a sixth House term next year. The district includes Columbia, Sedalia, Warrensburg, Lebanon and Moberly. It includes Fort Leonard Wood and Whiteman Air Force Base near Knob Noster.

Missouri hasn’t elected an independent to Congress since 1996, when Cape Girardeau’s Jo Ann Emerson won. Her husband, then-Congressman Bill Emerson (R), died in June 1996, and because of state law at the time, she had to run as an independent. That’s because the filing deadline for the election had already closed. While she ran in 1996 as an independent, Emerson had the backing of Missouri GOP leaders at the time. After being elected, Emerson was a Republican.

As for Smith, he knows that it’s been 23 years since an independent was elected to Congress from Missouri. He’s pledging to impose term limits on himself.

“As a U.S. House of Representatives member I will not seek more than three terms, which would be six years,” Smith says.

He also says he would reject medical benefits and the congressional retirement package, if elected.

Click here to listen to Brian Hauswirth’s full interview with Robert Smith of Nevada, which was recorded in July 2019:

Missouri House Minority Whip to be sworn-in as Kansas City Councilman August 1 (AUDIO)

June 25, 2019 By Brian Hauswirth

One of the top Democrats in the Missouri House will be leaving the chamber this summer, shortly before he’s sworn-in as a Kansas City Council member.

Missouri House Minority Whip Brandon Ellington, D-Kansas City, addresses Capitol reporters in Jefferson City on January 28, 2019, as House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, D-Springfield, looks on (file photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

House Minority Whip Brandon Ellington, D-Kansas City, is a senior House member in Jefferson City. He was first elected in 2011.

“I would just like to thank the people of the state of Missouri for allowing me to serve as a State Rep. and I would like to thank the citizens of Kansas City for bringing me home to actually engage the constituency on a whole different level,” Ellington says.

Ellington, who will be sworn-in to the Kansas City Council on August 1, says his Council win last week against Pastor Wallace Hartsfield was a tough race and one of the closest in his career.

Ellington tells Missourinet his biggest House accomplishment involves protection of crime victims.

“Removal of the statute of limitations for victims of child abuse and sexual molestation,” says Ellington. “That was a piece of legislation that was given to me in 2011 by a constituent.”

Ellington says he worked closely with former State Rep. Kevin Corlew, R-Kansas City, to pass the bill, which is now law.

Ellington also carried a bill in 2019 which would have allowed a victim or witness of a crime to be granted an automatic full order of protection, if the victim or witness was fearful of his or her safety.

Representative Ellington says his biggest House disappointment is criminal justice reform. He says while it’s talked about a lot, the Missouri Legislature hasn’t shown the will to pass significant reform across-the-board.

The Legislature did approve three criminal justice reforms in 2019, but Ellington wanted lawmakers to go further.

While he’s a progressive, Whip Ellington has worked closely with House Republicans on several key issues over the years, including crime victim protection and jobs issues. Ellington says that bipartisan cooperation helped him win last week’s Council race.

“I did fairly good, not fairly I won Platte and Clay counties, and I think that’s due to a lot of the work that I do across the aisle,” Ellington says.

During GOP Governor Mike Parson’s January State of the State Address, State Reps. Bruce Franks, D-St. Louis, and Ellington were the first lawmakers to stand up and applaud the governor when he said he’s not interested in building more prisons.

Governor Parson received a standing ovation from both sides when he said that in January. Ellington was also a vocal supporter of the governor’s plan to close the maximum-security Crossroads Correctional Center in northwest Missouri’s Cameron and consolidate it with Western Missouri Correctional Center, which is also in Cameron.

Ellington and State Reps. Barbara Washington, D-Kansas City, and Mike Moon, R-Ash Grove, heard testimony from family members of Crossroads inmates during the September veto session. Those family members alleged inhumane treatment.

Ellington will be sworn-in to the Council on August 1, the same day Kansas City Mayor-Elect Quinton Lucas will be sworn-in.

Click here to listen to the full five-minute interview between Missourinet’s Brian Hauswirth and House Minority Whip Brandon Ellington, D-Kansas City, which was recorded on June 24, 2019:

What to watch for in this final week of the Missouri Legislature’s session

May 13, 2019 By Alisa Nelson

Get ready for what could be long hours and plenty of drama during this last week of the Missouri Legislature’s regular session. The GOP supermajority chambers are hoping to wrap up final passage of several priorities that not all members agree with, including some of the same party. Two small but mighty groups – the Senate Conservative Caucus and Senate Democrats – will likely determine how bumpy the road to the finish line will be and how much wheeling and dealing will go on this week when several controversial bills potentially resurface.

Missouri House (Photo courtesy of Tim Bommel, House Communications)

The next five days are also key for Gov. Mike Parson, R, who is experiencing his first legislative session as the state’s chief executive officer. He has repeatedly pushed for lawmakers to focus on workforce development issues and infrastructure funding.

The Missouri Senate is expected to consider this week a $50 million incentives package for a potential $1 billion expansion General Motors expansion at the plant in eastern Missouri’s Wentzville. The plan was formed about one week ago by Parson and other House and Senate allies. The Senate Conservative Caucus is expected to have plenty to say about Senate Bill 68, sponsored by Lincoln Hough, R-Springfield.

The package would give $5 million per year in tax credits over 10 years to carmakers that invest at least $750 million in plant upgrades and would provide tax credits earlier in a business expansion. It would also provide financial aid for people seeking high demand fields and workforce training improvements for major expansions.

Missouri Senate dais

The House passed the measure during the late night hours last Thursday before adjourning for the week. It wasn’t a slam dunk in that chamber. Representatives voted 92-51 in favor of the plan, with a few Republicans from the St. Louis region voting against the measure. The House had to call in absent members to get enough votes and 17 members did not even cast vote.

Other legislation that could reemerge is one that would block a possible high-voltage power line project from using eminent domain to take private land in eight northern Missouri counties. Those counties are Buchanan, Clinton, Caldwell, Carroll, Chariton, Randolph, Monroe and Ralls.

Rep. Jim Hansen, R-Frankford, is sponsoring House Bill 1062 in response to Clean Line Energy’s Grain Belt Express line project. The proposal is not one that is separated along party lines because of the impacts it could have on agriculture – Missouri’s number one industry.

According to the Missouri Public Utility Alliance, 39 Missouri cities that have signed up to take power from the line at a $12.8 million annual savings.

The State Public Service Commission rejected the project twice before a state Supreme Court ruling last year allowed commissioners to reconsider the plan again. In March, the Commission unanimously approved the project.

Hansen, like many lawmakers in this final week, are searching for other progressing bills to attach their measures to.

Another controversial measure that could come up for Senate debate is one that would ask voters to overturn a voter-approved ballot issue to change the legislative redistricting process. The resolution intends to toss out the portion letting the state auditor evaluate a nonpartisan demographer and requiring the demographer to draw legislative districts.

House Joint Resolution 48 is sponsored by Rep. Dean Plocher, R-Des Peres. It would also ban all lobbyist gifts to lawmakers, instead of the current $5 maximum limit.

The Missouri Senate’s top two Republican leaders have pledged to pass this session the proposal known as “Clean Missouri”. Senate Leader Dave Schatz, R-Sullivan, and Majority Floor Leader Caleb Rowden, R-Columbia, strongly support getting the plan on the November 2020 ballot.

Comprehensive anti-abortion bills could also come up for debate in the upper chamber. House Bill 126 would, among other things, make abortions illegal if a fetal heartbeat is found, which could come as early as eight weeks. Among other things, Senate Bill 279 would criminalize doctors who perform abortions unless for medical emergencies, prohibit doctors from providing an abortion if the baby could have Down Syndrome or if the procedure is sought solely because of the sex or race of the child.

According to the Missouri Constitution, the Legislature must adjourn the session by 6 p.m. on Friday.

To see a list of the bills that have so far been passed by the General Assembly, click here.

Big turnout expected at Missouri Capitol Monday for Conservation tax hearing

April 27, 2019 By Brian Hauswirth

A proposed constitutional amendment requiring that Missouri’s conservation sales tax be renewed by voters every six years will be heard by a House committee in Jefferson City on Monday evening.

State Rep. Mike Moon, R-Ash Grove, speaks on the Missouri House floor in Jefferson City on February 28, 2019 (file photo courtesy of Tim Bommel of House Communications)

The House Conservation and Natural Resources Committee will hear testimony Monday at 7 from State Rep. Mike Moon, R-Ash Grove, who’s the bill sponsor.

Committee chairman State Rep. Tim Remole, R-Excello, tells Missourinet he expects a standing-room only audience on Monday evening. Moon is also expecting a big turnout, telling Missourinet a group called the “Missouri Hunting and Working Dog Alliance” plans to support the bill Monday.

Under Representative Moon’s measure, which is House joint resolution 18, Missourians would cast ballots on the measure in November 2020.

The conservation sales tax was first approved by Missouri voters in November 1976, and it hasn’t been voted on since.

Moon’s proposed constitutional amendment, upon voter approval, would require the conservation sales tax to be approved by voters in 2020 and every six years thereafter.

Former State Sen. Brian Munzlinger, R-Williamstown, filed similar legislation in 2018. That bill died.

The conservation sales tax is a separate tax from the one-tenth-of-one percent parks, soil and water sales tax that was created through a constitutional amendment. That tax was first approved by Missouri voters in 1984, and was earmarked specifically for the state park system and efforts to stop soil erosion.

Missouri voters have re-approved it four times: in 1988, 1996, 2006 and in 2016.