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Missouri’s McCaskill and Hawley have similar positions on rural post offices

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Missouri’s senior senator and her GOP opponent in November both oppose privatizing the United States Postal Service (USPS).

Senator Claire McCaskill and Attorney General Josh Hawley spoke at this Missouri Farm Bureau podium in Jefferson City on August 10, 2018 (Brian Hauswirth photo)

U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill (D) and Republican Attorney General Josh Hawley delivered separate presentations Friday to more than 200 Missouri Farm Bureau members in Jefferson City.

McCaskill, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, tells Missourinet she’s worked hard on this issue.

“Maintaining six-day delivery, maintaining every post office, giving communities input when post offices close,” McCaskill says. “Privatization would be terrible for rural Missouri.”

McCaskill’s committee held a Senate hearing in July on the potential USPS privatization.

“There is no way a privatization model delivers the same level of service to rural America as they currently receive. I know what privatization means for rural Missouri, and I will not go there on postal,” McCaskill said at the July 18 hearing in Washington.

While they’ve clashed on numerous other issues, McCaskill and Hawley have similar positions on privatization.

Both were asked about it by Farm Bureau members on Friday.

Hawley, who grew up in western Missouri’s Lexington, emphasized his Lafayette County roots while speaking at Farm Bureau. He also notes that his wife, Erin, grew up on a New Mexico ranch, miles away from a post office.

Hawley tells Missourinet he wants to preserve our network of rural post offices.

“I’m always for reform that makes things more efficient, but I worry about reforms that shut down rural post offices and make access to that more difficult for folks who live in rural areas,” says Hawley.

The USPS website notes the Postal Service has the nation’s largest retail network, “bigger than McDonald’s, Starbucks and Walmart combined, domestically.”

The Postal Service does not receive tax dollars for operating expenses.

Missouri Farm Bureau members from 86 counties participated in Friday’s forum.

Farm Bureau trustees voted 82-4 to endorse Hawley, who beat ten other candidates to win the GOP Senate nomination last Tuesday.

McCaskill and Hawley were the only two Senate candidates at Friday’s forum.

While Libertarian nominee Japheth Campbell and Green Party nominee Jo Crain were not invited to participate, they will appear on the November ballot.

McCaskill is seeking her third Senate term. Hawley was elected Missouri Attorney General in 2016.

Copyright © 2018 · Missourinet

Missouri Ethics Commission subpoenas for Greitens’ non-profit bank records

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Former Missouri Governor Eric Greitens speaks to reporters in downtown St. Louis on May 14, 2018, after the felony invasion of privacy charge against him was dismissed (Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI

The Missouri Ethics Commission has subpoenaed Carrollton Bank for all bank records from former Gov. Eric Greitens’ political non-profit organization – A New Missouri. It wants to examine the information to learn if any campaign finance violations have occurred. Court documents obtained by Missourinet say Greitens’ non-profit has requested that Cole County Circuit judge Daniel Green dismiss the subpoena.

In June, Greitens resigned after months of controversy involving allegations of taking and transmitting a non-consensual sexual photo during a 2015 affair and threatening to release the image. He’s also accused of transmitting a charity donor list without proper approval to fuel his campaign, potential foreign campaign donations and open records violations for his former office’s use of a cell phone app to immediately delete text messages.

Greitens quickly stepped down when a judge ordered his non-profit and campaign committees to hand over personal donor information to a Missouri House committee. The move ultimately ended the investigation the committee was charged with doing.

Later that same month, committee chairman Jay Barnes, R-Jefferson City, announced that he planned to file a complaint with the Missouri Ethics Commission stating that the Commission has the authority to investigate A New Missouri. He went on to say that Greitens was still likely guilty of multiple crimes that could be prosecuted in state or federal court.

Copyright © 2018 · Missourinet

Efforts to raise Missouri’s minimum wage on ballot in November general election

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One of the six ballot measures that Missouri will decide in November’s election would raise the state’s minimum wage.

The group Raise Up Missouri collected more than 120,000 signatures to ensure the pay hike would be placed before voters.  The effort is also supported by Missouri Business for Fair Minimum Wage.

The ballot measure known as Proposition B would increase the minimum wage, starting next year, to $8.60 from the current $7.85, and gradually increase it by 85 cents a year until it reaches $12 an hour by 2023.

The state’s current minimum wage of $7.85 translates to $314 a week and slightly more than $16,000 a year for a full-time worker.

Missouri Business for Fair Minimum Wage is part of a national group that advocates for hikes in minimum pay across the country.  Two of its member business owners recently spoke with Missourinet.

Stacy Jurado-Miller heads the Vecino Group in Springfield, which is a real estate development firm that specializes in low-income housing.  She says taxpayers end up footing the bill for workers with low paying jobs.

“We deal in affordable housing, so every day we see what happens when hard-working Missourians can’t pay for their basic needs,” said Jurado-Miller.  “The result is as a state we’re paying one way or another when people can’t afford their rent.”

Howard Hanna owns two restaurants in Kansas City, the Rieger and Ca Va.  He claims all his kitchen and waitstaff make more than $12 per hour already and says raising the minimum wage will level the playing field for businesses.

“We’re having to compete against people who are paying the least they possibly can,” said Hanna.  “That makes it difficult for us to compete in the marketplace when our prices look high compared to others.  And it’s because we’re actually trying to do the right thing by our staff.”

Both St. Louis and Kansas City either enacted or had plans to implement minimum wage hikes before being overridden by the state legislature.

In August of 2015, the St. Louis Board of Aldermen passed an ordinance to raise minimum pay to $11.00 by this year.  In August of 2017, Kansas City voters approved a measure by a 75%-to-25% margin to increase the city’s minimum wage over five years to $15.00 by 2022.

Those efforts were crushed by the state legislature in 2017 when it passed a bill barring municipalities from establishing minimum pay requirements that exceed the statewide minimum wage.  Then Governor Eric Greitens let the bill become law without his signature.

St. Louis actually hiked its local wage for four months in 2017.  A court battle between the state legislature and the city had started after the city ordinance was approved in 2015.  The city prevailed when the state Supreme Court reversed a circuit court ruling that the St. Louis ordinance was out of step with state law.  The city’s minimum wage was briefly raised to $10 in May of 2017 before the new state law prohibiting the increase became effective on August 28th of last year.

Backers of this year’s ballot measure rely on several studies to support their claim that boosting the minimum wage helps the economy.

An analysis conducted by the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute concluded that Proposition B would result in a new investment of more than $1 billion in consumer buying power in Missouri, affecting over 670,000 workers.

A 2011 study, “The Spending and Debt Responses to Minimum Wage Increases” by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago stated that “every dollar increase in the minimum wage results in $2,800 in new consumer spending per household over the following year.”

Business groups that generally fight against minimum wage increases have been relatively silent since Proposition B was certified for the November ballot.

The Missouri Chamber of Commerce opposed the wage hikes in Kansas City and St. Louis that the state legislature ultimately blocked.  The Chamber’s Matt Panik said his organization hasn’t taken a position on the ballot measure but would be evaluating it with Chamber board members.

“Generally, we try to wait until it’s certified and we know that it’s going to be on the ballot before we really weigh in on something,” said Panik.  “That’s all I’d say at this point.”

Even if Proposition B is approved by voters, the Republican-dominated, and business-friendly state legislature could still have the final say on what the final outcome is.  Missouri is one of 11 states with no restrictions on lawmakers’ ability to repeal citizen initiatives.

Missouri’s Jay Randolph: 2018 PGA Championship will be the most successful in history (AUDIO)

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St. Louisan and longtime NBC Sports broadcaster Jay Randolph says the 100th PGA Championship at Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis County will be long remembered by those in attendance.

The logo for the 100th PGA Championship at Bellerive Country Club, courtesy of Explore St. Louis

Randolph says crowds were 20-deep when Tiger Woods teed off Thursday morning. Woods has won 14 major golf championships.

Randolph predicts the 2018 PGA Championship will be the most successful PGA Championship in history.

“We have over 4,000 volunteers, we have nearly 1,000 media members who are here and we have the greatest players anywhere all together here,” Randolph says.

Bellerive also hosted the 1992 PGA Championship, which Randolph describes as the most successful in the history of the PGA.

Randolph says this year’s tournament is even bigger.

Explore St. Louis is projecting a $100 million economic impact, with about 80,000 out-of-town visitors for the tournament.

More than 30 area hotels are under contract for the event.

Randolph compares the impact of this tournament to the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis.

He says volunteers have come from as far away as Europe.

Thousands of golf fans are expected to head to Bellerive again on Friday morning for round two of the PGA Championship.

Randolph notes the tournament is sold-out.

“We’ll have over 30,000 people here on the golf course on Saturday and Sunday, but it’s a culmination of so many people doing so much work,” says Randolph.

Randolph also notes more than 100 golf course superintendents from across the country have traveled to St. Louis to assist the Bellerive groundskeeping crew.

He says they have done a remarkable job.

Randolph spent 22 years at NBC, and broadcast the Bob Hope Desert Classic for 16 straight years.

He also worked at St. Louis’ NBC affiliate, KSDK, for about 24 years, and spent years broadcasting Cardinal baseball on Channel 5.

 

Click here to listen to the full interview between Missourinet’s Brian Hauswirth and Jay Randolph, which was recorded on August 9, 2018:

Copyright © 2018 · Missourinet

Chillicothe to put up signs designating it as a Purple Heart City

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Chillicothe is placing signs soon to show its support for America’s soldiers who have received the Purple Heart medal. City Administrator Darin Chappell tells Missourinet affiliate KCHI in Chillicothe the signs will state the northwest Missouri town is known as a “Purple Heart City” to pay respect to the medal recipients who have been wounded or killed in combat.

Chillicothe City Hall

“It’s something that many communities across the state have done,” he says.

Missouri has more than 120 cities, villages, counties and organizations recognizing Purple Heart medal soldiers in such a way.

Chappell says the declaration process is more than a year in the making.

“There will be four signs purchased for $100 each,” he says. “There will be one north and south on Highway 65 and one east and west on Highway 36.”

The signs will go up at the city limits.

Tom Tingerthal of Missourinet affiliate KCHI in Chillicothe contributed to this story.

Copyright © 2018 · Missourinet

Attorney General Sessions expected in Kansas City in December

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The U.S. Attorney General is expected to travel to Kansas City in December for a national conference about violent crime.

U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri Tim Garrison (2018 photo courtesy of the U.S. Attorney’s website)

The 2018 Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) national conference will take place from December 5-7 at the Westin Kansas City at Crown Center.

Project Safe Neighborhoods is the Justice Department’s initiative aimed at violent crime.

The U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, Tim Garrison, tells Missourinet he expects Attorney General Jeff Sessions to attend the conference.

Garrison also says all 93 U.S. Attorneys are scheduled to attend the PSN conference.

“And they’ll be bringing their criminal leadership, each office has both criminal and civil attorneys, and I expect that Attorney General Sessions will be there,” Garrison says.

The Justice Department says federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement officers are also expected to attend. They’ll share ideas about violent crime reduction.

The conference is by invitation-only.

Attorney General Sessions describes Project Safe Neighborhoods as the “centerpiece” of the Trump administration’s crime reduction strategy.

Sessions has also placed an emphasis on allocating more Assistant U.S. Attorney positions to focus on violent crime, along with a National Gang Strategic Initiative.

Garrison, who’s the top-ranking federal law enforcement official in Missouri’s Western District, says Missouri has three of the top 15 most violent cities in the nation, on a per capita basis.

Those cities are St. Louis, Kansas City and Springfield, according to Garrison.

Garrison briefed President Donald Trump’s chief of staff in July about the violence issues in Kansas City.

Garrison says General John Kelly was “floored” when he learned Missouri has three of the top 15 most violent cities in America, on a per capita basis.

Mr. Garrison tells Missourinet Kansas City has a higher murder rate than Chicago, and notes Missouri has the fifth-highest murder rate in the nation.

Jeff Sessions is a former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Alabama.

Sessions served in the U.S. Senate from 1997-2017.

Copyright © 2018 · Missourinet

Ivanka Trump visits St. Louis area to discuss workforce development

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Ivanka Trump is touring the country to unite academic, business, and political leaders in a series of workforce development roundtable discussions. During a visit today at Lewis and Clark Community College near St. Louis, she says the nation’s low unemployment rate is creating an unprecedented climate.

Ivanka Trump speaks to hundreds of U.S. Steel workers in Granite City, IL on July 26, 2018

Ms. Trump wants to connect unemployed and underemployed Americans with the training necessary to fill skilled jobs in growing industries.

“For the first time in history, we actually have more job vacancies than unemployed people,” she says. “There’s skills mismatched that exist. What can we do about it?”

She says the federal government is going to reconcile workforce programs to make them more accountable and think holistically about the role of education through the lifecycle of American workers.

“I think as a federal government, we are not very good, typically, at training. But we can leverage the knowledge of the private sector. We can say be our partner and help us do better,” Trump says. “Help us amplify the issue. Help us think about ways that we can be creative. Help us leverage technology, for example, to create better transparency for our students and our workers across the country.”

Ms. Trump cites the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics saying the country has 6.6 million vacant jobs.

“They can tell you the industries they are in, but they can’t tell you geographically where those jobs are located and they can’t tell you the underlying skillsets required to fill those jobs,” she says.

Trump goes on to say the U.S. is experiencing historic low unemployment rates for African-Americans, Hispanics, Asians, women and the disabled.

Todd Sauter contributed to this story.

Copyright © 2018 · Missourinet

Lawsuit seeks to remove motor fuel tax from public vote

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A lawsuit claims a ballot measure set to go before Missouri voters in November is unconstitutional and improperly uses taxpayer money.

Conservative activist Ron Calzone and Republican state Representative Mike Moon of Ash Grove are trying to block the vote to raise the state’s motor fuel tax.

Arguments in the case were heard by Judge Robert Schollmeyer in Cole County Circuit Court in Jefferson City Tuesday.

Lawmakers this year attached the motor fuel tax vote to a completely different bill that creates an income tax deduction on awards Olympic athletes win.

Calzone and Moon contend the proposal is unconstitutional because it fails to conform to a state requirement that limits each bill to a single subject.  They claim the motor fuel tax amendment changes the original bill’s purpose.

Calzone says the state Supreme Court has interpreted the Constitution to protect citizens from having to make choices such as those required in the bill.

“This gives the people multiple subjects, some of which some of the people might like, and some of the subjects they might not like,” said Calzone.  “And so, the people are forced to make a decision whether to accept something that they don’t like in order to get something that they do like.”

The bill as passed and certified by the secretary of state will ask voters to cast a ballot on three separate provisions, all at once on the same ballot measure.

They’ll be asked if they want to increase the motor fuel tax, exempt Olympic (as well as Special Olympic, Paralympic) prizes from state taxes, and establish the Emergency State Freight Bottleneck Fund?

The Bottleneck Fund would create a dedicated fund for certain road projects in order to reduce traffic bottlenecks that affect freight.

A single yes vote would be a vote in favor of all three provisions in the bill.  Together they are known as Proposition D.

Lawmakers folded the motor fuel tax and the Bottleneck Fund into the Olympic award tax break proposal on the final day of the state legislative session May 18th.

The lawsuit references a 1994 Missouri Supreme Court decision officially titled Hammerschmidt v. Boone County, which found a violation of the constitutional rule against introduction or passage of bills containing more than a single subject.

The defendant in the lawsuit is Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft who is represented by Assistant Attorney General Jason K. Lewis.  Intervening in the case on the same side is a group called SaferMO, which was created to promote Proposition D.  SaferMO represents stakeholder such as contractors who would work on road project the motor fuel tax would finance.

Jefferson City Attorney Chuck Hatfield, who is representing SaferMO, contends the ballot measure will pass legal muster.  He thinks the courts will back up the legislature’s intent.

“The constitution gives them a great deal of latitude to decide how they’re going to pass legislation,” said Hatfield.  “It might not be the way you and I would do it.  It’s a messy process.  But I don’t think that this particular bill ran afoul of any of the guideposts that the constitution sets.”

SaferMo and the attorney general’s office further contend that the requirement for each legislative bill to conform to a single subject doesn’t apply to referendums such as Proposition D that go before voters.

Hatfield says there’s no precedent for such a requirement although he does admit there is a possible reading of the constitution that could limit a referendum to one subject.  Still, he thinks the courts will let the legislature’s work move forward.

Another argument being made in the lawsuit is that the plaintiffs, Calzone and Representative Moon, have no standing to bring the case because they haven’t been impacted by the ballot measure.  SaferMO and the attorney general’s office say they could only file the complaint after the ballot measure was passed and they’d been subject to the higher motor fuel tax.

Calzone says this argument is not accurate because the state estimates it’ll cost $400,000 in taxpayer money to place the measure of the ballot.

“They’ve got to publish the full measure in every county a number of times, in the newspapers of every county a number of times,” said Calzone.  “And that’s expensive to do.”

Hatfield with SaferMO argues that the expense required for a ballot measure is an operational cost that is already assigned once the proposal passes.

“There’s already an appropriation to have a vote,” Hatfield said.  “We’re going to have an election in November no matter what, and there’s going to be money spent to publish the various provisions.  That was our position.  It’s not really going to change that much.”

If voters passed the ballot measure, its main provision would increase the motor fuel tax by two and one-half cents for four straight years beginning July 1, 2019.  The gas tax, which hasn’t been touched since the 1990’s would rise from 17 cent’s per gallon to 27 cents.

The total amount of money generated by the motor fuel tax hike is estimated to be $293 million per year once the increase is fully implemented in 2022.

The lion’s share of the money would be used to improve and build new roads.

The top upsets in Missouri’s primary election

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Another Missouri primary election is in the books. The outcomes of some of the races were not surprising, while others came out of left field.

The biggest statewide upset in Tuesday’s election goes to Right-to-work supporters. For the first time since 1978, Missouri voters have rejected a ballot referendum known as Proposition A, which would have banned mandatory union membership or fees in the workplace. Missouri will not become a Right-to-work state, for now. The issue is a major priority for many Republicans in the Missouri Legislature and another similar proposal will likely make a comeback soon.

The top upsets in Missouri’s primary election

Saundra McDowell has taken the Republican nomination for the Missouri State Auditor’s race. She finished the race with 33% of the vote to David Wasinger’s 27%, followed by State Rep. Paul Curtman’s surprising 16%. McDowell faces Missouri Democratic State Auditor Nicole Galloway, along with the Libertarian, Green Party and Constitution Party candidates in November.

In a four-way Republican race for the Missouri Senate District 18 seat, the lone candidate who is not a current legislator, Cindy O’ Laughlin, defeats the three legislators. Lindell Shumake, Craig Redmon and Nate Walker were also running for the seat being vacated by the term-limited Brian Munzlinger of Williamstown. O’Laughlin will face Crystal Stephens, a Democrat, in November.

Justin Dan Brown has defeated Republican State Reps. Diane Franklin and Keith Frederick to take the State Senate District 16 seat in mid-Missouri. Brown, also a Republican, captured 40% of the vote to Franklin 35% and Frederick’s 25%.

Longtime St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Bob McCulloch has lost his re-election bid. Fellow Democrat Wesley Bell, who serves on the Ferguson City Council, won last night’s primary.

State Rep. Karla May came out with the victory in last night’s Democratic primary by beating incumbent Jake Hummel for the District 4 State Senate seat. May will take on Republican Robert Crump in November’s general election.

Term-limited Springfield State Sen. Bob Dixon has handily defeated incumbent Bob Cirtin in the Greene County presiding commissioner race in southwest Missouri. Dixon faces Democrat and former State Rep. Sara Lampe in November. Lampe and Dixon, a Republican, both served together in the Missouri House.

Copyright © 2018 · Missourinet

McCaskill, Hawley exchange barbs while securing U.S. Senate nominations

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Missouri’s Incumbent Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill was victorious in her primary for re-election Tuesday night.

Although she was not thought to be in jeopardy of losing the party nomination, she’s been continually referred to in the national press as one of the most, if not the most, vulnerable Democrats trying to hold onto a Senate seat in this year’s election.

Front-running Republican challenger Josh Hawley handily won the GOP nomination Tuesday as well.  He’s been quick to pounce on McCaskill’s perceived weaknesses as a Democrat in a heavily Republican state.

Hawley challenged McCaskill to a debate several times in recent weeks and has criticized her for not responding.  Tuesday night, he doubled down on his demand, proclaiming that the debates be held on the back of a flatbed truck.

“I’m going to drag that flatbed truck all over this state to courthouses everywhere,” said Hawley.  “We’ll get out.  We’ll get on the back of a truck and we’ll debate, just me, just her, no holds barred.  That’s my challenge.”

McCaskill took time to issue her own challenge to Hawley, asking for all debates to be hosted by local Missouri media outlets and journalists, and for all of them to be aired on broadcast television, radio or streamed online to reach as many voters as possible statewide.  She also sent out a press release listing her campaign manager’s contact information for arrangements to be made for a debate.

At a primary night stop at her Columbia campaign office late Tuesday afternoon, McCaskill noted Hawley had avoided debates with his primary opponents.

“We just weren’t going to talk about debating until the Republicans had nominated a candidate,” said McCaskill.  “I thought that was just really inappropriate.  He was being asked to debate his opponents and didn’t want to.  So, I think he was trying to pivot and focus on trying to talk about a debate in the general (election).  But I’ve always debated my opponents.”

Hawley held his election watching party in Springfield where he spoke in general terms but took sharp aim at McCaskill as out of step with Republican-heavy Missouri.  “She takes her orders from the liberal elites in Hollywood and Washington,” said Hawley.  “For too long, she has been representing them and not us.  Well, I’ll tell you what, not anymore.”

The former University of Missouri Constitutional Law Professor also attacked McCaskill for not supporting President Trump’s stance on immigration and Supreme Court judges.

“In 2016 Missouri voted for conservative judges, but Claire McCaskill ignored us,” Hawley said.  “In 2016 Missouri voted to build a wall and secure our border, but Claire McCaskill turned a deaf ear.”

For her part, McCaskill is making health care a major part of her platform.

As the Republican state Attorney General, Hawley joined 19 other GOP led states in a lawsuit against the Affordable Care Act.  The suit claims the law is now entirely invalid because Congress did away with the individual requirement to have health insurance when it passed the 2017 tax cut package.

The case argues that because the law is no longer valid, the protections it offers, such as those for preexisting conditions, are no longer enforceable.  McCaskill sees defending health care as a major advantage for her in the Senate race against Hawley.

“On the one hand, you’ve got somebody who is looking after you on your side against the insurance companies,” said McCaskill.  “And you’ve got somebody else who is willing to use the courts to wipe out every protection you have.  If we can take that message to every Missourian, you know what’s going to happen?  On election night, the first Tuesday of November at about 11:30 or so, they’re going to say, ‘You know what, Claire McCaskill’s done it again. She’s won Missouri.”

Hawley has said that he favors continuing consumer protections including preexisting conditions but still says the health care law needs to be replaced.

McCaskill also mentioned it would be a Democratic priority with a win in November to push for volume discount negotiations to bring down the cost of drugs in the Medicare program.

But her biggest talking point besides health care was her claim that she is being attacked by dark money.  Dark money is a phrase used to describe contributions made through 501 (c) (4) non-profit groups that don’t identify their donors.

McCaskill didn’t call out organizations Tuesday, such as the Koch Network who she has named in the past, as spending large sums of money against her with attack ads.  She did claim that dark money groups are vastly outspending Hawley on his own campaign.

“He has spent, I’m guessing maybe a dollar for every 10 dollars that the dark money groups have spent on his behalf,” McCaskill said.  “Millions and millions of dollars have been spent in dark money.”

The two-term Senator also addressed criticism over her failure to endorse Brett Kavanaugh, President Trumps second Supreme Court nominee, after she voted against Neil Gorsuch, who was confirmed last year.

McCaskill mentioned she would be meeting with Kavanaugh on August 21st and stated that the interview would be centered on health care and campaign finance among other things.  “I want to ask him about dark money in politics,” McCaskill said.  “I want to ask him about fighting for the little guy instead of the big corporations.  I want to ask him about protecting health care for people who have preexisting conditions.”

McCaskill and Hawley are now officially opponents in the general election.  Hawley won the 11 candidate Republican nomination with 58.5% of the vote while McCaskill rang up 82% in the seven-person Democratic race.