Politics
Missouri governor accused of illegally meddling in primaries
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JEFFERSON CITY — When he appointed Andrew Bailey as attorney general in late 2022, Missouri Gov. Mike Parson vowed he’d have “the full resources of the governor of the State of Missouri” to ensure his success in the new job.“On the political side,” Parson added, “I’ll do everything I can.”During Bailey’s transition into office, Parson dispatched his top staffers to offer assistance. And after numerous high-profile staff departures from the attorney general’s office, two Parson aides — his deputy general counsel and deputy policy director — joined Bailey’s team.By September, the governor’s office turned its attention to a national political organization that Parson felt wasn’t properly supporting Bailey’s campaign for a full term.In a letter to the executive committee of the Republican Attorneys General Association — written on official letterhead from the governor’s office — Parson chastised the organization for how it was treating Bailey.He complained that a member of the organization’s staff was trying to “perpetuate the impression RAGA will not support Attorney General Bailey,” and took umbrage with the staffer making what Parson called a “petty statement” in a Politico article, which was attached to the letter.“RAGA not supporting one of their own is quite unprecedented and deeply concerning,” Parson wrote in the letter to 10 attorneys general on RAGA’s executive committee and obtained by The Independent through a public records request.He asked if RAGA leadership knew about these behind-the-scenes machinations, then hinted at the possibility that they could hurt support for a pair of attorneys general running for governor last year — David Cameron in Kentucky and Jeff Landry in Louisiana.“I think this is important for my fellow governors to know, as we are being asked to support a number of your colleagues as well,” Parson wrote.The governor’s office did not respond to several requests for comment. Bailey’s campaign said that while he was alerted to the letter’s existence by another attorney general, he remains unaware of its contents.Yet Parson’s decision to use his office to pressure RAGA to support Bailey is drawing accusations that the governor may have violated a state law prohibiting the misuse of public resources for campaign purposes.“That letter is an example of the governor using official taxpayer resources to advance a campaign agenda,” said Will Scharf, who is running against Bailey in the Republican attorney general primary. “It is egregious and potentially illegal.”It appears Parson used official letterhead “to convey that the Office of the Governor is behind a certain political candidate,” said Delaney Marsco, senior legal counsel for the Washington, D.C.-based Campaign Legal Center. “That’s not appropriate, and it’s not a good use of the public’s trust.”Donald Sherman, senior vice president and chief counsel for the liberal watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said the governor’s letter “stinks quite a bit.”“Governors and other state officials should not use official taxpayer resources and the authority of their government offices for partisan politics,” he said.The criticism echoes similar complaints last year when Parson’s department of labor spent $100,000 for a television advertisement that featured Bailey. And it comes after two GOP candidates for governor — state Sen. Bill Eigel and Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft — publicly alleged Parson was using his office to boost the gubernatorial prospects of Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe with a press conference and executive order earlier this month pertaining to foreign ownership of Missouri land.Parson, who can’t run again because of term limits, appointed Kehoe lieutenant governor in 2018. Kehoe appeared at the press conference but did not participate.Eigel called the press conference an “in-kind contribution from Mike Parson’s government office” to Kehoe’s campaign, and Ashcroft’s campaign spokesman alleged the “stunt was designed to protect Kehoe from his record.”Kehoe was asked to participate, Parson said during the press conference, because there was a chance the governor would not be able to attend due to the recent passing of his mother-in-law. A spokesperson for the lieutenant governor’s office said Kehoe was involved in the discussions of the executive order because of “his agriculture background and relationships with agriculture stakeholders across the state.”Supporting an incumbent?
Will Scharf speaks at his campaign kickoff event in January 2023 in St. Louis. “That letter is an example of the governor using official taxpayer resources to advance a campaign agenda,” said Scharf, who is running against Bailey in the Republican attorney general primary. “It is egregious and potentially illegal.”
The Republican Attorneys General Association has not endorsed in Missouri’s GOP primary, but its executive director — Peter Bisbee — donated $250 to Scharf’s campaign.Politico reported in August that Scharf’s campaign was touting in a memo that “we do not expect RAGA to offer Bailey any support despite his status as a technical incumbent, a testament to the expected weakness of Bailey as a candidate and the expected strength of Scharf’s challenge.”Scharf, a former assistant U.S. attorney who served as policy director for former Gov. Eric Greitens, also received a $500,000 campaign contribution last year from The Concord Fund, which is funded by groups connected to longtime conservative legal activist and Scharf supporter Leonard Leo.The Concord Fund is by far the top contributor to the Republican Attorneys General Association.According to Politico, Bisbee lobbied Parson’s office to appoint Scharf attorney general in 2022, allegedly warning that appointing someone else “is gonna create problems” for the governor’s office.The position was being vacated by Eric Schmitt, who won a seat in the U.S. Senate and had long enjoyed support from RAGA. Schmitt previously served as vice chairman of RAGA’s executive committee, and he endorsed Bailey last month while also stating that Scharf is a “personal friend” and “an excellent candidate to hold the office.”It was the Politico article that appears to have inspired Parson’s letter.The story quoted Bisbee telling the governor’s office to “spend less time fueling childish gossip.”Parson complained about the quote in his letter, and argued Bailey was being treated differently by RAGA than Schmitt despite both being appointed by Parson to the job. And he accused Bisbee of creating confusion “around the organization’s support for an opponent.”Bisbee did not respond to requests for comment from The Independent.Michael Hafner, Bailey’s campaign spokesperson, said the attorney general has a strong relationship with RAGA, “partnering with his fellow RAGA members on at least 159 issues, demonstrating his strong commitment to our shared conservative values.”“General Bailey is proud,” Hafner said, “to join his Republican colleagues around the country to take Joe Biden to court, defend Missourians from the left’s attacks on our freedoms, and is proud to lead the charge nationally on many of the conservative legal movement’s most important fights.”He accused Scharf of trying to “score cheap political points” by criticizing Parson’s letter.Concerns about the use of official resources for campaigns have come up sporadically over the years in Missouri. And two of the highest profile examples involve attorneys general.In 1993, former Attorney General Bill Webster pleaded guilty to two federal felony chargesrelated to using his state staff and office equipment for political purposes. Employees in Webster’s office laid out and printed campaign material on state time using state equipment.In 2018, former Attorney General Josh Hawley was investigated by the secretary of state’s office and auditor’s office after it was revealed his campaign consultants helped run his taxpayer-funded office, including leading meetings during work hours in the state Supreme Court building in Jefferson City, where the attorney general’s office is located. Hawley also used a state car for campaign travel.The secretary of state found no evidence Hawley violated election law. The auditor concluded that Hawley may have misused state resources, but whether he ultimately broke the law was unclear because the attorney general’s office conducted business off government servers through use of private email and text messaging.This story was originally published by the Missouri Independent, part of the States Newsroom.
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Politics
Poll: Support for Missouri abortion rights amendment growing
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A proposed constitutional amendment legalizing abortion in Missouri received support from more than half of respondents in a new poll from St. Louis University and YouGov.That’s a boost from a poll earlier this year, which could mean what’s known as Amendment 3 is in a solid position to pass in November.SLU/YouGov’s poll of 900 likely Missouri voters from Aug. 8-16 found that 52% of respondents would vote for Amendment 3, which would place constitutional protections for abortion up to fetal viability. Thirty-four percent would vote against the measure, while 14% aren’t sure.By comparison, the SLU/YouGov poll from February found that 44% of voters would back the abortion legalization amendment.St. Louis University political science professor Steven Rogers said 32% of Republicans and 53% of independents would vote for the amendment. That’s in addition to nearly 80% of Democratic respondents who would approve the measure. In the previous poll, 24% of Republicans supported the amendment.Rogers noted that neither Amendment 3 nor a separate ballot item raising the state’s minimum wage is helping Democratic candidates. GOP contenders for U.S. Senate, governor, lieutenant governor, treasurer and secretary of state all hold comfortable leads.“We are seeing this kind of crossover voting, a little bit, where there are voters who are basically saying, ‘I am going to the polls and I’m going to support a Republican candidate, but I’m also going to go to the polls and then I’m also going to try to expand abortion access and then raise the minimum wage,’” Rogers said.Republican gubernatorial nominee Mike Kehoe has a 51%-41% lead over Democrat Crystal Quade. And U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley is leading Democrat Lucas Kunce by 53% to 42%. Some GOP candidates for attorney general, secretary of state and treasurer have even larger leads over their Democratic rivals.
Brian Munoz
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St. Louis Public RadioHundreds of demonstrators pack into a parking lot at Planned Parenthood of St. Louis and Southwest Missouri on June 24, 2022, during a demonstration following the Supreme Court’s reversal of a case that guaranteed the constitutional right to an abortion.
One of the biggest challenges for foes of Amendment 3 could be financial.Typically, Missouri ballot initiatives with well-funded and well-organized campaigns have a better chance of passing — especially if the opposition is underfunded and disorganized. Since the end of July, the campaign committee formed to pass Amendment 3 received more than $3 million in donations of $5,000 or more.That money could be used for television advertisements to improve the proposal’s standing further, Rogers said, as well as point out that Missouri’s current abortion ban doesn’t allow the procedure in the case of rape or incest.“Meanwhile, the anti side won’t have those resources to kind of try to make that counter argument as strongly, and they don’t have public opinion as strongly on their side,” Rogers said.There is precedent of a well-funded initiative almost failing due to opposition from socially conservative voters.In 2006, a measure providing constitutional protections for embryonic stem cell research nearly failed — even though a campaign committee aimed at passing it had a commanding financial advantage.Former state Sen. Bob Onder was part of the opposition campaign to that measure. He said earlier this month it is possible to create a similar dynamic in 2024 against Amendment 3, if social conservatives who oppose abortion rights can band together.“This is not about reproductive rights or care for miscarriages or IVF or anything else,” said Onder, the GOP nominee for Missouri’s 3rd Congressional District seat. “Missourians will learn that out-of-state special interests and dark money from out of state is lying to them and they will reject this amendment.”Quade said earlier this month that Missourians of all political ideologies are ready to roll back the state’s abortion ban.“Regardless of political party, we hear from folks who are tired of politicians being in their doctor’s offices,” Quade said. “They want politicians to mind their own business. So this is going to excite folks all across the political spectrum.”
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Democrat Mark Osmack makes his case for Missouri treasurer
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Mark Osmack has been out of the electoral fray for awhile, but he never completely abandoned his passion for Missouri politics.Osmack, a Valley Park native and U.S. Army veteran, previously ran for Missouri’s 2nd Congressional District seat and for state Senate. Now he’s the Democratic nominee for state treasurer after receiving a phone call from Missouri Democratic Party Chairman Russ Carnahan asking him to run.“There’s a lot of decision making and processing and evaluation that goes into it, which is something I am very passionate and interested in,” Osmack said this week on an episode of Politically Speaking.Osmack is squaring off against state Treasurer Vivek Malek, who was able to easily win a crowded GOP primary against several veteran lawmakers including House Budget Chairman Cody Smith and state Sen. Andrew Koenig.While Malek was able to attract big donations to his political action committee and pour his own money into the campaign, Osmack isn’t worried that he won’t be able to compete in November. Since Malek was appointed to his post, Osmack contends he hasn’t proven that he’s a formidable opponent in a general election.“His actions and his decision making so far in his roughly two year tenure in that office have been questionable,” Osmack said.Among other things, Osmack was critical of Malek for placing unclaimed property notices on video gaming machines which are usually found in gas stations or convenience stores. The legality of the machines has been questioned for some time.As Malek explained on his own episode of Politically Speaking, he wanted to make sure the unclaimed property program was as widely advertised as possible. But he acknowledged it was a mistake to put the decals close to the machines and ultimately decided to remove them.Osmack said: “This doesn’t even pass the common sense sniff test of, ‘Hey, should I put state stickers claiming you might have a billion dollars on a gambling machine that is not registered with the state of Missouri?’ If we’re gonna give kudos for him acknowledging the wrong thing, it never should have been done in the first place.”Osmack’s platform includes supporting programs providing school meals using Missouri agriculture products and making child care more accessible for the working class.He said the fact that Missouri has such a large surplus shows that it’s possible to create programs to make child care within reach for parents.“It is quite audacious for [Republicans] to brag about $8 billion, with a B, dollars in state surplus, while we offer next to no social services to include pre-K, daycare, or child care,” Osmack said.Here’s are some other topics Osmack discussed on the show:How he would handle managing the state’s pension systems and approving low-income housing tax credits. The state treasurer’s office is on boards overseeing both of those programs.Malek’s decision to cut off investments from Chinese companies. Osmack said that Missouri needs to be cautious about abandoning China as a business partner, especially since they’re a major consumer of the state’s agriculture products. “There’s a way to make this work where we are not supporting communist nations to the detriment of the United States or our allies, while also maintaining strong economic ties that benefit Missouri farmers,” he said.What it was like to witness the skirmish at the Missouri State Fair between U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley and Democratic challenger Lucas Kunce.Whether Kunce can get the support of influential groups like the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which often channels money and staff to states with competitive Senate elections.
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As Illinois receives praise for its cannabis equity efforts, stakeholders work on system’s flaws
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Medical marijuana patients can now purchase cannabis grown by small businesses as part of their allotment, Illinois’ top cannabis regulator said, but smaller, newly licensed cannabis growers are still seeking greater access to the state’s medical marijuana customers.Illinois legalized medicinal marijuana beginning in 2014, then legalized it for recreational use in 2020. While the 2020 law legalized cannabis use for any adult age 21 or older, it did not expand licensing for medical dispensaries.Patients can purchase marijuana as part of the medical cannabis program at dual-purpose dispensaries, which are licensed to serve both medical and recreational customers. But dual-purpose dispensaries are greatly outnumbered by dispensaries only licensed to sell recreationally, and there are no medical-only dispensaries in the state.As another part of the adult-use legalization law, lawmakers created a “craft grow” license category that was designed to give more opportunities to Illinoisans hoping to legally grow and sell marijuana. The smaller-scale grow operations were part of the 2020 law’s efforts to diversify the cannabis industry in Illinois.Prior to that, all cultivation centers in Illinois were large-scale operations dominated by large multi-state operators. The existing cultivators, mostly in operation since 2014, were allowed to grow recreational cannabis beginning in 2019.Until recently, dual-purpose dispensaries have been unsure as to whether craft-grown products, made by social equity licensees — those who have lived in a disproportionately impacted area or have been historically impacted by the war on drugs — can be sold medicinally as part of a patient’s medical allotment.Erin Johnson, the state’s cannabis regulation oversight officer, told Capitol News Illinois last month that her office has “been telling dispensaries, as they have been asking us” they can now sell craft-grown products to medical patients.“There was just a track and trace issue on our end, but never anything statutorily,” she said.
Dilpreet Raju
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Capitol News IllinoisThe graphic shows how cannabis grown in Illinois gets from cultivation centers to customers.
No notice has been posted, but Johnson’s verbal guidance comes almost two years after the first craft grow business went online in Illinois.It allows roughly 150,000 medical patients, who dispensary owners say are the most consistent purchasers of marijuana, to buy products made by social equity businesses without paying recreational taxes. However — even as more dispensaries open — the number available to medical patients has not increased since 2018, something the Cannabis Regulation Oversight Office “desperately” wants to see changed. Johnson said Illinois is a limited license state, meaning “there are caps on everything” to help control the relatively new market.Berwyn Thompkins, who operates two cannabis businesses, said the rules limited options for patients and small businesses.“It’s about access,” Thompkins said. “Why wouldn’t we want all the patients — which the (adult-use) program was initially built around — why wouldn’t we want them to have access? They should have access to any dispensary.”Customers with a medical marijuana card pay a 1% tax on all marijuana products, whereas recreational customers pay retail taxes between roughly 20 and 40% on a given cannabis product, when accounting for local taxes.While Illinois has received praise for its equity-focused cannabis law, including through an independent study that showed more people of color own cannabis licenses than in any other state, some industry operators say they’ve experienced many unnecessary hurdles getting their businesses up and running.The state, in fact, announced last month that it had opened its 100th social equity dispensary.But Steve Olson, purchasing manager at a pair of dispensaries (including one dual-purpose dispensary) near Rockford, said small specialty license holders have been left in the lurch since the first craft grower opened in October 2022.“You would think that this would be something they’re (the government) trying to help out these social equity companies with, but they’re putting handcuffs on them in so many different spots,” he said. “One of them being this medical thing.”Olson said he contacted state agencies, including the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, months ago about whether craft products can be sold to medical patients at their retail tax rate, but only heard one response: “They all say it was an oversight.”This potentially hurt social equity companies because they sell wholesale to dispensaries and may have been missing out on a consistent customer base through those medical dispensaries.Olson said the state’s attempts to provide licensees with a path to a successful business over the years, such as with corrective lotteries that granted more social equity licenses, have come up short.“It’s like they almost set up the social equity thing to fail so the big guys could come in and swoop up all these licenses,” Olson said. “I hate to feel like that but, if you look at it, it’s pretty black and white.”Olson said craft companies benefit from any type of retail sale.“If we sell it to medical patients or not, it’s a matter of, ‘Are we collecting the proper taxes?’ That’s all it is,” he said.State revenue from cannabis taxes, licensing costs and other fees goes into the Cannabis Regulation Fund, which is used to fund a host of programs, including cannabis offense expungement, the general revenue fund, and the R3 campaign aiming to uplift disinvested communities.For fiscal year 2024, nearly $256 million was paid out from Cannabis Regulation Fund for related initiatives, which includes almost $89 million transferred to the state’s general revenue fund and more than $20 million distributed to local governments, according to the Illinois Department of Revenue.Medical access still limitedThe state’s 55 medical dispensaries that predate the 2020 legalization law, mostly owned by publicly traded multistate operators that had been operating in Illinois since 2014 under the state’s medical marijuana program, were automatically granted a right to licenses to sell recreationally in January 2020. That gave them a dual-purpose license that no new entrants into the market can receive under current law.Since expanding their clientele in 2020, Illinois dispensaries have sold more than $6 billion worth of cannabis products through recreational transactions alone.Nearly two-thirds of dispensaries licensed to sell to medical patients are in the northeast counties of Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake and Will. Dual-purpose dispensaries only represent about 20 percent of the state’s dispensaries.While the state began offering recreational dispensary licenses since the adult-use legalization law passed, it has not granted a new medical dispensary license since 2018. That has allowed the established players to continue to corner the market on the state’s nearly 150,000 medical marijuana patients.But social equity licensees and advocates say there are more ways to level the playing field, including expanding access to medical sales.Johnson, who became the state’s top cannabis regulator in late 2022, expressed hope for movement during the fall veto session on House Bill 2911, which would expand medical access to all Illinois dispensaries.“We would like every single dispensary in Illinois to be able to serve medical patients,” Johnson said. “It’s something that medical patients have been asking for, for years.”Johnson said the bill would benefit patients and small businesses.“It’s something we desperately want to happen as a state system, because we want to make sure that medical patients are able to easily access what they need,” she said. “We also think it’s good for our social equity dispensaries, as they’re opening, to be able to serve medical patients.”Rep. Bob Morgan, D-Deerfield, who was the first statewide project coordinator for Illinois’ medical cannabis program prior to joining the legislature, wrote in an email to Capitol News Illinois that the state needs to be doing more for its patients.“Illinois is failing the state’s 150,000 medical cannabis patients with debilitating conditions. Too many are still denied the patient protections they deserve, including access to their medicine,” Morgan wrote, adding he would continue to work with stakeholders on further legislation.Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service covering state government. It is distributed to hundreds of newspapers, radio and TV stations statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, along with major contributions from the Illinois Broadcasters Foundation and Southern Illinois Editorial Association.
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