The West County Democrats hosted award winning journalist Charles Jaco to discuss the state of politics in our country and region. His viewpoints provide a valuable framework for us to consider as we prepare for the upcoming elections. Also, Glenn Koenen provided his insightful legislative report and several announcements were made concerning candidates and issues in this election cycle.
For those unable to attend our West County Democrats monthly meeting, the video of the meeting is provided here. Announcements and Glenn’s legislative report are below.
Please review the Announcements/Comments made in the Chat box during the presentation:
Steve Reed: To volunteer for no- contact lit drop to get likely Dems registered to vote contact annie.marshall@me.com
Glenn Koenen: Oakville Democrats are meeting Wednesday, 9-16, in Bee Tree Park. We’ll start at 6:30 p.m. We have several candidates coming to speak. Bring your own beverages. To get to Bee Tree, come south on Telegraph from I-270/I255 about 4 miles. Turn left when you see the brown sign. We ,meet at the pavillon on the main road. Glenn Koenen 314/578-6352
Maureen Jordan: Polls are tightening across the country for Biden. In MO, the only poll I have seen re. Galloway was the SLU online. Voter suppression is real. I am very nervous about MO and Biden. What is your take at this point? Perhaps Charles will address too.
Lloyd Klinedinst: Announcement: SUPPORT JOHN KIEHNE FOR HD 110
Please go to: https://www.facebook.com/lklinedinst
and consider supporting John Kiehne for HD 110 – Lloyd Klinedinst and I are sharing this hosting: Two weeks from tonight Patricia Schuba and Bobbie Bollmann and Lloyd Klinedinst are hosting a 40 minute Campaign Party for John Kiehne for Missouri House District 110. Please come, visit us, be sure to make a contribution of any amount. We know you know how critical this election is and how your support at every level of our government is important. Please help us get John Kiehne elected as the only Democrat running for state office in this Nov 3 election.
Here is the ZOOM information to join us. Please DO!
Topic: Virtual House Party
Time: Sep 23, 2020 07:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us04web.zoom.us/j/75425845424…
Meeting ID: 754 2584 5424
Passcode: 5wfHvb
Jessica LaBozzetta: We are knocking for Trish Gunby and getting awesome feedback from voters!!!
Jessica LaBozzetta: For those in Queeny or Lafayette townships who are interested in Biden yard signs, sign up here and we’ll get you some! https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSekaSnGXPUq1ZdYPg7_Dud8pmAw07h5eG1uhvxuL4tZ9lLINQ/viewform?usp=sf_link
Karen Cloyd: My email is karen.cloyd@gmail.com (re: questions about yard signs mentioned during the meeting.
Cathy Marek: I would like to invite everyone to the two upcoming Chesterfield Township Democrat Virtual Meetings: TOMORROW NIGHT: PROGRAM DENISE LIEBERMAN (Missouri Voter Protection Coalition) Tuesday, Sept. 15th, 7:00 pm. Tuesday, Oct. 13th, 7:00 pm , Rich Finneran (Candidate for Attorney General) and Alissa Canada (Candidate for Lieutenant Governor), Register at: www.chesterfielddemocrats.org or on our Facebook page at: Chesterfield Township Democrats.
Steve Reed: An effort sponsored by the MO Dem Party and the ST Louis County Party to register unregistered likely Democratic voters is ongoing. It consists of a no- contact literature drop at the houses of unregistered voters in the county. If you would like to know more contact annie.marshall@me.com
Karen Cloyd: The U.S. Senatorial candidates in the states of IA, ME, and NC (the three Senate seats Steve Reed mentioned we can flip red-to-blue) are Theresa Greenfield, Sara Gideon, and Cal Cunningham respectively, if you’d like to donate to any or all of them.
Legislative Report
September 14, 2020
Glenn Koenen
Seldom have so many worked so long in Washington and Jefferson City to accomplish so little.
Federal Items:
The Senate – bowing to the whims of ultra-conservatives and changing winds within the Trump administration – dawdled through the summer without advancing substantive COVID relief. The Majority Leader’s attempt at “skinny bill” relief went down in flames, not even getting Rand Paul’s vote. (That skinny bill earned scorn and calls for action from many anti-hunger and pro-worker groups.)
Mitch McConnell does want to bring the Senate back in session: he still has a gaggle of life time appointments to federal judgeships he wants to push through before the election.
The House has passed COVID relief and other good bills. Unfortunately, the Senate doesn’t take House bills seriously.
The House and Senate – along with the administration – face a possible government shutdown on 9/30/20. While all sides say they don’t want that to happen, none seem eager to negotiate even a short-term fix.
The administration continues to dismantle generations of environmental rules, labor protections and other critical oversight activities. The glare of the president’s personal issues seems to shield these actions from press and public scrutiny.
State Items:
The accidental governor called an Extraordinary Session of the Legislature to deal with urban crime issues. Essentially, the session was an excuse for Mike Parson to look tough on crime and gain material for campaign commercials. The long and expensive session has not gone well.
The Missouri House and Senate have gone back and forth on a small number of bills. The most complicated – and egregious – now known as Senate Substitute for House Committee Substitute for House Bill 2 clarifies witness tampering definitions and allows more witness statements to be used in court when the witness is not available. In the Senate, alas, the Conservative Caucus added language to allow the state’s attorney general ‘concurrent jurisdiction’ over murder cases in St. Louis city. This essentially undermines Kim Gardner. To pass the bill the Senate used the “Previous Question” procedure, an extremely un–Senate like move referred to as the ‘nuclear option.’
This attack on the city’s prosecutor drew rebukes not just from Democrats in the legislature but also from prosecutors about the state. It may pass the House and will then, certainly, get signed by Parson.
Fortunately, a ‘glitch’ [?] in another bill which would have allowed giving minors firearms without their parents’ permission or knowledge got corrected.
The state’s finances are in a bit better shape. That’s because FY 2020 taxes normally paid by mid-April arrived in July. Ominously, sales tax revenues (the state’s second largest source of funds) is tracking below last year.