Filing season began with a bit of an enigma – what would Rachel Storch do? She didn’t file for re-election in her district or signal her intentions in any way. Instead, Amy Hilgemann, wife of the previous state representative, filed for the primary. (Full disclosure: I live in the 64th and serve on my ward organization’s executive board with both Amy and Bob Hilgemann.)

I assumed that this meant for sure that either Hilgemann had a big dispute with Storch, or that she had a clear idea of what Storch’s immediate plans were, but when I asked Hilgemann, she had no clue what Storch was going to do. Nobody else I talked to knew, either.

Fast forward to yesterday, when former 28th Ward Alderman Dan McGuire filed in the late afternoon. He can raise money and has a lot of connections, including an inside track to the 28th Ward Democratic Club endorsement, which would be nice to have considering that the 28th is the highest turnout ward in the district.

And today, Susan Carlson jumped into the race. She’s a fellow member of the Women’s Political Caucus, so I wonder if she might be getting the nod from Storch herself, and I should stress that this last bit is pure conjecture on my part.

Lastly, now that multiple candidates have jumped into the race, I wonder if we might see another candidate join the fray simply because there’s no overwhelming favorite right now.

As for Storch, her intentions still remain murky. She might challenge Joe Keaveny in the 4th Senatorial District after losing in the committee selection process last fall, or she might bide her time and hope to be appointed to Secretary of State if Robin Carnahan is successful in her US Senate bid. Or she might find other another career and life path. If she’s challenging Keaveny, we’ll find out by end of day on March 30th.

Speaking of the state’s need to find ways to stretch its dollars, Rep. Rachel Storch, D-St. Louis, had some interesting observations about Chief Justice William Ray Price, Jr.’s speech recommending that we incarcerate fewer people. It seems she doesn’t get the sense that the Honorable Judge got through to Republicans in the legislature.

Despite how the retrograde “thinkers” who control our lege fail to grasp the concept, Price’s idea is a hot topic among those of us in the reality based world. Monday’s Post-Dispatch took up the torch where Price left off and specifically recommended “just for starters“:

• Drug courts need more funding. This is the low-hanging fruit in criminal justice reform – the chance to save serious money by ending the cycle of crime and keeping nonviolent, drug-related offenders out of prison. A lack of funding means state leaders aren’t serious.

• Leaders in rural counties must start to deal with nonviolent offenders in their own communities. If their prosecutors and judges insist on sending everyone to prison, then local taxpayers should be forced to pick up the tab.

• And, Gov. Jay Nixon should convene a panel of top law enforcement, legislative and judicial officials. Their task over the next 120 days should be to develop a plan for closing five of Missouri’s 21 adult correctional institutions over the next five years – one a year for five years – using part of the savings to support alternatives to incarceration for nonviolent offenders.

Missouri desperately needs to get smart on corrections. Necessity is the surest path to progress.

Hey, even the Brits know what we should be doing, as witness this video of a quiz show/comedy routine. So why don’t we?

Jesus wasn’t the only one who has ever had just a few loaves and fishes to feed a throng. This year, every director of a state agency in Missouri knows how it feels to try to do almost as much as ever with only fives loaves and two fishes. That was the message from the panelists at the Missouri Budget Forum last Friday, sponsored by the Nonprofit Services Center and moderated by Dr. James Kimmel. Ron Levy, head of the Department of Social Services, the largest department in the state, with a budget of $8 billion, showed a slide depicting the fact that until 2002, the state had not, in more than a quarter of a century, experienced a drop in revenue. ’02 and ’03 were bad years, but the drop in revenue in ’09 rivaled the drops of those two years put together.

Rep. Rachel Storch, D-St. Louis, serves on the House Budget Committee. She smiled ruefully that there’s a difference between playing the hand you’re dealt and fretting that the economic structure is a house of cards. Perhaps Storch would feel more upbeat if Missouri were like Oregon, which is one of nine states to raise taxes on the wealthy this year. Right. When hell freezes over. Meantime, some revenue enhancement ideas being seriously considered are: levying an internet sales tax and raising cigarette taxes. One of the Carolinas is about to do the latter, and when it does, Missouri will have the lowest cigarette tax in the country.

The funding issue that will drive the budget this year, Storch says, is that the public school foundation formula is going to require an additional $87 million. Nixon has found $18 million of that. Where the other $59 million will come from, nobody knows.

And looking beyond this year, when we at least have stimulus funds to cushion the blow, the picture is bleak. We could be facing a one billion dollar shortfall in FY 2011.

Even with the stimulus funds, Margaret Donnelly, Director of Health and Senior Services, pointed out that she had to pare 130 jobs–despite the fact, for example, that senior abuse and neglect hotline calls were up 9 percent last year. And those calls have to be answered. She had high praise for Governor Nixon in this tough economic environment:

“I had the opportunity in the transition of the two months last year before he took office–because I had served in (inaudible) and budget–I worked on the transition team with him on the budget. He really understands all of this. And, as I said, he’s been very respectful of the mission of the department and what we need to do. He’s just not faced with any good choices.”

Despite the tough economic times, Donnelly could point with pride to several achievements.

Ron Levy, describing the activity at the Department of Social Services, said they have been preparing plans for implementing federal health care, if and when Congress ever passes it. They have also been planning how to create electronic health records. And finally, it is crucial for his department, which administers Medicaid, to better manage health care delivery–as a means of paring costs as the Medicaid rolls burgeon. In January of last year, there were 820,000 people on the list. Now there are 880,000. By the end of this year, he expects to see 900,000, and by the end of next year, 950,000 to a million. Even as we look at a possible one billion dollar shortfall in the state budget in 2011, the growth of Medicaid rolls is inexorable.

It’s enough to remind me of Dr. James Kimmel’s jest about health care costs.

We’re going to need a dark sense of humor to weather the next few years.

I’d use the word ditzy–“flighty and easily confused”–to describe the Republican leadership of the House Budget Committee if it weren’t for the second part of the definition: “mildly or harmlessly eccentric.” I asked a non-ditz to explain why Icet and Stream aren’t “harmless”.

SMP: OK, this is Representative Rachel Storch of St. Louis, and Rachel, could you tell us what you’ve observed this session about how House Republicans have zig zagged on the budget without apparent direction?

Storch: [inaudible] It seems like every couple of weeks we discover a new plan from the Republican majority about what they want to do with budget funds and stimulus funds. At the beginning of the session, they were talking about not accepting stimulus funds at all and sending it back to Washington where it would probably be allocated to other states. Then, as of four or five weeks ago, they had passed a bill through the budget committee that spent a billion and a half dollars. Three days later, they reversed course and said they wanted to scratch that bill and pass legislation that would implement a billion dollar tax cut with stimulus funds. And then just last week, they reversed course once again and did pass a stimulus budget bill for about $780 billion, uh, million dollars, excuse me.

The larger issue is that we’re not doing the kind of long term planning and due diligence that we should be when we have the opportunity we do coming out of Washington with the federal stimulus. I would like to see some money set aside for next year. We don’t know how quickly the economy is going to turn around, and the stimulus funds Missouri receives are supposed to last for 27 months. So not only should we be setting some money aside for that proverbial rainy day, but in addition to that, I think we really want to take a long, hard look at our top priorities and make sure that we are using those funds to best invest in the kind of large scale infrastructure projects that we might not have an opportunity to do in a normal year.

But with these stimulus funds, we can really take action to strengthen our long term future as a state. And that’s what the people of Missouri deserve from their policy makers, that kind of deliberation, the best possible policy making, with an eye toward both short term stimulation of the economy and job creation, but also long term planning.

I spoke this morning with Representative Rachel Storch (D-64) in her office before the start of the day’s activities on the House floor. Our discussion touched on the legislative session, term limits, health care and economic development. And a final question about the Secretary of State’s office.

Representative Rachel Storch in her office in the state capitol building.

Show Me Progress: …Is it just more insane now?

Representative Rachel Storch: Well, it’s not so much that it’s crazier. It’s just that with the term limits we have of these people that don’t understand the issues and they don’t understand the process, and what’s worse, they don’t care.

SMP: I’ve heard this before, people talk about institutional memory. And, is there much institutional memory? Or where does the institutional memory come from if there is any?

Representative Storch: Well, we have one legislator who was here for twelve years before he ran this time, that’s Chris Kelly. But, he’s the only who’s here that has, you know, that extent of knowledge of the process. And, you know, I’ll tell you even though people like to make fun of the legislature, make fun of the legislative process, something like the budget is really complicated. And it simply takes time to get your arms around it to understand how that process, to understand what the issues are, to understand the needs of the different state agencies and the different programs around the state. So, you know, I think at the end of the day, the people of Missouri really suffer because the quality of the policy making is not as good…

…SMP: Do you think that repeal of term limits is part of the solution for that?

Representative Storch: Well, you know, I don’t know that some term limit is inappropriate, but I think that eight years is too short.You know somebody was telling me that in, in the olden days, before term limits, freshman legislators didn’t even speak because it was just assumed that, you know, it would take some time to learn the process. So those first two years were, that was when you had your training wheels on. And you wouldn’t dream of asking for a spot on the Budget Committee until you had been around for a few terms. But now we have freshman legislators, and no, I, I’m not pointing fingers at anyone, I actually think a lot of our freshman are just doing a terrific job of coming forward, aggressively, you know, speaking on issues. But the reality is, there’s just less of a knowledge base.

SMP: What do you think are the, the biggest disappointments of this legislative session.

Representative Storch: Well, you know, we still have three and a half days left of session. And things can happen quickly at the end. So it would be a little too premature, it would be a little premature to put the nail in the coffin in terms of the assessment of the session. I need to wait and see what happens before Friday at six.

That said, we really haven’t seen any headway on reestablishment of health care. We have between seven and eight hundred thousand people in Missouri with no health insurance, including a hundred fifty thousand kids. And we had an opportunity this year, using no general revenue dollars, no state taxpayer dollars, to cover thirty-five thousand low income people. The Hospital Association came forward and put this plan together and came to the governor. And had the support of Senate Republicans and Senate Democrats and the House Republicans said they wouldn’t do it. And they just wouldn’t go there. So, I, I don’t know that in the next few days that ideology will change. It’s, it’s, since it’s not a money issue, it’s clearly ideology. And there’s just no real will to put health care in place for those who need it most.

SMP: But, but doesn’t that, I mean, doesn’t the problem of access to health care? That, that’s not a, a geographic, you know, isolated problem or one of ideology, either. I mean, some of these representatives that voted against this have…

Representative Storch: Some of them represent very poor districts. There’s less health care in the boot heel than anywhere else in the state. So to see, you know, a legislator from that area vote against a program like this means, you think, that they’re voting directly against the, the quality of life for their own citizens in their districts, for their constituents. But, you know, we’ll see.

We also have not yet passed a real economic development bill. And with the economy in the state it’s in you’d think that would be a number one priority. It certainly was for the governor and actually, it was for the Speaker of the House, but some of the infighting between House and Senate Republicans has obstructed that legislation as well.

SMP: On a different note…I’ve seen a little bit of speculation that, if the Secretary of State’s office opens, is that something that you’re interested in? If that opportunity arises?

Representative Storch:…I am very interested. It would be an appointment by the governor, of course. So it’s a different situation, you know, from one where I would be lining up enough support for a statewide campaign. But I’m certainly interested. When I worked in the United States Senate I did elections issues, so I, you know, have some knowledge, the Help America Vote Act and I’ve done election protection work during different campaign cycles. And I think some of theses issues go to the most fundamental rights as citizens. And I would love to follow in Robin’s shoes. But, it will be the governor’s choice at the end of the day.

…And I, I love doing what I’m doing now. I would be very happy staying in this position and I also think that there are many ways to do wonderful public service without being in elective office. So, my commitment, first and foremost, is to public service. And I know that the opportunity will be there, in some form, to do it.

SMP: All right. Well, thank you very much.

Representative Storch: Oh, sure.

While speaking to West County Dems who were in the capitol on Tuesday, Rachel Storch commented about the most–and least–effective ways of contacting legislators. The most effective, of course, is personal contact. But, you know, how often is it feasible for you to rush to Jeff City so you can tell your rep and senator what you think? If that’s practically impossible, e-mail, on the other hand, is a cinch. And it’s not a bad way to get heard, especially if it’s not part of an e-mail blast. What surprised me, though, was that Storch said phone calls are the least effective. You almost always talk to a staffer, who may or may not pass the message along. If you want to be heard, and don’t want to actually drive to J.C., what’s the most effective way to get your message noticed? A hand written letter, says Storch.

Just so you’ll know.

Via Political Fix, my own State Rep. Rachel Storch was just named “New Democrat of the Month” by the Democratic Leadership Council. The reasoning given for the award (Storch’s support of tax credits for biotech research in Missouri) isn’t a bad one, but the DLC itself is positively awful. Hopefully Storch won’t wear this badge too proudly.

We’ve previously written about this Democratic primary race between incumbent Rachel Storch and challenger Michael Roberts. On Tuesday this one is for all the marbles since no republican filed.

64th Legislative District – second quarter campaign finance reports

This Really Gets My Goat

There is no tomorrow for these candidates. The expenditures are telling. Let’s take a look at the eight day before the election reports filed with the Missouri Ethics Commission. First, for Rachel Storch:

Detailed Summary of Expenditures And Contributions Made

Committe: RACHEL STORCH FOR STATE REPRESENTATIVE

ReportDate: 7/28/2008

ScorMedia Advisement St. Louis, MO 07/01/2008 New Media Consulting $1,500.00

Creative Litho St. Louis, MO 07/16/2008 Printing $3,656.44

Ambrosino, Muir & Hansen San Francisco, CA 07/11/2008 Direct Mail $36,500.00

The three most important things in a campaign are: direct mail, direct mail, and direct mail.

There would appear to be a literature drop in the works, no?

New media consulting? Is that about us blogs?

The expenditures in the eight day before the election report for Michael Roberts:

Detailed Summary of Expenditures And Contributions Made

Committe: MIKE ROBERTS JR FOR STATE REPRESENTATIVE

ReportDate: 7/28/2008

Pamplona LLC Houston TX 07/04/2012 Consulting $5,000.00

Pamplona LLC Houston TX 07/04/2012 Consulting $375.00

Pamplona LLC Houston TX 07/17/2012 Consulting $1,125.00

Pamplona LLC Houston TX 07/18/2012 Voter Contact 3,500.00

Brainstorm Advertising St. Louis MO 07/19/2012 Canvassing 600.00

MCI Printing Inc. St. Louis MO 07/22/2012 Printing and postage $9,273.06

Typo!

Consulting, canvassing and a bit of direct mail.

And how was this paid for (in part)?:

Detailed Summary of Contributions And Loans Received

Committee: MIKE ROBERTS JR FOR STATE REPRESENTATIVE

Report Date: 7/28/2008

C. LOANS RECEIVED

Mike Roberts Jr. St. Louis, MO 07/18/2008 $15,000.00

Detailed Summary of Committee Disclosure Report

Committe[e]: MIKE ROBERTS JR FOR STATE REPRESENTATIVE

Report[ ]Date: 7/28/2008

35. TOTAL INDEBTEDNESS AT THE CLOSE OF THIS REPORTING PERIOD

(SUM 29 + 30 + 31 – 32 – 33 – 34) $71,000.00

I know that sometimes I tend to focus on races close to home, but this kind of crap has implications across the state. Mike Roberts is challenging HDCC co-chair Rachel Storch in the primary for House District 64. Fine – I have no particular problem with primaries, because incumbents shouldn’t feel like they have an automatic claim on the seat until term-limited.

I do, however, question the wisdom of a Democrat challenging one of the incumbents in charge of recruiting, coordinating, and fundraising for Democratic candidates all over Missouri. Further, I can’t even tell why he’s running against Rachel. Looking at his website, Roberts doesn’t have any specific beef with Rachel about ideology or process. He lists his qualifications, but they don’t outshine Rachel’s. And now he’s making stuff up in order to gain some sort of traction.

At a joint reception with Maria Chappelle-Nadal last month, Rachel was asked how she felt about getting a primary challenge. She answered (with just a hint of frustration) that she didn’t understand why someone who never contacted her about any concern he might have had for the district would suddenly jump in the race against her. Now she has to take time off from raising money for House candidates in competitive districts, because she can’t do that, run in a primary, AND serve her current duties as state representative and hope to do all three very well.

Perhaps someone could fill me in on why Mike Roberts is running, other than vanity?

State Representative – District 64

Democratic

Rachel Storch St. Louis MO 2/26/2008

Michael (Mike) Roberts Jr. St. Louis MO 3/25/2008

[emphasis added]

Note that there are no republicans. Michael Roberts filed on the last day of the candidate filing period. So, why is he running?

Rachel Storch is the incumbent. Michael Roberts is the primary challenger. The August 5th primary is for all the marbles.

Let’s look at Rachel Storch’s first quarter campaign finance report filed with the Missouri Ethics Commission on July 14th.

Detailed Summary of Committee Disclosure Report

Committe[e]: RACHEL STORCH FOR STATE REPRESENTATIVE

25. MONEY ON HAND AT THE BEGINNING OF THIS REPORTING PERIOD (INCLUDING FUNDS IN DEPOSITORY, CASH, SAVINGS ACCOUNTS AND ALL OTHER INVESTMENTS) $23,186.97

26. MONETARY RECEIPTS THIS PERIOD (FROM ITEM 5) $1,309.60

28. MONEY ON HAND AT THE CLOSE OF THIS REPORTING PERIOD (SUM 25 + 26 – 27) $21,716.48

[emphasis added]

Oh my. Oh my. That’s not a big fundraising quarter.

Okay, let’s look at Rachel Storch’s amended second quarter campaign finance report filed with the Missouri Ethics Commission on July 16th.

Detailed Summary of Committee Disclosure Report

Committe[e]: RACHEL STORCH FOR STATE REPRESENTATIVE

2. ALL MONETARY CONTRIBUTIONS RECEIVED THIS PERIOD $54,841.00

27. MONETARY DISBURSEMENTS MADE THIS PERIOD (SUM 11 + 17 + 24) $14,919.25

28. MONEY ON HAND AT THE CLOSE OF THIS REPORTING PERIOD (SUM 25 + 26 – 27) $61,638.23

[emphasis added]

Raising almost $55,000.00 in a quarter is good thing in anyone’s book. In looking at the contributions I didn’t note anything out of the ordinary for an incumbent state representative – individual contributions and a few PACs, no large political committee contributions.

Let’s look at Rachel Storch’s expenditures.

Detailed Summary of Expenditures And Contributions Made

Committe: RACHEL STORCH FOR STATE REPRESENTATIVE

ReportDate: 7/15/2008

3rd Coast Research  Chicago, IL 04/17/2008 Research $3,750.00

PQ Design Group St. Louis, MO 06/14/2008 Literature Design $540.75

Advertisers Printing Co. St. Louis, MO 06/14/2008 Literature Printing $1,508.38

That and campaign worker expenses.

Let’s take a look at Michael Robert’s second quarter campaign finance report campaign finance report filed with the Missouri Ethics Commission on July 15th.

Detailed Summary of Committee Disclosure Report

Committe[e]: MIKE ROBERTS JR FOR STATE REPRESENTATIVE

1. TOTAL RECEIPTS FOR THIS ELECTION PREVIOUSLY REPORTED $0.00

2. ALL MONETARY CONTRIBUTIONS RECEIVED THIS PERIOD $7,720.00

3. ALL LOANS RECEIVED THIS PERIOD $56,000.00

9. TOTAL ALL RECEIPTS THIS ELECTION(SUM 1B + 7A – 8A) $63,720.00

15. TOTAL EXPENDITURES THIS ELECTION (SUM 10B + 14A) $51,478.68

28. MONEY ON HAND AT THE CLOSE OF THIS REPORTING PERIOD (SUM 25 + 26 – 27) $12,241.32

That’s some burn rate.

Okay. Who made the loan? Actually, there are three loans:

2. NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) OF PERSON(S) LIABLE FOR THE LOAN

MICHAEL V. ROBERTS JR.

4. DATE OF LOAN 04/07/2008

5. AMOUNT OF LOAN $11,000.00

2. NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) OF PERSON(S) LIABLE FOR THE LOAN

Michael V. Roberts Jr.

4. DATE OF LOAN 05/09/2008

5. AMOUNT OF LOAN $20,000.00

2. NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) OF PERSON(S) LIABLE FOR THE LOAN

Michael V. Roberts Jr.

4. DATE OF LOAN 05/27/2008

5. AMOUNT OF LOAN $25,000.00

Let’s take a look at the expenditures:

Detailed Summary of Expenditures And Contributions Made

Committe[e]: MIKE ROBERTS JR FOR STATE REPRESENTATIVE

Report[ ]Date: 7/15/2008

CBS Outdoors  St. Louis, MO 06/02/2008 Advertising $25,000.00

Is that billboards? Other stuff? And consultant costs.

This one looks like it’s about different philosophies on how one goes about campaigning. We’ll know the results on August 5th.