Senator Jason Crowell (r) prefiled a bill, quite probably in reaction to the legislative and senate district redistricting plans by the Appellate Apportionment Commission:

SJR 37 Relating to meetings of apportionment commissions

Sponsor: Crowell

LR Number: 4678S.01I Fiscal Note not available

Committee:

Last Action: 12/14/2011 – Prefiled

The summary, as filed:

SJR 37 – This proposed constitutional amendment, if approved by the voters, provides that all meetings of any Senate or House apportionment commission, including any appellate apportionment commission, shall be public, and that such commissions shall be subject to general laws concerning open records and open meetings.

It is what it is.

Here is a pair of political strange bedfellows: ex-Senator Joan Bray (D-St. Louis) and Sen. Jason Crowell (R-Cape Girardeau). Bray doesn’t find it all that strange, really, that she and Crowell are on the opposite side of the fence from Gov. Nixon, opposing the governor’s bill to give Ameren $40 million to apply for a license for another nuclear plant. She says she and Crowell have always gotten along well, but they usually disagreed on issues. It’s nice to find something they can work on together.

Their common interest in this case is ratepayers. Noranda Aluminum, the state’s largest industrial user of power, is in Sen. Crowell’s district; and Noranda, along with Anheuser-Busch InBev, is upset that the proposed $40 million giveaway  did not contain promised funds for the Office of Public Counsel. That is where the interests of the two senators converge. Bray, too, thinks the Office of Public Counsel is ridiculously underfunded. Bray’s group, the Consumers Council, is a coalition of large industrial users (like Noranda and InBev), the AARP, and the MO Assn. of Social Welfare, all working with the Office of Public Counsel to defend rate payers against the rate hikes that the PSC so liberally hands out whenever Ameren comes begging. The Office of Public Counsel, in its attempts at sweet reason in the PSC hearings, is typically outgunned ten to one. Ameren uses the money we ratepayers are forced to fork over to finance lotsa lawyers, who then convince the PSC to wring even more money out of us. For Ameren customers, it’s like being forced to pay for the bullets of our own firing squad.

As head of the Consumers Council, Bray opposes, no question about it, giving Ameren forty million dollars to apply for the license. The Council’s first objection is that state law forbids giving utilities any funds for new plants until they actually come on line. Just as much of a sticking point is that we’re talking about a new nuclear plant, and that especially riles many green activists.

But Bray pointed out to me that as heartily as she opposes another nuclear plant in Callaway County, she must, as head of the Consumers Council, be aware of political realities. And the reality is that Ameren is almost surely going to get that forty mill. That being the case, the advocates for ratepayers had best get something valuable out of the deal if they can, and that’s what they’re aiming to do. To that end, when the bill came up for a hearing in Crowell’s committee, he stipulated that the OPC would get its funds from Ameren rather than from the state and that it would get appreciably more funding. That stipulation had been promised and then–oops–left out. If Crowell and the Consumers Council can stall the deal unless the Office of Public Counsel gets more funding, then at least the OPC can use its new funds to lobby against changing the anti-CWIP law–against, in other words, forcing ratepayers to cough up in advance for a second nuclear plant in Callaway County.

Hey, as long as we have to pay for the bullets that will be fired at us, shouldn’t we also be allowed to buy some ammo for our own defense? That’s only fair, especially since we’ll still be outgunned. Consider that the OPC, if it gets its funding from a dedicated stream taken out of Ameren’s profits, wouldn’t have the kind of moolah that the utility’s CEO can spend on lawyers and lobbyists. OPC would get somewhere between $3 and $4 million dollars. Ameren spent $4 million on its last rate case alone, whereas the OPC would have to use its funds for utility cases around the entire state. But the odds would be more even.

And just as important, the Office of Public Counsel would be protected from political vagaries. In these dire times for the state budget, when agencies and programs are being slashed on every side, who knows what might happen to the OPC’s funding? Instead of having one tenth the resources to argue a case that Ameren has, it might end up having 1/20th of the resources. Or none. It could be entirely defunded. We do have a Republican legislature.

The important ball to keep your eye on when it comes to this bill, then, is whether or not, if it passes, it includes a dedicated funding stream taken from Ameren to give the Office of Public Counsel some parity in litigating rate cases. If that happens, it will be because all the stakeholders on our side pooled their might. Big Bill Haywood, that famous turn of the 20th century labor leader, used to show immigrants who were trying to form unions an open hand and demonstrate how easily any single finger can be bent. But then he would make a fist to illustrate the strength that comes from unity. Perhaps the Consumers Council is about to experience itself as a fist.

As for whether giving Ameren $40 million it neither needs nor deserves could ever be considered winning? Eh, that’s a tough case to make. But getting four million dollars a year out of Ameren’s profits for the Office of Public Counsel would certainly take much of the sting out of that kind of “winning”.

My crystal ball is in the shop for repair, but do I need one to take an educated guess about what Senate President Pro Tem Charlie Shields and Majority Leader Kevin Engler are thinking about their Republican colleague, Senator Jason Crowell? They figure the problem with him isn’t so much that he’ll be term limited out after his current term but that he’s got three more years after this one before that happens. They don’t care that he’ll be termed out: Cape Girardeau is solidly Republican. Crowell won by 64 percent of the vote last November. So replacing him with another Republican is a cakewalk, and in the meantime, what a colossal headache he is.

He and his good friend, former House Speaker Rod Jetton, just toppled, for this year anyway, the CWIP legislation. Jetton has been working for Noranda Aluminum, Ameren’s biggest customer, to defeat it. And Crowell filibustered the bill, with help from Sen. Joan Bray (D-St. Louis).

That filibuster produced some of the most interesting head butting of this year’s Senate session, with Sen. Kurt Schaefer (R-Columbia) calling Bray a liar at one point, and with Schaefer and Crowell squaring off as the proxies for the two competing GOP consultants in Missouri. Schaefer represented Jeff Roe, while Crowell represented Jetton.

Okay, that skirmish is over, but the economic development bill, or eco-devo as it’s known, still looms, and this one promises to be even more of a lulu, because the Senate can’t just fold on the whole bill the way it did on CWIP. To further complicate the scenario, it looks like there will be two veteran talkers, Crowell and Sen. Jeff Smith (D-St. Louis), vying to stop it in its present form. And, implausible as it seems, they are simultaneously allies and adversaries. They’re allies because they both want the bill in its present form stopped and because they agree that any cap on historic tax credits should be very high because those credits have done so much to rejuvenate downtown St. Louis.

But the two men are adversaries as well. Crowell refuses to vote for eco-devo unless tax credits from now on become subject to the annual appropriations process. We need oversight, he says. He figures that the Missouri lege hands out tax credits like candy–with little thought as to how those extra calories are going to bloat our fiscal waistline. It’s too easy for people who’ll be termed out soon to be generous. They won’t be around when Missouri steps on the scales and gasps four years down the line.

Smith also wants restraint when it comes to tax credits. In fact, last year, he and Crowell were allies in opposing the $880 million that Charlie Shields proposed giving to the Bombardier Aircraft company of Canada to build a plant near K.C. But Smith believes that reviewing tax credits annually to decide whether to extend them makes it next to worthless ever to grant any of them at all. Most projects that deserve the credits take 3-5 years to complete.  

Who is going to start a major project if he can’t have confidence that the tax credits will be there four years from now? Developers won’t sink capital into turning a warehouse into loft space in St. Louis city if they have to worry that by the time they’ve acquired the building, gutted it, and installed the beams and joists, the tax credits will get ripped out from under them.

If Crowell had his way, developers would have to sweat it anew every year at the whim of the Appropriations chairman, someone that generally changes every couple of years. They want to invest, not shoot craps. Smith pointed out to me that Gary Nodler, the current chair, is termed out in 2010. Maybe Rob Mayer, who is the next ranking Republican on the committee will succeed him. What will his policies be like? And what if he doesn’t succeed? Suppose it turned out to be Brad Lager next–Lager, who thinks that the historic tax credits those Washington Ave. developers have used to bring part of downtown St. Louis back to life, is just out of control spending.

No, Smith feels there must be some promise of continuity.

And where will this ideological, and very long-winded debate, leave Engler, the debate moderator, and the eco-devo bill? Republicans want to get the bill passed. They could use the Missouri version of the nuclear option, just shut down the debate by “calling the previous question” (PQ). But that weapon has been reserved in the past for use against Democrats.

Dave Drebes suggests this possibility:

More likely, they will do to Crowell what they did to state Sen. Matt Bartle a couple of years ago when he tried to stop an appointment. They’ll just keep the senate in session all day and all night until he can no longer physically stand. Bartle lasted 13 hours. Crowell has some allies and might be able to hold the floor longer, but eventually there are limits to human stamina.

Oddly enough, a stubborn insistence on preserving historic tax credits might work out for Smith. Who knows? But Crowell’s similar stubborn insistence on his vision of putting tax credits into the appropriations process is probably doomed. If one of them manages to succeed, it looks more likely to be the Democrat in a GOP controlled chamber.

(See Update at end)

A state so poor that it kicked 100,000 Missourians off Medicaid three years ago has recently developed delusions of grandeur. The legislature is considering offering a Canadian firm, Bombardier Aerospace, as much as $880,000,000 in tax credits over the next 22 years in order to lure the airplane manufacturer to build a plant in Kansas City.

Did you see how many zeros came after those two eights? That figure is edging up on a billion bucks.

But the bill flew through the House with only two hours of debate. The Senate was a different story.  After three days of debate, the bill has stalled on the runway. Cooler heads may yet prevail, and some of them are even republican heads.

Jason Crowell, R-Cape Girardeau, who has led Republican opposition to the bill, argues that:

“Paying up to nearly $900 million in tax credits for 2,000 jobs makes no sense.”

And that’s not the only reason to be skittish: Crowell wants to see the details of the deal before Senators commit themselves to following them.

With the biggest tax credit offer in the history of our state at stake, Senate Majority Leader Charlie Shields, R-St. Joseph, is the only one who’s seen the details? At the very least, he should tell the other senators how many Brooklyn Bridges they are buying here.

But even if the senators had all the details, they should be more than leery. Pitting our state against other possible investors this way is too reminiscent of how Wal-Mart pits one community against its next door neighbor, asking who’ll give it the biggest tax breaks for the chance to have a new Wal-Mart in the community. The only one who wins in those price wars is Wal-Mart. The ones who lose are the local schools, fire departments, and police departments.

To be fair, this deal might not be just the same kind of scam writ larger. Supposedly, those tax credits will be paid back in the form of royalties on planes sold, but a lot could go wrong between now and retrieving our $880 million.

Victor Callahan knows it.  

“At the end of the day, we have to ensure that our taxpayers are protected and that we’re fully accountable,” said Sen. Victor Callahan, an Independence Democrat. “The current bill does not do that.”

Because of sentiments like Callahan’s and Crowell’s:

The Senate voted down an amendment to an appropriations bill Wednesday that would have set aside $120 million in early round financing for the project, with 22 senators voting no.

Let it die. Let somebody else have this pig in a poke.

Update: HB2393 passed in the House 125-16. Democrat Ron Richard of Joplin sponsored it.

Mitt Romney, the son of Michigan governor George W. Romney, is beloved among Republican elites here in Missouri. Matt Blunt and Jim Talent both endorsed him fairly early. Jack Jackson, Jason Crowell, Gary Nodler, Bryan Pratt, Shannon Cooper, David Day, Doug Funderbunk, Dwight Scharnhorst, Neal St. Onge, and Bryan Stevenson have all endorsed him, too. And in a recent e-mail, Rod Jetton (h/t Arch City Chronicle) details how he was won over at a meeting with Mitt, just like “when you go to those time-share presentations.” (That’s a direct quote – I kid you not.) Ed Martin was won over with the answer to the first question of the meeting – his own – which was about the Iraq war abortion universal health care global warming Romney’s Mormon faith, of course.

Romney has a record of moderate governance, working to balance budgets, preserve a woman’s right to choose, extend health care to every citizen. Of course, that gives him no chance in the Republican presidential primary, so now he’s running as the most conservative candidate in the race. Double Guantanamo! Slash taxes! No universal health care! Stay the course in Iraq!

In honor of his whiplash-inducing position changes, the Democratic National Committee is auctioning off a ‘Mitt Romney Flip Flop Kit” on eBay. Details below the flip.

The Democratic National Committee is auctioning off a special edition Mitt Romney Flip-Flop Kit.

Having apparently run out of policy positions to auction off this campaign season, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is now calling on his supporters to join him in selling off parts of their pasts too.  Sure, smooth talking Mitt Romney is reportedly planning to spend as much as $60 million of his own money to win the GOP nomination.  But his campaign is still looking to reverse its declining fundraising numbers by convincing supporters to auction off old belongings and give the proceeds to the campaign. 

Since Romney has tried to smooth talk his way to the GOP nomination by shedding his previous positions on just about every issue in this campaign, his friends at the Democratic National Committee decided to join the fun by auctioning off Romney’s past.  This one of a kind, special edition Mitt Romney Flip Flop Kit includes:

Mitt Romney’s Flip Flops on issues ranging from abortion, immigration, tax cuts, the Reagan administration, gay rights, campaign finance reform, climate change, conservatism, gambling, gun control, etc.;
A limited edition DVD of some of Romney’s more infamous flip-flops;
Flip-Flop flash cards in the shape of flip-flops so you can study on all of Mitt Romney’s various positions, courtesy of the Massachusetts Democratic Party.
A new pair of flip-flops;
A collectors edition foam flip-flop distributed at campaign events by a rival candidate;
A replica of the snowman that Mitt Romney is afraid to take questions from at the YouTube debate; and
A collection of Democratic signs, posters, pins and collectibles.
In order to avoid profiting from Romney’s flip-flopping, the DNC will donate an amount equal to the winning bid to a local pet shelter in honor of embattled Romney family dog Seamus. [http://www.democrats…] 

Special note-our lawyers are making us say this-the winning bid is a contribution to the Democratic National Committee and is subject to the restrictions and limitations of federal campaign finance laws.  The DNC will make a contribution equal to the amount of the winning bid to a local animal shelter.  Contributions are not deductible as charitable contributions for federal income tax purposes. 

Paid for and authorized by the Democratic National Committee.  This communication is not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.