294 DAYS UNTIL ELECTION DAY… 203 DAYS UNTIL THE AUGUST PRIMARY

SPENCE CAMP PIVOTS — ‘Spence outlines economic proposals,’ PoliticMo: “Pivoting off of a campaign flub involving inconsistencies in his academic record, Republican gubernatorial candidate Dave Spence, a St. Louis packaging executive, announced his five point “Back to Work” policy initiative on Friday afternoon. Among Spence’s solutions are tax credit reform, reforms to employment law and the judicial system, infrastructure improvements, and a reexamination of prevailing wage laws. Additionally, Spence said he would support a ‘proven… private sector leader’ to run the Missouri Department of Economic Development. ‘For the past 27 years, I have been building a business from the ground up and creating quality jobs. For the past 25 years, Jay Nixon has been living off the taxpayers,’ Spence said. ‘With 250,000 Missourians out of work, clearly it’s time for some new, bold leadership and fresh ideas.’” http://bit.ly/yfo1QK

— Meanwhile, on KSGF over the weekend, Spence challenger Bill Randles was on with host Nick Reed: 

Reed: “[D]o you know Dave Spence personally, I don’t know him.

RANDLES: I have visited a few times with him on the phone, but apart from that I don’t know him.

REED: So how did you find out about- I mean this is one of those things, I don’t think to most people its major, but I think it’s- the first introduction a lot of Missourians are going to have to this guy is this. And this is not a good first introduction. I mean yesterday I was saying it’s ok to be hated, but when you’re laughed at, that’s pretty bad. I mean in terms of your viability with people.

RANDLES: “You know, he’s been a successful businessman. Perhaps he should stick with that. The fact is, it makes you wonder why he would state that his degree was in something other than it was. The public is so used to politicians budging the truth or trying to put one over on them. You’ve got to be extra candid I think.” http://bit.ly/ykgZ55

MLK DAY —‘Black Republicans are raising their profile,’ KC Star: “As the nation reflects on the 83rd birthday of Martin Luther King Jr., young, black Republicans refer to the slain civil rights leader’s national call for diversity, equality and tolerance to support their right to espouse their political views, albeit conservative and counter to the traditional voices of the predominantly liberal, Democratic black community. … Some young, black Republicans maintain there has always been a fair number of African-Americans sharing strong conservative views: belief in fiscal responsibility, limiting government and pulling oneself out of poor circumstance.

“But because being identified as a black Republican wasn’t popular in their community and because their families may have traditionally voted Democratic, they hid their desire to connect with the Republican Party. ‘I have had conversations with black people who leaned forward and whispered to me that either they were Republican or they voted Republican, like it is some terrible secret,’ said Bev Randles, 39, an attorney and vocal Republican who lives in Kansas City, North. … ‘The GOP was and has always been about economic freedom, free to think one’s own mind and to carry one’s own beliefs forward; free to succeed and free to fail. That is who the Republican Party is,’ Randles said.

“Other black Republicans such as Michael Steele, the first African-American to serve as chairman of the Republican National Committee, have touted GOP support of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as well as the Voting Rights Act of 1965. That’s information that Randles said is often lost on other African-Americans. Despite Obama’s election as the first black president, Randles and others said race didn’t change their Republican views — or compel them to vote for him. ‘Throughout the 2008 campaign cycle, we were repeatedly told that America would not elect a black man president, that the country was still racist and backward,’ Randles said. ‘Barack Obama’s election disproved that. In that sense, I felt an odd sense of pride in America for showing the world who we are.’” http://bit.ly/z6dW39

EDUCATION — ‘Mayoral school takeovers face a rough road,’ Kansas City Star: “School-reform experts predict Milwaukee’s experience may soon be echoed in Kansas City, which has just started to wrestle with its own plan to place public schools in the mayor’s portfolio. In Milwaukee, as in Kansas City, a mayoral takeover of a troubled urban school district had high-level support at first. U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan backed it, as did some in the city’s business community. Influential state lawmakers, including some from Milwaukee’s central city, supported a measure giving the mayor the power to appoint a superintendent and significantly control its budget. But opposition to a mayoral takeover quickly organized. It took just a few weeks for a coalition of parents, neighborhood leaders, some minority politicians and union leaders to mobilize in Milwaukee, picketing legislators’ homes, packing City Hall rallies and protesting on social media. … Mayoral school takeovers are messy politically, often racially charged and usually take years to pass — if ever. No American city has adopted direct mayoral school control since 2007, when the District of Columbia agreed to hand over school authority to Washington’s mayor. Less comprehensive mayoral school bills took effect in Los Angeles and Rhode Mayor Sly James, who has proposed a mayoral takeover structure for Kansas City Public Schools, conceded in an interview that the political hurdles are high — perhaps more like a pole vault. … 

“Missouri House minority leader and Democrat Rep. Mike Talboy of Kansas City, for example, supported the mayoral takeover plan when it was announced in December. State senator and fellow Democrat Victor Callahan has firmly rejected the idea, instead proposing legislation that could make it easier for surrounding districts to change boundaries and assume control of some Kansas City schools. The state Board of Education may have another alternative in mind, and local groups are also working on their own proposals for the district. The courts also may play a role. State courts invalidated a Los Angeles mayoral takeover in 2006, and local groups could sue in Kansas City, too, if a similar plan becomes law. … James said he understands Kansas City politicians are split on the issue and even some City Council members are grumbling.” http://bit.ly/yjqO8G

GOOD MONDAY MORNING, coming at you for the next few months from Columbia, Mo. Send us your Columbia tips, political comments and scoops to eli@politicmo.com. 

HUNTSMAN OUT — @JeffSmithMO: “To echo what I wrote when Cain quit, the praise Huntsman will soon heap on despised Mitt perfectly reveals the absurd theater of politics.” 

SOTS PREVIEW — In Warrensburg, KMOS-TV plans to broadcast Gov. Nixon’s State of the State address and the Republican response tomorrow night. 

SEN. CLAIRE MCCASKILL will be in Columbia this morning for a stop on her “Hometown Energy Tour.” McCaskill will host an energy roundtable at the Columbia Municipal Power Plant. 

REP. RUSS CARNAHAN will hold an event with community leaders on economic opportunity in St. Louis this evening at his district office on Manchester Road. 

2012 LEGISLATING —Story two from our interview with Speaker Tilley focuses entirely on the state budget. No surprise: The Republican lawmaker said no tax increases were on the table for him in addressing the budget shortfall: “The Missouri Budget Project announced on Thursday that they estimate Missouri’s 2013 budget shortfall to be nearly $800 million, $300 million more than previously expected. House Speaker Steven Tilley, R-Perry, said even with the significant budget shortfall, he would not support any new tax increases. … Though Missouri has the lowest cigarette tax in the nation, Tilley said he is not for increasing it. He said he would be willing to take a look at applying sales tax to online purchases, but Tilley said he would want to do that in a way that is revenue neutral. ‘For me the streamlining sales tax is not about creating revenue, its about creating fairness,’ Tilley said.

“Instead, Tilley said he would prefer to look at things like prison reform and reducing the recidivism rate, implementing a tax amnesty program, and call on state departments to set priorities for lawmakers to consider when it comes to making budget cuts. Additionally, Republicans say they are interested in looking at a new way of managing income. In the Tilley’s “Blueprint for Missouri,” the Republican caucus endorsed a proposal that would limit state revenue by tying it to fluctuation of inflation and population changes. Tilley said the amendment is about stability.” http://bit.ly/wtfiy8

— ‘Missouri senators target food stamp fraud,’ Missouri News Horizon: “[T]he Senate committee on governmental accountability debated a piece of legislation that would require photo identification on all EBT food stamp cards in Missouri. There are nearly half a million Missourians using EBT cards to purchase groceries on a daily basis. Last year Missouri began requiring a subset of this group – about 50,000 Missourians receiving support from the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program – to have photos on their cards. The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Will Kraus, R-Lee’s Summit, argued that requiring photo identification would in no way prevent qualified individuals from receiving benefits. Instead, he said, it would keep people from selling or stealing the cards. … An investigation by the U.S. Department of Agriculture claims that as much as $753 million of the $75.3 billion distributed in federal food stamp programs last year may have been spent fraudulently. … Although [Sen. Maria] Chappelle-Nadal said she supports measures to stop fraud, she asked her Republican counterparts why social welfare programs were so frequently the targets of anti-fraud measures. Last year, Republicans successfully passed and Gov. Jay Nixon signed into law, a controversial provision to drug test TANF welfare recipients suspected of abusing controlled substances.” http://bit.ly/zqLH6D

JUDICIAL CHANGES? —‘Missouri lawmakers may target judiciary,’ AP: “An agitated state Sen. Kevin Engler pulled a reporter into his Capitol office, laid out a large color-coded map of the new House districts in eastern Missouri, and directed a staff member to grab a laptop computer and zoom in on street-by-street photos of the area. The corners of House districts 115, 116 and 117 all converge near his hometown of Farmington. In fact, some of the boundaries cut right across the golf course on which Engler’s home is built. Engler wants to run in the 116th District this year as he attempts to make the unusual transition from the Senate back to the House of Representatives, where his career in Jefferson City began. ‘That house is in, that house is out,” Engler said while following the red boundary lines of the district. Then he points toward another neighbor’s home: ‘It cuts right across the center part of the house. … ‘Who would do that?’ … 

“The answer is the Appellate Apportionment Commission, a panel of six appeals court judges that drew Missouri’s new state House and Senate districts based on the 2010 census after bipartisan citizens’ committees appointed by the governor failed to get the job done. Upset about both the map and the process that produced it, Engler is out to extract some revenge from the judiciary. … Senate President Pro Tem Rob Mayer, R-Dexter, included a call to revamp the judicial nomination process in his opening day remarks to the chamber. He said lawmakers would work ‘to make sure Missourians are better represented when it comes to the select few who ultimately interview and choose the appellate judges’ and to bring “more transparency and accountability” to the process. Some Republican lawmakers have tried for years to change Missouri’s nonpartisan court plan adopted by voters in 1940. … But some senators gained a newfound interest in changing the judiciary after its role in last fall’s redistricting process. The judicial redistricting panel was roundly criticized for producing a Senate map that appeared to disregard constitutional instructions to avoid splitting counties into multiple districts whenever possible.” http://apne.ws/zeQDcz 

MCCASKILL TOUR — The Missouri GOP penned an op-ed following up on Sen. Claire McCaskill’s energy tour. The op-ed ran in Springfield this morning, where Sen. McCaskill appeared last week. From Lloyd Smith: “McCaskill’s statewide tour on energy is nothing more than an election year gimmick to cover up her longtime support for the president’s job-killing policies. The truth is, Claire McCaskill is a foot soldier in Barack Obama’s war on energy. … McCaskill votes like a liberal in Washington, supporting things like cap-and-trade and onerous EPA regulations; then she comes to Missouri and tries to fool voters into believing she’s concerned about affordable energy. But she won’t get away with it this time. As McCaskill said during her 2006 campaign: ‘If my walk doesn’t match my talk, then shame on me and never vote for me again.’ It’s time for McCaskill to drop the charade and explain her consistent support for Barack Obama’s job-killing energy policies. The families of Missouri deserve the truth.” http://sgfnow.co/yvwtwt

EXPECTATIONS GAME — The St. Joseph News-Press previewed Gov. Nixon’s State of the State address with an editorial: “Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon is sure to sound a confident, optimistic tone Tuesday night in his much-anticipated State of the State address. In part, this is because our governor is wired this way. This also is because, by all appearances and public statements, he sincerely thinks the state’s budget problems are manageable and things are headed in the right direction. And finally, this is because he is a governor who does not have much latitude to admit weakness. … The governor, until now, has enjoyed relative freedom to champion job-creation strategies, pledge help for the downtrodden and disadvantaged, and express support for making education funding more of a priority without revealing his full hand. But lawmakers of both parties, as well as the state’s citizens, are right to expect their elected chief executive to reconcile these beliefs, plans and ambitions with the economic realities the rest of us face. And Tuesday night would be a good place to start.” http://bit.ly/xn05iR

SPORTZ — ‘Pressey works on becoming more consistent,’ AP: “Phil Pressey brings a lot to the table — toughness, athletic ability and playmaking, for starters. But his shooting percentages have never been great at Missouri, and that bothers him. That’s why Pressey, a diminutive sophomore point guard, routinely sticks around after practice, hoisting shot after shot with Marcus Denmon, Kim English and Mike Dixon, three upperclassmen who are among the best shooters on the team. … They call themselves ‘The Overtime Crew,’ Dixon said, and it’s here that Pressey works on an adjustment suggested by Missouri coach Frank Haith that will not only allow Pressey to become a complete point guard but also help him eliminate his sometime inconsistent play.” http://bit.ly/A5hqle