Southeast Missouri project finds place in state budget after campaign fundraiser (2024)

JEFFERSON CITY — A southeast Missouri businessman’s plan to redevelop an ailing commercial district in his hometown is in line for $11 million in taxpayer funds after he hosted a fundraiser for one of the men in charge of writing the state budget.

For years, oil company owner Scott Blank has worked to improve a blighted area of Cape Girardeau, offering to help build a police substation in the neighborhood and cheerleading for a plan to jump-start an area known as the Haarig Commercial Historic District.

Current plans call for Southeast Missouri State University to partner with Blank and the city to revitalize the area.

This year, the $11 million outlay appeared as a new line-item in the proposed state budget following a fundraiser Blank hosted for Rep. Cody Smith, the chairman of the powerful House Budget Committee and a candidate for state treasurer.

The fundraiser, headlined by Blank and his wife, Lisa, was held March 14 at The Forge rental event center in Cape Girardeau. The most recent filings with the Missouri Ethics Commission show Smith netted an estimated $3,125 in contributions from the fundraiser from attendees that day, but none from Blank himself or his business, Bi-State Oil Co., which operates Southern Convenience stores.

Blank said there is no connection between the fundraiser and the budgeting process.

“It’s totally separate. Representative Smith does a very diligent job with budget requests. Those conversations never took place between the two of us,” Blank told the Post-Dispatch.

Smith, R-Carthage, did not respond to requests for comment. He is term-limited in the House and attempting to oust incumbent Treasurer Vivek Malek, a political newcomer who was appointed to the position last year by Gov. Mike Parson and leads in the fundraising race.

Also running in the Aug. 3 Republican primary is Sen. Andrew Koenig, R-Manchester; Springfield attorney Lori Rook; Tina Goodrick, of St. Joseph; and Karan Pujji, of Berkeley.

Mark Osmack is the lone Democrat seeking the $110,000 per year post. He made an unsuccessful bid for Congress in 2018.

If Parson signs off on the $51 billion spending plan next month, the money for the Haarig project would help renovate buildings, improve the streetscape and build student housing.

“It’s a phenomenal project,” said Cape Girardeau City Manager Kenneth Haskins Wednesday. “We’re excited about the potential there. It’s an area that’s been left behind.”

The city currently is working to open a police substation in the neighborhood, an idea floated by Blank in 2021. Groundbreaking is two months away.

“That’s going to help the university thrive, but it’s also going to give businesses and citizens the security in knowing that this area will be safe,” Blank said.

The district is located six blocks southwest of the city’s downtown commercial center along the Mississippi River and is composed of 14 buildings constructed between 1875 and 1935, historical records show.

“We’ve seen it during its heyday when it was a thriving commercial market. And we’ve sadly watched its decline,” Blank said.

Plans call for SEMO to expand its music and arts programs in the buildings, Haskins said. Officials also are counting on new restaurants and retail establishments coming to the city of 40,000 residents.

Nearby communities of Sikeston, Jackson and those across the Mississippi River in Illinois also could benefit.

“We are very excited about the possibilities,” Haskins said. “We are kind of the hub in southeast Missouri.”