Ellington

At 28, Toby Barker first-term representative, looks closer in age to the blue-blazered pages ferrying bills across the House floor than he to some of the more grizzled legislators around him.

In committee meetings, Barker speaks softly and rarely, writing in a Moleskine notebook. But when I met him recently, Barker was loose and opinionated, ruminating on the political attitudes of the Millennial generation and extolling the virtues of early childhood education.

A native of Meridian, Barker holds bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Southern Mississippi. In 2007, he decided to run for the Hattiesburg House seat after a friend dropped out of the race.

What expectations did you have about the Legislature?
I had paged here in '99 and saw a week of it, and there were certain times I would come up to Jackson and stop by. It just seemed so big. And you also saw, in the House, how raucous it could be at times. I think experiencing it is just so much more intense.

But at the same time, there's so much unproductive time, too.
It doesn't have to be. It's what you make of it, as with anything. I came in wanting to help people, wanting to better my city. You can do that in so many ways, whether it's contacting people back home, or researching to know what it is you're talking about and voting on. You're trying to build a reputation for yourself, because there's a stigma when you walk in here, and you're 25. People expect you to be quiet and do as you're told and that's it.

Tell me about the net-metering bills you sponsored this year.
There are two things that keep us out of the alternative-energy game: the net metering and the tax credit for the homeowner. I really think that if we instituted the tax credit where you would get the tax credit if you made solar improvements to your home, there's a market for that. Is it ever going to replace power companies? No. We'll still need power plants, whether it's the Kemper lignite plant or a nuclear plant, but alternative energy benefits everyone. And I think you'd see some serious jobs created by that, too.

How much Republican support is there for that in the Legislature?
I think it's very bipartisan. I will say that much of the support comes from the other people in my legislative class, the class of '08.

So where's the hang-up then?
I think a lot of it just has to do with a lack of knowledge of what it entails. Nobody's trying to put a power company out of business. We are trying to open up the free market and get Mississippi in the alternative-energy game.

What else do you want to adopt?
Early childhood education, I think, is huge. Being a Republican, my natural inclination is that the less government is involved, the better. But there is a role for government in this. If we're going to tackle early childhood education in Mississippi, we're going to have to get everybody to the table. It's got to be the private sector … and it's going to take a big commitment from the churches. So many of these churches already have existing pre-school programs. We're going to try to push an initiative in Hattiesburg over the next year where we try to build a coalition to open up more slots for kids to have access to quality pre-K.

If you look at any study, a lot of a child's mind develops by age 5. I really think that if there's such a thing as a silver bullet to cyclical poverty, it's early childhood education. … Steering more resources to the front end and trying to save the generation that's starting to rise up, I think, is a better use of our resources.

What's the role of the Legislature?
That bill has been introduced for three straight years. Could an appropriation help to fund existing child-care centers or vouchers for child-care programs? Sure. But I think it's more on the individual legislator to make something happen in his community. … I realize that I can't change the entire state right now, but I can make life better for a few kids in Hattiesburg.

Partisanship in the Legislature flares up noticeably at times. Where does it come from? It's no secret that the speaker and the governor have had a contentious relationship since 2004. And I think that the speaker's race from 2008 is still with us, and so a lot of it stems from that. Many times we disagree on an issue based on political philosophy. I think that's OK. I think people have had their partisan affiliations all their life. It's sort of a learned nature.

Was it ever a question for you?
Not really. I've always had the approach that a lot of government is probably not a good thing. But at the same time I … realize that we have to value people, and we have to be compassionate to a certain degree, try to help people get out and pull themselves up. Is there a tension, sometimes? Of course. But I think it's very easy to reconcile the two. Ninety percent of the school kids in my city go to sleep at night below the poverty line. If that didn't affect the way I see the world, what kind of person would I be?