News

Haley to Cure Jackson Crime

(Verbatim statement)-Calling for an increased focus on crime-fighting from the office of the Governor, Haley Barbour announced that he will use the authority given to the Governor to "direct the Attorney General to aid in the prosecution of cases by appointing assistant Attorneys General as special prosecutors." At a press conference at the State Capitol building today, Barbour stated, "State law gives the Governor the authority to direct the Attorney General to aid in the prosecution of cases by appointing assistant Attorneys General as special prosecutors. As Governor, I will exercise that authority in order to make sure criminals in Hinds County get tried swiftly and punished appropriately."

Conservative Says Howard Dean Welcome Change

In his column today, conservative-but-independent columnist Charley Reese writes that Howard Dean is a real threat to the U.S. political establishment: "What people see is an intelligent man who isn't catering to the press, who isn't resorting to weasel words. This could be, and I pray it is, the start of a sea change in American politics. It could be that after so many disappointments, Americans are finally wising up to the professional politicians whose statements are manufactured for campaign purposes only."

Musgrove's Economic Plan

October 5, 2003 -- (verbatim release) Today Governor Ronnie Musgrove proposed a detailed plan to keep Mississippi's economy moving forward. National unemployment has grown to a nine-year high, but we've seen 56,000 new jobs created in the last 3 years as a result of Governor Musgrove's tireless efforts to bring good jobs to Mississippi. According to the Bush Administration, Mississippi is one of only two states in the southeast to have seen a net growth in jobs last year. (Department of Housing and Urban Development for 2002-2003). MORE ...

Kennedy Derides Howard Dean's NRA Support

The Washington Post reports: "Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy (D-R.I.) scolded Democratic presidential hopeful Howard Dean for his friendly relations with the National Rifle Association during a Capitol Hill rally last week to drum up support for renewal -- and strengthening -- of the federal ban on assault weapons. While other speakers stuck to the subject of assault weapons, Kennedy assailed Dean, saying he was 'saddened' that one of his party's leading presidential candidates is 'pro-NRA.' He suggested that Dean has 'compromised his principles' as a physician by opposing stronger federal gun controls."

Blackmon Challenges Tuck to Debate Issues

Oct. 3 statement (verbatim): Democratic nominee for Lieutenant Governor Barbara Blackmon today called on her opponent to agree to a televised debate focusing on jobs and Mississippi 's economy and to condemn the secret spending that has resulted in vicious negative attack ads that distort her record. "The unfair attack by Amy Tuck and her big buck backers are occurring because I have the strongest economic development message in this campaign," Blackmon said. "I have put foreword a detailed, multi-point plan to create jobs and to get the economy moving. On Amy Tuck's watch, the state has lost 44,000 jobs, and she has not spearheaded any major economic development efforts."

Lester Spell JFP Voter Questionnaire Posted

We have just posted a very complete candidate questionnaire we received from Commissioner of Agriculture Lester Spell, a Democrat, who is running against Republican Max Phillips. Mr. Phillips returned a substantive questionnaire before the primary, which is also posted. Please see both sets of answers on the JFP PoliticsBlog.

AG candidate Jim Hood accuses opponent of lying

We received this letter today from attorney general candidate Jim Hood, the Democrat, accusing his challenger Scott Newton of intentionally lying about Hood's record. It is reprinted verbatim:

Reaching New Political Lows

This whole lt. gov. abortion dust-up is absurd. Finally, we have two women, one black and one white, running for a major office in the state -- and we're arguing over abortion, and whether one had one or not. First of all, it's none of our business. Second of all, Ms. Tuck never should have played the abortion card first. It has nothing to do with this office. It's a wedge issue, stupid! With all that money, you'd think the candidates could figure out how to talk about issues that they actually would be elected to deal with. It's thoroughly disgusting. Y'all, they're playing Mississippians for fools again. Every time you watch another dumb-ass television commercial or hear another personal attack or another sound bite like "school discipline" without any substance behind it, remember you're being played like a fiddle by the political machine. We've got to put an end to this, or it's just going to get worse.

James Meredith

Talking to Mr. James Meredith is a right-brain experience. The conversation isn't linear, organized, disciplined. It jumps around to topics that the thin, intense grandfather is interested in at the very instant. As the 70-year-old Kosciusko native talks first about the legacy of slavery in Brazil (where he just visited); the need for people to "blend" in society; Ole Miss back in 1962 when he integrated the stubborn old institution; the oddity of growing older; and finally young people's need to work harder, you can easily see why his name ended up in lights. It's hard to imagine someone more unique, more creative, more daring, more willing to offend one or another status quo.

Barbour's company to profit off Iraq

The AP's Emily Wagster Pettus wrote an important story today about Haley Barbour's D.C. company's plans to make a lot of money in Iraq. She begins: "Lobbying partners of Haley Barbour have established a company that says it will help its clients with business opportunities in the Middle East, including rebuilding in postwar Iraq. New Bridge Strategies "will seek to expedite the creation of free and fair markets and new economic growth in Iraq, consistent with the policies of the Bush Administration," the company's Web site says." That's a busy little side business he has going up in Washington, eh?

Barbour choice of white supremacists?

The Clarion-Ledger today mentions Barbour appearance on a racist site, as a JFP reader revealed on our blog (scroll to bottom) last week: "Barbour wears a lapel pin with the U.S. and state flags and he is in a photograph on the Web site of the Council of Conservative Citizens, a neo-Confederate group accused of racist views. Barbour says he doesn't know anything about the council. The picture was taken at a council-sponsored barbecue in July used to raise money for private academy school buses." The Ledger doesn't go into more details about the barbecue; it is at the Black Hawk rally,which was started by the CofCC,the modern-day version of the White Citizens Council. The rally does still raise money for buses for white "seg" academies, even as it draws a variety of candidates, including Democrats and some African-Americans (much as the Neshoba County Fair). Interestingly, also in the photo is Bill Lord, a former campaign manager for Trent Lott, who was head, I believe, the Carroll County chapter of the Council of Conservative Citizens. You will recall that Lott's close involvement with the group caused a national stir (as it should have) a couple years back. Barbour's disavowal of knowledge about the Council is simply ridiculous and patently impossible. Here we go again. (By the way, readers, tell us if they take the photo off the CofCC site, which I'd predict will happen before the day is out. We have a screen shot we can post instead.)

Public Radio and ETV Election 2003 Coverage

Do you know who's who in this year's election race? Are you interested in hearing what the candidates have to say about the issues that affect the state of Mississippi? Join the public television and radio stations of the Mississippi Broadcasting Networks (MSBN) for

Is this even parody?

"Treasury Secretary John Snow announced Monday that the federal government will discontinue its long-term, low-yield investment in the nation's youth," The Onion "reports."

First Gubernatorial Candidate Debate Sept. 29 at Belhaven

WHAT: The first of four 2003 gubernatorial candidate debates to be held across the state. The event is being sponsored by WLBT-TV and Belhaven College and will be aired live on WLBT-TV.

Newspaper Bites VP

The Star-Trib's editorial seriously takes Cheney to task for his appearance on "Meet the Press." How about this line:

Clark: The New Dean?

Salon has posted Clark: The New Dean? -- a story that takes as look at how various interests in the Democratic party are looking at a Clark bid for the presidency as a way to save them from Dean, who scares some of the establishment. A key line comes toward the end, where the writer makes the case that "all of the liberal positions that Dean has staked out" actually boil down to one thing that party insiders fear make him unelectable -- civil unions.

Bizarro NAFTA logic

Sid Salter often reminds me of George Will: Clearly, he has a good mind, which shows up sometimes in his columns, but he's so busy using it to shill for the GOP that it's hard to remember that sometimes. Case in point: His Sunday column apologizing for Haley Barbour's hands-on role in NAFTA implementation—which led directly to the loss of so many Mississippi jobs. The point of the column is to remind voters that NAFTA was signed into law by a Democrat — duh. Who doesn't know that one of the Democrats' biggest sell-outs to the GOP in recent years was NAFTA? This is a major black mark on Clinton's record, and the main reason I first started turning against "New Democrats" (other reasons soon piled up). But, the point here and now in Mississippi, is whether we should elect a governor who is the CEO of a D.C. lobbying firm that handled much of the NAFTA implementation, not to mention helped push for it, despite warnings that it would take away jobs back in his home state? The closest he could come to tying Musgrove to NAFTA is his membership in the party who agreed to come on board the train being conducted, in part, by Haley Barbour. That's really weak. It's not like Musgrove is a poster-boy Democrat, after all. He can easily argue that NAFTA is one of the many issues that he takes umbrage with national Dems over. This one's a pitifully obvious shill.

Keith Tonkel

For going on 35 years, Keith Tonkel has been in the pulpit, serving the congregation and neighborhood of Wells United Methodist Church on Bailey Avenue. His office, on the second-story back corner over the parking lot, is filled with memorabilia and books tightly packed into floor-to-ceiling bookshelves and atop every surface except for the big wooden desk and where the blue iMac sits. An old cloth-covered armchair and black vinyl loveseat, both well-sat-in, provide seating for Tonkel and his many visitors.

Sid Salter on Haley Barbour

In the Sept. 13 issue of National Journal: "I think (Barbour's) been successful in changing his image from someone who just showed up on Crossfire to a guy who rolled up his sleeves, went out into rural Mississippi, shook hands, and sweated through his shirt," said Sid Salter, a political columnist with The Clarion-Ledger, in Jackson, Miss.

Cheers to Gailya Porter!

Last week, we learned that Smith Elementary has ranked as a Level 5 school. We featured principal Gailya Porter as "Jacksonian" a month ago in our education issue. Here's an encore of that story in honor of a remarkable school and community.

Wesley Clark for President?

Salon reports today: "On Wednesday Clark officially declared himself a Democrat, telling CNN that if he ran for president, he'd seek the Democratic nomination. 'It's a party that stands for internationalism. It's a party that stands for ordinary men and women,' Clark said. 'It's a party that stands for fair play and equity and justice and common sense and reasonable dialogue.' He told the network he hadn't made up his mind to run but added, 'I'm closer to working my way through it.'"

Camp Best

Seated in his corner office at 3318 North State Street, Camp Best beams his excitement about that eclectic part of the city known as Fondren. He calls the area's artistic renaissance the "Fondren glow," explaining, "It causes this light to shine on a community; it causes a feeling amongst people of community, and it starts to heal things."

"How to Lose the Intelligent Vote, Part I"

Things are looking so positive in Mississippi. State Democrats chose the most qualified candidate for state treasurer regardless of race. Dialogue has started to happen about intelligent issues. There are signs that more progressive voters may turn out to the polls this November. Then: wha-powww, right in the kisser! Dear Gov. Musgrove: Your invitation to bring Alabama's "10 commendments" monument to the Capitol is a silly political ploy that may well lose you more votes than it gains (say, like this one). You are smart enough to know that the reason the First Amendment contains an anti-Establishment clause is in order that the Freedom of Religion can exist and be enforced. By pretending otherwise, and courting the vote of that conservative rural chick in Kemper County, you are insulting the intelligence and thumbing your nose at the support of many, many potential voters in Mississippi who understand that not allowing religious monuments in government spaces will help afford them their religious freedom. You are certainly doing *nothing* to help increase turnout among those who are so frustrated with the lack of a choice in political candidates. You don't play politics with the U.S. Constitution, not if you care about what's in it, or the people you serve. You should be ashamed. Furthermore, it's actions such as these that, in the long run, tarnish the reputation of our state and encourage our bright, young people to go live somewhere else where thinking and intelligence isn't ridiculed and mocked by our political candidates out to pander for some quick and easy votes. We deserve better. (I'm not even addressing Barbour's pander here; he's a member of the Grand Old Panderer party, so it's expected.)

Mayor Johnson's ‘State of the City' Address

In its entirety: State of the City Address, Mayor Harvey Johnson, Jr., August 26, 2003, 5:30 p.m., Union Station

Dillon Celebrates Women's Equality Day

Gubernatorial Sherman Lee Dillon sent around a statement saluting Women's Equality Day. It reads: "Green Party Gubernatorial Candidate, Sherman Lee Dillon is fed up. As the father of four daughters and the grandfather to three granddaughters, Sherman Lee thinks it is time for Mississippians to heed the rights of our mothers, daughters, sisters, aunts -- all women. August 27 is Women's Equality Day. Sherman Lee thinks that it is not enough that women have had suffrage for eighty-three years. More must done to honor women and ensure equality.

Howard Dean jumps to a 21-point lead in N.H.

Building on his incredible momentum, presidential candidate Howard Dean jumped to a 21-point lead over Kerry in New Hampshire, drawing a wide range of support, from liberal to moderate, men and women. The other candidates are in the single digits. This support is coming after a remarkable "Sleepless" tour of the last several days, with Dean raising $1 million on the Internet. See his Blog for America to get in the know about one of the most grass-roots campaigns we've seen in a long time.

[Talk] Social Republicans

Aug. 21, 2003—Barbara Blackmon's race might hurt her chance at the lieutenant governor's post this November, but it might help put fellow Democrat Ronnie Musgrove back into the governor's mansion. That was one of the messages at the Aug. 11 Stennis Institute Capitol press corps luncheon at Hal and Mal's in downtown Jackson where two political scientists, one black and one white, predicted what is in store.

Monica Minter

Seated comfortably with perfect posture, Monica Jeany Minter calmly focuses on the photographer, her eyes never leaving his face until she thoroughly understands his instructions. Nothing about the busy Friday afternoon outside Banner Hall distracts her. The Murrah High graduate is a young lady with a new role—Mississippi's Miss Hospitality. Since being selected in July, 21-year-old Minter—a senior at Jackson State University where she is a political science major with a 3.4 GPA, the current Miss Jackson State and active in many campus organizations—has already been on the job.

Important Correction About Run-Offs

In the issue of the JFP out today, we said you could vote in the run-offs on Tuesday ONLY IF you voted in the Aug. 5 primary. The secretary of state's office called immediately to call our attention to the mistake: *You can vote in the run-off* even if you didn't vote in the primary, but you do have to vote for the same party (I suppose, unless you didn't vote at all; then you can take your pick).

Amy Tuck Revives State Flag Issue

Whoa. How should we read this interesting turn of events? Does Ms. Tuck believe it will be politically expedient to have a rebel flag debate as part of her race against Ms. Blackmon? It seems rather desperate. One thing, though: This story is rather odd: Is she just answering a question about the flag? Or did she bring it up herself? It seems like an important piece of missing information.

Ellington