Three tiered turnover first since ’76

NEMS360.com – : www.nems360.com/view/full_story/15479671/article-T…olumn

JACKSON – In January 1976, Jimmy Carter was winning the Iowa caucuses to set the stage for his surprise run to the presidency.

Mississippi, meanwhile, was swearing in a new governor, lieutenant governor and speaker. It’s the last time the three most powerful positions in state government changed hands simultaneously – until January 2012.

Gov. Haley Barbour, Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant and House Speaker Billy McCoy are all leaving their current positions, an unusual triple turnover. But the potential replacements – including Bryant as a possible governor – aren’t necessarily strangers to the scene.
“For most people involved, it’s not their first time around the track, just like it was not in ’76,” said Rep. Tommy Reynolds, D-Water Valley, who entered the House in January 1980, but remembers the events of January 1976.”There may be a few rough edges to begin with, but I don’t think experience will be a problem.
“If there is a problem, it will be policy and the execution of that policy. But let’s hope for good things.”

Republican Bryant and Democratic Hattiesburg Mayor Johnny DuPree are vying to replace Barbour, who is term limited. Treasurer Tate Reeves won the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor in August and faces no major party opposition in November.

Assorted House members are positioning themselves to replace Speaker Billy McCoy, D-Rienzi, who after two terms as the chamber’s presiding officer is not seeking re-election.

In 1976, District Attorney Cliff Finch of Batesville was the surprise winner of the gubernatorial seat, replacing Bill Waller, while Evelyn Gandy of Hattiesburg captured the lieutenant governor’s post that was vacant because incumbent William Winter opted to run for governor. C.B.”Buddie” Newman of Valley Park was elected speaker for the first of three terms.

Ed Perry of Oxford, who served in the House from 1968 until January 2000, said of the new faces,”I don’t think we thought about it much one way or the other back then … Everything was so much different then. There was not the partisan differences we had today. People did not have to answer to party leadership.”

Winter agreed, saying,”The big difference is that we did not have the political parties that exist now. It was almost a matter of individual leadership rather than choosing sides on the basis of party.”

#Mississippi #Haley #Barbour #Phil #Bryant #Billy #McCoy #Governor #Speaker #Lt. #Governor #Democrats #Republican #Legislature #politics #campaigns #elections #Tommy #Reynolds #Johnny #Dupree #Cliff #Finch

Budget–Performance still the goal

| The Clarion-Ledger | www.clarionledger.com: www.clarionledger.com/article/20110909/OPINION01/1…ome|s

The unusual turnover in key leadership positions of state government has raised questions about how the budget process should proceed. Officials working on the budget now will be turning over that responsibility to a new crop of budget-writers in January.

Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant is the current chairman of the 14-member Joint Legislative Budget Committee, but he won’t be lieutenant governor. He is the Republican nominee for governor, facing Democrat Johnny DuPree, independent Will Oatis and possibly a Reform Party candidate in the Nov. 8 election.

State Treasurer Tate Reeves is headed for the lieutenant governor’s office, facing only nominal opposition, and will choose key budget-writers in the Senate.

House Speaker Bill McCoy, D-Rienzi, is retiring, and the speaker’s race will hinge on the makeup of the House after the Nov. 8 elections. Whoever is the next speaker will appoint key fiscal leaders from that body.

Bryant had proposed canceling this year’s budget hearings and limiting the process. That would not have been the right approach. Had the hearings been postponed, it could have placed a hardship on incoming legislators who would be playing catch-up with new committee assignments, a new governor and new speaker. They would be lacking budget specifics.

So, it’s best that the committee announced Wednesday that it will hold public hearings Sept. 19-22 at the Woolfolk State Office Building, near the Capitol in Jackson.

Bryant is on the right track, however, when it comes to his proposals for more performance-based budgeting. It’s not a new idea and, admittedly, the record on such accountability isn’t very good. But, it has not been given much of a chance.

#Mississippi #budget #Phil #Bryant #Tate #Reeves #Billy #McCoy #Legislature #Johnny #Dupree #Lt. #Governor #Governor #Treasurer

Jim Ellis thinks Phil Bryant is “headed for a landslide” victory in Governor’s race

Jim Ellis Insights: jimellisinsights.wordpress.com

#Mississippi #Phil #Bryant #Governor #Republican #Johnny #Dupree #politics #elections

Jobs, state retirement plan focus of Labor Day picnic

| Hattiesburg American | www.hattiesburgamerican.com: www.hattiesburgamerican.com/article/20110906/NEWS0…TPAGE

#Mississippi #Labor #AFL-CIO #Democrats #Johnny #Dupree #Rickey #Cole #David #Blount #Republicans #Tim #Saler #PERS #State #Employees #State #Personnel #Board

Taylor staffer joins DuPree campaign

| www.gulflive.com: blog.gulflive.com/mississippi-press-news/2011/09/p….html

Familiar face joins DuPree campaign

Ana Maria Rosato, a Bay St. Louis native known to most folks for her work as Congressman Gene Taylor’s communications director, has joined Hattiesburg Mayor Johnny DuPree’s gubernatorial campaign as communications director.

"I am so excited about Mayor DuPree’s campaign," Rosato said. "Through Mayor DuPree’s vision, expertise and leadership, Hattiesburg has become what we want the entire state of Mississippi to be: wonderfully vibrant, alive and growing!" Rosato is a graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi, where she received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in political science.

#Mississippi #Johnny #Dupree #Gene #Taylor #Gulf #Coast #Hattiesburg #USM #Governor #Democrats

Patience and planning are essential to state progress

- Charlie Mitchell – www.sunherald.com: www.sunherald.com/2011/08/30/3387553/patience-and-….html

Haley Barbour sees a day when expansion under way at the Panama Canal brings unprecedented prosperity to Mississippi.

Phil Bryant, the Republican nominee seeking to follow Barbour as governor, sees a day when Jackson is a center for health care with a dozen or more medical centers rivaling Houston, Texas.

Democratic nominee Johnny DuPree will likely espouse some long-range goals, too.

It’s the”vision thing” we hear about.

But Barbour, preparing to leave office after eight years, says one thing he has discovered during his two terms is that state government is poorly structured to engage in long-range planning, especially of the type needed to create lasting economic development.

At a meeting of the state’s newspaper industry in July, Barbour went so far as to say it is impossible for the legislators to think beyond their four-year terms. It was a criticism, but also a reality. There are exceptions, such as multiyear highway programs, but lawmakers are more like firefighters. Even if they had wanted to devise long-term projects, they’ve been putting out blazes, scrambling to find funds to get the state through the next 12 months. They’ve had no time (and little interest) in developmental measures.

That’s what makes organizations such as Advance Mississippi and the Mississippi Economic Council essential. They and several other groups take the state’s economic pulse constantly.

In addition to speaking to the press, Barbour was on the Gulf Coast to meet privately with stakeholders on his much-maligned notion that a serious investment in port facilities now will result in thousands of jobs during the next 10 to 15 years.

The work in Panama will double the canal’s capacity by 2014. As Barbour and many others see it, Gulfport — if prepared — would become the most affordable destination for hundreds of ships delivering goods from Asian ports.

Today, most of those ships offload on the West Coast. Containers are dispatched to their destinations via truck or train. Once the canal is expanded, the most time- and cost-efficient route to any point east of the Mississippi would be through Gulfport, but only if it has the infrastructure.

#Mississippi #Gulfport #Economic #Development #Legislature #Haley #Barbour #Phil #Bryant #Johnny #Dupree #Health #Care

Salter–Underestimating DuPree is a mistake with caveats

(op-ed) | www.gulflive.com: blog.gulflive.com/mississippi-press-opinion/2011/0….html

With many November Republicans voting in local Democratic primaries and second primaries in order to participate in choosing their local officials, there has to be some concern among Democrats that November Republicans voting in the Democratic primary chose DuPree over Luckett with an eye toward Bryant’s fortunes in November. Conversely, Republicans see DuPree’s victory as an effort by Democrats to bolster the African-American votes in contested legislative districts in November as a means to hold on to one of the last outposts of Democratic power in state government, the state House of Representatives. There’s likely some political truth in both theories.

#Mississippi #Johnny #Dupree #Governor #Phil #Bryant #Bill #Luckett. #Democrat #Republican #Elections #voting #politics #campaigns

DuPree campaign needs cash

- Elections – www.sunherald.com: www.sunherald.com/2011/08/27/3380456/dupree-campai….html

With primaries wrapped up after Tuesday’s runoffs, the gubernatorial race is in full swing, with Democratic Hattiesburg Mayor Johnny DuPree facing Republican Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant on Nov. 8.

DuPree last week received pledges of support from the national Democratic Governors Association, and from his primary-runoff opponent, Bill Luckett. Democratic political observers are hoping this will bring an influx of cash to the DuPree campaign, which faces the well-funded Bryant campaign.

DuPree has spent less than $500,000 — half what Luckett spent — and had an anemic cash-on-hand balance of only $120,000 at last report. Bryant has spent more than $3.1 million, and had nearly $700,000 on hand at last report.
“The Democratic Governors Association congratulates Mayor DuPree on his historic victory tonight,” said Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, the group’s chair.”He has helped move Mississippi forward by becoming the first African-American to run for governor on a major party ticket. We look forward to working with his campaign and Mississippi Democrats in the coming months.”

Luckett’s endorsement statement for DuPree was:”I have come to know Mayor DuPree well. I regard him as a friend and someone who loves this great state as I do.”

#Mississippi #Democratic #Governors #Association #DGA #Johnny #Dupree #Governor #Martin #O‘Malley #Democrats #Republican #general #election #Bill #Luckett #Phil #Bryant #campaign #finance #elections #politics

Dupree MS should focus on job creation, early education

- WLOX-TV and www.WLOX.com – The News for South Mississippi: www.wlox.com/story/15343153/dupree-ms-should-focus…ation

BILOXI, MS (WLOX) -
No matter the outcome in November, Hattiesburg Mayor Johnny DuPree already made Mississippi history.

By winning the Democratic nomination for governor last week, he became the first African American candidate in modern times to win a major-party nod for the state’s top job.

He now advances to the November 8th general election to face Republican Lieutenant Governor Phil Bryant.

"I fully understand the historic significance of this," DuPree told WLOX News.

The mayor, known for his no-nonsense approach, said he has a proven track record when it comes to leadership, and that’s what he wants voters to remember when they head to the polls in November.

"We get these questions, ‘How are you going do this?’ ‘How you going to do that?’ Well, we’ve shown you how we’re going to do it. We’re going to continue to do it the same way. I don’t know what else we can do except show people how we’re going to do it."

Dupree made history as the first African American Democratic Gubernatorial nominee since Mississippi’s reconstruction. But he said it’s not just about the color of his skin.

"I think the voters out there are concerned about making their lives better. It is a history making event, and I am the first African American in modern times and proud to be an African American, and I’m proud that I’m the first."

Dupree said he wants to focus on issues he feels are the most important to our state’s future success, like job creation and early education.

"We have got to make sure all our children start early, and developing them to make sure they’re ready for the curriculum we’re going to be teaching in the regular schools. If the state’s not going to pay for that, then we need to find ways to interject with incentives, or whatever, so these church schools that are already in place will be teaching those curriculums."

#Mississippi #Johnny #Dupree #Education #jobs #Governor #elections #campaigns #politics #Democrats

Minor–History making DuPree win faces a grim Miss. reality

| The Clarion-Ledger | www.clarionledger.com: www.clarionledger.com/article/20110826/OPINION/108…ion|p

here’s no question DuPree’s win was good for black pride, but in the real world of politics in present-day Mississippi, black pride is not enough to take you past the winner’s finish-line. While difficult for black Mississippians to accept this reality: No African-American can be elected to statewide office in Mississippi, particularly the governorship.

A prime example of that reality came in 2003: Gary Anderson who had years of experience as a governmental affairs and financial counselor, and had been director of the state Department of Finance and Administration, won the Democratic nomination for state treasurer. His Republican opponent was a 29-year-old Jackson bank employee named Tate Reeves.

Anderson is black; Reeves is white. Reeves was elected.

Thereby was sprouted a highly ambitious young ideologue with his eyes set on climbing the GOP electoral ladder. Using his treasurer’s slot to milk campaign contributions, Reeves on Aug. 2 won the GOP nomination for the vacant lieutenant governor’s job in a slashing campaign against mild-mannered state Sen. Billy Hewes of Gulfport.

Reeves will waltz right into the state’s No. 2 job because Democrats put up no candidate. Therein lies a behind-the-scenes story of the Democratic gubernatorial race.

Democratic elder statesman William Winter urged DuPree to run for lieutenant governor, to give the Democrats a strong one-two ticket. As it turned out, Reeves alienated many Coast Republican s in his race against Hewes, providing a pool of voters who could easily switch to DuPree, also a South Mississippian.

Luckett aimed his campaign at beating Phil Bryant, the GOP gubernatorial nominee, on grounds Bryant as lieutenant governor, trivialized the need for a state pre-K education program as well as fully funding MAEP, both Luckett issues.

In the general election, Bryant can far outspend DuPree, especially if Barbour turns on the campaign money spigot of the Republican Governors’ Association and sends a gusher of cash. Plus, he can count on a fine-tuned state Republican political machine built by Barbour.

Meantime, there’s no sign Mississippi’s Democratic Party has shed the image Will Rogers defined 75 years ago, that he was not a member of an organized political party – he was a Democrat.

#Mississippi #Johnny #Dupree #Governor #Bill #Luckett #Phil #Bryant #Lt. #Governor #Tate #Reeves #Billy #Hewes #Treasurer #Gary #Anderson #Race #campaigns #Politics #elections #Democrats #Republicans