Bill Waller Jr., expresidente del Tribunal Supremo e hijo de un exgobernador, está “considerando seriamente” desafiar al gobernador Tate Reeves en las primarias republicanas de 2023.
La entrada de Waller en la carrera por la gobernación sacudiría el entorno político del estado y establecería una revancha dramática de las primarias republicanas para gobernador de 2019, que Reeves ganó por ocho puntos después de una amarga segunda vuelta con el exjuez.
Waller le dijo a Mississippi Today el martes que ha estado sopesando una carrera durante varias semanas, hablando con familiares, amigos y asesores políticos. Descartó postularse como independiente, lo que varios políticos han sugerido que haga, y en su lugar se presentaría en las primarias del Partido Republicano de agosto.
“Estoy orando al respecto, estoy viendo quién más podría estar en la carrera y qué más podría pasar, pero creo que hay una necesidad crítica de un cambio de liderazgo en la cima”, dijo Waller. “En muchos sentidos, los problemas con los que me encontré en 2019 son más graves, más pronunciados ahora. Mucha gente en este estado está herida o frustrada, y la respuesta (del gobernador) simplemente no está ahí. Está socavando el tejido de este estado”.
Reeves, comenzando el último año de su primer mandato como gobernador, firmó el martes los documentos de calificación para la reelección y realizó una conferencia de prensa en la sede del Partido Republicano de Mississippi.
Reeves dijo que no había escuchado que Waller esté considerando otro desafío, pero se mostró desconcertado cuando se le preguntó al respecto, y señaló que en Estados Unidos “cualquiera puede postularse para cualquier cargo que quiera”. Dijo que está orgulloso de su historial como gobernador y ha logrado “éxitos históricos” a pesar de los desafíos de múltiples desastres naturales y la pandemia de COVID-19.
“I’m praying about it, I’m looking at who else might be in the race and what else might happen, but I think there’s a critical need for a change of leadership at the top,” Waller said. “In a lot of ways, the issues I ran on in 2019 are more dire, more pronounced now. So many people in this state are hurting or frustrated, and the response (from the governor) just isn’t there. It’s undermining the fabric of this state.”
“Seguiré luchando por las creencias conservadoras y seguiré luchando por los valores conservadores en los que creen los habitantes de Mississippi”, dijo Reeves. Repitió el viejo adagio político de que solo hay dos formas de postularse para un cargo, “con miedo o sin oposición”.
“Hay una razón por la que tengo 0 de 12 al correr sin oposición”, dijo Reeves. “Eso es porque no tengo miedo de asumir grandes cosas y hacer grandes cosas por la gente de nuestro estado. Cuando defiendes lo que es correcto y defiendes lo que crees, hay personas de izquierda a las que no necesariamente les gusta la dirección conservadora que hemos tomado en Mississippi en los últimos años. Estoy seguro de que tendremos oposición, y quienquiera que sea, hablaremos sobre nuestro récord y ese es un récord en el que estoy orgulloso de estar”.
Los candidatos para cargos estatales tienen como fecha límite el 1 de febrero para calificar para las elecciones de 2023.
La posible revancha primaria del Partido Republicano llamará la atención en todo el estado. Waller, quien anunció su candidatura para 2019 en el último momento y luchó contra una deficiencia de identificación de nombre fuera del área metropolitana de Jackson, forzó una segunda vuelta con Reeves en las primarias republicanas de agosto. Waller perdió esa segunda vuelta por 8 puntos, pero ganó 17 condados, incluida la mayoría de los condados metropolitanos y suburbanos del estado llenos de votantes republicanos más educados.
Waller también obligó a Reeves a gastar más de $7 millones para ganar las primarias, una cifra asombrosa que hizo que la candidatura de Reeves a las elecciones generales contra el formidable candidato demócrata Jim Hood fuera más difícil. Esa historia es importante, ya que quien gane las primarias republicanas de 2023 probablemente podría enfrentarse a otro fuerte retador demócrata, el antiguo comisionado de servicios públicos Brandon Presley, quien también está considerando postularse para gobernador este año.
“Puedo decirles esto, cualquier cosa que haga a continuación en mi carrera seguirá enfocándose en mejorar las vidas de los habitantes promedio de Mississippi que no pueden escribir un cheque de campaña de $1,000 y que necesitan funcionarios estatales con un verdadero valor para defenderlos. , sus familias y sus comunidades”, dijo Presley el martes cuando se le preguntó sobre sus planes para 2023.
“Puedo decirles esto, cualquier cosa que haga a continuación en mi carrera seguirá enfocándose en mejorar las vidas de los habitantes promedio de Mississippi que no pueden escribir un cheque de campaña de $ 1,000 y que necesitan funcionarios estatales con un verdadero valor para defenderlos. , sus familias y sus comunidades”, dijo Presley el martes cuando se le preguntó sobre sus planes para 2023.
Reeves pasó gran parte de las primarias de 2019 criticando a Waller como “demasiado liberal” para Mississippi. Pero Waller, un votante republicano desde hace mucho tiempo, obtuvo el respaldo en 2019 de varios exlíderes del Partido Republicano de Mississippi.
Waller apoya la expansión de Medicaid, que según los economistas brindaría atención médica a los pobres que trabajan en Mississippi y ayudaría a los hospitales en dificultades a mantener sus puertas abiertas. Reeves se opone con vehemencia a la medida y reitera, sin pruebas ni respaldo de investigación, que el estado no puede permitírselo.
Waller también habló abiertamente sobre el deseo de aumentar considerablemente el salario de los maestros y dijo que consideraría aumentar el segundo impuesto a la gasolina más antiguo del estado para ayudar a financiar las reparaciones necesarias en carreteras y puentes. Reeves bloqueó varios esfuerzos en sus ocho años como vicegobernador para aumentar el impuesto a la gasolina.
En la entrevista del 3 de enero con Mississippi Today, Waller mencionó otro tema clave que, según dijo, sería un enfoque en una posible candidatura para 2023: el creciente escándalo de bienestar social del estado. Reeves ha estado implicado en partes del escándalo, y enfrentó una avalancha de críticas de los votantes después de que su oficina despidió abruptamente al abogado que estaba investigando el alcance de los gastos indebidos.
“La corrupción es tan evidente y está fuera de control, y la mayoría de los habitantes de Mississippi que conozco están hartos”, dijo Waller. “El dinero destinado a niños afectados por la pobreza y otros que se desvían a compinches y amigos personales es indignante”.
“Corruption is so apparent and out of control, and most Mississippians I know are sick of it,” Waller said. “Money intended for poverty-stricken children and others being diverted to cronies and personal friends is outrageous.”
Reeves ha promocionado durante mucho tiempo su enfoque en el desarrollo económico y otras ganancias fiscales que dice que el estado ha logrado bajo sus décadas de liderazgo. Dijo que su enfoque en el gasto conservador y la política fiscal ha sido un éxito para el estado.
Pero Waller dijo el martes que se necesita hacer más.
“Tenemos la acería en el condado de Lowndes, y ese fue un gran anuncio”, dijo Waller. “Pero desafortunadamente, la gran mayoría del estado ha sido ignorada por una década o más. Muchas personas en la mayoría de las regiones del estado no pueden recordar la última vez que obtuvieron los beneficios de un anuncio económico como ese”.
Andrés Fuentes es periodista de FOX8-TV en Nueva Orleans y traductor de Mississippi Today. Antes de que el nativo de Nueva Orleans regresara, era periodista para WLOX-TV en Biloxi, Mississippi.
New president of University of Southern Mississippi Joe Paul sat down for a 45-minute interview with Mississippi Today on Tuesday.
Paul, who is serving a four-year term with an annual salary of $650,000, discussed his priorities — including enrollment, especially at USM Gulf Park; maintaining the university’s top-tier research status; and fundraising, along with the need to increase the number of diverse students and faculty. He also read a prepared statement about the university’s role in the welfare scandal.
Paul was joined by Jim Coll, the university’s chief communications officer.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Molly Minta: Can you talk about the university’s overall and current financial picture, particularly in the context of declining state appropriations in the last few decades?
Joe Paul, 11th President of The University of Southern Mississippi. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today
Joe Paul: And more recently, a slight downturn in enrollment. The good news is that the University of Southern Mississippi is in excellent fiscal health. … We have about $150 million in unrestricted reserves. …If a disaster struck, and there were no external funding, we can operate for 155 days, which is well beyond the standard. (Editor’s note: IHL’s recommended minimum is 90 days cash on hand.)
The final thing deals with what we call our debt-ratio coverage. We’ve got about $13 million dollars in annual debt that comes with bonds for construction. Our coverage rate is just below 2.0 and that basically means we have twice as much as we need to assure that we can pay our debts.
Minta: You brought up the slight downturn in enrollment. (Editor’s note: Enrollment declined by 4.4% this fall to 13,526 students, according to IHL). How does that affect the overall financial picture?
Paul: I began in higher education over 40 years ago, and at that time, state appropriations probably covered 70-to-80% of the (budget). . Today that’s almost flipped, so enrollment becomes critical.
Minta: Does it seem like it’s possible to advocate (for) increased funding for higher education from the Legislature? Or is it just a picture of turning to other sources of funding?
Paul: Not to be ambiguous, but I think the answer is both. … We’ve got to continue to advocate for adequate funding to create top-level academic opportunities for Mississippi residents. At the same time, we’ve got to be really creative in terms of budget management. You cannot tuition your way out of a drop in state appropriations or a drop in enrollment. … The way I view student recruitment and enrollment growth is … it’s strategy, it’s processes … how customer friendly you can be is critical. … (It’s also) investment. What are you going to invest in marketing? What are you going to invest in scholarships? What are you going to invest in personnel to do recruitment? The final part is effort.
We were encouraged that in spite of the demographic shift toward fewer high school graduates — and more high school graduates going into vocational and technical programs, which is not a bad thing for the state of Mississippi — that we did have a slight uptick in freshmen this fall. I’m also encouraged — because we really focused on the community colleges this fall — that we’ve got 300 more new transfer students enrolled for spring semester. That’s a double-digit percentage bump for us.
Paul: … I don’t spend a lot of time in the rearview mirror in terms of what has happened — except as that might inform us going forward. Another core part of my leadership strategy is that I truly believe that two of the greatest wastes of human energy and leadership are blaming and justifying.
… For us, we’ve got to refocus on South Mississippi. … We’re located in the part of the state where there’s the most people and where there’s the most dynamic growth, right? … There’s no valid reason that students should drive through Hattiesburg to go to school anywhere else in Mississippi — that’s our mantra.
We’ve got to make sure that what we offer is distinctive from other options, whether they’re in state and certainly out of state. … If you want the bells and whistles (of a large university), in terms of the quality of the faculty, being able to engage in research as an undergraduate, state-of-the-art facilities, major college athletics, fraternities and sororities, you name it, and yet you want a bit more personal attention? Southern Miss is a great choice for you.
Minta: Tom Duff, the current IHL board president, (has) talked about what makes the satellite campus on the Gulf Coast, USM Gulf Park, really valuable. … Does increasing enrollment at Gulf Park factor into this overall strategy that you just laid out? What sort of conversations or plans have been started in terms of revitalizing that campus?
Paul: Molly, absolutely it does. It’s not only a mandate for me from the IHL board, but it is critical.
We’re the only dual-campus university in Mississippi, and (the) Mississippi Gulf Coast is a dynamic place. … When you talk about capacity and under-utilization (at Gulf Park), that is clearly a fact. … Let me be clear, my priorities are to grow enrollment overall, which means Hattiesburg, online and Gulf Park. … It’s not about that historical stuff about something we do at Gulf Park might hurt something in Hattiesburg. That is false logic. It’s not a part of what we’re about going forward.
So the overall strategy for growing Gulf Park comes down to this: Coastal academic programs for coastal people for coastal jobs. … What I want to do is focus programs on the Gulf Park campus that will lead to excellent job opportunities on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. … You’re going to have people — we already do in hydrographic science — that would come there from all over the world.
The other thing that we must do is we’ve got to forge a stronger partnership with Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College. That community college is a juggernaut. …. And also for Pearl River Community College. I envision a time soon when Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College faculty can teach classes on our campus and where we, as needed, can go to the Harrison County campus and teach Southern Miss courses. …
Minta: … What is the university’s commitment to keep or increase general education on the coast?
Paul: Because our Gulf Park campus is a non-residential campus, we’ve got to measure what we offer in terms of academic programming by the market demand.
I guess the best short answer is … we’ve got to be really careful to make sure that we’re doing things that are scalable and have a return on investment so that we can grow the campus. If we expended all of our resources on general education programs with very low enrollment, we would not have the resources to expand these programs that are more relevant to the Gulf Coast.
Paul: Yeah. Molly, as you are well aware, from a legal standpoint it is an incredibly complex situation, right? And because the Southern Miss Athletic Foundation has now been named a party to the suit from DHS, I cannot comment because of pending litigation.
But I do want to say this: I’m deeply troubled by this. All of us are here. And anything that distracts us from our mission to serve the state of Mississippi concerns us gravely. And I’m committed to resolving this situation within legal limits as we move forward toward our goals and will remain relentless in our desire to reach an equitable resolution for all.
Minta: A lot of people were also unsatisfied with the statement on the welfare scandal. Many faculty and alumni … want the university to fully account for its role in the scandal; something like that would include a detailed timeline and who was involved. Is that something USM plans to do?
Paul: … We have complied with every request for information. All of that information is out there and accessible to our faculty and staff. And I understand and appreciate the point of view and have had a lot of conversations with faculty, collectively and individually, about it.
Minta: In terms of complying with every request for information, is that from the state of Mississippi, from reporters, from faculty?
Paul: Yes. (Editor’s note: USM officials have not responded to multiple questions from Mississippi Today about its November statement or the welfare funds it spent on perks for student athletes.)
Minta: Conservative lawmakers in Southern states are increasingly taking aim at tenure by linking the job protection to attacks against critical race theory. In Mississippi, past attempts in the Legislature to ban tenure have died in committee, but faculty want to know how you would respond to an effort from the state Legislature to ban tenure.
Paul: I believe absolutely that both academic freedom and the system of tenure are a cornerstone of what makes public higher education in the United States unique in all the world.
Our professors spend a great amount of their lives preparing themselves to become a PhD and a distinguished scholar and they have to have the unfettered ability to teach as they choose. And as president of Southern Miss, I will always defend that.
Minta: There has been a decline in the number of tenure-track faculty at USM from 2017 to 2021. There’s another view of attack on tenure as simply universities not filling those jobs or filling those jobs with adjunct professors. Faculty would like to know, would the university commit to increasing tenure-track positions?
Paul: I’m not privy to those numbers yet, Molly, and I don’t know if we have them–
Minta: They’re on IHL’s website.
Paul: This is a little bit speculative, because I wasn’t here, right, but it could be that a lot of that shift has to do with temporary budget constraints.
There are few things more important to this university than maintaining and enhancing our Carnegie (R1) designation.And, of course, our SACS accreditation. We cannot maintain and enhance that by creating a pattern of reducing tenure-track positions. … There is no movement afoot here to shift away from tenure-track and toward non-tenured instructors. This is a major research university, and we attract tenure-track professors who are great teachers and incredible scholars.
Can I talk more about the (R1 designation)? It’s prestigious. … But the prestige alone is not the value. … First, we’re a public university paid for by the taxpayers of Mississippi and (R1) designation allows us to create research, discovery, innovation that can lead to enhancing the quality of life and economic development in Mississippi. (R1) designation also allows us to recruit the best and brightest faculty from all over – not just the nation, but the world.
It’s critical that we maintain that (status) and that not only informs that question you had about tenure, but a lot of other questions you may have, such as compensation for graduate students. We’re in the first year of a three-year plan to enhance our graduate assistant stipends. (Editor’s note: The plan would increase stipends to $11,700 by fall 2024).
Minta: Another question about faculty that gets into a broader question about the university. Faculty are overwhelmingly white at USM.
Paul: Yes.
Minta: In 2021, there were just 52 Black faculty and 17 Hispanic faculty compared to 688 White faculty. Those are numbers from IHL.
Black students also make up 27% USM’s student body which is a higher percentage than its peer universities in Mississippi. It’s a higher rate among the predominantly white institutions in the state, but if you look at the overall demographics of … Mississippi, it’s still not equitable. Why aren’t Black students attending USM? Why aren’t Black faculty coming to teach at USM? What can the university better do to serve this community?
Paul: … I need to point out that in many ways, our student body is the most reflective in Mississippi, among research universities, of the population in our state, in terms of African American Mississippians, in terms of other kinds of areas … the ratio of in-state to out-of-state students would be another example.
That’s not to say that we’re good there, Molly, okay? Because my core belief is that as a state institution, we should reflect the population that we serve.
You sort of phrased the question like, what’s the problem? To me, it’s not, ‘what’s the problem?’ It’s, ‘what’s the opportunity?’ … I think the far more challenging, perplexing problem is how do we create a faculty that reflects the demographics of our current student body? That’s not a challenge unique to Southern Miss. … Currently, we are in a search for a new permanent provost and … the first conversation that I want to have with that person is around diversity, equity and inclusion. Specifically, how can we recruit and retain more non-white faculty members at Southern Miss? … We don’t have answers for you today.
… I think traditionally what we’ve done in faculty recruitment is wait till they’re out there and let them come to you. When it comes to diversifying the faculty, my idea would be, why don’t we start to build relationships with a diverse pool of students while they’re pursuing their doctoral degrees at outstanding institutions? Another side of the equation is, what are we doing for diverse faculty members when they get here? How are we making sure that they are welcome?
Minta: Have you looked more at (how to diversify) the student body or more at specific strategies or types of outreach the university should be doing?
Paul: We have an incredibly strong program currently in terms of student life around diversity, equity, and inclusion. … Though the number of high school graduates is (going to be) decreasing in Mississippi, the diversity of those graduates is increasing. They’re more non-white each year, so the opportunity is there. We’re going to be more diverse.
Minta: Is it a matter of making the campus more welcoming or providing more scholarships or financial aid for non-white or Black students specifically?
Pau: It’s all of that. It’s making sure that you’ve got a diverse staff and student life. … Growing the diversity of faculty is a key to it. And it’s making sure (there is) diversity in terms of recruitment staff. Molly, it has to be more than words, you know?
Minta: The average faculty salary at USM during the 2020-21 school year was little over $70,000 and that is significantly less than the SREB average. The average staff member makes a little more than $47,000. How do you plan to meaningfully increase faculty and staff pay, keeping in mind that the percentage-base pay increases that are granted by the Legislature don’t keep pace with inflation or the increase in the cost of health insurance?
Paul: I think we’re about 80% of the SREB average in Mississippi in general.
I am strongly committed to increasing pay for faculty and staff, from professional staff to those hard-working folks that keep this place going every day. I don’t disagree that largely what the Legislature has been able to do — I’m grateful for it and extremely hopeful again this year — is that as they appropriate for increases, at least in our short-run economy, that inflation is outpacing that.
… There is no magic-wand solution to that. One of the things that can enable us to do that is … to create revenue through the increasing number of students that we can then commit to moving faculty salaries toward the SREB average.
Minta: Is there anything I haven’t asked about that you’d like to talk about?
Jim Coll, addressing Paul: Priority-wise, we’ve talked about a couple things, but you haven’t talked about private fundraising.
Paul: Yeah, I mean, I don’t know who I’ve got out there. So, there are a couple things I want to tell you.
I think the role of the president as a leader in higher education is critical. … I want to establish … a sense of being present and accessible to our students, our faculty, our staff, alumni and other constituents. The other side of it is that I absolutely believe that … you’ve got to earn the trust of those that you’ve been given the responsibility to lead. Trust is not given … it has to be earned every day by the relationship between what you say and what you commit to and what you do.
The other (piece) of the main agenda from me … is private philanthropy. One of my goals is to push us well beyond the $150 million goal that we have in our Capital Campaign. We rest at about $132 million now. Since I’ve been here in July, we’ve raised about $8 million. I want to push it well beyond that.
Minta: There was another question I wanted to ask. Last year, the student newspaper ran an article on how international students would like more support, particularly when it comes to finding housing and securing internships and scholarships. Have you been doing anything to address these concerns and if so, what?
Paul: I’m aware of that. I’ve got a working to-do list but, Molly, I’ve not been able to corral the folks yet to have that conversation. I think it’s critically important.
The number of international students ebbs and flows and right now. … But every student that comes to Southern Miss deserves … the full Southern Miss experience, not to be marginalized. And that certainly includes our international students.
Brandon Presley, a Democrat who has spent the past 15 years regulating utility companies on the state’s Public Service Commission, will announce today that he is running for governor in 2023.
Presley is among the most notable Democrats to run for the state’s highest office this century, and his candidacy is expected to inspire one of the most expensive and bitter campaigns in state history.
The 45-year-old Nettleton native will launch his campaign and introduce himself to many Mississippians this week with a three-minute video that includes a blistering critique of current Gov. Tate Reeves, the first-term Republican who announced last week he will seek reelection.
“I’m running for governor because I know Mississippi can do better,” Presley says in the video. “We’ve got a state filled with good people but horrible politicians — and that includes our governor. Tate Reeves is a man with zero conviction and maximum corruption. He looks out for himself and his rich friends instead of the people that put him into office. And he’s been caught in the middle of the largest public corruption scandal in state history.”
(Note: The Presley campaign released the campaign announcement video after this story published. Watch the video here.)
Presley, whose early campaign strategy will target the state’s sprawling welfare scandal and other corruption in Jackson, has built a modest brand over the years as a politician focused on apolitical priorities like expanding high speed internet access across the state and regulating the rates that electric and water companies charge Mississippians.
Advisers close to Presley hope his background, demeanor and ideas appeal to many Mississippians. A relative of legendary performer Elvis, Presley speaks in a deep Southern drawl. He was raised in a small town by a single mother who worked in a factory while struggling to pay bills, and he has long dwelled on those early life lessons in his public life.
But to wage a winning campaign in 2023, Presley has his work cut out for him. He’s a Democrat running in Mississippi, one of the most reliably Republican electorates in the nation that has grown ever resistant to values championed by many modern liberals. The last Democrat to win the governorship was Ronnie Musgrove in 1999, and the GOP has tightened its grip on the state’s political complex since.
Still, Presley believes he has a compelling case to make to every Mississippi voter, including Republicans. A political moderate who self describes as pro-life and pro-Second Amendment, he’s worked closely and successfully with GOP officials. As Nettleton mayor from 2001-2007, he championed tax cuts and brought in jobs and infamously crossed over to vote for Republican George W. Bush in the 2004 presidential election. Several high-profile Republicans have given to his campaign in recent weeks, including a handful of members of Reeves’ 2019 gubernatorial campaign finance committee.
Late last year, a Presley supporter even printed out bumper stickers that read: “Republicans for Presley: Let’s go Brandon!” Dozens of supporters requested the stickers when Presley posted a photo of the sticker to Facebook.
But while Presley courts support from independent or right-leaning voters, his principal task will be shoring up support from loyal Mississippi Democrats, who traditionally make up between 40-45% of the state’s electorate. About 75% of the state’s Democratic base of voters are Black, and Presley will have to speak to and appeal to them — a failed objective for many recent white statewide Democrats.
Helping his cause, though, Presley has worked for years to develop relationships with several of the state’s top Black Democratic leaders. Presley has become particularly close with U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, the state’s most powerful Democrat boasting a decades-old political network and heavy influence with Black Mississippians. Presley says his campaign will hire several political operatives within Thompson’s circle.
Though other candidates have until Feb. 1 to announce their candidacies, politicos forecast Presley and Reeves will square off in the November general election. Though Reeves, the first-term Republican governor, has consistently polled as one of the most unpopular governors in the nation, he will enjoy the platform of incumbency and the historically fat campaign checkbook that comes along with it.
He’ll have access to a massive campaign staff with decades of statewide election experience and a robust Mississippi Republican Party infrastructure already built up and ready to roll. And Reeves’ strongest base of support is along the Mississippi Gulf Coast, a population center and geographically farthest from Presley’s home turf.
Presley, on the other hand, will have to spend considerable cash to increase his name ID among everyday Mississippians — and particularly on the Coast, where few people are familiar with his political brand. While he’ll likely earn the support of national Democrats and have millions of dollars to spend, he is not expected to match Reeves’ fundraising prowess.
But on calls with advisers and friends in recent days, Presley has been focused on the importance of the 2023 election for the future of the state — not the tough politics of the moment.
“We can build a Mississippi where we fight corruption, not embrace it,” Presley says in the announcement video. “Where we cut taxes, lower the cost of healthcare and create good jobs. A Mississippi where we finally focus on the future, not the past. A Mississippi where we lead with strength and courage and real backbone.
“And if you make me your governor, I promise you this: I’ll never forget who I am, where I came from or who sent me.”
Gov. Tate Reeves has issued a ban on TikTok for all state-issued phones and other devices in a letter sent to Mississippi agency heads.
“It’s no secret that the Chinese Communist Party is actively trying to steal U.S. intellectual property and Americans’ personal information,” Reeves said in a press release. “It’s a major threat to our national security and critical infrastructure, costs the U.S. economy hundreds of billions annually, and jeopardizes American jobs.”
A similar ban has been ordered on federal government issued devices.
Reeves’ directive said state employees must remove, delete, and uninstall all relevant applications from state-issued devices no later than January 31. The state’s technology department has been ordered to block access to TikTok from the state’s network. The ban applies to all devices except those being used for “bona fide law enforcement or public safety purposes.”
“Mississippi isn’t going to sit around waiting for the Chinese Communist Party to steal our state government data, and that’s why I issued this directive,” Reeves said. “It will help us better protect our state’s sensitive information and critical infrastructure.”
TikTok is owned by a company headquartered in Beijing. In a U.S. Senate hearing last fall, the company’s chief operating officer said when questioned that no one who “makes a strategic decision at this platform” is a member of the communist party, according to Forbes. Nonetheless, nearly two dozen states have enforced bans so far, according to the Washington Post. Concerns have been raised over the application’s tracking of user data and access and transfer of this data to the Chinese government.
A bill to allow removal of elected city officials that opponents said was aimed at Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba was tabled without a vote Wednesday after some heated debate on the House floor.
Rep. Shanda Yates, I-Jackson, moved to table her proposal at the request of the GOP House leadership after she fielded numerous questions on House Bill 370. The bill would have added municipal officials to a seldom-used 1950s law that allows for removal of elected county officials.
Yates faced repeated questions of whether the bill was aimed at Lumumba, who has clashed with the governor and faced criticism statewide over Jackson’s ongoing water system crisis. Yates repeatedly said her bill was not aimed at any one person, but simply to allow for removal of city officials for “willful failure or refusal to perform the duties of the office.”
“Everyone else from the governor on down is subject to some form of impeachment or removal except for municipal officials,” Yates said. “This is not rash or rushed. I’ve been working on it since this summer.”
Yates moved to table the measure, which could be brought up later for a vote. She said she hopes to bring it up again, and believes there are enough votes to pass it in the House.
Yates faced heated questions and debate on Wednesday. It was the first general bill taken up by the House in the 2023 session.
“This is about the mayor of Jackson, who has taken on the governor, and to allow the governor to appoint a three-judge panel to remove the mayor of Jackson, just so we’re clear on what’s being proposed,” said House Democratic Leader Robert Johnson III. “For 60 years, close to 70 years, it was fine not to have municipal officials in this, but after the water crisis and the federal government sending $600 million to the city of Jackson, now this is needed?”
Rep. Ed Blackmon, D-Canton, said, “We already have a process for accountability, it’s to stand for reelection every four years.”
Yates’ bill would add city officials to a law from the late 1950s that allows removal of county officials. It would first require 30% of voters to sign a petition calling for an official’s removal and send it to the governor. The governor would appoint a three-judge panel that would determine if the petition had merit, and if so, an election would be held for voters to decide whether the official should be removed.
If the official was removed, a special election would be held for a replacement, and the official who had been removed could not run for that seat again.
After the debate, Yates told reporters that she drafted the bill after constituents asked her whether there was a process by which city officials could be removed, and she researched and discovered there was not.
Yates said her research showed that the law has been used only twice to remove county officials, once in 1958 and once in 1998.
Rep. Tommy Reynolds, D-Charleston, during floor debate pointed out that the origin of the 1950s law was from Prohibition — to allow removal of sheriffs who were not enthusiastically enforcing laws against alcohol in some Mississippi counties.
Some lawmakers argued that since the law is old and has been scantly used, it should not be updated to include city elected officials.
“We also have the ability to impeach a governor, and we’ve only done that one time in our history,” Yates said. “Should we also remove the people’s ability to do that as well?”
A Mississippi infant recently died due to complications from COVID-19, the state health department announced Wednesday.
This marks the first pediatric COVID death in the state since February 2022, state epidemiologist Dr. Paul Byers told State Board of Health members at their meeting Wednesday. This is the 14th death of a child under the age of 18 due to COVID-19 in the state.
“So it is a reminder that COVID is still out there, it’s still transmitted, and it can still lead to severe complications,” Byers said at the meeting. “So, it’s important for everybody who is eligible to stay up-to-date for vaccinations.”
Byers gave limited details but said the child was under a year old.
“Remember that when we get vaccinated, not only does it protect us, but it also protects those individuals around us who are vulnerable, who may not be eligible for vaccination, or may be folks who are in those higher risk categories,” Byers said.
Pandemic numbers have risen some recently – a normal trend for the winter – but Byers said he was encouraged to see no dramatic spikes in case counts. Hospitalizations have started rising throughout the new year, along with an increase in ICU admissions and use of ventilators.
The health department reported as of Jan. 9, 365 hospital patients had confirmed COVID-19 infections; 50 were in the ICU and 18 were on ventilators. Last January’s peak had about 300 patients in the ICU and over 1,500 hospitalizations before numbers dropped drastically in March.
In its last weekly case count posted Tuesday, the health department reported 5,778 new cases and 15 COVID-related deaths between Dec. 27 to Jan. 2.
Cases last spiked during the summer and dropped during the fall before the current rise. Still, the current case count is about half of last January’s peak of over 10,000 cases in a seven-day period.
But with the rise of at-home testing and less-severe COVID-related symptoms caused by some of the virus’ newer strains, the state’s weekly count only gives some insight to how many cases are occurring statewide.
The health department recommends everyone 6 months old and older receives the vaccine and its boosters. Health officials especially recommend vaccinations for adults 65 and older and anyone with a weakened immune system or underlying health problems.
Four children died from the virus in Mississippi in 2022. One was between 1 and 5 years old and three others were between the ages of 11 and 17.
As President Joe Biden enters his third year in office, Mississippi still lacks his appointments for two U.S. attorneys, two U.S. marshals and a federal judge in the northern district.
Biden made nominations for four of the positions in the fall, but Sens. Roger Wicker and Cindy Hyde-Smith did not return “blue slips” — the longstanding process by which home senators approve the president’s picks before Senate confirmation hearings are held.
Biden will have to resubmit nominations to the new Congress.
One of the appointments in limbo is Todd Gee for the U.S. attorney in the Southern District. If confirmed, Gee will inherit the ongoing welfare fraud investigation, one of the largest public corruption cases in state history. He currently serves as the deputy chief of the Public Integrity Section of the U.S. Department of Justice, which prosecutes cases of public corruption, such as bribery of public officials.
Three people connected to the fraud have pleaded guilty to federal charges and have agreed to aid the prosecution in its ongoing probe, which is unlikely to take further shape until a permanent U.S. attorney is in place.
While naming Gee in September, Biden also nominated Michael Purnell, lieutenant and executive officer of the Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol, and Dale Bell, a professional protection officer in the private sector, to serve as the north and south U.S. marshals, respectively.
In October, Biden selected Lowndes County District AttorneyScott Colom to replace U.S. District Court Judge Michael Mills, who entered senior status in 2021. Hyde-Smith and Wicker have not indicated whether they support the nominations.
The president has not selected a U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Mississippi.
Biden, who received nearly 540,000 votes in Mississippi, has failed to fill many vacant federal positions across the South and in states with two Republican senators.
“It’s more complicated now than it used to be,” said Trent Lott, Mississippi’s U.S. senator from 1989 to 2007. “You have a Democratic president, you have two Republican senators, and you have a Democratic congressman, only one …The bottom line is, because you’ve got the divided government, it’s kind of slowing down things to a slow walk trying to come up with people that the Democrats like that the senators can accept.”
Former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott remembers some of the issue differences he had with the late U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., during a reception for House Majority Whip U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., in Jackson, Miss., Monday, Aug. 27, 2018. However, Lott also recalled how strong their friendship was, and how supportive McCain would be on common issues. Credit: Rogelio V. Solis / Associated Press
Lott recalled entering the Senate in the late 1980’s and consulting longtime Republican U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran, who told the incoming senator, “Elections have consequences.”
Regardless of party affiliations, if the nominee is qualified, you should vote aye, Lott remembered Cochran saying.
“The atmosphere in Washington these days does not contribute to that kind of atmosphere, quite frankly. It’s very, very partisan, very divided,” Lott said.
The U.S. Southern District has lacked a U.S. attorney for much of the federal welfare investigation, which began when State Auditor Shad White turned over information gathered during his own investigation to federal authorities after making arrests in February of 2020. Former U.S. Attorney Mike Hurst resigned in January of 2021 and interim U.S. Attorney Darren LaMarca has led the office since.
Another empty seat exists on the traditionally conservative 5th U.S. Circuit Appels, which covers Mississippi, Texas and Louisiana and represents the last step before an appeal reaches the U.S. Supreme Court. There are eight district court judge vacancies in these states, none of which has pending nominations.
Across the country there are 87 total judge vacancies and 23 pending nominations.
Mississippi Today sports columnist Rick Cleveland has been named Mississippi sportswriter of the year by the National Sports Media Association for the 14th time in his career.
Cleveland, who covered his first Mississippi sporting event at age 13 and hasn’t stopped for 57 years since, owns the state’s record for number of times having won the award.
A native of Hattiesburg and resident of Jackson, Cleveland has been Mississippi Today’s sports columnist since 2016. A graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi with a bachelor’s in journalism, Rick has worked for the Hattiesburg American, Monroe (La.) News Star World, Jackson Daily News and Clarion Ledger as a reporter, editor and columnist.
Rick is among three generations of Clevelands who have covered sports in Mississippi. His father “Ace” Cleveland was a longtime sportswriter and editor at the Hattiesburg American who spent the final 31 years of his career as sports information director at Southern Miss. Rick’s brother Bobby Cleveland was a longtime and beloved outdoors writer for the Clarion Ledger. And Rick’s son Tyler Cleveland has covered Mississippi sports for more than a decade, now serves as Mississippi editor for Scorebook Live.
Cleveland was executive director of the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame. His work as a syndicated columnist and celebrated sports writer has appeared in numerous magazines, periodicals and newspapers. Rick has authored four books, including a biography of Delta State and Boston Red Sox legend Boo Ferriss and a book spanning the career and legacy of Ole Miss football coach Johnny Vaught.
Rick Cleveland, right, sits with former Gov. William Winter at a book signing. Credit: Liz Cleveland
Cleveland was inducted into the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame in 2016 and into the Hattiesburg Hall of Fame in 2018. He received the Richard Wright Award for Literary Excellence in 2011 and was inducted into the University of Southern Mississippi Communications Hall of Fame in 2018. In 2000, he was honored with the Distinguished Mississippian Award from Mississippi Press Association. He has received numerous other state, regional and national awards for his column writing and reporting.
Joining Cleveland in the 2023 National Sports Media Association honors is broadcaster David Kellum of Ole Miss Radio Network/Learfield, who has now won the Mississippi Sports Broadcaster of the Year award nine times.
Mississippi revenue collections rebounded in December after a sluggish November.
The state collected $666.4 million during the month of December, up from the $610.1 million that was collected in December 2021.
Mississippi revenue collections have been on an uptick since basically the middle of 2020. But in November, revenue collections took a nosedive for the first time since July 2021 when tax collections were less than the amount collected a year earlier in July 2020. In November the state collected $518.8 million in taxes and other revenue compared to $531.9 million in November 2021.
The state revenue report, released monthly by the staff of the Legislative Budget Committee, will be watched closely during the ongoing 2023 session as legislators contemplate another tax cut or possibly a one-time rebate to state taxpayers.
In the 2022 session legislators put in place the phase in of the largest tax cut in state history — about a $525 million cut in the income tax. Gov. Tate Reeves and House Speaker Philip Gunn, among others, are advocating for adding on to the income tax cut during the 2023 session and possibly eliminating what has been the second largest source of state revenue. The income tax accounts for about one-third of state revenue.
According to the most recent revenue report, personal income tax collections were down from $173.8 million in December 2021 to $167 million last month.
The sales tax, a 7% tax on most retail items and the largest source of state revenue, was up from $217 million in December 2021 to $220.9 million last month.
The biggest jump, accounting for much of the growth in the most recent report, came in the corporate income tax collections — up from $129.7 million to $187.3 million when comparing December 2021 to 2022.
The state has been experiencing double digit growth in revenue in recent years. Revenue grew by 9.54% during the fiscal year that ended on June 30 and by an unprecedented 15.9% the previous year.
Through December of the current fiscal year, which ends June 30, the state’s growth rate is 9.9%. The state has collected $3.7 billion in revenue through the first six months of the year.
And collections are 13% or $424.8 million above the official estimate through the first six months of the fiscal year. The estimate represents the amount of money the Legislature appropriated for the current fiscal year.
Despite the skyrocketing revenue collections, legislative leaders have adopted conservative official estimates. Because of the conservative estimates, legislators are not spending a significant portion of the revenue collected each year. Those conservative estimates account for a part the nearly $4 billion in surplus funds legislators have as they begin work in the 2023 session.
The Mississippi Legislative Black Caucus on Wednesday presented its 2023 agenda, saying lawmakers should focus on helping “everyday Mississippians,” with health care, education, justice and equity, tackling government corruption and providing basic necessities such as clean drinking water.
“These are common-sense ideas,” said Sen. Angela Turner Ford, D-West Point, chairwoman of the caucus. “… We want to assist in the passage of legislation that improves the quality of life for everyday Mississippians.”
There are 51 Black lawmakers in the 174-member Mississippi Legislature, which is controlled by a white, Republican supermajority.
“We simply do not have the numbers to impact legislation like we would like, but that does not mean we are not working,” said Ford, who noted the group’s agenda was drafted in part from town-hall meetings with communities across the state.
The 2023 caucus agenda includes:
Health care: With Mississippi ranking worst or near-worst in nearly every health category or study, the caucus reiterated its support for expansion of Medicaid to help provide health coverage for the working poor.
“The (legislative leadership) has refused to call that policy up on the floor in the Senate and House for a vote or debate on that important policy,” Ford said. “… With our hospitals facing closure or partial closure, now is the time to act.”
Education: The caucus proposes full funding of the Mississippi Adequate Education Program. This funding formula, set in law, is supposed to provide schools statewide with equitable funding to cover basic education needs. But lawmakers have rarely funded the program even though it is law, typically shorting it by hundreds of millions of dollars a year. The caucus also said that in recent meetings with the Mississippi State Department of Education and parents, it discovered many parents and students do not know about services the agency offers, such as 24-hour tutoring, and wants to direct the agency to better disseminate information.
Infrastructure: The caucus agenda says “clean drinking water and high-speed internet are necessities that should be enjoyed by every Mississippian,” and that “the digital divide must be closed.” While the GOP legislative leadership has said it is reluctant to provide more money to the City of Jackson to address its water crisis because it is receiving large amounts of federal money, Ford said the caucus plans to push for more state help.
“People should have clean drinking water,” Ford said. “This is 2023, and that is not something we should have to argue or debate.”
Election reform: The caucus supports removing barriers to voting, and notes “Mississippi was ground zero for instituting the voting rights we have access to today.” The caucus supports early voting and wants to change Mississippi’s Jim Crow era restrictions on restoring the voting rights of convicted felons who have served their time.
Restoring ballot initiative: The caucus supports restoring Mississippians’ right to place issues on the ballot for popular vote. This initiative process was shot down in 2021 by a state Supreme Court ruling on medical marijuana. Numerous legislative leaders have vowed to restore the process, but have failed to do so after arguing over details.
Economic justice and racial equity: The caucus said numerous studies and reports have shown racial and other inequity in state spending and numerous other areas that should be addressed. The caucus supports child care tax credits and tax rebates for families with children, increasing the minimum wage and laws that combat discrimination in hiring, banking and finance and other areas. The caucus agenda calls for passage of “Crown Act” legislation enacted in other states that would forbid hiring or firing based on someone’s hair style, and also calls for Juneteenth to be recognized as a state holiday.
Criminal justice reform: The caucus has for years pushed for criminal justice reform, with some success but much more work needed. Its agenda calls for release of people locked up for non-violent offenses, juveniles sentenced to life without parole. The caucus also wants more reform of habitual offender laws. It continues to push for improved prison and jail conditions and called for simple possession of marijuana to cover civil penalties only, after the state enacted a medical cannabis program.
TANF reform: Mississippi’s welfare scandal should be a call for lawmakers to root out government corruption, and the caucus wants reform in how the state manages the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program to ensure it helps the poor people it’s designed to help. Ford said one proposal members have discussed is having an appointed governing board to oversee how the Mississippi Department of Human Services spends the money.
ARPA funding: The caucus wants a say in how remaining federal American Rescue Plan Act pandemic relief money allocated to Mississippi is spent. It wants the Legislature to keep to the intended purposes of the money — including public health, helping communities recover financially, water and sewer infrastructure and broadband access and helping “those counties and cities that did not receive enough funds to complete critical water and sewer projects.”
The caucus noted that much of its agenda has been introduced in previous years and it will continue to discuss its priorities with leadership.
“Our agenda has been crafted with the plight of all Mississippians in mind.”
