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Gov. Tate Reeves, waiting until after the 2021 legislative session ended, announced nine appointments late Tuesday afternoon to the three boards that govern the state’s public education entities.

The governor announced four appointments for the Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning, two to the Board of Education and three to the Mississippi Community College Board.

The appointments come after at least two of the boards struggled to conduct business as usual the past few months because of vacancies that Reeves didn’t fill on time.

At times in recent months, the nine-member Board of Education has not had enough members to constitute a quorum to conduct business because of the vacancies the governor was responsible for filling and one vacancy each that Speaker Philip Gunn and Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann are responsible for filling. Hosemann and Gunn still have not filled their spots on the Education Board.

The board, due to a shortage of board members, was unable to move forward with approving additional flexibility for the Gulfport School District in April and had to remove from its upcoming agenda more funding for a pre-kindergarten program in Tallahatchie County. And earlier this month, IHL Board, uncertain it would have enough members to legally vote on finance items at its May 20 regular meeting, called an emergency meeting to consider those matters on May 5. 

Reeves appointed Wendi Barrett and Matt Miller to the nine-member Board of Education, which oversees the Mississippi Department of Education and adopts policies and rules for the state’s public schools. Barrett is an English teacher at St. Martin High School in Ocean Springs and has a Ph.D. in higher education and administration from William Carey University. Miller is an attorney at the law firm Copeland, Cook, Taylor and Bush in Hattiesburg. 

The terms of four members of the College Board ended earlier this month, meaning the panel would have had just enough members to conduct business for Thursday’s meeting if Reeves had not made his appointments Tuesday.

Reeves’ four picks to the IHL Board are Ormella Cummings, Teresa Hubbard, Gregg Rader, and Hal Parker, who has been reappointed.

Cummings is the chief strategy officer for North Mississippi Health Services, a non-profit that provides medical and surgical services to rural counties in northeast Mississippi and northwest Alabama. Hubbard is president and CEO of CITE Armored, a Holly Springs-based manufacturer of armored vehicles like SWAT trucks. Rader is the chief executive officer of Columbus Recycling Corporation. Parker, who invests in real estate, was first appointed to the board in 2012 by Gov. Phil Bryant.

Cummings graduated from University of Mississippi, and Hubbard is an alumna of Delta State University. Both Rader and Parker graduated from Mississippi State University. 

To the Mississippi Community College Board, Reeves appointed Luke Montgomery, the president and CEO of a short-term lending company in Fulton, and Will Symmes, a partner at a Gulfport multidisciplinary law firm. Johnny McRight, who owns a Greenville-based company that manufactures soil micronutrients, was reappointed. McRight and Montgomery already were serving on the board that oversees the state’s 15 two-year colleges after being appointed by Bryant.

Montgomery attended Itawamba Community College and is also an MSU alum, and McRight attended Mississippi Delta Community College before transferring to UM. Symmes graduated from University of Southern Mississippi and Mississippi College School of Law. 

“I am confident that each of these appointees have the credentials and unique and diverse experiences to help us continue improving Mississippi’s education system in a way that prioritizes students above all else,” Reeves said in a press release. “Whether at the K-12, community college, or university level, I believe improving our educational achievement levels is critical to our long-term success and will further our efforts to make Mississippi the best place in America to live, work, and raise a family.”

Reeves opted not to name the appointees during the 2021 session, when their confirmations would have been taken up by the Senate. There is a question about whether Reeves can fill the positions at this point without a special session, but it does not appear Reeves’ authority to make the appointments will be challenged, according to various Senate sources. Instead, the Senate will take up the appointments in the 2022 session after they already had been serving on their respective boards.

But in March, legal experts told Mississippi Today that there is a question of whether the appointees could begin serving prior to the next legislative session, which could be either a special session called by the governor or the 2022 regular session.

The attorney general, in a 1977 opinion, seemed to support the argument that for regularly scheduled vacancies the governor must make the appointments in the session before the vacancy occurs or wait until the next session. The opinion stated when a “term is about to expire and will expire by limitation before the next session of the Senate, the governor should nominate a person to fill the vacancy” and “if he fails to do so, he cannot make a valid appointment to fill such a vacancy in the vacation of the Senate.” If the governor tried to do so, it “would be to limit and abridge the right of the Senate to advise and consent to the appointment.”

A 2015 document compiled by the Legislature’s Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review Committee reaches essentially the same conclusion.

The PEER report said state law “requires” that the governor make the appointment in the session before any regularly scheduled vacancy that occurred within nine months of the legislative session. But the report goes on the say that in many instances the governor has appointed someone after the session ended and that appointee began serving prior to being considered by the Senate in the next regular session.

“This practice is in direct contravention of” state law, the PEER report concluded.

Sen. Hob Bryan, D-Amory, who has overseen multiple confirmation hearings during his legislative career, said he is not sure whether a special session should be called to fill the positions, but said, “The real problem is this it is not worded clearly. We need to write a law that is easy to understand.”

Research conducted by Mississippi Today found that former governors Phil Bryant and Haley Barbour submitted to the Senate their College Board appointees to be confirmed in the session before the appointees’ tenures began. Former Gov. Ronnie Musgrove made some College Board appointments after the session ended and they began serving before they were confirmed by the Senate.

The post Gov. Reeves finally fills vacancies on key education boards appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The Mississippi Supreme Court on Friday issued a much-anticipated ruling that strikes down the Medical marijuana program enshrined in the state constitution by voters in November.

The ruling also voids — for now — the state’s ballot initiative process that allows voters to take matters in hand and pass constitutional amendments. The court ruled that the state’s ballot initiative process is “unworkable and inoperative” until lawmakers and voters fix state law and the constitution.

Both Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann and House Speaker Philip Gunn support Gov. Tate Reeves calling a special session to allow legislators to reinstate the state’s initiative process after the 6-3 decision.

Last week’s ruling has sparked widespread conversation, and we want to know what our readers think. How do you feel about the Mississippi Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the ballot initiative process? How do you feel about the Mississippi Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Initiative 65? Share your thoughts by filling out the survey below.

The post Share your thoughts on Mississippi’s ballot initiative process appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann on Tuesday said he supports having a state medical marijuana program and voters having a right to change the state constitution, both of which the Mississippi Supreme Court shot down last week.

Hosemann said that “If the governor chooses to call the Legislature back into special session, the Senate will be ready.” But he said there is more urgency in dealing with medical marijuana than reinstating voters’ right to ballot initiatives, and he questioned whether there is a need for a special session for the latter.

READ MORE: Speaker Gunn supports special session to fix ballot initiative process

Conversely, Hosemann’s counterpart in the House, fellow Republican Philip Gunn, has called on the governor to call a special session to deal with voters’ ballot initiative rights, but has been silent on the medical marijuana program being reinstated.

Hosemann said that before the governor calls any special session, lawmakers need to be on the same page with an “organized, clear, common-sense approach” so they don’t malinger in Jackson and cost taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars a day in special session expenses.

Meanwhile, many voters are angered by the high court striking down the medical marijuana Initiative 65 they overwhelmingly approved in November. One group, called “We are the 74,” organized just days ago, now had close to 3,000 members on its Facebook page Tuesday, and is planning a rally May 25 at the state Supreme Court building in downtown Jackson. The 74 refers to the 74% of the vote that Initiative 65 received, compared to an alternative amendment on the November ballot.

“We are here to serve as a rally point and to fight for the voices of Mississippians to be heard,” a post on the site said. “Recent events have shown us that now more than ever we need to walk arm in arm and show our elected officials that the POWER still lies with the PEOPLE!”

READ MORE: Poll: 60% oppose Court’s medical marijuana ruling, support special session

Many lawmakers and other public officials, including House Speaker Philip Gunn, are calling on Gov. Tate Reeves to bring lawmakers back to Jackson in special session to deal with reinstating voters’ ballot initiative rights, reinstating a medical marijuana program, or both. Reeves has not said definitively when, or if, he would call lawmakers back.

Hosemann said that reinstating the state’s ballot initiative process — which allows voters to take matters in hand when elected officials won’t do something — would require not only action by the Legislature, but voters approving it. He said that although lawmakers could set a special election, this could not realistically be done before the scheduled November 2022 elections, so lawmakers could tackle the issue in their regular session starting in January. He said there is more urgency for medical marijuana, because there are patients suffering who could be treated with the drug.

Hosemann noted that the Senate last session, twice, voted for an “alternative” medical marijuana program that could have been a backstop to the one voters adopted when the high court shot it down. At the time, many Initiative 65 supporters viewed the move as lawmakers trying to usurp the program voters approved.

READ MORE: Mississippi’s medical marijuana mess

Hosemann commented on the issue on Tuesday before a meeting in Flowood with local elected officials from Hinds, Madison and Rankin counties.

State Rep. Jill Ford, R-Madison, attended the meeting. She was vocally opposed to the Initiative 65 medical marijuana program, and said she was pleased with the Supreme Court striking it down. She said she is not opposed to medical marijuana in general, but disagreed with specifics of Initiative 65 and with it being in the constitution instead of state law. She said that, “I’m going to write a (medical marijuana) bill in January, if we don’t pursue it before then.”

Ford noted that special sessions are costly, and she is unsure whether one is required for either medical marijuana or reinstating voters’ initiative rights. She said she is uncertain whether she supports voters having a right to ballot initiative.

“That’s a hard question to answer,” Ford said. “I can’t give you a yes or no. I see what California (where ballot initiatives are common) has become. I don’t want that for Mississippi.”

The post Hosemann supports medical marijuana, initiative rights as voters seethe appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The state’s legislative watchdog agency has released a report on Mississippi’s troubled, dilapidated state park system after lawmakers this year debated but failed to reach agreement on funding and fixes.

The Joint Legislative Committee on Performance, Evaluation and Expenditure Review (PEER) found Mississippi’s park system pales to those of surrounding states that capitalize on them to draw tourists and generate income. PEER found that only five of Mississippi’s 25 state parks turn a profit. The system on whole is losing money when about $4 million a year in state general fund spending is backed out, the state lacks any strategic marketing of them and parks are in need of major renovations with no real plan to fund or carry out the maintenance.

PEER found that surrounding states have dedicated sources of revenue for parks, which Mississippi lacks, and that these states spend at least double what Mississippi does on state parks, with Tennessee spending seven times more. As a result, Mississippi parks generate only a fraction of the revenue and tourism of surrounding states.

The PEER report recommended lawmakers consider removing the park system from the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks, and either creating a new agency to oversee tourism, state parks and history; placing parks under the Mississippi Development Authority’s tourism division; or creating a stand-alone agency to oversee parks.

READ MORE: Lawmakers consider privatizing Mississippi’s dilapidated, underfunded state parks

The report also said lawmakers could consider privatization of state parks services, like states such as Florida have done. This prospect has drawn heated debate in the Legislature, with some lawmakers fearing private developers would “cherry pick” the best state parks that could turn profits leaving others neglected, or that privatization would turn parks into expensive resorts and limit public access.

State parks spending has been cut by nearly 60% since 2000, and staffing by 70%. The Mississippi Department of Wildlife Fisheries and Parks lacks manpower and money for even routine maintenance. The PEER report found that last year, 87 of 165 positions allotted the system were vacant, and that the state relies heavily on contract and seasonal workers for parks, which “creates a revolving door” of staff.

READ MORE: Move to privatize state parks halted – for now – amid heated debate

Some legislative leaders said improving and increasing funding for parks was a top priority for the Legislature in this year’s session, but proposals to address the issues died amid disagreement between the House and Senate. These included a sales tax diversion from sales at sporting goods stores to provide up to $20 million a year for conservation projects and parks and another measure to privatize some state parks or hand others off to counties and cities.

As Mississippi’s park system has floundered, other states have cashed in on state park tourism, with the COVID-19 pandemic driving demand for RV-ing, camping and outdoor vacationing and recreation.

The post Watchdog reviews Mississippi’s dilapidated, troubled state parks appeared first on Mississippi Today.

A strong majority oppose last week’s state Supreme Court decision striking down both a voter initiative that approved medical marijuana and the entire process that Mississippians can gather signatures to place an issue on the ballot for voters to decide.

The poll also found strong support for Gov. Tate Reeves calling a special session to give legislators the opportunity to reverse the actions of the Supreme Court. While Reeves has not called a special session, a diverse set of politicians ranging from Republicans Speaker Philip Gunn and Secretary of State Michael Watson to Democratic Northern District Public Service Commissioner Brandon Presley to House Democratic Leader Robert Johnson have voiced support for one. Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, who presides over the Senate, has not commented on whether he supports a special session.

The Supreme Court took the rare step of releasing the controversial decision on Friday afternoon. The poll was conducted quickly after that by Mississippi-based Chism Strategies. Chism had done work for supporters of the medical marijuana initiative that was approved by voters this past November.

The poll found almost 60.9% of respondents opposed the Supreme Court decision while 22.3% support it. In addition, 59.6% support the governor calling a special session on medical marijuana while 20.2% oppose such an effort.

READ MORE: Mississippi Supreme Court overturns medical marijuana Initiative 65

Of the 905 Mississippians polled, 69.3% voted in favor of medical marijuana this past November while 25.2% opposed the initiative. On the November ballot, there were two medical marijuana initiatives: the citizen-sponsored proposal and a legislative alternative. The first question on the ballot asked voters whether they approved either. In November, 68.5% of voters said they did support one of the two, correlating closely to the 69.2% in the poll saying they voted in favor of medical marijuana.

The poll was of landline and cell phone users and was weighted to reflect likely 2022 general election results, meaning a majority of respondents normally vote Republican. The poll had a margin of error 3.26%.

Brad Chism of Chism Strategies said he was surprised how many Mississippians knew about the Supreme Court ruling.

“It is a brush fire,” Chism said. “It crosses party lines… People are mad the court would do what they did.”

The poll found that almost 52% are “somewhat” or “much” less likely to vote for a legislator who opposed medical marijuana, while just under 30% were “much” or “somewhat” more likely to support a candidate opposing the legalization of medical marijuana.

The poll also found 69.7% supported the Legislature approving a medical marijuana program that matches the one approved by voters in November.  A plurality — 45% to 27.1% — support the impeachment of the Supreme Court justices who supported the ruling.

The Supreme Court ruling came in response to a lawsuit filed by the city of Madison and its mayor, Mary Hawkins Butler. The lawsuit alleged the initiative process should be voided because the Constitution requires the signatures to be gathered equally from five congressional districts as they were configured in 1990. In 2000, the state lost a U.S. House seat based on U.S. Census data, rendering it impossible to gather the signatures as mandated in the Constitution, the lawsuit argued.

READ MORE: Mississippi’s medical marijuana mess

The post Poll: 60% oppose Court’s medical marijuana ruling, support special session appeared first on Mississippi Today.

BILOXI — At the Beau Rivage, even a job fair comes with the added razzle-dazzle expected from one of the state’s most prominent casinos: sequin-clad show girls, an ice sculpture and a musical performance.

And, of course, several dozen open jobs and on-the-spot interviews.

Service industry workers for the state’s casinos are in high demand. If there was ever a time for some of the state’s top revenue earners to put on a show to lure in potential hires, it’s now.

With COVID-19 vaccinations widely available and the busy summer season quickly approaching, businesses across tourism-focused coastal Mississippi have “Help Wanted” signs in their windows. Despite the number of open positions, some workers have shown they’re not eager to return to hospitality and service jobs. 

“People are more or less demanding to go back to work when it’s safe, for one, and when they feel fairly paid,” said Sondra Collins, senior economist with the Mississippi University Research Center. “Some have used the pandemic to gain new skills and feel confident asking for more.” 

That hesitancy could help push up the pay of Mississippi jobs, which has consistently had among the lowest median hourly wages in the country. Collins said the market forcing wages up could be the one positive thing to come from the pandemic. 

It’s the lower paying jobs from restaurant bussers to housekeepers that Mississippi largest casinos and resorts are vying to fill. Managers and owners are figuring out how to respond to staffing challenges. Many have praised Gov. Tate Reeves’ decision to stop the extra $300 per week in unemployment aid next month, hoping the move will bring workers back. 

“I started here at the front desk of the hotel,” Beau Rivage’s human resources director Kimberly Pelaez told the job fair crowd gathered in the property’s ballroom last week. “I turned a college job into a career that I love.”

That was the theme of the Thursday expo: an entry level job at the Beau could lead to a long-term, stable career. The casino and hotel’s ballroom hosted 265 job seekers, and 70 people were offered positions that day. The Beau Rivage still had another 80 open positions posted to its website on Monday.

Despite the pandemic and the struggle to fill critical service industry jobs, Mississippi’s casinos haven’t slowed down much.

Gaming revenue across the industry dipped about 18% last year because of the pandemic, which closed down the businesses for about two months. By the summer of 2020, gaming revenue started nearing pre-pandemic amounts. People were bored, had stimulus checks and still wanted to gamble. 

This March, the state’s gaming commission reported the monthly gross revenue from the state’s casinos was the highest it has been since 2009 at more than $248 million. 

“We had what was a very strong March and a very, very strong April,” said Scott King, the assistant general manager and vice president of resort operations at the Golden Nugget in Biloxi. “Going into the summer, we have a lot of momentum.” 

King said the staffing shortages started back when the casinos first reopened, but they’ve continued to get worse as business gets better. In the spring his team would have up to 10 interviews scheduled for a day, but sometimes only two people would show up. 

Golden Nugget now has a job referral program for employees that can earn them bonuses. The casino has raised some of its wages and, like the Beau Rivage, says it’s emphasizing the ability to get promotions and turn an entry-level job into a higher paying career. King said when considering tips, there are a number of positions, like card dealers, that pay more than $20 per hour. 

Larry Gregory, the president of the Mississippi Gaming and Hospitality Association, said the jobs casinos need filled are across the board from food and beverage services to gaming tables. He applauded the governor’s move to end the additional money in federal unemployment, and he thinks the move will push workers back into open jobs. 

Unemployment in Mississippi pays up to $235 per week without the additional money per week from the federal program. With minimum wage at $7.25, workers collecting unemployment could make more collecting the combined benefits than in entry-level jobs available in the service industry. 

Collins, the economist, says there are several factors contributing to service industry workers not rushing back to jobs. Many of the workers are women, she said, who deal with the brunt of childcare — especially if they live in districts that chose to stay virtual this school year because of the pandemic. 

There are also workers who are still cautious of putting their health at risk, or are just getting their second dose of the vaccine and have been waiting to be fully vaccinated before facing customers again. She said the number of people getting vaccinated is more likely to encourage workers back than the change in unemployment pay. 

Marlene Patrick-Cooper, the president of Unite Here Local 23, represents casino and hospitality workers in Mississippi and across the South. She said some of her union’s members adapted after they lost their jobs last March. Now they feel more in control of their income, even if it means working three jobs at once. 

“A lot of folks felt burned,” she said. “The industry really abandoned them at the pandemic’s onset.”

Those who are back working at the hotels and restaurants are now dealing with the added stress of having to meet the demand from customers. There are often not enough workers to serve the surge of customers excited to be vaccinated and on the town. 

But even non-people-oriented jobs are feeling the upstick in stress, too.

Hotels shifted away from daily housekeeping in rooms to lessen person-to-person contact during the pandemic. Patrick-Cooper said the result has been fewer house keepers tasked with cleaning up messier rooms. 

The union rep agrees staffing needs to pick up for the summer rush — and rooms need to go back to being cleaned more often. But to get there? Employers need to step up, she said. 

“If employers want to paint the picture that folks make too much on unemployment, what that tells me is they don’t think workers should get much and they have been getting away with having poverty jobs,” she said. 

Patrick-Cooper says she’s seen a few casinos start to raise wages in response to the market, but she has yet to see it become an industry-wide shift in the region. 

Back at the Beau Rivage ballroom, 27-year-old Joseph Taft of Biloxi was in a dress shirt and slacks ready to impress during an on-the-spot interview. He has been out of work for just over two weeks. He said he was a busser at a smaller casino in town that reordered its bussing and serving staff. His job was cut.

Before the pandemic, he was working at the Beau Rivage’s buffet. He lost that job when the casino closed at the start of the pandemic. He then traveled with a friend to Texas to do manual labor cleaning up an oil spill. 

When Taft returned to Mississippi, it took months for him to land that bussing job, where he was only making $6.50 an hour. He was paid below minimum wage because of the tips he earned in addition to set wage. But as a busser, he was splitting tips with servers.

He said he was never left with much and was still mowing lawns and taking odd jobs to make ends meet. He hopes getting back into the Beau Rivage could lead to the stability and advancement he craves.

“I don’t want to be flipping burgers,” he said. “I want a career.” 

He had planned to apply to get back in food service at the casino, but was persuaded to consider room cleaning. While training he’d make $11.32 an hour, he said. Once he’s on his own, he will clean two rooms an hour to make a $13 per hour wage. 

It’d be a larger paycheck than he was used to. And, so far, it seems like he landed the job. He’s just awaiting the final phone call.

READ MORE: Mississippi’s economy is rebounding, but growth expected to slow

The post Mississippi casinos are setting revenue records, but they’re struggling to find workers appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The post Marshall Ramsey: Fancy Grave appeared first on Mississippi Today.

House Speaker Philip Gunn says he supports Gov. Tate Reeves calling a special session to allow legislators to reinstate the state’s initiative process after the Mississippi Supreme Court struck it down in a landmark 6-3 decision last week.

“We 100% believe in the right of the people to use the initiative process to express their views on public policy,” Gunn said in a statement. “If the legislature does not act on an issue that the people of Mississippi want, then the people need a mechanism to change the law. I support the governor calling us into a special session to protect this important right of the people.”

Gunn did not comment on whether he believes medical marijuana also should be taken up in a special session if Reeves calls one. The Supreme Court struck down an initiative where voters approved medical marijuana in the same opinion where it voided the whole initiative process.

Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, who presides over the Senate, has been unavailable to comment on questions from Mississippi Today about whether he wanted the governor to call a special session.

But Secretary of State Michael Watson, who oversees state elections and the initiative process, said via social media he also supports the governor calling a special session.

“I strongly encourage Gov. Reeves to call a special session to address this issue,” Watson said, adding that the issue of medical marijuana also should be taken up during a special session. Watson also said the Legislature should take steps to ensure initiatives approved earlier by voters are not rendered void by the Supreme Court decision released Friday afternoon.

Earlier Monday, Mississippi Today reported discussions between the governor’s office and legislative leaders about a special in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision that voided both the medical marijuana initiative approved by voters in November and the initiative process itself.

While Hosemann has been unavailable for comment, Senate President Pro Tem Dean Kirby said, “I would not be opposed to a special session” to take up the issue of medical marijuana. He pointed out the Senate passed a bill earlier this year in the 2021 session that would have put in place a medical marijuana program if the Supreme Court struck down the medical marijuana initiative. The House did not take up the Senate proposal, opting to wait for the Supreme Court ruling.

Kirby said he had not studied the issue of whether there should be an effort in special session to take up fixing the entire initiative process.

Rep. Robert Johnson, D-Natchez, the House minority leader, who was critical of last week’s Supreme Court ruling, also said he would favor a special session to take up both medical marijuana and a fix for the overall initiative process.

The Supreme Court ruling came in response to a lawsuit filed by the city of Madison and its mayor, Mary Hawkins Butler. The lawsuit alleged the initiative process should be voided because the Constitution requires the signatures to be gathered equally from five congressional districts as they were configured in 1990. In 2000, the state lost a U.S. House seat based on U.S. Census data, rendering it impossible to gather the signatures as mandated in the Constitution, the lawsuit argued.

The state’s highest court agreed.

Reeves’ office has not responded to questions from Mississippi Today. But Bailey Martin, a spokesperson for Reeves, told the Daily Journal in Tupelo, “Like most Mississippians, Gov. Reeves is interested and intrigued by the Supreme Court’s decision on the recent ballot initiative. He and his team are currently digesting the Court’s 58 page opinion and will make further comment once that analysis is complete.”

Without a special session, the earliest that the Legislature could approve a medical marijuana program would be in January when the 2022 session begins. And it would take even longer to reinstate the initiative process since it would require a two-thirds vote of both chambers of the Legislature and then approval by voters presumably during the November 2022 general election.

During a special session, legislators could have an opportunity to create a medical marijuana program and perhaps to fix the language in the state’s initiative process that resulted in last week’s Supreme Court ruling.

The post Speaker Gunn supports special session to fix ballot initiative process appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Mississippi’s elected transportation commissioners have received a handful of resumes for executive director of the Mississippi Department of Transportation, including from Gov. Tate Reeves’ Chief of Staff Brad White, former chairman of the state Republican Party.

Other applicants include Jeff Altman, a longtime MDOT employee who’s serving as interim director of the agency, and Heath Hall, owner of a public relations firm who has served as a consultant to Madison County and its sheriff’s department. Hall was briefly deputy administrator for the Federal Railroad Administration but abruptly resigned after being accused of improperly being paid by the federal agency and Madison County at the same time.

White formerly served as chief of staff for U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith and the late Sen. Thad Cochran. He was formerly a chief of staff for the state auditor’s office and served as chairman of the state Republican Party from 2008 to 2011. He served as an assistant to former Transportation Commissioner Dick Hall.

Longtime MDOT Director Melinda McGrath announced her resignation in March, under political fire from state lawmakers. Lawmakers, particularly in the Senate, have been critical of MDOT for cost overruns, delays on projects and other issues and proposed a bevy of legislation this session aimed at stripping the agency of money and authority. Lawmakers stripped MDOT of its commercial traffic enforcement division.

McGrath, an engineer who worked for MDOT for more than 30 years, was praised as an administrator and road builder — including as a lead engineer for hundreds of millions of dollars in work after Hurricane Katrina’s destruction in South Mississippi. But she appeared to struggle with the political side of running the state’s massive transportation industry. She famously clashed with now Gov. Tate Reeves, after she said the agency was receiving political pressure to build an unneeded $2-million frontage road connecting Reeves’ gated neighborhood to nearby shopping and dining.

MDOT’s director is supposed to answer directly to a three-member, elected commission, not state lawmakers or other politicians, but the realpolitik is lawmakers are historically keenly interested in, and prone to meddle with, road building and maintenance and the running of MDOT.

Central District Transportation Commissioner Willie Simmons on Monday said the agency as of its deadline more than a week ago has received about five resumes for the director position, all from people in-state. He said no schedule for interviews or picking a replacement has been set, but said that would likely be a discussion at next week’s Transportation Commission meeting.

Whomever the elected commission picks as director is subject to state Senate confirmation in the next legislative session.

Simmons said he doesn’t believe an MDOT director has to be an engineer or have extensive road building experience as long as they have administrative skills to run the agency.

Mississippi is the last transportation department in the nation to elect its transportation commission. In the past there has been much debate over switching to an appointed commission, in an effort to take politics out of road building, but such moves have never gained much momentum.

The hiring of engineer McGrath a decade ago was also aimed at removing politics from an agency that had seen scandal and political battles under her predecessor, former Natchez Mayor Butch Brown.

There were questions about the agency’s purchase and use of helicopters and expensive remodeling of MDOT headquarters — which got the nickname of “Taj Mahal.” There were also questions about taxpayer funded trips to Budapest by MDOT officials. Feuds between the elected commissioners and director resulted in one commission being banished from headquarters to an office in a trailer, and having one of his secretaries fired by the others.

Brown back then called the federal secretary of transportation an “a–hole” at a national meeting, faced questions about a relative profiting from MDOT-related programs and waged political war with legislative officials. He was arrested for passing out drunk at a casino slot machine in Biloxi, and had to take anger management classes.

The post Who’s applying to run the Mississippi Department of Transportation? appeared first on Mississippi Today.

A special legislative session is being discussed by political leaders in the wake of last week’s explosive ruling by the Mississippi Supreme Court striking down both the state’s new medical marijuana program and the entire initiative process where citizens can gather signatures to place issues on the ballot for voters to decide.

Sources close to the issue said that lawmakers have broached the issue of a special session with Gov. Tate Reeves’ office.

Without a special session, the earliest that the Legislature could enact a medical marijuana program would be in January when the 2022 session begins. And it would take even longer to reinstate the initiative process since it would require a two-thirds vote of both chambers of the Legislature and then approval by voters presumably during the November 2022 general election.

During a special session, legislators could have an opportunity to create a medical marijuana program and perhaps to fix the language in the state’s initiative process that resulted in last week’s Supreme Court ruling.

Efforts to garner comments from Reeves, House Speaker Philip Gunn and Lt. Gov Delbert Hosemann, who presides over the Senate, have been unsuccessful thus far. On the day of the Supreme Court ruling, Bailey Martin, a spokesperson for Reeves, told the Daily Journal in Tupelo, “Like most Mississippians, Gov. Reeves is interested and intrigued by the Supreme Court’s decision on the recent ballot initiative. He and his team are currently digesting the Court’s 58 page opinion and will make further comment once that analysis is complete.”

Senate President Pro Tem Dean Kirby, R-Pearl, said he has not heard discussions about a special session, but said, “I would not be opposed to a special session” to take up the issue of medical marijuana. He pointed out the Senate passed a bill earlier this year in the 2021 session that would have put in place a medical marijuana program if the Supreme Court struck down the medical marijuana initiative. The House did not take up the Senate proposal, opting to wait for the Supreme Court ruling.

Kirby said he had not studied the issue of whether there should be an effort in special session to take up fixing the entire initiative process.

Rep. Robert Johnson, D-Natchez, the House minority leader, who was critical of last week’s Supreme Court ruling, said he would support a special session to take up both issues.

In a 6-3 ruling last week, the Mississippi Supreme Court struck down the medical marijuana initiative that was approved overwhelmingly by voters in November and in the process voided the state’s initiative that has been in effect since 1992.

In the process of voiding the process, six initiatives that were at varying stages of trying to garner the required number of signatures were killed. Those efforts were:

• Expanding Medicaid.
• Enacting early voting.
• Enacting term limits.
• Legalizing recreational marijuana.
• Giving voters the opportunity to restore the old flag that contained the Confederate battle emblem in its design.
• Replacing the 1890 flag that contained the Confederate battle emblem. That already has been done by the Legislature.

The Supreme Court ruling came in response to a lawsuit filed by the city of Madison and its mayor, Mary Hawkins Butler. The lawsuit alleged the initiative process should be voided because the Constitution requires the signatures to be gathered equally from five congressional districts as they were configured in 1990. In 2000, the state lost a U.S. House seat based on U.S. Census data, rendering it impossible to gather the signatures as mandated in the Constitution, the lawsuit argued.

The state’s highest court agreed.

Also at issue is two initiatives that passed in 2011 where the signatures were gathered from the original five congressional districts and whether they will be efforts to challenge those proposals. Those initiatives enacted a requirement to have a government-issued photo ID to vote and a prohibition on the government taking private land for the use of another private entity. After voters approved placing the voter identification issue in the Constitution, it also was approved as general law by the Legislature. So, if the voter ID initiative is struck down, it is not clear how it would impact the general law.

When asked if the Southern Poverty Law Center might challenge the voter ID initiative based on the Supreme Court ruling, Brandon Jones, policy director with the group, said “Like a lot of other folks, we are in the very early stages of considering options for voters and the issues impacted by last week’s ruling. We haven’t made any decision yet.”

SPLC also would have been heavily involved in the effort to pass a Medicaid expansion initiative had it not be halted by the Supreme Court ruling.

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