The storyline of the summer has been that House and Senate negotiators are close, closer — even very, very close — to having a deal on a medical marijuana program, for which Gov. Tate Reeves could call the Legislature into special session to pass.
But as summer slips toward fall, those mostly closed-door negotiations continue with scant details on the particulars or hang-ups, and… still no deal nor special session.
As the clock ticks, prospects for a special session before the January regular legislative session become less likely. And passage of a medical marijuana program during a busy regular session is far more politically arduous, perhaps even doubtful. Even current negotiations become endangered as time drags on — more chefs get in the kitchen, deals on particulars fall apart, the center cannot hold.
It would appear it’s time for lawmakers and Gov. Tate Reeves to fish or cut bait, as the saying goes, on a medical marijuana program to replace the one passed by voters but shot down by the state Supreme Court.
If negotiators are truly close on broad strokes, Reeves could call them in and let them get to haggling — if, as he and legislative leaders have said, they desire to uphold the will of the voters on this issue. Reeves could take a leadership role with the issue, help broker a deal or cajole lawmakers into ratifying a program. So far, he has only said publicly that he supports the will of the voters and would call a special session if lawmakers tell him they’ve agreed on particulars.
Reeves, who holds sole authority to call a special session, could try to get the ball rolling, or just sit back and point at the Legislature and say he can’t help it if lawmakers can’t get their act together.
Special sessions can provide hyper focus on a single issue, and they often allow the clunky-by-design Legislature to hunker down and pass things they otherwise couldn’t amid the usual political flotsam and jetsam of a regular session. A special session — especially one during or near football season, deer season and the holidays — puts pressure on lawmakers to get things done so they can return home. Also, the costs to taxpayers of a special session add up quickly at tens of thousands of dollars a day, applying more pressure to get things done quickly.
The Mississippi Legislature has otherwise been unable for years to pass a measure for the state to join dozens of others in legalizing medical marijuana, even as public outcry for it grew. That’s why the citizenry took matters in hand and legalized it last year, only to have the state Supreme Court come in and un-legalize it over what many considered a technicality.
Already, the extended negotiations on medical marijuana have seen one major eleventh-hour problem: State Agriculture Commissioner Andy Gipson recently announced he wants no part in oversight of the program. He’s now threatening to sue if lawmakers pass a law putting him in charge of regulating cultivation and processing of marijuana (despite this having been discussed for months). This has likely delayed the “very, very close” negotiations.
Under Initiative 65, passed by voters in November, the state would have had a medical marijuana program launched in July, and would have begun issuing licenses for people with qualifying illnesses to start using the drug by Aug. 15.
Some very ill people could benefit from this. Voters spoke on this issue. State leaders have vowed to uphold their voice, and vowed to do so in a timely fashion. The clock has been ticking. It’s time.
Mississippi Today journalists Adam Ganucheau, Bobby Harrison and Geoff Pender discuss where in the process lawmakers are on passing a medical marijuana program to replace the one struck down by the Mississippi Supreme Court in May. Officials had promised a marijuana special session in August. Where are they?
Adam Ganucheau: Welcome to The Other Side, Mississippi Today’s political podcast. I’m your host, Adam Ganucheau. The Other Side lets you hear directly from the most connected players and observers across the spectrum of politics in Mississippi. From breaking news to political strategy to interviews with candidates and elected officials, we’ll bring you facts, perspectives and context that helps you cut through the noise and understand all sides of the story.
Joining us today are my colleagues, Bobby Harrison and Geoff Pender. Hey y’all.
Bobby Harrison: Hey guys. How y’all doing?
Geoff Pender: Hey Adam and Bobby.
Adam Ganucheau: Well, I wanted to talk this week about something that is near and dear to all of us, at least our professional lives: medical marijuana. Just to kind of recap really quickly— as I’m going to do this, Bobby is cracking up at the joke I just made. I’m going to recap just very quickly where we’ve been and what we’re looking at now.
So back in November of 2020, Mississippi voters overwhelmingly passed initiative 65, which created a robust medical marijuana program. It’s a ballot initiative, so it wasn’t lawmakers who put it up for a vote. It was the citizens of Mississippi who did it themselves.
And they did that because lawmakers had sort of ignored this issue for years and years. About a week before that election, Madison Mayor Mary Hawkins Butler filed a lawsuit in state courts, challenging the constitutionality of the ballot initiative process that allowed the medical marijuana program to pass.
That of course worked its way through the court system, leading to a few months later in May of this year, the Mississippi Supreme Court struck down both the medical marijuana program and that entire ballot initiative process. There was obviously a ton of political backlash across the state of Mississippi, very intense. Legislative leaders and just kind of, you know, rank and file lawmakers suggested that they wanted to come into a special session to do two things: to first, pass a medical marijuana program and second, to fix the ballot initiative process that was ultimately effectively taken off the books by the state Supreme Court decision. We were told, I guess, that that Governor Tate Reeves was, he said himself that he was willing to call a special session. He has that sole authority to do that. He’s the only one who can call them into a special session.
He said he’d do it only if lawmakers came to an agreement ahead of time on medical marijuana. We were told by legislative leaders after that that there would be an agreement, that they were working on it, and several of them suggested that we would see that agreement sometime in August and they’d be ready to come into a special session in August.
Well, here we are mid-September. Geoff, I’ll pose the first question to you. Where the hell are we with medical marijuana?
Geoff Pender: The official answer you get is the same answer we’ve gotten I think since probably June-ish is that they’re close. They’re close to having an agreement. Now there’s a million moving parts to standing up a medical marijuana program and what little details coming out in the negotiations, you get close. Close may be a relative term, but by most reports, they’ve agreed on some of the broad strokes, but I think the longer this goes, the more of those details get brought in and get argued about.
He cited that, you know, it’s still federally illegal despite 38 states having either medical or some other form of legalized marijuana. And he said it’s still federally illegal, he’s not going to participate in it. And if the Legislature passes a law telling him to participate in it, he’ll sue, so. that’s a major issue I would imagine. You’re not hearing a whole lot out of the negotiators of what they’re going to do, but you know, that may have caused a little bit of going back to the main drawing board. You know, there’s been talk when they held hearings this summer, some states create a separate, you know, marijuana commission or whatever. And, you know, I suspect that’s more on the table now than maybe it was if Gipson is not going to participate. I’m sure they could try and force him to, but you know, if true to his word, he files litigation, I mean that can hold up this process for another year or two. Oh, it’s already been held up.
Adam Ganucheau: The Legislature doesn’t typically take kindly to an executive branch official trying to tell them what to do or what not to do. So, I mean, it’s the precedence there for them to sort of, you know, force his hand on it. That’s what they’re there for. They do that all the time.
Bobby Harrison: Am I the only person who sees irony in this, that Andy Gipson, Mr. States’ Rights, pro-gun, pro-10th Amendment, states’ rights, is saying that I’m going to follow the federal law, not the state law. I mean, to me, that’s just priceless within itself.
Geoff Pender: In the past when he was a law maker, especially, he wasn’t really fond on federal government, or as you said, he appeared to lean more towards states’ rights, so that is kind of interesting.
Adam Ganucheau: Well, you know, the sort of debate or question that we sort of had internally at Mississippi Today last week was at this point being mid-September, you know, probably need to give lawmakers at least a week or two heads up, so we’re looking at, at the very soonest, October special session.
Now at this point in the year, is it even worth doing it in a special session, or should you just wait until regular session in January of 22? Bobby, what do you think? I mean, what do you make of sort of the merits of doing it now versus, you know, 2022 regular session?
Bobby Harrison: I can see it both ways. I mean, first of all, whole consensus, I mean, you’re not going to call a special session until there’s consensus. I mean, right now there’s work to get a consensus between, I guess, Delbert Hosemann and Kevin Blackwell in the Senate and Representative Yancey and Philip Gunn in the House. Those are the people working to get a consensus. When they go in a special session, somebody wants to offer an amendment to change that consensus. They have every right to. So, the argument about a consensus is kinda misleading. I mean, but I mean, the reason you do it in a special session is to get it over with and get it done.
I lived through the 82-day tort reform special session. And what happens in the special session is there’s no deadlines, so you can go into a special session and just sort of sit there and stare at each other. I mean, the beauty of a regular session is there are deadlines. You have to get things done by certain deadlines or the bill dies, so that puts more of an onus on the Legislature to reach a consensus. But the reason I think it would be better to do in a special session, if that’s the way you want to go, there’s two reasons. First of all, I think— Geoff correct me if I’m wrong, but under the original initiative, the medical marijuana initiative had stood up in court.
There was supposed to be a program created I think in August.
Geoff Pender: No, programs stood up in July and should have been in operation issuing cards by August 15th.
Bobby Harrison: So that’s one reason to do a special session. The other reason to do it in a special session is when the Legislature does go in session January 2022, there’s going to be so many issues.
There’s going to be more issues facing this Legislature than perhaps any Legislature I can remember from redistricting to whether to reinstate the initiative process, maybe medical marijuana, issue of whether to cut and eliminate the income tax. It’s just going to be so many issues facing Legislature.
They can get one or two of those issues done in special session. That would be a bonus for legislators. And I guess the state too.
Adam Ganucheau: Yeah. That brings up another question, Bobby. I mean, as we’ve reported this out the last few weeks, specifically about medical marijuana, we’re talking about a special session for medical marijuana, but like I said at the very beginning of the episode when I was sort of recapping where we’ve been, early on shortly after that Supreme Court ruling, we were hearing talks from legislative leaders. Not everyone of course was on the same page, but even speaker Philip Gunn said this, that he wanted to come back into a special session to fix the ballot initiative. Because as of right now, there is no way for Mississippi voters to put an issue on the ballot in Mississippi. And that was one of those constitutional sort of rights granted to Mississippians for, you know, many decades, and that’s now gone. And so what is the status of that? I mean, have y’all heard anything about a special session for the ballot initiative fix?
Bobby Harrison: No. And if you recall Speaker Gunn, he talked about a special session for the ballot initiative. He didn’t mention medical marijuana when he first talked about a special session. He talked about the ballot initiative, but what’s interesting is there were so many major ballot initiatives that died when when the Supreme Court ruled.
Now, interestingly, there’s a ballot initiative on early voting, and those folks are just going ahead with gathering signatures with the hope that if they get the signatures, whenever the Legislature fixes it, they’ll do some type of retroactive thing and allow those signatures to count. So right now, there’s people presumably out in Mississippi gathering signatures for an initiative process that doesn’t work to allow Mississippians to vote in person early.
Geoff Pender: Yeah. There’s pretty much general consensus they’re going to wait on that. I don’t think there’s much strong talk at all about coming back in for that. Back to the medical marijuana though, I’d like to point out Bobby mentioned a couple of reasons why you might want to do a special session.
Another reason is for a singular issue such as this, and we’ve seen it with past issues, sometimes it’s far more easy to pass something such as a medical marijuana program in a special session in that you’ve got a hyper-focus on it. You don’t have the technical deadlines that you would in a special session, but you’ve got pressure.
You got deadlines. And with this being a singular issue, not the magnitude of tort reform, the governor can dissolve a special session if this goes off the rails and it were to look like they would be there 83 days. Certainly that would get dissolved. But I question—
Bobby Harrison: But that’s the only deadline. There’s no other deadlines.
Geoff Pender: No, but there’s pressure. They’re in during a time when they want to be going to football games, they want to be with their families working on their business. And I mean, we got holidays seasons coming up too, for that matter if this were pushed into October and November. But again some legislative leaders I’ve talked about wonder even if this were to go into the regular session, an extremely busy contentious regular session, whether they could even get a medical marijuana program passed period.
They’ve kicked this issue around at least since 2017 in regular sessions and gotten nowhere. You know, probably fending off having, you know, not having too many chefs in the kitchen, things like that. Now they missed the opportunity to do this quickly. I think if they would’ve jumped out there in June or July and had a special session on this, I think the opportunity would have been a little better to get it more quickly done.
But I don’t know if this goes into regular session if they would even be able to pass a medical marijuana program. Of course, whether they can pass one on a special session might be questionable too. But in the past we’ve seen sometimes that, you know, it’s easier for them if it’s a singular issue that they can focus on sometimes a special session is easier for that. And again, I understand the deadlines and the Legislature works on its deadlines, but I think the pressure, especially this late in the year, would be pretty intense on them to get something done and get out of there. So I still think, and some of the legislative leaders are saying right now that, you know, they still want to have a special session on this as opposed to pushing it back into the regular one.
Adam Ganucheau: I also think a good bit about the sort of politics of the relationship between the legislative leadership and Governor Reeves. Governor Reeves has the sole authority to call them into special session. I mean, they can’t do this unless he calls him in and as you just said, Geoff, the, the legislative leaders, Delbert Hosemann and Philip Gunn, they have clashed pretty, pretty hard, pretty directly with Governor Reeves just over the first two years of his term. And you know, I have to kind of wonder what exactly Governor Reeves’ calculus is in deciding at this point whether or not to call them back into Jackson, what that means for him politically.
This really surprised me. In the 2020 regular legislative session, I say regular because that’s the official term, but it was anything but regular. It was what we think the longest regular session in state history because of the coronavirus and lawmakers, there were outbreaks. They had to kind of take breaks to avoid, you know, the spread of the virus at the Capitol.
And what legislative leaders decided to do— and keep in mind, this was the first year of the term as Reeves as governor and Hosemann as lieutenant governor, of course the third term for Speaker Gunn. But they gave themselves the authority to extend the session as long as they wanted to.
So they kept kind of extending the end date on the legislative session. And a lot of people, myself included, kind of thought that that might become the norm moving forward, that they would give themselves that power every single year. They didn’t do it in 2021, and I’m wondering if maybe they regret not doing it for this reason or others because now they’re completely relying on Governor Reeves to call them back to Jackson to fix this issue that a lot of Mississippians have zoned in on and if they don’t get it right they could all suffer politically.
Bobby Harrison: Yeah, I thought the same thing you did, Adam. I didn’t think about it until 2020, but then I started thinking about it. If I was a legislator, I would always leave myself the option to come back. I mean, there was the longest session in history. I think you’re right about that, but it’s important to note they weren’t there in Jackson, the entire time. They just had the authority to come back because they had extended the session on paper, as they say.
Yeah, I thought they would do that again in 2021. And in reality, Philip Gunn wanted to, and I suspect Lieutenant Governor Hosemann did too, but I think the issue was that Hosemann over in the Senate could not get the two-thirds vote to do that, to keep them in session.
Adam Ganucheau: That was effectively stripping the governor of one of his powers, I mean, constitutional powers and calling a special session. That definitely could have changed the landscape of Mississippi politics and certainly the relationship between the legislative and executive branches. Well, do y’all have any guesses on when this might happen? I mean, you know, putting you on the spot here, but do you think we’re going to see a special session, or do you think it’s just going to hold until 2022?
Geoff Pender: I think we’re going to see, at the least, lawmakers soon going to the governor. We’re talking within a week or two and saying, “We’ve agreed on everything we can. Call us back in.” You know, Reeves is in a position though. He could politically not agree that they’re close enough or something like that. And you know, it’s not a given that he’ll call them in unless they can certify that they’re that close in agreement. But I mean, if they’re going to do this in special session, they’ve got to move soon. You know certainly there’s no point in, you know, a December special session. That would create a lot of fear and loathing with everyone. So, I still kind of think we will.
Bobby Harrison: Yeah, I think that if Reeves has no choice, I think if they say they reached an agreement, he said he’d call a special session. And I think it’d be bad for him politically to go back on his commitment.
Geoff Pender: One thing, I mean, with special sessions past when there was something like this, Reeves has said he supports the will of the voters. Well, he doesn’t have to just sit back, you know, and wait for the Legislature to give him the go ahead.
I mean, he could be more involved in the negotiation, taking a leadership role, urging them, cajoling them, whatever. But I haven’t seen that with this issue. I think his office has been involved some in the negotiation and keeping tabs, but certainly this isn’t an issue that he’s just, you know, championed and been out with his megaphone or anything like that.
So you know at this point, it’s still in the Legislature’s court.
Adam Ganucheau: Sure. Well, really interesting perspectives as always. And thank y’all for staying on top of this. I can’t help myself. I just have to circle back one more time to Andy Gipson. And I just think that, you know, I don’t know what exactly his calculus was in sort of publicly saying what he said about that, but my guess is that lawmakers don’t care too much about what Andy Gipson thinks at the Department of Agriculture. So we’ll see what they come up with, but I would bet some money on the fact that they’re gonna not take his perspective into account.
Geoff Pender: I don’t know. Andy’s against overseeing growing of the devil’s lettuce. Some farmers might not be real happy with that.
Adam Ganucheau: At least for his perspective, we always know he’s at least against wild hogs, so shoot a bunch of hogs and keep that under control. Maybe that’ll be good enough, but good luck to him. If lawmakers pass a bill here on medical marijuana that that includes his agency in some way, good luck to him politically if he wants to oppose that after they pass it. So that’s all I’m saying.
Bobby Harrison: I think Geoff’s right though. It could be an interesting court case of federal law versus state law. And I think the federal government would come in and say, “We don’t care.”
Geoff Pender: That is what they’ve essentially done, but marijuana is still federally illegal. Gipson has a legal point there.
Adam Ganucheau: Andy Gipson, the defender of federalism. Alright, y’all. Well, thanks again. Thanks for being here and thanks for helping us break it down.
Bobby Harrison: Enjoyed it.
Geoff Pender: Thanks.
Adam Ganucheau: As we cover the biggest political stories in this state, you don’t want to miss an episode of The Other Side. We’ll bring you more reporting from every corner of the state, sharing the voices of Mississippians and how they’re impacted by the news. So, what do we need from you, the listener? We need your feedback and support.
If you listen to the podcast on a player like iTunes or Stitcher, please subscribe to the show and leave us a review. We also have an email in which you can share your feedback. That address is Podcast@MississippiToday.org. Y’all can also reach out to me or any of my colleagues through social media or email. And as always thank you for your feedback and support.
Subscribe to our weekly podcast on your favorite podcast app or stream episodes online at MississippiToday.org/the-other-side. For the Mississippi Today team, I’m Adam Ganucheau. The Other Side is produced by Mississippi Today and engineered by Blue Sky Studios. We hope you’ll join us for our next episode.
South Carolina and Mississippi State players helped hold an American flag that stretched from sideline to sideline on Sept. 20, 2001, at Scott Field in the first major athletic event that followed the tragedies of 9/11. (MSU athletics)
We have observed, soberly, the 20-year anniversary of 9/11, which means we are also coming up on the anniversary of the first big sporting event played after 9/11, which was on Sept. 20, 2001, a Thursday night in Starkville.
Rick Cleveland
South Carolina vs. Mississippi State.
Remember?
If you were there, no way you have forgotten. There’s a good chance you have forgotten the score. You may have even forgotten that Lou Holtz was the Gamecocks coach. But you can’t have forgotten the eerie feeling of approaching and entering Scott Field that evening with all that security not knowing what to expect. You can’t have forgotten the amazing display of patriotism that ruled the night, or the South Carolina and Mississippi State players, who marched onto the field and held up a gigantic American flag in pre-game ceremonies.
So much I remember, including walking toward the stadium through the tailgating tents and fans and seeing far more red, white and blue than maroon and white. And seeing so many homemade signs like the one that said: “Go to Hell Ole Miss,” only with the Ole Miss crossed out and Bin Laden inserted. And seeing firefighters at each gate, holding out boots to collect money for a disaster relief fund for the families of New York City firefighters.
Larry Tempelton
Larry Templeton, then Mississippi State athletic director, surely remembers the call he received from then-SEC Commissioner Roy Kramer on Sunday afternoon just four days before the game. You must remember, all college and NFL football games had been postponed or canceled that weekend.
“The commissioner said he had just gotten off the phone with the White House, which got my attention,” Templeton says. “And then he said, ‘The White House wants y’all to play that game Thursday night. Can you get it ready?’”
Templeton says he replied, “We’ll be ready. Can you get South Carolina here?”
Kramer said he would.
It wasn’t easy. None of it was. For instance, South Carolina was supposed to fly to Mississippi the night before the game. That didn’t happen. Not enough crew could be found for the hastily arranged charter flight. Instead, the Gamecocks flew in on game day.
From Templeton’s standpoint, security was the paramount issue. You must remember, the image of the two jets flying into the World Trade Center — and a third flying into the Pentagon — were fresh on everyone’s minds. There were reports of that al-Queda had plans for more attacks in the days that followed. Starkville might not seem a likely target now, but there were going to be 43,000 people gathered in one place for a nationally televised event.
Says Templeton, “We weren’t taking anything for granted.”
Templeton talked to then-Gov. Ronnie Musgrove, who agreed, Templeton says, “to make the Mississippi Highway Patrol available to do whatever it took to make it as safe as possible.”
The MHP enlisted the help of the FBI. The Columbus Air Force base provided bomb-sniffing dogs, which roamed every nook and cranny of Scott Field in the three days leading up to the game and on game day. Among the scores of law officers patrolling the stadium and the surrounding area were FBI agents.
Because plans called for metal detectors to be employed at every gate, State fans were told to leave their cowbells at home. Says Templeton, proudly, “Most of them brought American flags instead.”
On Sept. 20, 2001, most Mississippi State fans wore red white and blue instead of maroon and white. (MSU athletics)
Among Templeton’s chief concerns was this: “I just didn’t know if our fans would show up. In the days leading up to the game, ESPN was promoting the broadcast seems like every five minutes. We knew there would be millions of viewers. I didn’t want them to see an empty stadium. We just didn’t know if our people would be comfortable enough to come…”
The ESPN audience saw a full house — or nearly so. They also witnessed a memorable show of patriotism, highlighted by the two opposing teams marching onto the field to help hold the American flag, which stretched from sideline to sideline. State quarterback Wayne Madkin, who led the State players onto the field, remembers that Bulldog players were not told of the script until just before they left the locker room.
“We didn’t know what was going to happen, we had no idea,” says Madkin, who now works for Entergy. “Our coaches had done a really good job of keeping our focus on the game. I mean, there were so many distractions. We were trying to get ready to play a football game, while wondering, ‘Is my family going to be OK? Is there going to be another attack?’ There was so much on our minds back then. And then we walked out on the field, saw the crowd and all those American flags and all the cameras. And that’s when it hit me that this was way bigger than a football game.”
And, 20 years later?
“I think we can take some pride in that we were able to be a small part of the healing of the nation,” Madkin says. “There was such a feeling of patriotism that night.”
They did play football that night, and South Carolina won a hard-fought 16-14 game. Even then, the score seemed almost insignificant.
Says Templeton, “I can hardly remember anything about the game. What I remember is that we felt like we were putting on a show for America that night. And I remember Commissioner Kramer shaking my hand and saying we pulled it off.”
In this episode of Mississippi Stories, Mississippi Today Editor-At-Large Marshall Ramsey sits down with Walt Grayson about his long career as a Mississippi storyteller. Grayson is a life-long Mississippian who was born and raised in Greenville. While in high school, he started his broadcasting career at a local radio station.
After moving to Jackson after graduation, he worked at various radio stations until moving to television in 1984. He was a weather anchor and feature reporter for WLBT for over three decades before heading back to WJTV-12 (where he actually began his TV career as a part-time weekend weatherman while still working full-time “across the driveway” at Jackson’s WSLI radio.)
Grayson is also well known as the long-time host and a segment producer for Mississippi Public Broadcasting’s Mississippi Roads. Grayson graduated from Mississippi College with degrees in history and Bible. He is married to his junior high school sweetheart, “Miz Jo” and between them they have four children and four grandchildren.
Before the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001, Mississippians wanting to visit their state Capitol could come and go as they pleased through multiple entrances, facing no security checks or metal detectors.
It was not unusual for people to enter an unlocked Capitol after hours and roam about, never seeing a law enforcement officer.
As the World Trade Center buildings smoldered that September, former House Speaker Billy McCoy of Prentiss County, then the House Ways and Means chair, spoke to a reporter about the tragedy.
McCoy, often a shade tree philosopher from the foothills of Appalachia in northeast Mississippi, mourned the loss of lives — nearly 3,000 — but also lamented how the act would “forever change our way of life.” McCoy, who first visited the Capitol as a young boy in the 1940s when his father served in the Mississippi House, predicted no longer would access to “the people’s building” be unimpeded. As a result of 9/11, McCoy said people would face security checks going into the Capitol and at other public buildings and at many private buildings and endeavors.
McCoy, who died in 2019, was right, of course, and perhaps in hindsight it did not take great foresight, which he often had, to predict that future.
In the old days, there were normally eight entrances to the Capitol unlocked and unmanned. Today, people can access the building from just two entrances — both manned with security. Though many legislators like to tout their efforts to ensure Mississippians can openly carry a weapon with no permit or training, don’t expect to carry that gun into the Capitol.
The changes made at the Mississippi Capitol because of 9/11 are not unique. Similar changes have occurred at various buildings and events throughout the country. The Capitol is just an example of how that tragic day impacted Mississippi.
People have readily accepted that infringement on their freedom to ensure their safety. It seemed as if people got on the same page soon after the tragedy of 9/11 occurred 20 years ago.
Perhaps that should not be surprising. After all, 9/11 was a life-changing day. But many, if not most, would agree the COVID-19 pandemic has also been a life-changing event. The number of people dying from the pandemic just in Mississippi is nearly three times as many as died on 9/11.
Yet people cannot or will not get on the same page on the coronavirus. Some accuse public officials of being dictators if they speak of short-term mask mandates or of temporary shutdowns. They argue about infringement of their rights if anyone — government official or private entity — suggests a vaccination requirement, even though for decades vaccines have been required to enter kindergarten, enroll in college or, in some instances, to travel to a foreign country.
“This is still America, and we still believe in freedom from tyrants,” Gov. Tate Reeves proclaimed on social media of President Joe Biden’s plan to require certain private businesses to mandate that their employees be vaccinated.
The governor did not address whether we have been living in tyranny for decades because of other federal regulations, such as requiring certain private employees to wear steel-toed boots or other regulations. The regulation for a worker to wear a steel-toed boot protects the toes of that individual worker, while requiring an employee to be vaccinated could provide protection for multiple people.
On Sept. 11, 2001, the events of the day had an immediate impact at the Mississippi Capitol and brought people together. Late on that day, then-Gov. Ronnie Musgrove and Attorney General Mike Moore had a joint news conference even though the two Democrats were viewed as rivals in part because Moore was considered a possible challenger to Musgrove’s re-election effort.
Musgrove recently said he does not remember the details of the news conference — not even the reason for the location of the event. On what was already an unprecedented and surreal day, the rivals held their news conference on the east side of the Capitol by one of those doors that eventually would become permanently locked. It was the first and only time for a news conference to be held in that spot.
Musgrove recently said Moore asked him to join him for the news conference because of reports of price gouging. It was reported that the Attorney General’s office received more than 2,000 calls about gasoline price gouging that day as rumors circulated that the attack would impact the supply chain.
“It was to highlight that it (price spiking) was illegal,” Musgrove said. “It seemed like an appropriate thing to do though I was more focused on security risks related to 9/11.”
When it comes to COVID-19, it is hard to get on the same page on how to address those security risks.
Gov. Tate Reeves said he intends to be among a group of Republican governors suing President Joe Biden to block the president’s effort to require certain businesses to mandate their employees be vaccinated for COVID-19 or tested weekly.
“We are going to use every tool at our disposal, litigation, which I am not a big fan of ordinarily, but litigation, et cetera,” Reeves said late Friday afternoon during a hastily called news briefing on the lawn of the Governor’s Mansion.
Biden announced on Thursday a plan to try to increase the rate of COVID-19 vaccinations in the nation that included:
The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration mandating private companies with more than 100 employees have their workers to be vaccinated or have them take a COVID-19 test weekly.
Mandating most federal employees and private contractors to the federal government be vaccinated.
Requiring health care facilities that receive federal Medicare and Medicaid payments have their staffs vaccinated.
The governor, who in the past has said he opposes vaccination mandates even though Mississippi has multiple such requirements for school children and college students, refined his answer Friday afternoon. He said those state requirements were approved by the Mississippi Legislature, not just by one person.
Reeves said Biden’s actions were those of a “tyrant.”
“Every tyrant in history has said what they are trying to do is in the best interest of the people,” Reeves, the first-term governor, said. “Where does it stop? What does the president of the United States not have the ability to do? What else can he unilaterally force you to do? … This is not called a representative form of government, that’s not called a true democracy. That is tyranny.”
Reeves, a constant defender of former President Donald Trump, would not answer when asked if it was more tyrannical to try to mandate someone take a vaccine or try to overthrow an election as Trump tried to do.
“That seems to be a false choice,” Reeves said. “…I haven’t tried to do either one of them so I really can’t comment on it.”
Reeves said Biden had in the past said he would not try to impose a vaccination mandate and accused the president of breaking his promise. He also said the president announced the plan to divert attention from the United States’ withdrawal from Afghanistan, which Reeves called an “absolute disaster.”
The governor said a lawsuit could not be filed until the president actually issues the executive order.
“I anticipate we will see a large number of states, and quite frankly all states should be involved in this litigation,” Reeves said. He added, “We can’t sue until there is actually an order. At this point we don’t know even what the order will say .. We don’t know when it will be enacted, or when it is going to end if ever.”
The Biden administration has said OSHA will use emergency powers it has been granted by Congress to initiate work force safety changes to ensure the protection of workers.
Of the plan of Republican governors to sue him, Biden said Friday, “Have at it.” He added, “I am so disappointed that, particularly, some Republican governors have been so cavalier with the health of these kids, so cavalier with the health of their communities. We’re playing for real here. This isn’t a game.”
Some Republican governors have tried to block school districts or other entities from imposing mask mandates or in some instances vaccination mandates.
In Mississippi, Reeves has refused to impose any mandates during the recent coronavirus surge, but has not tried to block school and local governments from doing so.
Governor Tate Reeves announced on Friday that he’s extending Mississippi’s state of emergency order for an additional 30 days.
About a month ago, Reeves extended the emergency order after several state officials publicly expressed concern that allowing it to expire — as he had previously announced he would do on Aug. 15 — would adversely affect several COVID-19 response and relief efforts.
Leaving the emergency order in place is essential to keeping the COVID-19 System of Care Plan, which allows a coordinated effort by Mississippi health care leaders to direct patients to open hospital beds throughout the state. It also enables expanded access to telemedicine and the option for the use of the Mississippi National Guard, which were deployed earlier in the pandemic.
The emergency order also allows local school boards and State agencies to provide paid leave to staff for issues related to the pandemic.
The announcement comes as Mississippi’s COVID numbers are on a downturn after a brutal August that saw the healthcare system on the verge of collapse. Reeves said in June that he would let the emergency order expire on Aug. 15, but reversed course due to the crisis the state is facing.
Mississippi remains one of the least vaccinated states in America, though the vaccination rate has increased substantially in recent weeks due to the threat posed by the delta variant.
Reeves has said that the coronavirus has turned “into a pandemic of the unvaccinated” but continues to oppose vaccination requirements and mask mandates.
U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Bolton, Mississippi’s longest serving member of Congress, has told state legislators that he would prefer that all of Hinds County be placed in his district.
State legislators will attempt to redraw the state’s four congressional districts early in the 2022 session to match population shifts found by the recently completed U.S. Census. Both the U.S. Constitution and state law mandate that all of a state’s congressional districts have close to the same population.
Thompson’s 2nd District, which includes much of the Mississippi Delta and a large portion of Hinds, the state’s most populous county, is the only one of the state’s four congressional districts to have lost population since 2010.
According to information compiled by Chism Strategies, a Mississippi-based polling and political consulting firm, Thompson’s district is 65,829 short of the ideal district size of 740,319 people.
Based on Census numbers:
The 1st District, which includes much of north Mississippi, including the Memphis suburb of DeSoto County in northwest Mississippi, and the Tupelo area in northeast Mississippi, is 17,913 people more than the ideal size.
The 3rd District, which stretches from east Mississippi to southwest Mississippi and includes much of the Jackson metro area, is 10,719 more than the ideal size.
The Gulf Coast-based 4th District has been the fastest growing district, 37,196 more than the ideal size.
Thompson, the state’s sole African American member of Congress, recently spoke to legislators who were holding public hearings to garner input before beginning their task of redrawing the U.S. House and state legislative districts. He told them he would prefer all of Hinds County be placed in his district.
“I have part of Hinds County. If you look at Hinds County — just give me Hinds County and you are pretty close to having it,” Thompson said, referring to having the “ideal” number of residents in his district. “I live in Hinds County. I have lived all my life in Hinds County… I think communities of interest are vitally important” to stay together in redistricting.
According to Census data, 31,150 Hinds County residents are in District 3, currently represented by U.S. Rep. Michael Guest of Rankin County. If those Hinds County residents were moved to Thompson’s district, he still would be about 35,000 residents short of the “ideal size.” Legislators still would have to look to other areas of the state to add more people to Thompson’s district.
Whether legislators would opt to move north into DeSoto and Tate counties to acquire those residents, southwest into the Natchez area or east will be watched closely.
Sen. Hob Bryan, D-Amory, a member of the Joint Legislative Redistricting Committee, said it is not clear what path legislators will opt to take to pick up those residents for District 2, but that the intent will be to ensure the district remains predominately African American.
Mississippi has a Black population of about 37%, so it would be difficult for state leaders to justify to the federal courts not having an African American majority district.
But when legislators take people from one district, it will create a domino effect that most likely will impact all of the congressional districts at least slightly because the goal is to be as close to the “ideal size” as “practicable,” according to the law.
