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Shad White speaks at the Westin Jackson Tuesday, November 5, 2019.

For at least the sixth time since last spring, State Auditor Shad White has formally warned the Mississippi Department of Education about their enforcement of rules and administrative spending.

In this case, White sent a letter to Gov. Tate Reeves and legislative leaders voicing concern that MDE is forcing local school districts to buy their technology from only certain companies or risk losing reimbursement.

“I have concerns that the Mississippi Department of Education (MDE) has ignored state law and made it more difficult for schools to purchase technology using the Coronavirus Relief Funds (CARES Act) appropriated by the Legislature,” White wrote in the Aug. 24 letter.

School districts are in the process of purchasing computers after the Mississippi Legislature this year passed a law enacting the “Equity in Distance Learning Act” as the COVID-19 pandemic has forced many schools to pivot to online learning.

Rogelio V. Solis, AP

Carey Wright, State Superintendent of Education, answers questions about staffing during a legislative working group hearing centering on agencies personnel and their cost effectiveness, Thursday, Sept. 8, 2016, at the Capitol in Jackson.

State Superintendent Carey Wright called the letter “inaccurate and devoid of all context about the intent of this law,” in a statement released by the MDE responding to White’s accusations.

White’s letter explained that the department was to set up a list of approved vendors for school districts to purchase laptops and other technology needs in light of increased virtual learning caused by COVID-19. Districts could either buy off that list, or could also purchase items from vendors not on that list, as long as they meet certain criteria.

“The Office of the State Auditor has learned that MDE has decided that no school — regardless of whether they meet the criteria — may purchase technology outside of MDE’s preferred list and be reimbursed,” White’s letter reads.

It also says that, “robbing districts of this flexibility will slow down their ability to buy computers for students who may need to learn at home. Multiple districts have contacted my office about this issue. Two districts have informed us that buying from MDE’s favored vendors will cost tens of thousands of dollars more than they would otherwise have to spend.”

During an Aug. 6 State Board of Education meeting, Department of Education officials went into great detail about how they selected the vendors to supply the state with necessary technology.

It boiled down to three main categories: could the company deliver a large volume in a short timeframe, did the company have experience in dealing with a large, complex order such as this, and what the company’s strategy was for delivering thousands of computers all across the state.

In their responding press release, MDE on Tuesday disputed that it was not allowing districts to purchase devices from vendors outside of the ones that they chose.

To do that, local school districts have to demonstrate to MDE that those products have the “software, security and support features of products on the (preferred vendor list), meet or exceed the technological specification and functionality required by the MDE, and can be purchased at a price that is less than any of the prices listed on the (preferred vendor list),” the press release read.

“The intent of the legislation is for MDE to use the buying power of the state so individual school districts are not competing against each other to find a vendor who can guarantee delivery of computers by within the deadline set by the law,” said Jason Dean, chairman of the Mississippi State Board of Education. “School districts around the country are having their computer deliveries delayed because millions of people around the world are all trying to buy computers at the same time.”

Hours after the department released its statement, White shot back a response with documents attached in a press release, showing multiple documented instances where the department said districts could not buy from vendors outside of the ones MDE has approved.

One attachment was an internal MDE email that said the state department negotiated these contracts based on what local districts said they needed and that after the contracts are signed, “districts should not purchase items on the (MDE preferred vendor list) from other vendors.”

In his response, White said he was glad that MDE has reversed course.

“Today MDE wrote a press release finally acknowledging that schools do not have to buy from MDE’s preferred vendors. I’m glad they changed their position, even if it did take them being called on the carpet. I hope this will give school districts at least some flexibility to buy outside of MDE’s favored vendor list.”

The post Auditor: MDE ‘ignored state law’ surrounding COVID-19 spending on technology appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Eric J. Shelton/Mississippi Today, Report For America

Mike Espy, former congressman and former U.S. agriculture secretary.

Dozens of potential Mike Espy donors listened as Stacey Abrams, the Mississippi native and Georgia activist who was earlier tabbed as a possible running mate to Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, spoke on a virtual fundraising call on May 29.

“We know that if we do the work now, that if we invest now in Mike Espy and his vision for Mississippi, we don’t just change Mississippi, we change the South. And when we change the South, we change America,” Abrams said of Mississippi’s Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate.

The Abrams fundraiser was one of more than 40 virtual events the Espy campaign has hosted in 2020, as campaigns across the nation scramble during the pandemic to engage voters and generate enthusiasm. 

Working to do just that and share his vision with Mississippians, Espy has built as large a campaign organization as any statewide Democrat in the state’s history. As of this week, the campaign has hired 15 full-time staffers — at least twice as many staffers as his opponent, incumbent Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith.

READ MORE: Up in the polls during pandemic, Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith’s campaign lays low.

The campaign is managed by Joe O’Hern, a nationally sought-after Democratic political operative with experience from presidential politics down to local politics. O’Hern has hired a mix of strategists with both national and home-grown experience, and the campaign staff make-up is 60% people of color and 66% women.

Separate from the campaign, the state Democratic Party’s coordinated campaign — a team of mostly field staffers that uses funds from the national party to support the state’s candidates — has built an even larger staff that will directly benefit Espy’s candidacy. The coordinated campaign has hired more than a dozen full-time staffers and has plans to have 30 total staffers in place before Election Day. They will focus completely on direct voter outreach and turning out Democratic voters.

That team is led by Jared Turner, an experienced political strategist who has managed or worked dozens of high-profile Mississippi races.

“Electing history-making candidates up and down the ticket requires a history-making effort,” Turner said. “The Campaign for Mississippi is building an organization of Mississippians to turn out the vote in all 82 counties across our state.”

The Espy campaign’s approach during the pandemic has been centered on virtual events and conference calls, such as the one with Abrams. His campaign has hosted events including the “Mississippi Moving Forward Tour” kick-off, which had 200 participants on a Zoom call for one-and-a-half hours. It hosted a roundtable call with young Black leaders, a roundtable with education experts regarding school reopenings and the state of education in Mississippi, and a healthcare telephone town hall that drew 3,000 participants.

And when he can, Espy has shown up in person. With his wife and kids, Espy attended the June Black Lives Matter protest in downtown Jackson. He’s helped healthcare workers deliver free masks and other PPE to people in long car lines in Greenwood and Meridian.

The Espy camp’s fundraising has also turned heads in Mississippi and nationally. To date, Espy has raised $1.9 million. At this point in his race two years ago, he’d raised less than $700,000. He’s outraised Hyde-Smith in all but one campaign finance reporting period of 2020 as the incumbent struggles to raise cash.

And campaign aides say donations from Mississippians are up — a possible indication of enthusiasm for his candidacy in the state. Espy has received nearly 10 times as many contributions from Mississippi donors this cycle as he received to this point in 2018. Already this cycle, Espy has received contributions from 7,600 Mississippi donors, the campaign said. In the entire 2018 cycle, he earned the support of about 5,000 Mississippi donors.

But even with the staffing and fundraising advantages over Hyde-Smith, Espy has his work cut out for him. He’s running in one of the reddest states in the nation, where any Democrat — even one with moderate platforms — is strategically paired with national progressives with high disapproval ratings among conservatives and independents.

A Democrat has never been elected to the U.S. Senate from Mississippi in modern times, and Espy himself lost to the same opponent by seven points just two years ago.

“Espy is doing everything he can do, but there’s something to be said that there are a lot of voters who vote against the opposition more than they’re voting for someone,” said Marvin King, associate professor of political science at the University of Mississippi. “For Cindy Hyde-Smith, as long as you’re polling ahead, despite not raising as much recently, and as long as Trump is polling ahead, she can just say, ‘I’m a Trump Republican.’ That very well might be all she needs to do.”

Espy, if elected, would be just the 11th Black U.S. senator in the nation’s history. Two of them — Hiram Revels and Blanche K. Bruce — were Mississippians, but they were elected by the majority-Black Legislature during Reconstruction, not by popular vote.

While a victory in ruby red Mississippi remains elusive for statewide Democrats, the optics of the state’s 2020 Senate election — as Black Lives Matter protests demand the attention of campaigns across the nation and influence policy — seem increasingly appealing for Espy in this national moment: a Black candidate who has already broken racial barriers in his political career challenging a white incumbent who has a questionable history on race.

READ MORE: Espy places race at center of Senate campaign. How will Hyde-Smith respond?

“Given the current racial climate in America, the candidates enter the contest where race is already a salient issue and therefore neither of the candidates will be forced to incorporate such language while on the stump,” said D’Andra Orey, professor of political science at Jackson State University. “I do expect, however, each of the candidates to use such language when speaking to their base. For example, it will be impossible for Espy to speak to his base without mentioning race-specific issues such as the death of George Floyd or Breonna Taylor. Hyde-Smith, on the other hand, will be expected to mention the protests as a need for law and order.”

Despite the odds, Espy campaign leaders hope the money they’ve raised, combined with the nation’s hyper-focus on race in politics, can spark a flame in Mississippi. And several campaign staffers believe the infrastructure they’re building can benefit Democratic candidates in years to come.

“Mike Espy and the Espy for Senate campaign are dedicated to building an organization that can serve as the model for other statewide and local campaigns,” said Jacquie Amos, a former longtime staffer of the Mississippi Democratic Party and the Espy campaign’s outreach director. “This campaign is about an investment in the future for Mississippians.”

The post Mike Espy has built a robust and historic Senate campaign. Can he win? appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Eric J. Shelton/Mississippi Today

Commissioners selected this design called the “Great River Flag” as one of two finalists to become the new state flag.

After seeing five finalist designs flying over the Old Capitol on Tuesday, the flag commission on Sept. 2 will pick one of two designs to put before voters as a new Mississippi state flag.

“I think I’m going to love whichever one they pick,” said Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, who was among a small crowd outside the Old Capitol watching the five finalists hoisted up a flag pole one after the other.

Voters in November will get a chance to accept or reject either a flag with a red-white-and-blue striped shield — inspired by the state’s territorial seal of 1798 — or a magnolia blossom, the official state bloom, on a blue background with red and gold stripes. Both, as required by a new law, have the words “In God We Trust” on them.

Both also include a large, main star with a diamond in it, representing the state’s Native Americans, and 20 smaller stars, representing Mississippi becoming the 20th state in 1817.

Eric J. Shelton/Mississippi Today

The second finalist chosen on Tuesday to become the new state flag.

The commission has winnowed the choices to these two out of thousands of submitted designs.

The Mississippi Legislature, after decades of debate, voted in June to remove the 1894 state flag with its divisive Confederate battle emblem. The legislation it passed created the commission to choose a new flag to put before voters on the Nov. 3 ballot. Voters can either approve or reject the new design. If they reject it, the commission will go back to the drawing board, and present another design to voters next year.

Hosemann on Tuesday declined to say if he had a favorite among the finalists or to handicap whether voters would ratify the final picked by the nine-member commission appointed by Hosemann, the governor and House speaker.

“It’s like (other elections), the primaries will soon be over and voters will have a design to look at and discuss the underlying meaning and symbolism,” Hosemann said. “It will be with a presidential election, so we’ll have good turnout. It will be the people’s flag, and if they don’t vote for this one, then we’ll do another.”

Felder Rushing, a noted horticulturist, radio show host and writer, was among the crowd watching the five finalists fly Tuesday.

“They look better in person than on paper,” Rushing said, a sentiment held by many attendees and commissioners on Tuesday. Rushing added that he is pulling for a design with a magnolia bloom.

The commission will take public input and online polling on the two remaining designs before picking a final one on Sept. 2.

The commission has had an attorney working with finalists to make sure there are no copyright or intellectual property issues — one of the finalists weeded out Tuesday included clip-art that would have posed a problem. And the commission instructed an attorney general’s office lawyer to do a background and social media check on designers. The lawyer said he had already done a preliminary check and none had criminal backgrounds.

“We don’t want to end up being embarrassed by someone whose background is not appropriate to what we are doing,” said commission Chairman Reuben Anderson.

One group, angered that the Legislature removed the old flag without letting voters decide, has started a petition drive to resurrect by referendum the 126-year-old state flag that featured the Confederate battle emblem prominently in its design.

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Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith greets voters at a campaign event in 2018.

Incumbent Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, about two months from the November election, is keeping a low profile, riding an apparent lead in the polls and banking on proxy support from President Donald Trump’s popularity in Mississippi.

She’s so far done little public campaigning in person or virtually amid the pandemic.

“I definitely think the school of thought with (presidential candidate Joe Biden) is the same thing going on in Cindy Hyde-Smith world: Let’s lay low. We have a lead,” said Henry Barbour, longtime Republican strategist and Mississippi Republican national committeeman. “That’s a tried-and-true strategy. If you’re winning, keep your head down. That’s the same reason that (former U.S. Sen.) Thad Cochran didn’t debate Chris McDaniel in 2014. Why do it? Don’t give your opponent the platform.”

Hyde-Smith campaign spokesman Justin Brasell said Hyde-Smith “has not slowed down one bit,” is making public appearances and doing “telephone town halls and lots of small group meetings.” But many of these events are for her job as senator, which Brasell said is her main focus rather than campaigning. These tele-town halls have apparently not been widely publicized or archived for public viewing.

Hyde-Smith, who declined an interview for this article, planned to be in Gulfport for the opening of the Mississippi Aquarium this week, Brasell said, but “we really don’t have any public campaign events scheduled right now.”

READ MORE: Mike Espy has built a robust and historic Senate campaign. Can he win?

In lieu of public campaign events, Hyde-Smith has been posting “100 Accomplishments in 100 Days” to social media — listing her accomplishments as senator, such as supporting “record ICE detention capacity with no limitations on interior enforcement operations,” and helping provide hundreds of millions of dollars in grants to charter schools nationwide.

Brasell said Hyde-Smith’s campaign is up and running with offices in Jackson, Tupelo and Gulfport, has hired seven staffers and has volunteers in every county in the state. He noted campaign volunteers had a big presence at a recent boating Trump rally on the Coast, with Hyde-Smith signs on many boats and homes along with waterway for the boat parade.

Campaigning during a pandemic is uncharted territory, Brasell said, and normal retail politicking isn’t possible.

“We are anxious to get out and hold events and do normal campaign things, but she’s being super careful and following guidelines,” Brasell said. He said the campaign has received an invite to participate in a debate, but hasn’t decided if it is doable because of her Senate work schedule.

Hyde-Smith, 61, a cattle farmer from Brookhaven, was serving as state commissioner of agriculture when she was appointed by Gov. Phil Bryant in 2018 to temporarily fill the Senate seat vacated by longtime Sen. Thad Cochran. She beat Democrat Mike Espy in a 2018 special election runoff to fill out the term, becoming the first woman elected to Congress from Mississippi. Espy is challenging Hyde-Smith again this year.

READ MORE: Two months from Senate race, Hyde-Smith and Espy set wildly different strategies. 

Trump and some in the Mississippi Republican hierarchy were reportedly lukewarm on Hyde-Smith when Bryant appointed her, largely because she had served for years in the state Legislature as a Democrat. But Trump endorsed her and stumped for her in Mississippi in 2018. In turn, she has been one of his staunchest allies in the Senate, unwaveringly supporting most of his policies and defending him during impeachment hearings.

With Mississippi considered by national pundits firmly in the Trump column for November, it’s unlikely Hyde-Smith would receive the same personal help from him this cycle, but she will likely still be a beneficiary of his popularity here.

“I think this will be a big turnout because it’s a referendum on Donald Trump and how the country is doing,” Barbour said. “I think that is going to help Cindy Hyde-Smith. George Floyd, the protests, that will help Mike Espy, but I think Democratic voters in Mississippi know that Donald Trump will win Mississippi, so it’s a little hard to get low-propensity voters to show up on the Democratic side.”

In her 2018 campaign, Hyde-Smith drew national attention from some gaffes on the stump, most notably from comments she made about attending a public hanging and about voter suppression.

Nathan Shrader, political science professor at Millsaps College, said the Hyde-Smith campaign is likely to benefit from the limits on campaigning forced by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I sincerely believe this plays into her campaign strategy: attempt to limit face-to-face interaction or ways she could get in trouble like with the public hanging comments or posing wearing a Confederate cap,” Shrader said. “This limits the opportunity for things where their campaign might be forced to go into defense, making apologies or walking back things.”

Barbour said he believes Hyde-Smith will benefit from a large Republican presidential turnout and from “a clear choice” voters have in the Senate race.

“If you like the way Nancy Pelosi leads in Congress, then you want to vote for Mike Espy,” Barbour said. “If you want somebody who will vote with Donald Trump, then you want Cindy Hyde-Smith. I think for most people it’s just about that simple, and that’s clearly a Cindy Hyde-Smith advantage.”

“They are both good people, but they have differences on issues that are distinct,” Barbour continued. “Mike Espy unfortunately has taken on the positions of the liberal Democratic Party.”

The post Up in the polls during pandemic, Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith’s campaign lays low appeared first on Mississippi Today.