http://yallpolitics.com/index.php/yp/post/ Yall Politics - The Definitive Guide to Politics in Mississippi en staff@yallpolitics.com Copyright 2010 2010-03-12T23:39:00-06:00 http://yallsports.com/index.php/yp/post/perry_thompson_cleared/ http://yallsports.com/index.php/yp/post/perry_thompson_cleared/#When:22:39:00Z PERRY/Thompson cleared Last October, House Republicans in Washington DC sought to strip Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charlie Rangel (D-NY) of his chairmanship pending the outcome of ethics investigations into his activities. Only two Democrats joined that attempt: Travis Childers and Gene Taylor, both from Mississippi. Last week, following a public rebuke by the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct (commonly referred to as the "Ethics Committee"), Rangel stepped down from his chairmanship, heading off another Republican attempt to dethrone him - one Democratic leadership feared would succeed. In 2007 and 2008 Rangel took a corporate sponsored trip to the Caribbean Multi-National Business Conference on the island of St. Maarten. Those corporations employ federal lobbyists and the Ethics Committee determined the tropic vacation violated House gift rules. Rangel maintains he didn't know it was a corporate sponsored trip and received preapproval, but the Ethics Committee, citing memos from Rangel's staff discussing the nature of the trip, determined he was still responsible. Madison Journal 3/10/10 Metro, Headlines, DC, ElectedOfficials 2010-03-12T22:39:00-06:00 http://yallsports.com/index.php/yp/post/wapos_the_fix_childers_continues_to_look_vulnerable_and_nunnelee_appears_to/ http://yallsports.com/index.php/yp/post/wapos_the_fix_childers_continues_to_look_vulnerable_and_nunnelee_appears_to/#When:20:08:00Z Wapo's The Fix - Childers continues to look vulnerable and Nunnelee appears to be the real deal 11. Mississippi's 1st district: At the start of the 2010 election cycle, we ranked this seat and Alabama's 2nd district side by side. Both southern seats tilt heavily toward Republicans but were won by conservative Democrats able to distance themselves from the national party. Alabama's 2nd is no longer on the Line as Rep. Bobby Bright (D) continues to prove his staying power. But, Rep. Travis Childers (D) is among the most vulnerable Democratic incumbents in the country for two reasons: 1) State Sen. Alan Nunnelee appears to be the real deal and 2) Childers raised an eye-poppingly bad $110,000 in the final three months of last year. (Previous ranking: 11) Washington Post The Fix 3/12/10 Metro, Headlines, DC, ElectedOfficials, Legislature 2010-03-12T20:08:00-06:00 http://yallsports.com/index.php/yp/post/respond_fraudulent_asbestos_lawyer_a_hood_fundraising_host/ http://yallsports.com/index.php/yp/post/respond_fraudulent_asbestos_lawyer_a_hood_fundraising_host/#When:17:44:00Z Respond - Fraudulent asbestos lawyer a Hood fundraising host This week a federal jury determined William Guy and attorney Thomas Brock should pay Illinois Central Railroad Co. $420,000 in actual and punitive damages for their role in a fraudulent asbestos lawsuit. The "Honorable" William Guy was one of the hosts of this fundraiser for Jim Hood last year. Read more at Respond Mississippi 3/12/10 Metro, Headlines, DC, ElectedOfficials, Scruggs Scandal 2010-03-12T17:44:00-06:00 http://yallsports.com/index.php/yp/post/balko_ag_hood_lacks_shame_about_damages_hayne_has_done_to_miss/ http://yallsports.com/index.php/yp/post/balko_ag_hood_lacks_shame_about_damages_hayne_has_done_to_miss/#When:17:38:00Z Balko - Hood's e-mail about pathologist bill inaccurate Third, Hood is fighting his state’s Department of Public Safety and State Senate to bring back a doctor whose testimony has already led to the murder convictions of two innocent men, whose laughable testimony was thrown out of court (PDF) in a third murder case, and who has been roundly condemned by nearly every other medical examiner outside the state of Mississippi who is familiar with his work. (I’ve talked to at least 13.) Finally, Hood’s email is factually inaccurate. The bill would not address prior cases involving Hayne, as Hood implies by using the past tense of the word “involve.” It merely prevents Hayne from doing any autopsies in the future. Either Hood hasn’t actually read the bill, or he’s trying to drum up opposition by deliberately exaggerating its scope, implying that it would reopen thousands of old cases. Mississippi really should look at all of those cases, but that isn’t what this bill does. Hood not only has a complete and utter lack of shame about the damage Hayne has already done to Mississippi’s criminal justice system, he now seems determined to make sure Hayne can continue to do more. Read the e-mail and find links at: http://www.theagitator.com/2010/03/12/mississippi-ag-jim-hood-still-actively-supporting-steven-hayne/ 3/12/10 Metro, Headlines, DC, ElectedOfficials, Legislature 2010-03-12T17:38:00-06:00 http://yallsports.com/index.php/yp/post/congressman_gregg_harper_names_stanley_shows_as_campaign_director/ http://yallsports.com/index.php/yp/post/congressman_gregg_harper_names_stanley_shows_as_campaign_director/#When:15:16:00Z Congressman Gregg Harper names Stanley Shows as Campaign Director CONGRESSMAN GREGG HARPER NAMES STANLEY SHOWS AS CAMPAIGN DIRECTOR Shows to lead Harper’s 2010 re-election campaign (Jackson, Miss.)—Today, Third District Congressman Gregg Harper announced that Stanley Shows will lead his 2010 re-election campaign as Campaign Director. “Stanley’s vast experience working in the Third District has earned him the respect of people in every county, and he certainly has my confidence and trust,” said Congressman Gregg Harper. “Stanley has strong ties to the agricultural and educational institutions in our state, and he’s consistently demonstrated his ability to make a positive difference. I’m really pleased he has agreed to serve as my Campaign Director.” Stanley Shows served on Congressman Harper’s official staff in Mississippi as Director of Constituent Services and Education Liaison from January, 2009 to February, 2010. Prior to that, Shows worked as District Director for ten years for former Third District Congressman Chip Pickering from 1998 to 2008. Prior to working for Congressman Pickering and Congressman Harper, Shows worked for the United State Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development (formerly Farmer’s Home Administration) for 32 years. While employed by USDA, he held many positions including Chief of the Rural Housing Division and Assistant to the State Director. Shows is a graduate of Mississippi State University. He has been married to his wife, Tommie, for 45 years, and they have one child, a daughter-in-law and two grandchildren. Having lived in the Brandon, Mississippi area for more than 40 years, Shows is a member of Brandon First United Methodist Church. Congressman Gregg Harper was elected in November, 2008 as Mississippi’s Third District Congressman. Prior to being sworn in to Congress in January, 2009, Gregg Harper’s Republican peers elected him as the freshman representative on the Republican Steering Committee for the House of Representatives. Congressman Harper was also honored to be appointed by Republican Leader John Boehner as the only freshman to serve on the Committee on House Administration. Congressman Harper was also appointed to serve the Third Congressional District on the Committee on the Judiciary, the Committee on the Budget, the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, and the Joint Committee for the Library of Congress. For more information about Congressman Gregg Harper’s campaign, visit http://www.GreggHarper.ms Press Release 3/11/10 Metro, Headlines, DC, ElectedOfficials 2010-03-12T15:16:00-06:00 http://yallsports.com/index.php/yp/post/ca_barbour_restores_82m_to_budget/ http://yallsports.com/index.php/yp/post/ca_barbour_restores_82m_to_budget/#When:13:32:01Z Barbour restores $82M to budget JACKSON -- Gov. Haley Barbour signed legislation Thursday that would restore $82 million of the $458.5 million in spending cuts he has made to the 2010 state budget. The money, which comes from an assortment of state reserve funds, would restore $37.1 million to K-12 education, including about $2.5 million for DeSoto County schools. The bill returns $41.1 million to K-12 schools and higher education. "The difficult economic period for our state is not over," Barbour said in a statement. The legislation also includes two areas of concern to parents and teachers -- $33 million for the Mississippi Adequate Education Program and $2 million for National Board Certification for teachers. Commercial Appeal 3/12/10 Metro, Headlines, ElectedOfficials, Legislature 2010-03-12T13:32:01-06:00 http://yallsports.com/index.php/yp/post/sh_hood_opposes_a_limit_on_those_who_do_autopsies/ http://yallsports.com/index.php/yp/post/sh_hood_opposes_a_limit_on_those_who_do_autopsies/#When:13:29:00Z Hood opposes a limit on those who do autopsies Attorney General Jim Hood opposes a House bill that supporters say would require people performing autopsies in Mississippi to be national board certified. Hood has sent an e-mail to coroners and others saying the bill, which would require American Board of Pathology certification, also could affect cases involving medical examiner Dr. Stephen Hayne. Hayne has testified in cases later ruled wrongful convictions and has been criticized by the Innocence Project, a national group that assists in possible wrongful convictions and pushes for policy to prevent them. The Department of Public Safety backs HB 1456. It would grant exceptions when a certified forensic pathologist is not available within a reasonable time; for example, after a natural disaster. The Innocence Project also backs the bill. Tucker Carrington, director of the Innocence Project at the University of Mississippi School of Law, said the state’s current law, which doesn’t require the certification for autopsies, is similar to not making lawyers pass a bar exam. “If I mess up some guy’s case, there has to be some organization that can take my license,” Carrington said. “How can a bill be any less controversial? It is just asking that people be licensed.” Hood said the bill would restrict options for district attorneys. In his e-mail, he urged recipients to lobby against the measure, which would be sent to Gov. Haley Barbour to be signed into law if the House concurs with Senate changes. “This is an Innocence Project bill which threatens cases which involved Dr. Hayne,” Hood wrote. “This bill has passed the Senate and is headed to the House of Representatives. Please contact your House member and encourage him or her to defeat this bill. Our office is working diligently to stop this potentially harmful legislation.” Sun Herald 3/12/10 Metro, Headlines, DC, ElectedOfficials 2010-03-12T13:29:00-06:00 http://yallsports.com/index.php/yp/post/cl_open_meetings_bill_dies_at_miss_capitol/ http://yallsports.com/index.php/yp/post/cl_open_meetings_bill_dies_at_miss_capitol/#When:13:27:00Z Open Meetings bill dies at Miss. Capitol A House chairman has killed a bill that was designed to strengthen Mississippi’s Open Meetings laws, saying a change to the bill amounted to an end-run around his authority. The bill passed the House last week but died Thursday when Judiciary A Committee Chairman Ed Blackmon chose not to remove a hold on it before a deadline. Blackmon, D-Canton, said he was unhappy that the bill was amended on the House floor March 4. He said the change should have been made in his committee rather than on the floor. “I don’t expect you to be out here throwing amendments in when you haven’t brought the amendments up in committee,” Blackmon told The Associated Press. Clarion Ledger 3.11.10 Metro, Headlines, ElectedOfficials, Legislature 2010-03-12T13:27:00-06:00 http://yallsports.com/index.php/yp/post/in_case_you_missed_it_wsj_down_in_mississippi_no_judgerly_love/ http://yallsports.com/index.php/yp/post/in_case_you_missed_it_wsj_down_in_mississippi_no_judgerly_love/#When:13:21:00Z Down in Mississippi, No Judgerly Love About two and a half years ago, we blogged a law-review article by University of Tennessee law professor Benjamin Barton which asked whether judges “systematically” favored the interests of the legal profession. It was Barton’s contention that the answer was, well, yes, that judges did, as a group, issue rulings that favored the legal profession. It was a bold and interesting finding, and ever since then we’ve looked at rulings on lawyers and judges through a slightly different lens. And that might explain why a federal-court ruling down in Mississippi, in which one judge stuck it to another judge, prompted us to sit up and take note. Federal judge Tom Lee, who serves on the Southern District of Mississippi in Jackson, last week declined to dismiss a libel lawsuit filed against a state judge in Mississippi. That judge, Hinds County Judge Houston Patton, was sued for allegedly stating that another man, James Jennings Jr., and Jennings’s lawyer had tried to bribe Patton. Click here for the story, from the Jackson Clarion-Ledger; click here for the opinion; here for further commentary from something called Jackson Jambalaya, WSJ 3/1/10 Metro, Headlines, DC, ElectedOfficials 2010-03-12T13:21:00-06:00 http://yallsports.com/index.php/yp/post/bill_minor_storm_continues_about_port_of_gulfports_future/ http://yallsports.com/index.php/yp/post/bill_minor_storm_continues_about_port_of_gulfports_future/#When:13:19:00Z BILL MINOR: Storm continues about Port of Gulfport’s future “Pure politics” is what Clarion-Ledger columnist Sid Salter last week called a motion in a federal appeals court by a Gulf Coast housing advocacy group and the NAACP. They were seeking to reverse an action by HUD during the Bush Administration to divert over a half million dollars in Katrina low income housing funds to a grandiose expansion of the state Port of Gulfport. The question is, whose politics: Gov. Haley Barbour’s or the hundreds of Coast residents whose homes are still in shambles from Katrina’s wrath? Barbour, for whom Salter frequently serves as media apologist, two years ago had gotten the Department of Housing and Urban Development to divert $570 million in post-Katrina housing funds to an ambitious port development expansion. The plan first was conceived before Hurricane Katrina hit the Mississippi coast in August 2005. The state was handed $5.4 billion for recovery and relief by Congress after Hurricane Katrina. nems360.com Metro, Headlines, ElectedOfficials, Legislature 2010-03-12T13:19:00-06:00