Ike Brown responds to new state law

Longtime Democratic political operative Ike Brown said a new state law doesn't apply to him because under the constitution a law can't be retroactive.

Brown said his message to Republicans is why are they concerned about who is serving on Democratic executive committee. "You don't see me trying to pass a law to get Republicans off their committee."

"I'm doing my job destroying Republican," Brown said. "I'm still kicking Republicans in the ass."

Brown said he was instrumental in getting Republicans out of leadership roles in Noxubee and Kemper counties. He also said there is Democratic leadership in Meridian and Columbus.

Brown is one of three Democratic Party officials convicted of felonies who the party ruled can continue to serve on their county executive committees despite a new state law that prohibits felons from serving on political executive committees.

In August, the Administrative Committee of the Democratic Party sent a letter to Ike Brown of Macon, Louis Armstrong of Jackson, and William Catledge of Houston terminating them from their county Democratic Executive Committee.

"I regret that you did not take action on your own, but in light of the letter and spirit of the law, the Administrative Committee had no choice but to take appropriate action since your membership is illegal and to do nothing would mean the Mississippi Democratic Party endorsed your breaking the law, which is false," Administrative Committee Chair Eric Powell said in an August letter to the three.

But last week, the state Democratic Party Executive Committee ruled the proper procedure hadn't been followed to remove Armstrong, Brown and Catledge from the their county committee.

"We have an elaborate process in our Democratic Party constitution," state Democratic Party Chairman Rickey Cole said of the process to remove a person from a committee. "It sets out due process rights."

Cole said the state Democratic Party can only respond to a challenge filed against the person serving on a committee.

"They were duly elected in 2012, two years before the law," Cole said. "There hasn't been a challenge filed to their election."

Also, Cole said there is a question whether the law can be retroactive since it didn't go into effect until July 1 of this year and the three individuals had been on the committees prior to the law.

But the state Attorney General's office says in an opinion issued in June that state law prohibits a person convicted of a felony from serving on a county party executive committee.

This year, House Bill 874 was passed in the legislature and signed into law by Gov. Phil Bryant. Some say the bill was aimed at Brown, political operative. It prohibits anyone convicted of a felony or a federal election crime from serving on municipal, county or state executive committees.

Last year, a bill was signed to prohibit anyone convicted of an election crime from serving on executive committees.

Brown was the central figure in the first case of its kind brought by the U.S. Department of Justice, accusing him and his then-associates on the Noxubee County Democratic Executive Committee of discriminating against white voters in a majority black county.

In 2007, U.S. District Judge Tom Lee found that Brown and his associates had violated the rights of white people under the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Part of Lee's remedy was to prohibit Brown and his associates from having any role in overseeing Democratic primaries and runoffs. That order ended in Nov. 2011.

Brown said the Justice Department also said in a letter there was impediment to him returning to the Noxubee County Democratic Executive Committee..

Last year, Brown returned as chairman of the Noxubee County Democratic Executive Committee and was serving on the Mississippi Democratic Executive Committee until he was forced off.

State Rep. Rita Martinson, R-Madison, who authored both bills, said the bill would keep Brown from returning to the state committee.

Cole said the new law is interesting. He said he believes once a person has served his or her sentence, all rights should be restored.

"It's regressive," Cole said of the law

Contact Jimmie E. Gates at jgates@jackson.gannett.com or (601) 961-7212. Follow @jgatesnews on Twitter.