Partisan politics at heart of Lt. gov. speeches
NESHOBA COUNTY – Democratic lieutenant governor candidate Tim Johnson blasted state leaders Wednesday at the Nesoba County Fair for not expanding the state’s Medicaid program and accepting federal dollars as part of the federal Affordable Care Act.
“Whether you like it or not, it’s the law of the land,” Johnson said. “It just doesn’t make sense to me for our state leaders to turn their backs on this money.”
It would create 20,000 jobs, more than the Nissan and Toyota plants combined, Johnson said.
Johnson also threw his support behind Initiative 42, a ballot initiative to force the Legislature to fully fund the state’s adequate education funding formula. The measure will be on the November ballot along with an alternate initiative passed by the Legislature in opposition to the citizen-led initiative.
Johnson, who recently switched from Republican to Democrat, said he has valuable experience as a city alderman, county supervisor and state senator.
“I want to bring decency and courage back,” Johnson said to an enthusiastic crowd of his supporters in the first few rows of the fair’s Founders Square Pavilion. Johnson, an Elvis impersonator, then closed with the hymn “How Great Thou Art.”
The man Johnson would like to replace, incumbent Republican Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves, told an enthusiastic fair crowd that he had a surprise for them. That surprise: “You are looking at a lieutenant governor who has kept his promises.”
“Liberal Democrats can’t stand Republican progress,” Reeves said. “They see lower taxes, and they can’t stand it. They see a full rainy-day fund and they can’t stand it.”
Reeves said Democrats can’t stand fiscal responsibility. He continued, “That is the reason voters in Mississippi have told you they can’t stand you in higher office.”
Reeves said House Democrats blocked tax cuts he pushed this year, but he vowed to continue to push “giving Mississippi taxpayers a raise.”
Other speaking at “Mississippi’s Giant House Party” on Wednesday included:
Attorney general
Three-term incumbent Democratic Attorney General Jim Hood said he’s fought giant corporations doing wrong by Mississippi and forced them to cough up nearly $3 billion during his time in office.
His Republican challenger, Mike Hurst, said Hood has spent too much time pursuing Google and other national companies and not enough fighting corruption in Mississippi.
“Folks ask me, ‘How do you keep getting elected?’ ” Hood said. “I guess I was cut out for this job. … I was taught to fight for those who can’t fight for themselves … being a prosecutor (is) in my blood.”
Hurst said one reason he decided to run was Hood’s pathos on running again.
“He told the newspaper, ‘I was going to retire, but then Google picked a fight with me,’ ” Hurst, a former assistant U.S. attorney, said. “… He wants four more years to sue Google. That broke my heart. … It appears my opponent has sold our state attorney general’s office to Hollywood.”
Hood said his office has focused on cybercrime and stayed on the cutting edge as crime takes to the Internet. He said Google has turned a blind eye to illegal drug sales and other activity it enables.
“You’ve got to have spirit and tenacity to fight the big corporations,” Hood said. He also predicted that before the November general election where he faces Hurst, “you’re going to see their money pour into this state” for campaigns.
Hurst said Hood has been an “absentee attorney general” since he moved back to his home area of Houston and started commuting and telecommuting to the main attorney general’s office in Jackson. Hurst said as AG he would oppose “federal overreach” and the Obama administration and said Hood has not.
“We need a full-time attorney general, not a part-time attorney general,” Hurst said. “… We need a guard dog in the AG’s office, not a lap dog for President Obama.”
Hurst also questioned whether Hood has been spending campaign funds on personal expenses — as has become an issue in the state auditor’s race. Hurst said Hood has more than $209,000 in nonitemized payments to himself and credit cards over the last three off-years for elections. He said Hood takes large donations from private attorneys the AG’s office hires and if he spends campaign money on personal expenses, “he’s got some ’splainin’ to do.”
Hood, who spoke after Hurst, did not address his opponent’s comments or even mention him. He said his office has a stellar track record of fighting child exploitation, pornography and other cybercrimes and “people in our office fight for you every day.” He noted the landmark multi-billion dollar settlement Mississippi and other Gulf states recently reached with BP over the oil disaster.
Hurst said that in the U.S. attorney’s office he prosecuted corruption, including the Chris Epps Mississippi Department of Corrections bribery and fraud case.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we have a problem with public corruption,” Hurst said. “… I will fight public corruption.”
“As attorney general, I’ve recovered almost $3 billion for the taxpayers of Mississippi,” Hood said. “That didn’t come easy. It took a lot of blood sweat and tears from people in our office. I spent a lot of late nights worrying how to hold these companies accountable for harming our people, children, the elderly. I’m going to be there to fight for you … You put your faith in me as attorney general, and I hope I’ve upheld that faith, and hope I’m entitled to work for you four more years.”
Insurance commissioner
Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney said he believes his opponent, John Mosley, in Tuesday’s Republican primary is running in the wrong primary.
“I voted in the Republican presidential primary,” Chaney said. “My opponent voted in the Democratic primary for either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. I’m the true Republican in this race.”
Mosley said he wants to be insurance commissioner because he will stand up to the insurance industry. He criticized Chaney for accepting campaign money from the insurance industry.
“I’m not taking one penny from insurance companies,” Mosley said. “I will fight for you.”
Mosley, owner of Clinton Body Shop, has waged a campaign against what he says is interference from insurance companies in deciding parts auto repair shops use to repair vehicles.
Chaney said he wants to continue the job of insurance commissioner.
“I’m not afraid to tackle tough problems,” Chaney said. “As insurance commissioner, we have returned $22 million in fraud money to you.”
Chaney said experience sets him apart from Mosley.
“I think you want to trust someone who has experience instead of someone who doesn’t,” Chaney said.
Agriculture commissioner
The last speaker Wednesday was Addie Green of Bolton, who is running as a Democrat for commissioner of agriculture. Agriculture Commissioner Cindy Hyde-Smith, a Republican, is scheduled to speak today.
Green advocated adults teaching young people how to use a hoe and how to plant and cultivate a garden. She even broke out a hoe as a visual aid for her speech.
She said they should know how to grow their own food.
Central District transportation commissioner
Incumbent Central District Highway Commissioner Dick Hall spoke Wednesday, citing the need for more improvements to state bridges and the highway system.
“Most will try to preach to you sermons over the next two days on economic development,” Hall said. “Roads and bridges are economic development.”
Hall advocated that it’s time for the state to once again do a major expansion of four-lane roads and highways in the state. He said the last time a major expansion was approved was in 1987.
“An efficient highway system is one of our first needs,” Hall said.
Hall said there are several four-lane projects on hold because the state doesn’t have money to complete them.
Democratic Central District Highway Commission candidate Mary Coleman was on the program to speak Wednesday, but officials read a letter from her thanking them for the invitation but saying she was unable to make it.
Coleman, a state legislator, didn’t seek re-election to that post.
Contact Geoff Pender at (601) 961-7266 or gpender@jackson.gannett.com. Follow @GeoffPender on Twitter.