Jackson Jambalaya

Update : In the interest of being fair, here is a link to an editorial in The Northside Sun, written by its publisher, Wyatt Emmerich, discussing Entergy, Mr. Fisackerly, and the common complaints about the sharp rise in fuel prices as well as Entergy's plans to build a nuclear plant:
http://www.northsidesun.com/articles/2008/08/14/news/09.txt

Original post: Hmmmm......... this is very interesting. Apparently there are some family connections between Entergy and Mississippi's First Family. The Delta Business Journal reported in its most recent issue that Haley Fisackerly, when fresh out of college and looking for a job in Washington:
" bumped into Haley Barbour and conveyed to Barbour his interest, too. (Fisackerly and Barbour are related and share the same middle name “Reeves.”) Barbour wrote a letter to Thad Cochran advising the Senator of Fisackerly’s interest in moving to Washington..."
http://www.deltabusinessjournal.com/dbj_august_08/august1.html

So the head of Entergy Mississippi is Governor Barbour's cousin. Governor Barbour's nephew ran for a position on the Public Service Commission last year (He was defeated by current commissioner Lynn Posey). Mr. Fisackerly "served as vice president of governmental and regulatory affairs for Entergy Nuclear since June 2007" before his recent promotion to President of Entergy Mississippi. http://entergy.com/News_Room/newsrelease.aspx?NR_ID=1190

No accusation of unethical or illegal conduct is being made in this post and friends that know Mr. Fisackerly speak very highly of his abilities and character. Its just very interesting that the Governor's cousin is the President of Entergy Mississippi while his nephew tries to become a Public Service Commissioner (thus responsible for approving Entergy's rates) and the Governor signs into law a bill that allows Entergy to increase our rates for a nuclear plant with no guarantee it will be built.

By the way, while Entergy is reducing its fuel adjustment somewhat, it is enjoying record profits. WAFB reports:
"A review of Entergy records for the first six months of 2008 show Entergy profits are up 25 percent compared to the same time last year.From January 1, 2008 to June 30, 2008, Entergy took in $6.1 billion dollars in revenue, records show...
And Entergy is forecasting its profits will be even bigger in the second half of 2008, Entergy Chairman J. Wayne Leonard said in a message to stockholders. That would be another 25 percent increase on top of profits in the first half of 2008.
While the company showed dramatic increases in profits so far this year, actual residential sales of electricity during the second quarter rose only two percent. That includes what Entergy calls a "weather adjusted basis."
http://www.wafb.com/Global/story.asp?S=8837480

Note: It was asked of me why I posted this information as some of the post looked like an attempt to smear people based on family relationships. I can assure you such is not the case. This is Mississippi, which at times seems like an extended family and relationships more often than not do mean something. Several friends of mine know Mr. Fisackerly quite well and have made it clear he is a very talented individual as well as being a great guy (as one put it) and someone with strong pricinciples and moral character. The information reported above was published by the Delta Business Journal and has been discussed by radio talk show hosts on their programs. Its out there. However, many times blogging on politics is about connecting the dots, something that reporters too often do not do. The point of the post was to show the relationships involved in an issue that has drawn the interest of many Mississippians. Frankly, if I had to make a bet, I don't think the Haleys cooked up something. Now if you told me a certain relative of Haley's ran for Public Service Commission because saw what he thought was a possible opportunity to take advantage of these relationships, especially when his wife is the subject of an FBI investigation and was also the subject of some controversy over her obtaining FEMA contracts, I would be more inclined to believe that scenario as every large political family tends to have a loose cannon. However, when Entergy is the subject of much debate, I do think that pointing out the relationships is appropriate and can be done so tastefully. One can only imagine what a certain publication in this town would have written on this subject and how far they would have gone in their histrionics.