Jackson Jambalaya

Gotta disagree with you here KF; he if wants to commute that far, he needs to do it on his own dime. And while maintaining loyalty to his family is commendable, he's only doing what he's supposed to do.

This should come as no surprise to anyone. Politician shows some stones and steps on some toes. Some of them get mad and run to newspaper with a scoop. Newspaper takes bait. rinse. repeat.

He has use of the state vehicle for official business. I do believe that travelling to and from work is covered. In all my years of having a company car, miles used in normal commute to and from workplace office were not covered under official use, unless I had meeting in advance, or conducted some business prior to arrival at the office. I was lucky, stopping at a gas station was considered work.

Also, my home was my office. All miles were conducted under the auspices of business.

The state may be a bit more lax in their rules, I don't know. If it is a situation where the miles are considered personal miles, they just need to be deducted. Also, given the security concerns outlined earlier, he probably should have permission to utilize the auto for safety reasons, and not have to incur personal expense to do so.

KF you are right on target!!!

law is law. if you're going to enforce one, you have to enforce them all. i'm sorry, but if he chooses to live in laurel, he's welcome to do that, but not on my dime.

if he was a democrat, you guys would have been all over him.

if he was a democrat, you guys would have been all over him.

bullshit myers. pull your head out.

In the article, Mr. Pickering noted that he doesn't use his state car for carpooling the kids to school. That shows me he knows the rules and follows them. It can be really tempting to throw the kids in the car to take them to school and save a few minutes, but it is against the rules if driving state vehicles.

The law is the law. He should NOT be using his state issued vehicle for personal use...period. I don't care who the opposition is, it's still the law and for him to talk about not using the car to take the kids to school show he knows the law. Even if he does not know the law, (which he does) ignorance is no excuse. This looks like a classic double standard to me.

All this talk of "law is law". Has anyone bothered to actually look at the law? It clearly states he can take the car home because it is designated as an essential need in case of an emergency. He also clearly stated that he was careful to use his own personal vehicle around town, and taking his kids to school. The picture I saw was of the car parked in his garage. It looked pretty secure to me.

This article is right on, the CL article was a hit piece, and whoever brought it to Mitchell's attention probably made it look like some explosive thing. Mitchell didn't do his homework and show that it clearly is within the law for the auditor to use the vehicle. Therefore, he either knowingly, or unwittngly participated in the attemtpted character assasination. He should investigate his sources connections. I wonder if they are riding in a taxpayer funded vehicle.

I would argue the auditor's duties, as well as those of the AG, Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Secretary of State, are statewide duties and require him to be all over the state at any time.

For that matter KF, any statewide elected office.

Why isn't Mitchell asking why an empty suit (a stiff) like Sup 1 Robert Graham needs a car?

I didn't read the piece as a slam on Pickering -- I thought it was more about how one state official who is given a car is VERY careful about how he uses it. I thought what was written about Pickering read as contrast to the officials who use their state cars to take the family on vacation. If anything, Pickering came out as seeming like someone who takes his job very seriously.

9 times out of 10 this type of story began with a tip given to the reporter by someone else. Big surprise. Reporters loves feuds and political campaigns because they both usually produce people wanting to dish the dirt.

It doesn't matter how fair Mitchell was, the fact is the average reader will remember a story questioning Pickering's use of a state car, regardless of how well Pickering acquits himself in the story.

As for graham, what about all supervisors?

The C-L back in July 09 layed off a lot of everyday working folks. This was not the first round but the second. Now let just look at from July 09 until today, how many times have you seen article's written with God's byline (Mitchell). No many! So how does he with his quite large salay and benifits package keep his job, when the pepole that showed up every day, put in a full day, they get poked in the eye with a sharp stick?

Well, I'm thankful he took the car home because if he were to leave it parked in Jackson it wouldn't be there when he got back!

This would be a State Elected Job where one is on duty 24/7. Now the law needs clarification, and do we need a judge to come in on this and clarify it to see if Auditor Pickering doesn't have an office in his house of which he works out of many hours a month. As a tax payer I would say he should indeed have a State issued car..

Now, whose the person flaunting the floozies?

This may be a stupid question, but is he a state "employee"? My understanding was that the statewide elected constitutional officers were not "employees", but directly accountable to the voters.

I concur - let's hear more dirt about flaunting the floozies ;-)

FLOOZIES! FLOOZIES! FLOOZIES!

And FWIW, I personally believe that Pickering should be able to use the car. His safety and his ride around the state, eventually landing him at home, should be covered expense. The rural nature of this state demands that we do this otherwise, our best and brightest would be coming out of downtown Jackson. Harvey!?@@#!?

Though many like to think so, Jackson is NOT the center of the state. The state does not revolve around Jackson. Asking a statewide elected official to sacrifice moving his family to Jackson is completely egotistical. I'm glad he instead chooses to continue to support small town Mississippi by living in Laurel. If you are going to argue about his use of a state issued car to drive to Jackson for work then what about mileage rates that reps and senators get everytime they drive to the Capital and sign their names in the book only to turn around and drive right back home?

I would like to see a picture of a floozie getting out of her parked car in a handicapped spot.

I would like to see a picture of a floozie getting out of her parked car in a handicapped spot.

That deserves a Boom!

I thought the CL did the story simply because Pickering has been auditing other officials' vehicle use, finding that other officials have certainly been abusive of the privilege. Only fair that someone look into his use of a state vehicle - like policing the policeman.

I didn't think it was a slam piece, but it wasn't favorable to Pickering either. Why would the auditor's office have gaps in the vehicle log? You'd think they'd know better than that, which is why I thought it sounded off.

No one is off limits for scrutiny. If everything is above board explain the gaps in the log book. There will always be negative press for those outside the inner circle of the state paper. Get used to it and move on.
Or better yet ignore it.

GMAFB. I can just imagine if Jim Hood said he was using a state vehicle "for security's sake."

JJ would be giving Hood the mockery he would so richly deserve.

Partisanship makes people stupid. Don't give in to it. Call 'em as they are, not as you wish they were.

(Leaving aside how anyone's safety was ever enhanced by commuting on Hwy 49. Jaysus.)

David Huggins, director of investigations for the auditor's office, said he has control over the car and that Pickering "uses it just as the past auditor did."

Does it make a difference if you commute to Jones County or Rankin County? Nope.

1:18PM I fail to see your point of partisanship. Damn you JFPers. Point of this article is to demonstrate that the CL and JFP (given your comment) are both partisan. At least here ALL the relevant facts are presented, whereas at the two Tablogs you only get the spoon feeding they want you to have.

Here is a perfect example...

From Donner K:

Adam just asked me to add the following clarification to the above story to make it clear that David Watkins is not arrears on rent, which the original story implied more than it made explicit. We apologize for any confusion:

Watkins said Watkins and Young PLLC was not behind in payments at the time of Watkins’ 2008 departure from the firm. Jason Goree, vice president of Watkins Development LLC, said Watkins Development is not behind in any payments to JRA for the company’s offices housed in Union Station.

If you go read the article with that omitted, the piece implies nothing good, it read like it meant to solicit ill will towards the good Mr. Watkins.

When is Watkins going to move his offices to Metrocenter?

12:49--Don't think that just because the whole state system for state cars is being examined that they are looking for something in particular. Remember when the CL decided to audit state cell phone use and proved to everyone that Musgrove was having an affair? Don't tell me about their investigations not being politically motivated---they generally are.

Speaking of Neshoba, on the morning of Thursday July 29th one of the State's airplanes flew from the Jackson International Airport to the airport in Philadelphia and turned around and came back that night. A 12-20 minute flight. BTW - it's quite a drive just to get to the fairgrounds from the Philadelphia airport. Why not have some drive? It probably would have taken the same amount of time with stops, etc.

Does that sound like a good use of resources?

He should leave his state car at the office and commute in his personal car. He probably should not have a car permanently assigned to him.

I think Pickering is a fine guy.....Clarion Ledger please cover more meaningful stories than this tabloid garbage.

It better than still tons of cash from tax payers....

"Fine guys" don't steal from the state. Converting a state vehicle to personal use is stealing. It is wrong.

Here's the "law" -- actually an excerpt from the Miss. Dept of Finance and Admin's "Fleet Manual":

"4.103.01 Individual Commute
An individual commute assignment is only authorized when it is the most cost-effective or practical
alternative. State owned vehicles may not be used in a commuting capacity solely by virtue of an
employee’s job title or position. A commute vehicle cannot be part of a compensation or administrative
package. Before any approval for commuting in a State vehicle will be considered, at least one or more
of the following conditions must exist: Law Enforcement, Specialized equipment, Twenty Four Hour
on Call, Virtual Office."

So, does one of the conditions for commuting approval apply?

Lemme' guess. We are now going to go down the path of defining "illegal immigrant." Get lost.

Pickering is the State Auditor... the one who is supposed to enforce the statutes.... if it is even questionable, then he should not be using his state automobile to commute home.

His actions should set the standard against which all others are measured!

Do all other elected state officials drive vehicles provided by the taxpayers?

Word on the street is the leading Democratic office-holder in the state, not Congress, was behind this one.

Damn you JFPers.

Like I said, partisanship makes people stupid. I scoff at the JFP and the self-important Donna Ladd.

3:58 said it well: we should expect more than mere legality from our state's elected officials.

In response to 10:42...
Thanks for providing the rest of the information. I believe that Pickering does fall within the 24-hour on call status.
If you think that an auditor does not need be on call, think again. In times of emergencies and natural disasters, the State Auditor will be expected to respond immediately to reduce the financial risks associated with accounting for expenses incurred by the State for reimbursement from the Feds. Money talks and sh%t walks. If the State Auditor is not on call 24/7, then we may be in sad shape for securing Federal funds available for emergencies in our State, such as Katrina, floods, tornadoes, etc.

We can only wish that the C-L would do an analysis and report on how much time is spent in the AGs office cruising Internet porn sites. And NO, it isn't merely to enforce our laws.

Jerry is milquetoast. His quick hits miss any real point. Gosh he bores me.