Republican Lieutenant Governor candidate and long-time State Senator Billy Hewes called on his opponent, Treasurer Tate Reeves, to stop complaining about the state bond debt and claimed Mr. Reeves approved 415 out of 418 bond votes on the Bond Commission. Steve McDill of the Mississippi Business Journal shot this video of the press conference yesterday:
The Tate Reeves campaign immediately fired back with this press release:
"In case you missed it, Billy Hewes held a press conference today in which he said Tate Reeves didn’t vote ‘no’ often enough on the state bond commission to prevent the state from issuing all of the debt that Hewes voted to authorize in the state legislature.
The Facts:
During the first 12 ½ years of Billy Hewes’ long career as a state legislator, the state’s total bonded indebtedness grew more than 392% (14.21% annually).
During the last 7 ½ years of Billy Hewes’ long career as a state legislator, the state’s total bonded indebtedness grew 18% (2.1% annually).
The difference? Tate Reeves has served as State Treasurer for the last 7 1/2 years, and Haley Barbour has served as Governor.
All debt issued by the state bond commission must first be authorized by the state legislature, and during 20+ years as a legislator, Billy Hewes has rarely if ever seen a bond bill or a spending bill he didn’t like.
During the last 7 1/2 years under Haley Barbour and Tate Reeves, the state’s total debt increased by less than $600 million while the legislature authorized more than $3.4 billion in new debt in the same period. The increase in debt was related to bonds issued as part of successful economic development programs which brought Toyota, Paccar, Severstal and other major employers to the state, creating billions in new capital investment.
As Treasurer, Tate Reeves has worked to save taxpayers millions in interest costs and has advocated for only increasing the state’s debt for essential economic development and job creation efforts. In fact, Reeves fought publicly with the Democrat Speaker of the House over the bond commission’s authority to issue debt in ways that save taxpayers millions of dollars.
“Proactive debt management has reduced our interest costs and saved taxpayers millions. After 20 years in the state legislature and hundreds of votes for billions in more spending and debt, it’s heart warming to know that Senator Hewes has now finally realized with 50 days to go in this campaign that we need to reduce our debt burden,” Tate Reeves commented.
Reeves campaign manager Justin Brasell said, “Tate Reeves is campaigning around Mississippi every day talking to voters about why he should be Lt. Governor, not why someone else ought not to be. It’s sad that Billy Hewes has resorted to these kinds of false, negative attacks in order to distract voters from his big-spending record as a career legislator. Voters won’t like Hewes’ negative campaign, and we’re confident we’ll see that reflected at ballot boxes across the state on August 2nd.”
Nice attack yesterday by Mr. Hewes. Anytime the state bond debt is discussed for more than 10 seconds in such a campaign is good news to me. I'd rather see these kinds of discussions than who had the cutest kids in the ads or how to pronounce someone's name. The truth is Mr. Hewes is correct in stating how many times Mr. Reeves voted to approve bond requests. However, Mr. Reeves is also correct in pointing out Mr. Hewes was around for all of those bond bills in the legislature as well. Mr. Reeves also noted the rate of growth in bonded indebtedness during Hewes tenure in the legislature.
Without realizing it, Mr. Reeves made a good point for Republicans running the legislature: The state bond debt only grew at a rate of 2.1% annually when Republicans ran the Senate (yes, that would mean Amy, Phil, and by extension, the Pro-Tem of the Senate- Mr. Hewes) and grew 14.1% when the Democrats had their way.
Looks like the race for Lieutenant Governor is finally heating up. I wonder if in their next debate they will say "We who are about to die salute you."
31 comments:
The truth is that we don't have a bonded indebtedness problem in Mississippi. Hewes's complaint about the Reeves ads is directed to the disingenuous nature of those ads, in which Reeves fails to own up to his part in the issuance of the bonds. When his hand was called on it, Reeves resorted to some juvenile smart-ass response, which reveals his true personality. He's just some political hack who couldn't make a living in a real job, so he set his sights on the Senate seat now held by Thad, and is using lower offices as stepping stones. I hope the voters are smart enough to see that.
I'd be curious to know Reeves's votes on PERS funding, too. Did he vote in favor of or against taxpayers picking up more of the tab through employer payments? Are those votes public?
I think they are both creating a boogie man with the debt issue. MS has, under Barbour, managed its spending and associated debt very well. Both are party to the decision making process surrounding MS's success. Both look petty on this one. How about they address SLURP. This would show me that they are paying attention to the real "pork".
My question would be, what did we get for the bond debt? If the Democrats ran up that debt building 4-lanes around the state, that seems like a prudent use of money.
I met Mr. Hewes and his charming wife a few days back, and while I am of course a Democrat, I think he seems much more likely to succeed at Lt. Gov than Reeves would be. I can imagine the state senate not taking very well to Reeves.
Electing Reeves will be an exponentially larger mistake than electing Bryant.
I bet Tate and Billy will control their chairmen, or wouldn't screw up redistricting despite what Alan says over at YP.
Tate will be eaten alive by the Senate. He would not have a chance, no experience, looks and acts weak. I am telling all he will not be a good Lt. Governor.
I don't know about him being a pushover. I've seen him in action twice and both times saw backbone. First time was when Cecil Brown went after him during a hearing on MPACT. Well, Tate stood there, took it, and gave it right back to Cecil. Met him fact for fact and didn't play around. Then during the water bond story, Tate stood up to Harvey and the media when they ganged up on him. Had hte CL, JFP, and MBJ slamming him on editorial pages, Harvey going off on him, didn't matter, he didn't back down because he was actually right. You never know until the bullets fly how someone actually does and guys that were tall and proud soldiers in garrison aren't always the ones you want with you out in the field.
Put a bag of cheeseburgers plus some pizzas in front of Reeves and you can name your price.
Standing up to folks is necessary, but not sufficient. Cajoling senators requires a range of skills, from confrontation to flattery.
I don't know that Reeves would be a bad LG, but I don't see much reason to bet on him when Hewes is a candidate.
... Frankly, the older I get, the more I mistrust these young guys, of whatever party.
I have what's probably a really dumb question. Given that Mississippi is *required* to balance its budget annually, how can bonds (i.e., debt) come into the picture at all?
It is a shame that Billy has resorted to attacking Tate rather than putting forth the positive about himself. I think Tate's response so far has been very professional and shows character.
It is a shame that Tater has accomplished so little in two terms.
11:58, bond indebtedness doesn't effect the balanced budget requirement except as to the amount paid for debt servicing. In other words, using you or me or some other homeowner as an example, the total amount of money you borrowed on your house doesn't effect your monthly budget. Only the amount of the mortgage payment each month effects your budget.
Each year the state's "mortgage payment" on those bonds effects the state budget, which they call "debt servicing."
SOOOOOO, the more bond indebtedness the state issues, the more their mortgage payments each year will be and the more they'll have to pay for debt servicing. That's how bonds come into the picture when it comes to the state budget. It's a drip, drip, drip over time that can lead to a flood if they issue too many bonds.
Tate needs to quit complaining about Bonds when he approved them. Billy is just pointing out that Tater is just a hypocrite.
Tater doesn't sound convincing on SupertalkMS this morning.
Tate didn't sound overly impressive, but I almost give him a pass for having to deal with Gallo. It took Gallo 15 minutes to understand the bonding process. The guy is dense.
Gallo was only playing dumb. Reeves was tripping because he understood the tricky nature of what Gallo was asking. Supertalk wants Bryant, Bryant wants Hewes therefore Supertalk wants Hewes.
Speaking of dumb things...Has anyone seen Billy's new ad? Yeah, its sweet an cute, but we are less than 50 days out and he is talking about college savings? I know the voters of Mississippi are basing their decision for LT. Guv on where his son is going to school and all....Really? People are worried about debt, unemployment and a wide scope of other things. With ads like this, you wonder what brains are running his camp. Keep this up Billy, and you will lose by double digits.
Gallo was alot harder on Reeves than Hewes. Hewes' campaign is getting no where, so he has to start attacking or else he is finished. Reeves seems to come out of this "above the fray" in my opinion.
The best person for the job doesn't always win. That will be the case when Reeves gets elected. What a shame.
I agree that Gallo was tougher on Reeves than Hewes. He tried to take the politics out of it for Reeves by making him explain procedure and technicalities.
You can't expect Tater to be on top of his game @ 7:30 in the morning. He hasn't had a chance to get himself going with coffee and a half-dozen cheeseburgers that early.
Gallo did a great job this am of trying to keep Tate on point. Tate kept citing what " the legislature" did and citing voting records of the legislature. Tate also used broad statements like "virtually" all the time. Tate was the one trying to confuse the listener and Gallo kept him straight. Also new commercial is about actual legislation Hewes sponsored which saved families and tax payers money. I don't know about you, but i want to know facts such as this!
Here is a fact....Billy loses on August 2nd. We love you Billy but you need to stay here on the coast. You are giving it your best, but stay here and run for Mayor.
Ok, question! Have those of you who criticize Hewes commercials forgotten Delbert's commercials? They got him elected 4 years ago when no one thought it was possible. This campaign is just getting started and those of you that believe Hewes does not have a chance sit back and watch. You are about to get a lesson in life! Sorry! This is one race that is going to be close. I have not decided who I am voting for as of yet, but Reeves came off as an ass in his response to Hewes. I am not sure with that sort of attitude if he could ever get anything done!
Hewes' college commercial was also a subtle reminder that Reeves is very much in one school's camp.
Yep, reeves is totally a homer for millsaps!!!
Once again, Billy Hewes Krewe in DT Gulfport blogging on Jackson blogs. August 2nd cant get here fast enough. Billy needs to run against that congressman down there. I hear everyone wants him to.
How dare someone from Gulfport venture onto a "Jackson blog."
They must think there's an ongoing discussion of a statewide race here or something.
Billy Hewes needs to quit telling me about his son's college selection and tell me what he has done for Mississippi. Tell me what you are going to do for Mississippi, and now what is wrong with the other candidate.
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