Monday, March 19, 2012

Supertalk bill is dead

The Senate recommitted the "Supertalk" bill to committee last week. Such a move kills the bill. The bill would have stopped state agencies from spending money on radio and tv advertising. The legislation exempted colleges and universities, federally-funded programs, and free public service announcements from the ban. Earlier post It caused no small amount of anguish over at Supertalk (WFMN, 97.3 FM) as Paul Gallo took to the airwaves Thursday gnashing his teeth over the bill for a half hour. Well, Mr. Gallo can rest easier now as he is free to practice is free-market conservatism on one hand while getting no-bid advertising contracts with the other. However, what went unnoticed in all the debate was the second part of the bill:

"(3) The Personal Service Contract Review Board shall have the following powers and responsibilities:

(a) Promulgate rules and regulations governing the solicitation and selection of contractual services personnel including personal and professional services contracts for any form of consulting, policy analysis, public relations, marketing, public affairs, legislative advocacy services or any other contract that the board deems appropriate for oversight, with the exception of any personal service contracts entered into for computer or information technology-related services governed by the Mississippi Department of Information Technology Services, * * * and any contract for attorney, accountant, auditor, physician, dentist, architect, engineer, veterinarian and utility rate expert services. Any such rules and regulations shall provide for maintaining continuous internal audit covering the activities of such agency affecting its revenue and expenditures as required under Section 7-7-3(6)(d), Mississippi Code of 1972;

(b) Approve all personal and professional services contracts involving the expenditures of funds in excess of One Hundred Thousand Dollars ($100,000.00);

(c) Develop standards with respect to contractual services personnel which require invitations for public bid, requests for proposals
..."

The dirty little secret of state government is the money made off of consulting contracts and in this case it is so-called marketing or advertising contracts. The agency hires a consulting or marketing firm, which then has someone else produce the advertising and places it on the station. Such firms would include Bryant cronies Josh Gregory and Quinten Dickerson, the owners of Frontier Strategies.

They came in with Haley and immediately got to work using Frontier to land millions of dollars in state advertising contracts. Frontier obtained over $14 million in state advertising business since 2004 according to the Seethespending.org website. However, you might make money for Haley but you will never be off the leash with Haley soooo.... when Mr. Byrant became Lieutenant Governor, these two barnacles jumped off the Barbour ship and became the Bryant consiglieri. The Bryant campaign paid Frontier $747,119 last year during the campaign. The Bryant campaign also paid Alpha Golf Aviation $41,235 for use of its airplane. Josh Gregory is co-owner of the company and flew the Governor around during the campaign.

So was the bill an arrow aimed at Supertalk and the Bryant team or a true conservative effort to clean up the budget and save money?

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

I wonder what Tate extracted from Phil to kill this bill as we know Phil wouldnt have wanted to take this on publicly.

Hopefully, money to Frontier and other cronies will be scrutinized.

Thanks Tate for shining the light into this cesspool.

Frugal Gal said...

The best test of any person's (or party's) character is the length of time he/she holds to stated beliefs and ideology once it starts to home. People are all for the free market until their pocketbook suffers. People are all for freedom of speech until someone else says something they don't like.

I tend to trust those who consistently apply their belief systems to everything and everyone, including themselves -- I don't trust inconsistent ideologues any further than I can throw them.

Anonymous said...

It's the cheapest ticket to wealth in Mississippi. Get a state job, control the ad budget, advertise on Gallo, get all the favorable publicity you need, run for office while Gallo kisses your butt, get elected, give Gallo more money.

Shadowfax said...

Although Galleaux is a small shill in this cesspool, he is not the man behind the curtain. Dig a little deeper.....or rather a little higher.

Anonymous said...

Tate extracted ZILCH. The bill would have never made it out of committee in the House.

Anonymous said...

If Tate wanted this language, it could still be inserted into any number of general bills, or almost any appropriations bills. If Supertalk did most politicians the way they did Tate, there would be hell to pay and no one would take no for an answer.

Anonymous said...

Bottom line, Tater doesn't have the muscle to get this language into any bill actually destined to land on Bryant's desk.

Anonymous said...

Uh, you don't think this is over, do you?

Anonymous said...

It may not be over in Tater's mind but for all intents and purposes the effort, and language, is DOA in the House regardless of the vehicle.

If Tater wants to make a stand here and expose his own fanny, er, abuses while Treasurer then he's obviously free to cut his own throat.

Let's see how many Republican Senators are truly ready to spill blood for him on this because the House is never going to accept the language.

Shadowfax said...

Feel had a FOUR OHH WUN KAYE! Tate had an 'Old Cold Tater' and waited.

Anonymous said...

"these two barnacles" hahahaha
Still think it could have been a good bill IF it would have included all media (radio, print, tv), not just pick and choose media.

Anonymous said...

Does anyone wonder why Bryant is on Supertalk so much? And not just Gallo's program, all programs! It's like, "OMG, we are waiting for the governor to call"! During the election all of the program hosts treated Bryant as if he was the only candidate -(in their minds he was)! And, in the words of an earlier poster "Dig a little deeper"! It's not rocket science to see where the buck stops!

Anonymous said...

Feel and Tater sittin' in a tree...........

Anonymous said...

The Weaving is over--let's see how the Serving Mississippi works out.

Anonymous said...

Bryant has his nose so far up Steve Davenport's....

Well, let's just say you should never trust SuperTalk for any straight information about Bryant.

Bryant will see to it that Davenport & Co. will have easy access to the state treasury.


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