Jackson Jambalaya

So Bomgaars is giving BIG money to a group that says its supporting Democrats. Isn't he running for office as a republican? Since Gunn tried to put Bomgar, a home schooler, on the state school board does that mean he supports Empower Mississippi supporting democrats. Surely he knew Bomgaars (the real spelling of his last name) was a big donor and BOARD MEMBER of this group! Or did his Chief of Staff who goes to church with Bomgaars fail to mention those "little" details to him.

I'm pretty sure it's no secret that Joel's last name is Bomgaars but he uses Bomgar because that's what everyone knows. And he actually is not and never has been a board member of Empower Mississippi.

The board member names on Empower Mississippi's website have mysteriously vanished

Did I miss the part in the post where this group is supporting democrats? They flaunted a scorecard giving republicans high grades and trashing democrats.

2:24 Read the interview with Grant!!

"Courtney Streeter

Assistant to the President at Empower Mississippi

United States
Political Organization

Current

Bomgar Corporation

Bomgar Corporation
February 2014 – Present (1 year 2 months)"
https://www.linkedin.com/pub/courtney-streeter/71/25a/a65

"Courtney Streeter
ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT

Courtney is the Assistant to Grant Callen. Prior to joining the Empower Mississippi team, Courtney worked as an Assistant to the CEO at one of the fastest growing companies in North America."

http://empowerms.org/courtney-streeter-assistant-to-the-president/

"We intend to support Republicans and Democrats, incumbents and challengers, in this year's elections who support education choice policies."

2:24 Yes, indeed, you did miss it, I suspect intentionally.

Perhaps Forrest, Pat & Wanda should have thought about this when they were taking orders from Milton.

Massengill goes whichever the wind blows. Too bad there's not a good republican in that seat.

Empower Mississippi, just to let you know in case you haven't figured it out. Your done in the Mississippi legislature. And anyone who gave you money or on your board or within arms length of you is done as well. You all have got to be the dumbest politicos I have seen in some time. Dickerson and Gregory, word to the wise, haul ass. Don't know if you can be saved but it will do you no good to go down with the ship. Just tell everyone you made a bad judgement call and beg for forgiveness. The rest of you yahoos are toast.

This shows how desperate Grant is. A novice in politics, Grant's welcome at the Capitol will soon be worn out. He lobbies by threatening members because he isn't smart enough to really lobby education issues.

1:46 A list of board members has never been available on Empower's website. I looked when they first launched back in October. But you can find a list of anyone who has ever been on their board on the Secretary of States website.

I hate robo calls. Period. The least effective way to get my support ever. I like Joel. Not sure why anybody has a beef with him. I don't know Grant but at least Joel has accomplished something prior to his political efforts. And why is anybody bring that young secretary into this? Everybody knows joel and grant are friends. So what?

4:39 What do Dickerson and Gregory have to do with Empower?

@4:52. Grant learned his intimidation tactics from Bomgar. He threatend GOP officials that they would get primary opponents if they didn't vote for legislation he supported. That's how some got opponents and the Robo calls went out. Bomgar will lose 30/70 in House 58 and lose a lot of money doing it. He thought he could buy this election.

It's politics. The only way you could have such a personal beef with Joel is if you are one of the Nancy Loome legislators that he is going after. Not sure why anybody else would bother to post what he and grant are up to. Who cares?

@7:19......I guess the Daily Journal and Jackson Jambalaya don't share your opinion.

The only thing worse than a politician is a wanabee politician, e.g. Nancy Loome and crowd.

Yeah 7:19....don't you know the world is sitting on pins and needles waiting on what the Tupelo, MS paper will say next? I mean, seriously, they quoted somebody from Hickory Flats!

Seriously, who cares, other than a guy named Steve or Nancy?

@4:39 & @4:52 = Buttsore legislators. Maybe the same one.

As for Bomgaars, the next mistake he makes in life will be his first. And he's always the smartest guy in the room. Just ask him. Better yet, ask some of his business partners how screwed they ended up after he sold his interest in the company. Such a class guy. His inability to get past the Senate Education Committee tells you everything you need to know about his political upside.

Dickerson and Gregory are in this due to their greed. (Never heard that one before, right?) Bomgaars wanted a political advisor. After meeting him, no one else would take his money. Q and Josh weren't above it, though.

Gunn is... well... I won't even start on Gunn. If you've dealt with him, you're well aware of the extent of his talents.

Grant will be fine. Hopefully he can score a few victories against his targets. The Legislature would be a better place without most of them. These aren't feudal lords, people -- they work for us.

The web page is misleading as the "qualifiers" for what constitutes an A-F grade are left out leaving the viewer with a result but no justifications for the result.
You can call it freedom of speech or you can call it slander. Most would think that if you don't provide factual information as to why they're 'bad' or 'good' it is indeed libelous. (Leave that up to the lawyers)

As far as the robo call, wanting to have more candidates in the field is a really good thing- but anybody???? Just anybody? Pfft. Marionette politicians anyone?

Lastly,
Ray Rogers got an F?
The man has a high-school football stadium named after him for crying out loud. I want to know why he received an F but the web site will not tell my why.
>>>!>>I wonder why that is?

@10:29 On the "Education Choice" page under "Scorecards," there are two buttons. One says "Senate Scorecard PDF" and one says "House Scorecard PDF." These buttons link to a detailed breakdown of each legislators voting record and the methodology of the scorecard. Seems pretty straightforward scoring to me. Here's the link: http://empowerms.org/edu-choice-scorecard/

All the Bumgar supporters think he is so great. Problem is they don't really know him. He doesn't have any friends just acquaintances. Wanna really know what he is like just ask the people who have done business with him. He didn't make all the money on the sale of his company, the venture capitalist did. And who was the biggest one? John Palmer. Is he supporting Bumgar...that's not a no but a hell no. Wanna know what a person is really thought of just ask the guy who invested the most. Think that tells it all. Bumgar makes up stories. Tells people what they want to hear. Like being for "public schools". He loves telling that one. If anyone is curious what he really thinks about it just call the Madison superintendent of schools. Want to know what he is thought of in the legislature? I will make it easy. Call any random 5 elected officials. Democrat or republican. Makes no difference to me. You will get the same response.

10:29 On their website you can go to scorecard methodology, and you can also go to bill summaries that tell you what bills they scored the legislators on. They explain flat out why these legislators scored what they did. Learn how to search a website before you make these silly comments.

Also, I didn't know having a football stadium named after you meant you're a supporter of school choice. Really? Get real.

Thanks for all the comments tonight Grant

11:18- thanks for informing me- I'll go back and check for the methodology. Thanks!

Good to see that someone is actually doing the work to hold elected officials accountable.

Ray Rogers?!?!? The saddest thing about Rogers's F grade is that he's even in the legislature to be scored. Is there a legislator who has had a longer tenure with fewer accomplishments?

Everything I know about Mr. Bomgaar suggests that he is a great guy, with a vision for leadership. He has a heart for good government, started a successful business, and is investing time in his community. Those are facts, and it's sad to see unsupported insinuations against his character in these comments. I also happen to know Mr. Callen peripherally, and he seems to be of sterling character as well. You may or may not agree with their political strategies (and I don't necessarily always either), but both Mr. Bomgaar and Mr. Callen are good men and I hope to see them continue to play a role in Mississippi politics. We are better off as a state with political involvement by people like them.

Actually most of Joel's business partners have donated to his campaign as have his co-founders and most investors. Palmer was not the largest investor. Nobody got screwed or they would not have donated. That company made a lot of people rich. Ask anybody working there, it's a great company and Joel did a fine job, mainly by hiring good people. You can easily find 200 people associated with that company that love Joel for every one curmudgeon. You don't have to like him but quit lying about him.

How cute--- Grant's pep talk about how great they are ^^

*They really know how to educate the people ;)

You can ask any of the hundreds of Joel's employees directly. They are all on Linked-In. Or you can listen to one Internet troll on this site.

You Bomgar people are really trying hard to help. Better get your big girl panties on, it's about to get a lot worse for your idol.

Just curious, did Empower Mississippi run any recruiting calls against democrats before the filing deadline? I haven't heard of any. None were reported in the Daily Journal article yesterday. So I am assuming that if they only did it against republicans then they are a partisan democrat group.

First you say he screwed his Bomgar partners. Then you say they are trying too hard to help him. The real question is who really cares? If he loses, he'll go do something else with his millions while you continue to troll the internet. I have yet to read any legitimate reason why somebody would have such a beef with him. Maybe you are sore that he wouldn't hire you?

Mississipians for the most part prefer progress in a methodical reasoned approach. After all of the radical changes under the current presidency and some things going on in this state that are otherwise unrelated, we do not want change just for the hek of change.

I cannot blame parents and/ or the people advocating for chater schools and "education choice". It's the way that this group is using two very vague issues while not including other issues that truly matter to go after current legislators that is of concern.

( it's called tact).

To the empower folks:

Trying to replace a legislator of any stripe based on two issues alone is sacrosanct to the true values and mechanisms of this state, it's history, and traditions.
I guess some of you have never heard the phrase " your money is no good here".
Hint: it means that we have certain morals and principles that will not be changed by any amount of money.

You're not trying to "Empower Mississippi" and it's residents; you're trying to take control of the political scene in Mississippi by dividing and conquering on two issues alone.

Your tact is quite telling of your true motives.

* this my opinion that I have formed myself; others may be of another persuasion and that is their right as this is America.

9:13--Thanks for the clarification, Grant.

10:57--Funny, if a democrat beats the republicans Empower has targeted with a primary candidate, they will be in deep s*%t with the Speaker--there is a chance Grant's plan to divide the party means the Speaker loses republicans and dems gain more power...Congratulations Grant---you really planned this one well. We are all watching you.

You know Bill Billingsly is sitting at home thinking, "I'm damn glad they didn't mention me being a board member of Empower Mississippi." OOOPS

Talk about desperate. Somone is emailing around Joel's doctored gun videos from FB. He speeds up the draw and slows down the shots. Says he is a life member of the NRA. bet he signed up after he knew he was running. This is lots of laughs. 3000 views. Funny stuff gets lots of attention. Watch this go viral.

Please post a link of the video. I know Joel and I like Joel, but I know the video would be funny, just like a lot of stuff he does. I don't support all of his political activities or beliefs, but I have the utmost respect for him as a person and business man. And he has been a big NRA gun nut for a long time. That's not new. He worked his way through school via the military.

Being in the air guard does not make one aN automatic supporter of the second amendment nor does it make a gun supporter You obviously do not know Joel he is no gun enthusiast he just started this for his campaign

At 5:04 You obviously do not know Bomgaars because if you did you could look at the video on his Facebook page everything about you people is a fraud

Impressive FB page. Charity work, praising employees, praying for a lady that lost her house. Okay, so he posts a crazy gun video. Usually conservatives start a pep rally for a gun toting candidate. You clearly have a personal beef with the guy. Everything on that page is 100% Joel from day 1. As for your fraud comment, the buyer of his company is quite happy and so are all the millionaires he made with the sale. You are offending a lot of hard working emoloyees of his and embarrassing yourself.

Say what you will about Ray Rogers, but as a citizen of his district I admire the courage he shows by not always voting party line.. Actually that's what got him his F from Grant Callen (but really who is Callen to judge?? What great things has he done??) Ray votes according to what's best for his constituents, which is what our Legislature is supposed to do folks! He voted against Charter Schools because his constituents asked him too. He didn't follow the Governor's "request" and vote along side his fellow Republicans. You all complain on here about our officials not being "true statesmen" and then when one shows gumption and votes like a statesman you clobber him in anonymous comments. Face it. You're all jealous that Ray Rogers doesn't represent you.

And yes we love him enough in Pearl to name a stadium after him. After all he was the first Quarterback at Pearl, was Mr. PHS and many other things. PLUS the man has given his life's work to the city. He is well respected there's no doubt about that.

I see Bomgar got more fictional stuff on his FB page like supporting public schools. That's a god one Joel. Keep up the fictional stories. I guess when u stay at home all day and never learned to play with other kids you tend to stretch the truth a little. Who was your imaginary friend. Do you still talk to them

Mickey D endorsed Mr. Bill on FB this weekend and no blogosphere explosion yet? What gives?