Friday, August 9, 2019

Epigrams & Interludes, Election Edition

My favorite chapter of Nietzche's Beyond Good and Evil is "Epigrams and Interludes". The philosopher chooses to collect a wide array of various thoughts and place them into one chapter.  I have decided to post my observations about Tuesday's elections in the same vein instead of writing one big monster column.  Enjoy.


It’s Tate v. Waller in three weeks. Champeenship bout for all the GOP marbles. The media and so-called experts are slobbering over the possibility of a Waller upset. They somehow forget the Lieutenant Governor came within one point of avoiding a runoff while Waller only got around a third of the vote. This isn’t 2014. 58,272 votes are a much bigger margin than 1,400.

***

The Street Committee says Hinds County Sheriff Victor Mason thought he was done and didn’t expect to make the runoff with former JPD Chief Lee Vance. That’s why you never quit.

***

Several candidates wrapped themselves in the Trump flag when they weren’t wrapping themselves in The Flag. That didn’t work so well, did it? I don’t think it has anything to do with the President but more of the basics: name ID, money, and the fact that in local races the politics is indeed local. When is the last time a candidate won or lost in Mississippi because of the President?  Reagan has apparently been forgotten in Mississippi over the last two years. When I read the Art of the Deal in college, I never thought I’d see Republicans replace Reagan with Trump.

***

If Reeves made a mistake, it was focusing on Jim Hood when he still had to beat Waller. Many a fighter lost an “easy” bout because he was looking ahead to that big payday for his next fight. The problem is, the opponent doesn’t know it’s a show but instead thinks it’s a damn fight. Buster Douglas, anyone? So much for that Holyfield, payday.  The early commercials touted his new slogan, “He won’t, I will” as he ignored Waller. Bet the campaign isn’t ignoring Waller now.

***

Speaking of Waller, did anyone catch his debate statement about vetoing a ballot initiative? Um, Junior, you do know what an initiative is, don’t you? It’s not the first time Waller has made such a statement.

***

Remember that House race in Madison County with the nasty mailers? Well, Merle Flowers and Empower MS can be rather proud of themselves. They managed to generate a backlash as Ford crushed Johnny Black 2:1 despite being outspent 3:1 while Newman handily beat whathisname in Rankin County. Meanwhile, Bomgar beat Bartely but the race was much closer than it was four years ago as Bartley cut the margin by a little more than half. Good luck getting cooperation on any bills.

***

Speaking of the House #73 race and mailers, Serena Flowers, otherwise known as Mrs. Merle Flowers,  sent a donation this week to Jill Ford for $100. Needless to say, Mrs. Ford immediately returned the donation. Some people just won’t take blood money, Mrs. Flowers.

***

Lee Vance came in first with 38% of the vote while Vic got 32%. Advice to Lee: Get out of Jackson. Jackson knows who you are, the rest of the county doesn’t. Vance racked up the Jackson boxes while Vic trounced him out in the county. There is more to Hinds County than just Jackson. Knowing where Gibbes or Wynndale or The Chevron might help. Terry, Edwards, Pocohontas…. Might want to get to know those areas.

***

Certain Social Justice Warriors and media “personalities” in Mississippi looked on Billy Graham and Donald Trump with the same naked contempt. Who does that say more about, themselves or Graham and Trump?

***

No surprise at Robert Shuler Smith losing badly. He didn’t fund-raise. He barely campaigned. He was lazy in office and lazy on the campaign trail. In fact, the only time he gets worked up is when he is defending one of his pet drug dealers and then he gets really worked up.

***

While on the subject of District Attorney, it’s no wonder Jody Owens won. $300,000>$50,000>$30,000. One candidate bought name ID, another candidate had no name ID, and the last candidate had bad name ID.

***

The real election fight is down on the coast between Scott Delano and Dixie Newman in Senate #50. Delano is the current Representative for that area and decided to move up when the current State Senator retired. Enter Ms. Newman or rather, Chris Gouras. Gouras likes to push TIF and sales tax rebate programs around the state. Consider him the Steve Holley of such things. Delano dared to question a developer’s plan to build a $96 million project down on the coast. What was touted as pie in the sky turned out to be yet another bait & switch as the development would have simply cannibalized other malls instead of bringing in fancy new retailers such as Nordstrums. Delano questioned the use of the tax rebate program. Mr. Gouras asked to meet him so they met for breakfast. Mr. Gouras proceeded to inform him that the sales tax rebate program was bigger than him and that if he pushed any further, the erstwhile Representative was going to get run over.


Well, fast forward a couple of years. Dixie reported a $50,000 donation from Mr. Gouras on her campaign finance report then suddenly amended it a few days later to remove the donation and instead report a $48,500 loan to herself. Um, yeah. Coincidence?

Meanwhile, Delano wins by one vote UNTIL a jump drive containing some votes is mysteriously found.  Suddenly he loses.  Oh well, at least they didn't burn down the courthouse before a recount - yet.  


***

Have we figured out yet if Credell Calhoun is in a runoff? Peggy always ran away with that district. The voters know you, Credell, the voters know you.

***

Will third time be the charm for our favorite thug? David Archie and Darrell McQuirter will face off in a runoff for the third time in a row.

***


The Secretary of State race was rather funny. The race is usually boring because, let’s face it, it’s hard to get worked up over the issues facing that office. However, the two candidates managed to go to war over who loved Trump more. Did anyone thought they would see the day when Mississippians would fight over who loved someone from New York City? NEW YORK CITY!!!!! (Chorus yells)

***

Rankin County. Did Rankin County even exist Tuesday?

***

The good ole boys proliferate. First there was Irl Dean’s Good Ole Boy breakfast in Rankin County. Now there is the grab and grope, I mean Greet and Grin in Madison County. We do love our clubs, don’t we?

***

What does gasoline have to do with Gasoline Alley?

***

The DGA press release today bragged about Hood beating SEVEN opponents. Yeah, ok. Kind of like Bama beating JSU. Sometimes you really shouldn’t brag about the win.

***

Nice to see Jeff Smith is going back to his plantation where he can wear his seersuckers. He ticked off Higgins. He screwed up a convention center. He just haaaaad to go stick his nose into the Bryan Clark mess. The parole couldn’t have come at a worse time as it resulted in a pummeling of Smith over the last weekend. Now he is free to go represent the Clarks as much as he wants…. on their dime and on his time.  

***

Smith and Snowden went down in defeat. Cory Wilson went to the bench. Baker moved on and Delano is in trouble. The Gunn group is getting very small. Gunn’s redistricting hopes now rest upon someone who is nearly 90 years old although Busby and Lamar are still around to carry Gunn’s water. Leadership can be lonely.

***

Did anyone notice all of Bennie’s candidates lost? Does any Congressman or woman try to micromanage his district as much as Bennie does? Is he a Chieftain or a Congressman?

***

Bennie Thompson, doing do the Second District what he did to Hinds County. Exhibit 1: RDC.

***

Much was made about Tate losing Rankin County. However, the “loss” might be a case of the candidates living in the same neck of the woods. Waller and Reeves are well-known quantities in the Jackson metro area. All three candidates in the Attorney General GOP primary live in Rankin and Madison counties. The result is no one got a majority of the vote in any of these three counties. Tate enjoyed several counties around the state where he crushed Waller. However, there were few, if any counties where the same could be said in reverse for the former Chief Justice.  Make no mistake, losing the home county by 20% is newsworthy.  Expect the Wallers and Hoods to make much out of that one. 

***

Who were the “experts” that were on WLBT and WJTV? Couldn’t use Nash & Taggart for obvious reason but as they said in the movie, who are those guys?

***

The King is Dead, Long live the King. Everyone just knew Eddie Fair was going to finally go down this year.

***

What happened to the humorous ads? In years past, there were funny commercials: the boots of Max Phillips, Gilbert, Dick Hall and his bullie, and even Tate with his little girl as director. Everything this year was so serious, so mean, or a declaration of love for Trump. Can’t think of a single ad that made one crack a smile. Oh well, we still have Louisiana this year for political entertainment and that state rarely, if ever, disappoints.

***

Back to Robert Foster and Larrison Campbell. The ironic part about it is that both used the controversy to their advantage. Campbell parlayed the snub into coverage by the big boys such as CNN and the Washington _____. Foster got much-needed exposure as he stood up to that damn no-good liberal media who are just trying to change our way of life down he-yunh. He wound up getting 18% of the vote which was beyond his wildest dreams a few weeks ago. It’s almost as if they staged the whole thing. Just kidding, folks.

***

Oh well, for all the drama, much of it fake, at least no one hung themselves with their public comments.

***

Last comment on Foster-Campbell brouhaha. Many women accused Foster of being sexist. However, more than a few men on social media and message boards said Foster had every right to protect himself in this day and age of #metoo. It was an interesting display of how the two sexes see things differently.

***

Now it’s the last comment on the subject. Isn’t it funny how the media shut up about the Billy Graham rule when it was reported Waller followed the same rule as well?

***

The debates continue to be a joke. The candidates don’t want to debate. How dare they face us, the voters. We just pay their salary. They tell us how wonderful we are while refusing to speak to us. It would also be nice to see a debate where the candidates were allowed to go after each other instead of these formats where all the candidates do is spout their talking points regardless of the question.

***

Will Jim Hood ever try to enforce those demand letters the State Auditor issued against CMU? Kenny Wayne's settlement, the payment of private lawyer fees for former board members, credit cards.

***

Just think, we have two more years until the next election in Pelahatchie. What else could happen? Is that a question we really want to ask?

***

Mark Baker had a good idea about expanding the Capitol Complex Commission to address Jackson crime. Hope the legislature picks that ball up and runs with it next year.

34 comments:

Anonymous said...

to answer the question 'did rankin county even exist"...yes it did. it was the scene of one the biggest political upsets since david clark beat incumbent rick mitchell for district attorney. the county attorney , a 17 year incumbent , named richard wilson got his ass handed to him in a landslide defeat at the hand of an opponent who could not even afford to buy campaign signs. wilson's 'mr tough guy ' persona pissed off alot of citizens . when an incumbent of 17 years gets beat by someone with no money it should be obvious that he did his own self in. good luck in private practice, you gonna need it.

Anonymous said...

Regarding Pelahatchie there will be a Primary next year. You can take that to the bank.

Anonymous said...

Are you telling me that the David Archie that I have heard on the radio is in a runoff to be an elected official? Seriously?

Anonymous said...

What about the Buck Clark ad? That one at least made me smile.

Anonymous said...

I remember months back. “There r holes in the road”. It was a great piece. Wish they would put on JJ. We could use a good laugh.
It was a guy running for supervisor in a county south of Jackson.

Anonymous said...

I found the funny ad but was unable to post. Google “ holes in the road “

Anonymous said...

Spooner for sheriff!

Anonymous said...

So did the Holes in the Road guy win his primary?

Anonymous said...

Oh well, for all the drama, much of it fake, at least no one hung themselves with their public comments.

KF, are you referring to Cindy Hide Smith.

I made that connection.

Anonymous said...

I've never been able to find this info: what is the salary of the Hinds County Tax Collector? Is it salary plus a percentage of the money brought in? Anybody know?

bill said...

11:40, it was Steve McClellan, and he ran for county supervisor in Holmes County, which is actually north of Jackson. He managed to finish seventh in a field of seven with 92 votes. A friend in Holmes County suggested that he sort of rode on his laurels after some early attention because of his videos, and he really didn't do any campaigning after that.

Anonymous said...

Kingfish, are you suggesting that Jill Ford will allow her personal opinion of Grant Callen and Empower to influence how she votes on legislation affecting them? I hope you don't intend that as a compliment to her, because it's not. A legislator who worries more about who is behind the bill than what is in it isn't a very good legislator.

Burke said...

I look with contempt on Franklin Graham, but not on his father. Billy had enough obvious sincerity and the good manners to inspire respect. Franklin is more like the anti-Christ: he takes the Franklin name in vain. He is an unmannerly scoundrel.

There's something comparable when you juxtapose Reagan and Trump, which exposes the dramatic corruption of the GOP brand.

Anonymous said...

@1237 - Fair makes about 139k per year - no, it's not a percentage of what he collects but he does get paid extra for collecting Jackson, Clinton, and Byram taxes.

Anonymous said...

Is he certified?
Too bad MAC didn’t make a runoff.
He did have enough campaign funds to rent a Lamar billboard on I55 and park his truck/trailer on State Street with a campaign sign on the back for a couple of days.

Anonymous said...

Have you heard the fire Marshall just shut down the be “Sweetie Pies” restaurant in downtown Jackdon. Folks are saying it’s racislly motivated since it’s across from the governors mansion. It’s too many black owned businesses in downtown Jackson and the white republicans don’t like it!

Anonymous said...

KF is right; book 5 of BGE is very good. As are 1–4. Falls off after.

—Anderson

Anonymous said...

@3:25

That's sad. What we really need to do is build a new mansion in a nicer, safer area. Jackson is an embarrassment if the Gov has to to entertain out of town visitors.

Anonymous said...

Can some of you Lynn Fitch people help me to understand why her sign doesn’t say what office she is seeking?

Anonymous said...

12:37, Tax Collector salary is set statutorily at around $60k'ish. Then they get a cut of all of the property taxes they collect from municipalities under contract. The TC in Hinds, Rankin and Madison make about $120k to $140k per year.

Of course nobody really knows that. Statute says $60k and nobody balks. Tax Assessor is in the same boat, and the TC and TA lobbyists are pretty dang good.

Somebody do a FOIA request to Madison or Hinds tax collector or assessor. Not a bad gig.

Anonymous said...

So she can use the same signs in a few years when she runs for governor.

Anonymous said...

Madison County District 5 race continues to boggle minds. Stories of ballot boxes found with broken seals, absentee ballots found just laying around, and supposedly every affidavit ballot was for the same candidate. Next week's Election Commission meeting will not disappoint, not that they ever do. Watch it online and see.

Anonymous said...

Does anyone think Lynn Fitch can be a successful Attorney General if she can even debate her primary run-off candidate Andy Taggart? Does anyone think she can make a case to a jury if she can’t make her case to the people of MS? Who ever heard of a lawyer who is afraid to debate? How can she make a case to a jury if she won’t make a case to the voters in a debate against Taggart?

Anonymous said...

So she doesn’t really care about being attorney general.

Anonymous said...

I cannot fathom that the Jackson Fire Marshal is white so that cannot be why Sweetie Pies was closed. Might be just the opposite, the building is owned by a white.

Anonymous said...

@ August 9, 2019 at 4:22 PM

That's sad. What we really need to do is build a new mansion in a nicer, safer area. Jackson is an embarrassment if the Gov has to to entertain out of town visitors.

Then pay for it your damn self Daddy Warbucks! The state just paid a sh*t load of money remodeling it!?

Hell, they always stay in their personal residence. Phil stays out in Stankin' Rankin

Anonymous said...

@934 - it's not really a 'cut', it's a fixed amount. Still way too damn much.

Anonymous said...

The Lynn Fitch sign bothered me as well. I get the gist she is bigger than the office. Name recognition may be all she needs.

Anonymous said...

Johnny Black touts his endorsement from Joe Nosef. Promptly suffers 70-30 Jill Ford beatdown. No surprise there.

Inquiring minds want to know! said...

Why won’t Lynn Fitch debate Andy Taggart? How can we determine if she can make a a case before a jury if we don't get to watch her debate Taggart? Is she is afraid to debate Taggart? Come on Lynn prove you can do it!!

Anonymous said...

You must be looking at different Hinds County results than I am, KF when talking about the sheriff race. Vance did do much better in the city boxes, and Mason did carry most of the county boxes. But Mason didn't "trounce" Vance except in one of some two dozen county precincts. Some of them were actually very close.

DeLano/Newman race is not quite as you stated - I think DeLano was ahead by some three dozen votes prior to the emergence of the "magic stick" as they are calling it down here, and after it materialized late Wednesday, he was down by one.

Besides Waller/Reeves both being from the metro area and splitting the vote as you note also happened in the AG race, the metro three counties are home to many of the state workers (and, by extension their families) who in general don't like the belt tightening that Tate has helped lead in the downsizing of state government. I'm sure that just as the teacher lobby rose up against Tate especially after Waller promised them a raise to $40k next year and a raise every year thereafter (without any idea of how he was going to finance it - except his stupid statement that he would use the rainy day savings. That would cover the first year of his raise, but how does he keep it going for years two through infinity along with the annual increases he promised) the many state employees along with lobbyists that couldn't get their favorite deals done through this legislature spoke up in these three counties against this kind of leadership.

Its too bad that RSS didn't get another divine blessing from George Soros like he did in 2015; if he had the Democratic race for Gov might have been more interesting. Evidently all Soros is interested in is owning the judicial system of America, not helping a particular candidate.

Anonymous said...

What Soros wants to hasten is the anarchy that is going to inevitably break out in this country. He'll secretly funnel in money and guns when it does. #HistoryRepeats

Anonymous said...

Hey 11:12, debate wouldn’t be hard for her to win. All she has to do is bring up andy’s Performance as Mad Co sure and what he did/didn’t accomplish with his pro Rudy votes to kill the interchange and send MDOT packing with their Hwy 463 widening plans. That’s why Taggert lost Madison County. Says something about the candidate when the people that know him best vote against him.

Anonymous said...

I miss TBA



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Trollfest '09

Trollfest '07 was such a success that Jackson Jambalaya will once again host Trollfest '09. Catch this great event which will leave NE Jackson & Fondren in flames. Othor Cain and his band, The Black Power Structure headline the night while Sonjay Poontang returns for an encore performance. Former Frank Melton bodyguard Marcus Wright makes his premier appearance at Trollfest singing "I'm a Sweet Transvestite" from "The Rocky Horror Picture Show." Kamikaze will sing his new hit, “How I sold out to da Man.” Robbie Bell again performs: “Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be Bells” and “Any friend of Ed Peters is a friend of mine”. After the show, Ms. Bell will autograph copies of her mug shot photos. In a salute to “Dancing with the Stars”, Ms. Bell and Hinds County District Attorney Robert Smith will dance the Wango Tango.

Wrestling returns, except this time it will be a Battle Royal with Othor Cain, Ben Allen, Kim Wade, Haley Fisackerly, Alan Lange, and “Big Cat” Donna Ladd all in the ring at the same time. The Battle Royal will be in a steel cage, no time limit, no referee, and the losers must leave town. Marshand Crisler will be the honorary referee (as it gives him a title without actually having to do anything).


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In the spirit of helping those who are less fortunate, Trollfest '09 adopts a cause for which a portion of the proceeds and donations will be donated: Keeping Frank Melton in his home. The “Keep Frank Melton From Being Homeless” booth will sell chances for five dollars to pin the tail on the jackass. John Reeves has graciously volunteered to be the jackass for this honorable excursion into saving Frank's ass. What's an ass between two friends after all? If Mr. Reeves is unable to um, perform, Speaker Billy McCoy has also volunteered as when the word “jackass” was mentioned he immediately ran as fast as he could to sign up.


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If you get tired come relax at the Fox News Tent. To gain admittance to the VIP section, bring either your Republican Party ID card or a Rebel Flag. Bringing both will entitle you to free drinks.Get your tickets now. Since this is an event for trolls, no ID is required, just bring the hate. Bring the family, Trollfest '07 is for EVERYONE!!!

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