Jackson Jambalaya

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.