Jackson Jambalaya

It's coming. Let's hire consultants based off of race, not qualifications. It's worked so well for the City of Jackson.

CHECKS?! Wouldn't beer bags full of Benjamins be a little more subtle - damned autocorrect - suitable...or at least a little less traceable?

This is a shake down.

Definitely going to have to tune in to the Kim Wade Show on 103.9 WYAB for the local colored commentary regarding these new developments.

I wonder if MAC and Associates are paying to attend? You know, since he is such a road builder and all. Certificates on the wall and such. I bet there is a very limited amount of Willie's friends that will pay the $1000-$5000 tab to attend. Only the teat suckers that have actually been somewhat successful.

Correct me if I am wrong, but the commissioner doesn't do the bidding or award the bidders with contracts, correct? It's just a $75k cushy job that is basically a political mouth piece if I am not mistaken.

1:10. Stand corrected.

Staff does most of the work, and makes the 'recommendations'. And MS Melinda has her thumb on the appropriate buttons.

But the Commissioners actually approve the contracts - bid for construction and 'negotiated' for engineering.

When whites were in charged and hire their friends/no or few minorities..no problem. Blacks get power and do same thing, it's racism. I believe Trump only has one black cabinet member, would that have worked if Obama one had one white Cabinet head

Yeah, well, I wouldn't give you the NPV of 40% annual discount rate for the next 12 months of McGrath's state earnings. The risk based return on that is about 120%.

So...following the logic of 12:46, Simmons' one vote overrides the two other commissioners, both of whom are white Republicans, ensuring that only IMS and other "unqualified" minority firms will get the lions share of MDOT work. LOL!

What the hell! This committee filed with the Secretary of State at the end of October that it had collected $253,999 and disbursed $208,178, leaving cash in the bank of $45,822. This is a shakedown clear and simple. Senators practice this tactic with golf tournaments, etc and the grafters line up to shell out and buy favors. Looks like we are just continuing the pay to play except on a larger level. This is the reason Mississippi is a joke. It's past time to stop this crap.

So we're suddenly interested in knowing who is seeking influence with the transportation commissioner? Interesting. I wonder what changed?

So MS is the only state that still elects transportation commissioners. Hopefully the rest of the U.S. will realize the errors in their ways! Willie is just raising money from his base. Give him a chance before you start crucifying him.

Simmons has as much qualification for this position as I have to be a parachute packer for the military. He's been a state employee on the public tit since 1968. Count the years (51). All he wanted, and he got it, is four or eight more high years toward his golden PERS parachute. Never accomplished a damned thing in the legislature. If you disagree, name one.

Furthermore, his legacy daughter was just elected to his old senate position and her qualification is as a fry cook at their Cleveland restaurant, "The Senator's Place".

And the liberals bitch about Mississippi politics?

I wonder did Willie get this approved by Gub-nor Elect TaterTot since he was the one that funded Willie’s campaign.....

Oh God. There could be graft in the highway department. What's Mississippi coming to? We must change this system before this whole state goes down the drain. What's next?

I got a call at my office this afternoon; the caller ID said it was from IMS Engineers with a 318 area code. The guy calling said he wanted my address so they could send me an "invitation" to Willie Simmons' reception.

Before he won the election I told several people that IMS was fully behind him and chomping at the bit for him to get elected. Many more CROOKED contracts on the way to CROOKED IMS!

I'm caucasian. I voted for Willie. Had I known that IMS was behind him, I would not have. Truly disappointed. Not surprised.

Hey, 4:47, sounds like Simmons was at least as qualified as Dick Hall when he was appointed by Fordice. Both were career politicians without a background in highway engineering. But at least Simmons served on the Senate Highway and Transportation Committee.

This is just business as usual. The contractors / engineers in MS have always had a cozy relationship with elected officials. This IMS / Simmons reception is non-news. Go take a look at how much money the Road Builders raised for tater tot until they got mad at him. Then look how much they raised for Waller this year. MS came up with some crazy cultural tax rebate for an outlet mall owned by a contractor.

@1:43
Trump has 1 black cabinet member just like Obama had 1 black cabinet member. Surely you were just kidding or showing your ignorance in your post. That's common knowledge!... his name was Eric Holder.

Actually, 1:43, JJ has posted similar posts about white politicians and their supporters. There are also Caucasian engineers who drew this website's attention. But of course, you ignore all that.

@8:07 google Anthony Fox, Jeh Johnson, And Loretta Lynch

Then google other high ranking officials in the Obama administration like Susan Rice and Ron Kirk.

And then reconsider your statement about who is showing ignorance.

But, let's back up a few steps and answer this question: Why does a politician, having just successfully prevailed in an election, hold a fund-raising soiree in the first place?

What's the point of the fund-raising? I've never heard of such, black or white, AFTER an election. I'm also thinking the IRS will treat any money raised after an election, as income.

@8:56
Who gives a rats a$$ about what color they are. It's currently working well for all Americans... jobs... black unemployment is at all time low. 4 polls out this week show Trump with 33-34% black voter support. These are liberal NPR,Rasmussen, Emerson and NAACP internal polling. I'm guessing your aware the country has a 12.5% black population as a whole. Most people could care less the color. Look at Obama. He's half black and won. That's bc whites voted him in.

Never heard of a winning candidate taking up money AFTER an election. You'd think Willie had already hit the black churches hard enough prior to voting-day.

"We gone pave all you all country roads and goat trails. Word of honor. And that includes new mail boxes."

6:50 - You might want to revisit history. Fordice was never a career politician, never before having run for or held political office. He ran a construction business in Vicksburg with a primary contract of building Mississippi River Mats.

"So we're suddenly interested in knowing who is seeking influence with the transportation commissioner? Interesting. I wonder what changed? December 2, 2019 at 3:11 PM"

Maybe what changed is this being the first time in history a successful candidate has held a fund raiser AFTER winning office.

But that ain't nunna my bidness...

Will there be fish fries when the weather warms up a bit.

@6:50
Your either just new to Mississippi or just turned 12 and are on mommy or daddy's iPad.

7:31 - You may want to focus and re-read what I wrote at 6:50, since I wasn't talking about Fordice's quals. My post was about Dick Hall, who (when he was appointed by Fordice in 1999, then subsequently elected) was no more qualified to be Central TransComm than Simmons. I would argue that Simmons is slightly more qualified given his seat in the Senate Highway and Transportation Committee.

7:35, nonsense. Successful politicians hold post-election fundraisers all the time. Admittedly, most are supposedly to retire debt that the candidate incurred during the campaign, but they don't have to be. Non-issue.

@4:47 - "He's (Simmons) been a state employee on the public tit since 1968. Count the years (51). All he wanted, and he got it, is four or eight more high years toward his golden PERS parachute."

Then he's losing money by staying in a PERS-covered position. I guess he really can't do math.

@7:31AM
You may want to address your reading comprehension because nobody said Fordice was a career politician. They said Hall and Simmons are.

Not all engineers are like IMS, regardless of race.

It is very common to have a fundraiser after a successful election. Whoever said otherwise has absolutely no idea what they are talking about
.

Willie Simmons runs a successful restaurant in Cleveland. He opened it where a very good restaurant failed (ran by white folks for those obsessed with such details). Unlike many of his anonymous critics he actually has operated a successful business for years.