Up on the agenda tonight at a meeting of the Jackson City Council is the lobbying contract for Quincy Mukoro. Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba placed the contract's renewal on the agenda at an earlier meeting but tabled it when he couldn't round up the votes.
Mayor Lumumba hired Mr. Mukoro as the city's lobbyist with the City Council's blessing in 2017. JJ reported on February 5:JJ submitted a public records request for all invoices submitted by Mr. Mukoro and his company, Octagon Group.
The lobbyist registered Jackson as a client in November 2017 for the 2018 lobbying year. He reported in April 2018 his compensation was $135,000 ($110,000 compensation and $35,000 retainer).
The lobbyist registered in 2019 and 2020 but he must have been working for free because he didn't report any compensation for either year (although 2020 is still young.). Who says public service is dead today?
The city is required by law to report its lobbying expenses as well. Jackson reported it paid Mr. Mukoro compensation of $135,000 in 2018. It didn't report the compensation for 2019.
What is interesting is Mr. Mukoro stated on his invoices that the invoice was for state and federal lobbying. However, the federal database shows no registration for the Madison lobbyist nor his company. Mr. Mukoro has not submitted an invoice since October 2019.
The invoices also show no expenses although the Secretary of State's website shows Mr. Mukoro show several expenditures for whining and dining the pols. The reports state the following expenses:
* March 27, 2019, $300 spent on a Black Caucus reception at Johnny T's
* February 15, 2019, $500 spent on a meal for the Black Caucus at the Capitol
* January 4, 2018, $600 spent on meal for Conservative Coalition.
The expenses did not appear on his invoices so it must be assumed that he paid for the meals out of his own pocket.
Kingfish note: If one wishes to find an example of over-payment, one need only look at Jackson's lobbying contract. Jackson is paying nearly double the next largest lobbying contract for a municipal client in Mississippi:
Jackson: $110,000 (assumed since it's not reported)
Biloxi: $60,000 (Keith Heard)
Tupelo: $60,000 (Clare Hester)
Ridgeland: $36,000 (Joel Yelverton)
Ridgeland: $30,000 (Camille Scales Young)
D'Iberville: $36,000 (Benjamin Thompson)
Diamondhead: $30,000 (Trey Bobinger)
Meridian: $30,000 (The Beth Clay)
Starkpatch: $25,000 (George Flaggs)
Ocean Springs: $20,000 (Joe Gill)
Oxford: $18,000 (Kelly Cress, John Morgan Hughes)
Madison: $12,000 (Al Sage)
Hattiesburg: $0 (Mayor Toby Barker. He is a former State Representative. He said he does his own lobbying. He makes his own visits to the Capitol and handles the town's bidness himself.)
Some readers have justified the high salary for Mr. Mukoro by claiming he is lobbying the federal government as well. If so, why is the federal compensation reported on his state lobbying reports and..... why isn't he registered as a federal lobbyist? If JJ missed the registration, a correction is welcome and will be published at the top of the post.
9 comments:
Antar is clueless and doesnt even know it. I dont know if he could lead with a mile head start.
Best this reader can tell, the only thing to lobby for is educational events for the cities elected leadership in how to give a rip!.....specifically, break out seminars in the following:
-how to repair a water line break correctly the first time
-how to read a water meter and bill for water usage
-how to backfill and compact a hole correctly the first time
-limestone as a compacted sub-base material (not a finish coat)
-how to repair a pothole
-how to use the pothole repair machines the city already owns
-how to play nice with others
-how to work with others
-how to show up and get things done
-how to show your Mayor and his entourage that they are parking in a actual lane of traffic when dining at the MAnship
-how to have a healthy and effective police department
-YES, laws do exist in a polite and civilized society
-your city may have a problem if someone is getting shot / stabbed every 24 hours.
Sounds like Kingfish is jelly.
Look, the man is just worth more compensation. Like a thoroughbred or a Tesla that doesn't catch fire.
Best reporting you’ll find. Thanks for digging into details.
Most blacks in Mississippi don't trust the ruling class whites and their distrust is well earned so the blacks must look within their own communities for leaders they can trust and all they can find are hustlers who were educated in the state's "separate and unequal" school system so that's where we stand.
Medicaid and EIC checks are at the top of the list of reasons for illegitimate births but the ruling class whites are either too stupid to recognize the situation to correct it or they choose to ignore it while they bluster and talk about tightening the choke hold on blacks to starve them into submission and most voting whites like to hear that even though it ain't really gonna happen like they see in their wet dreams.
It's been Mississippi's problem for 150 years and it will remain out problem for the foreseeable future because voting Mississippians are all about throwing salt into the wounds of blacks in hopes they will leave while ignoring that proper basic education of young blacks would have them rushing to leave the state like the educated white kids........ Only faster.
Graft on steroids-
Quincy can’t speak in complete, grammatically correct sentences. He’s a perfect lobbying rep for Jxn.
"Lobbing" expense is one of those areas ripe for Jackson's "leadership" to siphon away some easy money. Real easy. No accountability whatsoever. The results of spending is not reported or measured. real easy. If Antar were truly honest he would eliminate this expense. The "lobbying" would not be missed.
No word on the City site today on the meeting. Anyone know how the vote went?
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