What should have been a routine search for a building to house Department of Revenue employees turned into a minor political civil war in the Mississippi Republican Party. The Department of Revenue commissioned a study to find a more permanent home for 500 employees working in a run-down metal warehouse in Clinton. The study recommended four sites: the Worldcomm building in Clinton, a new building by Whitfield, a building on the I-55N School for the Blind property, and of course, state-owned property on Lakeland Drive and Ridgewood Road.
The estimated cost is $50 million and is to be funded by bonds. Thus the actual cost of the building is not $50 million but instead estimated to be $72 million when interest costs are included (a rate of 3.95% was used in calculations. The estimate will probably be off by a few million dollars but you get the idea. Jackson's 1997 10-year term retirement bonds had a principal of $50 million and interest of $25 million, for example.).
The project has generated no small amount of controversy in the last ten days. Several Jackson politicians and business leaders became aware a mandate to build a $50 million facility for the Department of Revenue on Lakeland Drive was included in the $422 bond bill. They met with Lieutenant Governor Phil Bryant, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Dean Kirby, and several other state officials on a Saturday afternoon (March 26). Senator Kirby and Ed Morgan, Commissioner of the Department of Revenue, made it clear they want to construct the $50 million facility on Lakeland Drive. The site recommendation was postponed until October and the project removed from the bill after the controversy threatened to derail the bill's passage.
A huge uproar among Northeast Jackson residents ensued after news of the proposed $50 million building circulated through emails and was posted on this website. Over 100 neighbors of the proposed Lakeland site met the next day on a Sunday evening at River Hills Tennis Club. To say the crowd was very hostile to the idea of Mr. Morgan building his Lakeland Taj Mahal is an understatement. Leland Speed, Ben Allen, and others led the charge as they spoke out against the project and said they are actively organizing opposition. Mr. Speed appeared on Paul Gallo's radio show Tuesday morning to discuss his criticism. Senator Kirby appeared after Mr. Speed and defended the Lakeland Drive selection and vigorously attacked Mr. Speed's arguments. He claimed none of the buildings downtown could be used as their floors were not strong enough for the weight of all the paper used by Revenue. Mr. Kirby disagreed the taxpayers were going to pay for it twice- through construction costs and then again by the state leasing it to itself. It was quite clear the two gentleman are on opposite sides of this issue.
What is interesting and should be troubling to Republicans is a question that should be asked: How did the Republicans create a situation where its richest donor base is now waging war against the Republican leadership in the Senate in the middle of an election year? The people living in the area are angry, livid, and ready to fight the state tooth and nail. Mr. Speed forcefully reminded the crowd on Sunday many of them donate heavily to the politicians running for office this year that just happen to be involved in this controversy.
Then there is the matter of the project itself. Does the state really need to spend $72 million on a brand new building on prime real estate in Jackson? The state decides to waste money on new buildings and museums while kicking Downs Syndrome kids off Medicaid. Is that going to be Phil Bryant's legacy? Palaces and museums while kids suffer? It can indeed be argued there is no need for such a building. Most of the Department of Revenue employees are paper-shufflers. They don't even need cubicles, just rows and rows of desks. A simple big-box type building with suitable parking can house these employees while the other sections such as legal and administration that need more suitable offices work downtown.
Is this yet another failure of leadership by the Lieutenant Governor? Sources tell this correspondent there are two people driving the decision to place the building on Lakeland Drive: Ed Morgan and Dean Kirby. Mr. Morgan wants a brand new building, a monument to himself, on Lakeland Drive for everyone to see. Total Mr. Kirby is pushing this project but for more cynical reasons. Several individuals, including lobbyists and senators, said Senator Kirby expected opposition to this site but wants to use the opposition as an excuse to place a new building in Rankin County. Senator Kirby also stated in the past he wants to move the Mississippi Highway Patrol and the Department of Revenue to Rankin County.
This is yet again an example of Mr. Bryant either not controlling his chairman or letting his chairman do his dirty work for him. A pattern of Mr. Bryant's leadership is beginning to emerge: an increasing inability to control his chairmen that eventually backfires on him. No one can forget the recent spectacle that took place a few weeks ago: Mr. Bryant botching redistricting so badly the entire Republican leadership from Governor Barbour to the lowliest Republican county chairman had to come together to save his ass as he nearly gave the Democrats a win they could not even have imagined a few months ago despite the spin put forth by other conservative bloggers and activists.
One can only wonder what is going on among the Bryant team of the Lieutenant Governor, Josh Gregory, and Quinten Dickerson, as they first nearly give a huge redistricting victory to the Democrats and now have a group of top Republican donors waging holy war against them in the middle of an election year to stop a project pushed by Mr. Bryant's chairman. However, fate has been kind to the Lieutenant Governor as he has an opponent who has stayed out of the fight so much he has been forgotten by most voters and Democratic opponents who never saw a spending bill they did not like. What Mr. Bryant should do is put a leash on his chairman and tell him to work out a sensible solution with Mr. Speed and Mr. Morgan. The last thing he or the Mississippi Republican party needs is a civil war during an election year. One can only wonder if a Governor Bryant will be more like Governor Musgrove instead of Governor Barbour.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Governor Ronnie Bryant?
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26 comments:
If you want to see taj mahal, go look at MDOT's offices. The dept. of Revenue employees are the most important in the whole of government, for if the revenue stops, the whole state government will grind to a halt. Go take a tour of that pitiful tin shed out there in Clinton, and you might change your mind. When is the last time Leland Speed had to fight potholes, snakes and water leaks at his office?
The state decides to waste money on new buildings and museums while kicking Downs Syndrome kids off Medicaid.
Challenging the need for the building and/or the location and Bryant's leadership is one thing Fish but this crap you keep trotting out alluding to an either/or condition that results in kicking sick children off Medicaid is pure rhetoric. There is no connection between the two issues.
This could be a good story but it reads like it was written by political person backing Bryant’s opponent. With a great deal of respect, KF, I like and appreciate your stories but if it’s going to be 99% politics (and the reader can’t seem to get away from the message-vote against Bryant), at least stick the disclaimer at the bottom (paid for by…..)
Take out all of that, and you’ve got another good story. To me, building something new is just stupid. Utilizing a section of the WorldComm building would seem to be a smart move. No building costs, etc. P Gunn should be all over that—500 employees working in Clinton stay in Clinton if they use WorldComm. You said--Sources tell this correspondent there are two people driving the decision to place the building on Lakeland Drive: Ed Morgan and Dean Kirby. Well, put those two on the spot. Where’s the cost analysis of utilizing a section of the WorldComm building –vs-building an entirely new one? You don’t really have to be a mathematical genius to know the outcome of that one. What about the Jackson Mall or MetroCenter? You mean to tell me that there’s no open space in either of these existing structures? And putting 500 people in either of those buildings would help the economy in the same areas. And the statement about the floors not strong enough to hold all of the paper—that wouldn’t be a problem in WorldComm, Jackson Mall or MetroCenter.
“Most of the Department of Revenue employees are paper-shufflers. They don't even need cubicles, just rows and rows of desks.” I appreciate you're ticked over this issue, but the employees aren’t the ones causing this uproar. They’re just regular folks going to work every day like the rest of us.
I live in NE Jackson and I can say that this post is 100% accurate.
A bunch of excellent points there. If the guys in NE Jackson decide to wage civil war aginst those fools in the State Republican Party, I'll make the popcorn.
The building those elitists want to build will cost MORE than Speed's Pinnacle, the will charge taxpayers $12.50 a foot to rent from itself. Yes they are in a shithole, but they have scores of options. They may not have their own "in house" cafeteria like the state wants though. (how's THAT for economic benefit to the area)
No other state does it like our good ole boy state, but Mississippi must be right about this because everything the legislature does only assures us we will stay at the top of the heap in everything, like we are now.
The hollow STUPID premise Kirby makes about paper weighing too much for downtown locations is BOGUS. He has NO empirical evidence to support that, and the owners of the buildings downtown are laughing at him. The Tax Commission WAS downtown until like 1997, I think in the Woolfolk Building.
This whole episode will hopefully unravel the "country" way the legislature does these procurments.
They could lease space, save the state $2MM a year, quit patronizing JSU, and use this $50MM to build them a new stadium
Sure is rich that some people who before now loved bond debt when it was promoting their pet projects in downtown Jackson now wants the public to fully understand the total cost (face, coupon & maturity) of debt financing.
Funny then that we haven't seen these same selectively outraged people flummoxed that the $38 million now authorized for the Mississippi history and Civil Rights museums will likely add $17 to $19 MILLION IN FINANCING COSTS to the debt service obligations of Mississippi taxpayers.
When all is said and done these two museums will costs upwards of $57 million dollars. How many Mississippians will be removed from the Medicaid rolls to pay for that debt? How much more will education and mental health services be squeezed to finance those projects?
awww, c'mon now folks, let ed morgan build a monument to himself on the taxpayers back. he has no other legacy, he NEEDS this. it's only $70 million.
It is absurd that someone as lame as Ed Morgan can actually get something like this done. Someone please tell me this isn't possible.
This could be a good story but it reads like it was written by political person backing Bryant’s opponent. With a great deal of respect, KF, I like and appreciate your stories but if it’s going to be 99% politics (and the reader can’t seem to get away from the message-vote against Bryant), at least stick the disclaimer at the bottom (paid for by…..)
Whatever. Its a shame I have to tell you this but I'm going to anyway. I haven't decided who gets my vote. I have my share of criticisms about Phil but you know what? Dennis hasn't exactly asked for my vote either. His campaign has not made a case about why I should vote for Mr. Dennis.
What your post sounds like is something written by someone who didn't like my post because it hit too close to him. As for political, there is not a damn thing wrong with letting people know what goes on behind the scenes and its a shame people like you don't want honest political analysis. Wait, that might hurt your candidate so therefore, I have to be voting for the other guy. The fact is Dean Kirby is taking point here, More than a few Republican donors are very angry, and it is taken place in an election year.
What is taking place here also is the Bryant team has made several blunders that have angered a large part of the Republican establishment. Don't like it? Too bad but thats the way I see it.
I don't agree with everything that Bryant does but damn Kingfish if Republicans in this state have to act as monolithic as Mississippi's black Democrats, so much so to be considered by you as an "establishment" organization, then I'm plenty happy that Bryant is knowingly, or unknowingly, stirring shit up.
The Republicans of NE Jackson don't call the shots for all of Mississippi's Republicans. When those buttwipes in Eastover stop re-electing their good ol' boy Cecil Brown to the House then maybe some of us will start paying attention.
"I like and appreciate your stories but if it’s going to be 99% politics"
10:05, did you mistake this blog for a newspaper? Good lord.
... Re: weight of paper, wouldn't it be a better investment for MDOR to work on going paperless? We have computers now, y'know ...
KF @1:46--didn't mean to piss you off. That was not my intension. In the last few months, there’s just been so much everywhere about hating this person or hating that person--I guess I'm already tired of it. I’m screwed cause its an election year and its just April. As far as candidates-I don't like any of them so far so who knows what I'll do in Nov. Sucks.
This post is an excellent post about wasteful spending. That's the part I grabbed onto. Whether its Bryant, Kirby, Morgan, or whether its others who are known to promote certain areas for development or investment, to me, you absolutely nailed it with 'Does the state really need to spend $72 million on a brand new building on prime real estate in Jackson?'
I still don't understand why they can't use part of WorldCom building or space in Jackson Mall or Metro Center. Not being s smart*$$, I’m honestly asking because I don’t know.
This post spells it out perfectly. Spending over $70 million dollars is crazy. Taking advantage of one of the three empty buildings in downtown Jackson would not only help the downtown efforts, it would help centralize govt offices in downtown, rather than scattered all over the place.
I think Mr. Speed, Allen and Duckworth are brilliant and only wish the elected officials would get off their arrogant high horses long enough to listen to these SUCCESSFUL businessmen.
Reply to 1:56pm: I am proud to live in Eastover. The fact that you refer to us as "butt wipes" simply shows your ignorance. I don't know where you live (and don't care) but I would never call your neighborhood an offensive name like you did.
2:52; you and I share the same thought about the paper. Our world is evolving more every day towards going paperless. The company I worked for in ATL was paperless, and that was five years ago! You just print docs on an as needed basis. It's not nearly as hard as people think it is. Who needs to pay for that extra space to store paper in? What is wrong with this state? Like MS has an extra 50-60-70 mil to spend on something they don't even need!
4:49.....I was raised at the end of wild valley drive. We called it Leftover. But I have fond memories of the whole realm. I also knew several people who lived in east Brooke. They will literally be staring at the back of a parking deck. It would be better to put this state function in the world com building. Maybe they'll build a deck next to it. I always found it odd that a fine building like that did not have a parking deck.
re: apr 5 @ 1.21pm
Let's be honest. We could squeeze edu-ma-ka-shun a hell of a lot more and probably do more good than is being done now. The last few years the funding for edu-ma-ka-shun has gone UP overall while almost every other state agency has taken cuts. Even with the Gov's cuts last year the golden child of edu-ma-ka-shun still had more money in the budget than they did the previous year.
Oh Woe-is-me! We are not spending enough on the chilrin'! Maybe the amount that averages between 60% and 65% of our state budget EVERY YEAR isn't enough for you? I seem to remember that teachers got pay raises last year. I don't remember anyone that I know who are rank-and-file state employees that got raises. I don't off hand know of any COLA raises that rank-and-file state employees have gotten in ummm... at least 3 or 4 years. The last I remember hearing about was about $125 per month BEFORE TAXES. A number of people actually LOST money becuase that pitiful sum pushed them into more taxes owed. But we aren't spending enough on the chilrin'!
I, for one, don't think we are getting the value for what is being spent on edu-ma-ka-shun. I think that if we need to take 50m from the edu-ma-ka-shun budget that it wouldn't be noticed: we are already last, the parents by and large don't give a rats brass (if they did, they would be teaching/helping the kids when they have problems), and our lawmakers can't (won't) "man up" and make the hard decisions about funding. But don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that DOR needs a new building, I'm only here to point out that edu-ma-ka-shun is like the federal lame ducks last winter (not worried about their status, they will get it no matter what).
We as a state cannot continue the hamster race/wheel we are on with funding of edu-ma-ka-shun. If we continue with the mentality of always fully funding, just how much are we going to have to cut from other agencies? The recent "increase" in tax revenue (above projections) is not going to hold. People are spending money they don't have. Wait... that sounds like ... Real Estate Boom! Quite a number of people have realized that we haven't hit bottom yet financially, and are not spending anything more than necessary right now. On the other hand, the goblins, who are driving around in brand new Caddy cars/suvs and flashing 20 different EBT cards to buy their ho-hos and yahoos, won't notice the financial downturn like those of us who actually have to work and pay taxes. I can't get a COLA, but they can just pop out a new kid and get another 1k to 2k per month in "assistance".
The Republicans of NE Jackson don't call the shots for all of Mississippi's Republicans. When those buttwipes in Eastover stop re-electing their good ol' boy Cecil Brown to the House then maybe some of us will start paying attention.
Amen, amen, amen.
The dirty little secret the Jackustan Republicans don't want anyone to know is that they put Brown in office. The election results don't lie. Jackustan GOPers went whole hog for Haley Barbour AND Cecil Brown.
Phil Bryant is a career politician. How many times have I heard from Republicans that career politicians were bad. Well, things do change...welcome Phil Bryant, Career Politician.
And I love the new Mississippi of 2011. Still as racially divided, if not more, than in the 1960s. Only this time whites are called Republicans and blacks are called Democrats.
No wonder Mississippi will continue to be #50, and be welcomed as such.
"Carpetbaggers go back where you belong."-Mississippi's actual slogan to the nation.
Let's play fair about Cecil Brown. People of both parties vote for Cecil because he's bright, honest and sincerely cares about doing the right thing. Mainly he is, as the journalists say, a "tireless advocate" for education. If he's wrong sometimes, he's never phony. If we want honest debate, we need more people like Cecil, whatever their political philosophy may be. If we have honest debate, we will find healthy resolutions to our many problems. Honest debate does not include name calling or fit throwing. Kingfish sometimes slips into an unecessarily venomous mode, but even old Cecil will do that. Compared to most of us, KF is a model of honest debate.
I would not vote for Phil Bryant. We've been fortunate to have Haley. It will be clear how fortunate we have been if he is succeeded by his Lieutenant Governor. Come on, Dave, show yourself!
Right. That is what we have in the House with McCoy and Brown. Honest debate.
GET REAL.
The department of revenue is an overbloated, poor efficency run agency.
the reason the department is in an old metal building on the way to vicksburg is because ed buelow livd in vicksburg.
OK, People - You Have A Choice! Let's make this the year to elect a Governor/CEO that we can all be proud to have as a leader -
DAVE DENNIS 2011!!!
Too funny. Last week a tea party person tells a friend of mine I hate Phil Bryant and support dave dennis. Nope. Just call things as I see them. No idea who I'm voting for in the governor's race.
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