Jackson Jambalaya

The Hinds County Board of Supervisors refused to pay for primaries for the elections of supervisors for Districts 2 and 4 in September. The board instead voted 3-2 Monday to ask the Attorney General to issue a written opinion on whether the county had to pay for the elections despite the fact absentee ballots have to be mailed this Friday. A motion by Supervisor Peggy Hobson-Calhoun to authorize the county to pay for the primaries failed at a budget meeting yesterday. However, the Monday discussion was not without its fireworks as Supervisor Kenneth Stokes and Hinds County Republican Party Chairman Pete Perry had a few words to say to each other.

It was certainly a surreal spectacle- the Board of Supervisors butting heads with the Republican and Democrat parties. Stokes kept insisting the county had no money to pay for the primaries.* Mrs. Cochran said the primary would cost $66,500 and a runoff, if needed, would cost a little more than half that amount. Ms. Cochran told the supervisors Section 23-15-301 of the Mississippi Code mandated the county had to pay for the primaries. That section of the code states:

All the expenses of printing the tickets or primary election ballots, for necessary stationery, and for paying the managers, clerks and returning officer of every primary election authorized by this chapter held in any county shall be paid by the board of supervisors of such county out of the general funds of the county, but such officers of primary elections shall receive only such compensation as is authorized by Section 23-15-227 to be paid managers, clerks and returning officer for like services in holding elections thereunder. However, this section shall not apply to the expenses of a primary election held by any political party which at either of the last two (2) preceding general elections for the office of Governor or either of the last two (2) preceding national elections for President of the United States did not vote as many as twenty percent (20%) of the total vote cast in the entire state.

Mr. Stokes demanded she show him some "case law" and that he didn't care "what the statute said". Yup, Stokes told her not to quote any law to him but to go get some cases. The board attorney sat silently throughout this entire legal exchange. Meanwhile Supervisor Robert Graham took issue with the fact the Election Commission communicated to the county through the board attorney instead of directly to him. Mr. Stokes said the county did not have the money to pay for the election. Mrs. Cochran said the election expenses would not be submitted to the board until after the start of the new fiscal year on October 1. Mrs. Cochran said it had to be paid "by the board by statute". Mr. Stokes replied "well, not necessarily. Lets let a judge make a decision, thats why we have courts. We don't have the money and everyone know's we don't have the money."

Mrs. Cochran said attorney and Groundhog Day star Phil Carter at the Attorney General's office told her to tell the board the law said it had to pay for it (see the exchange at 9:00 in the first clip). Stokes said "I want to see a judge say lets break the county." Party representatives were not present at the first discussion but appeared at the second discussion. The fun then started as Republican party chairman Pete Perry and Democrat Party Chairwoman Jacquie Norris stood at the podium. Mrs. Cochran told the board although it was unprecedented, the law did permit the parties to hold primaries in these special elections. The usual practice in special elections has been to list candidates without party affiliation. Ms. Norris said the Democrats decided to hold a primary because "as my daddy told me, when you lay down with an independent, you wake up with a Republican" to much laughter.

The temperature in the room shot up quickly as Mrs. Cochran said "Let me make a suggestion sir. The $2.5 million you want to transfer from the corridor to recreation, why not slice off some of that to help pay for the budget." Mr. Perry told Stokes "it doesn't matter if you have the money, the law says you pay the expenses. Elections are the foundation of our democracy. The fact you might want to avoid having a primary so you can screw up this whole system" (4:00 in the second clip)" until Graham interrupted and said "stop, stop, lets keep to the issue. Lets not get personal, lets get to the issue." Then the fun started as Mr. Perry and Stokes got into it (8:19 in the second clip). Just watch the 90 second exchange. I won't spoil it by posting a transcript.  That would deprive the reader of seeing certain um, theatrics by a certain supervisor.

Stokes, Graham, and Hunter voted to ask the Attorney General for a written opinion despite being told there was no guarantee the Attorney General would issue a written opinion before Friday. The board thus took no action on actually paying for the primaries.





*Of course Mr. Stokes didn't seem to mind throwing $200,000 to Malachi Financial Products to "study" the Byram-Clinton corridor project, giving $7,000 to the Jackson Music Awards, tried to give $17,000 a month at the last meeting to Hathorn for skeeter spraying, the Airwave contract he keeps voting for each year, or the $700,000 slush fund he and two other supervisors voted to give each supervisor from the Byram-Clinton corridor fund Monday. Then there is the $900,000 in stimulus money given to the Justice Court the county can take back if it so desires. And the board attorney running his budget at a $17,000 deficit.