Sunday, March 28, 2021

Bill Crawford: Reeves Signs Incumbent Protection Act

House Bill 1048 didn’t get much fanfare as it moved through the Legislature. Perhaps its impact will.

The bill authored by Rep. Jody Steverson of Ripley and signed into law by Gov. Tate Reeves on March 24 moves the qualifying deadline for most state, district, and county elections up to February 1.

So what?

“Early filing deadlines benefit incumbents. So do brief filing seasons.” So argued Bigger Pie Forum (BPF) in its article entitled "Incumbent Protection Proposal Making Its Way Through MS Legislature."

“Since no candidate is allowed to file before January 1, the new February 1 deadline will only allow one month for candidates to file. It is likely that many who would consider running for office would not make that decision so early in the year.”

Most state, district, and county primary elections are held in August and general elections in November. Once upon a time the qualifying deadline for these races was June 1 for party candidates and a later date for independent candidates. The first incumbent protection proposal changed that in the late 1980s when all such candidates were required to qualify by March 1.

“It was well known at the time that legislators wanted to know by March 1 if they would have an opponent in their election,” wrote BPF. “If so, they would have to be more careful about the votes they cast in the last month of the legislative session, when votes occur on the final versions of bills. If they did not have an opponent, they could vote however they wanted.”

That change back in the late 1980s was part of an effort led by the late Rep. Tim Ford and the late Sen. Bill Harpole to overhaul and reorganize election laws and create the Mississippi Election Code.

The change this year resulted from a request by election commissioners to have the same qualifying deadline as other candidates. “Legislators were told that election commissioners asked for a change from the June 1 (sic) deadline to be more in line with the earlier deadline currently in place for legislators, statewide officials, and county officials, such as sheriffs, county supervisors, circuit clerks, and more,” wrote BPF. “But in the course of making that change, the House made the additional move to change the deadline for all candidate filings to February 1.”

With legislative leaders trying to shorten sessions, some of those tough votes BPF mentioned may have to be cast earlier, so a February 1 qualifying date could help protect any at-risk legislators.

The brief qualifying window may also be an issue in 2023 elections if required redistricting based on new Census data is not resolved until late 2022. Already the process will be delayed. The Census Bureau announced that redistricting data will be delayed at least six months.

As BPF concluded, “There is no need to have such an early deadline, nor is there a legitimate reason to limit the filing season to one month.”

Indeed, patriotic legislators (and governors) should enact laws to encourage people to run for office. Incumbent protection acts smell more of tyranny than liberty.

“The integrity of the upright guides them, but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity” – Proverbs 11:3.

Crawford is a syndicate columnist from Jackson.

 

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

first article you've written that i've agreed with you on in quite some time. this is nothing but good old boys protecting good old boys.

Anonymous said...

Disappointed in the Governor. I thought he might veto this. Silly me,

Anonymous said...

It's what's called a "bi-partisan" piece of legislation. Such measures go to the very nature of politics, whether Republican or Democrat they all have one interest that comes ahead of all others...their own ass. Remember.

Anonymous said...

Republicans at their finest. Suppressing the vote and suppressing competition.

Surprised they didn’t find some sort of financial kickback to throw at cooperations in this Bill too. Would’ve been the Republican trifecta.

Anonymous said...

If Mississippians don’t vote these clowns out of office come the next election then the people deserve what they get. Crooked politicians who couldn’t give a rats ass what the people who voted them into office want or desire. This last year when this legislature pretty much told voters to go fuck themselves because they failed to fix the initiative process. Clearly the political view in Jackson is Mississippians can wish in one and shit in the other and see which one fills first. No one seems to care, it doesn’t effect me so to hell with it.

Anonymous said...

Good lord, why the outrage from the left ?

If someone wishes to run for public office, I sure as Hell hope they have been thinking about it for more than one month.

Geez, if they need more than 30 days to complete simple paperwork to qualify ... they're not fit for any elected position.

Anonymous said...

Reeves simply attempting to suck up to all the boys he's managed to piss off over the past nine years. Nothing more. Nothing less.

@4:16 - Here, take your dunce cap.

Anonymous said...

3:46 - take your partisan shots as you wish, but this bill was supported every bit as much by the Democrats in the legislature as by the Republicans.

This is not a bill that's good for one party and bad for the other - its a bill that, as Crawford noted in quoting the BPF, helps the incumbent. And those Democrats in office aren't worried about what happens in those districts currently held by Republicans, they are worried about what happens in their districts, which will 99% of the time be decided in the Democratic primary. Just as will happen in 99% of the districts currently held by Republicans.

And, its a damn close to the same situation with county officials races - and you can bet your bottom dollar that while the claim is made that this was originated by elections commissioners (which may or may not actually be true) but all kinds of local sheriffs, supervisors, clerks, etc were happy to see this bill sail through the legislature.

Would have been nice if Tate had vetoes it, as Crawford and others have suggested, but the question is - why would he. With the almost unanimous support this bill had among ALL legislators, his veto would have been quickly overridden. Too much personal interest from the incumbents to have any hope that a Governor's veto would survive this type issue.

Anonymous said...

4:16, the question is not "deciding to run for office" but the long election season this creates. And if you are not the incumbent, then you must be running for office while also trying to hold onto a job that pays the monthly mortgage, feeds the kids, etc.while the incumbent is still collecting his monthly paycheck from his elected position and campaigning at the same time.

Yes, the shortened filing period is bad and gives legislators more comfort in those end of session votes knowing who may or may not be running against them, but it also doesn't give the challengers knowledge of what weaknesses that the incumbent may create during their last year in office.

No matter which way you slice it, this is one time that Bigger Pie Forum got it right - nothing but an incumbent protection plan with no good reason for it. Hell, if the reason was truly that the election commissioners wanted the same filing deadline (making them all be on the same day is actually a good idea) the proper solution would have been to move county, statewide, and legislators to June 1.

Anonymous said...

4:49 seems to have been "emotionally triggered" for some reason.





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