The Leftenent Governor and Mayor of Jackson are playing a game of hardball. WAPT reported last night:
Hopefully, the Lieutenant Governor learned a valuable lesson: Don't trust the Mayor. The Mayor broadcast the details of a private negotiation just so he could publicly stand up to the man, oops, make that the Lieutenant Governor.
The airport has been the subject of a long court fight between the Legislature and Jackson.
This website strongly protested the takeover several years ago. Earlier post. Unfortunately, Little Lord Lumumba has been extremely tone deaf as he ignores the shenanigans at the airport over the last several years.
The Legislature became concerned when the Mayor's father appointed DJ's, preachers, and other community activists to the Board. They promptly ran off the long-time CEO and started divvying up the goodies. Unfortunately, the current Mayor ignored those concerns and made similar appointments.
The Board of Commissioners ran off a very well-respected CEO as well as his interim replacement. The Board replaced them with a CEO who has no experience in operating an airport. His background is.... public works. The Board got rid of the in-house lawyers and brought back the expensive outside lawyers. The Board treated the JMAA treasury as its personal checkbook and took off to Paris for a two weeks vacation that masqueraded as economic development. Sources at the Paris Air Show said they never saw any JMAA representatives at the Air Show functions. Friends were hired as lobbyists, tech advisors, and other cushy consulting gigs. Meanwhile the Mayor never said a word as accountability is an unknown word in his vocabulary, right?
The Mayor can yap about winning the airport fight all he wants but the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has other ideas. The Court ruled in 2019:
That Jackson “has been singled out by [S.B.] 2162” does not establish that a legally protected interest of the individual plaintiffs has been violated. Cities are creatures of states, and though their authority to do so is not un-limited, states may, under some circumstances, treat different cities differently. That the State of Mississippi has enacted a different method for the appointment of certain municipal airport commissioners and not others does not mean that plaintiffs, as residents and taxpayers of Jackson, have suffered a concrete and particularized, actual and imminent injury to interests protected by the Equal Protection Clause.
Translation? The Legislature giveth and the Legislature can taketh. The State created the city so the State can change the rules on the city. The Fith Circuit gave a big hint to the District Court but Judge Reeves continues to push the envelope. The result is the court fight drags on year after year.
Meanwhile, some Legislators grow tired of the trench warfare and want to play hardball with Jackson. Jackson can't sue on one hand while begging for money to bail out its own financial mismanagement. However, Jackson sources say the Mayor is convinced President Biden's FAA won't approve a certificate transfer so he plays his own hardball.
Kingfish note: My unsolicited advice to the Mayor? Your people brag that you are the smartest guy in the room. Well, let's enlighten you a little bit. The Governor and Lieutenant Governor are smarter than you and have backbones as big as yours. The Fifth Circuit gave you a nice strong hint where it is going. If you can sell the damn thing, sell it and get the best deal. That beats losing and getting zero. Ask Ed Blackmon what happens when you go for broke.
41 comments:
Good for you Delbert. After years of extorting money from the state, it is time for Jacktown to pay some back. Maybe the airport will get back to the way it was 30 years ago. P. S. Delbert, this might just get you elected Governor (even without the Jackson vote).
Jackson should file bankruptcy and let that court resolve things.
The state can then pick up the pieces and run the city as it desires.
Hopefully, the Lieutenant Governor learned a valuable lesson: Don't trust the Mayor.
The FACT that Hosemann had this blind spot to begin with is deeply troubling.
Declaring BK worked for Detroit.
Get rid of the Taliban beard.
The airport is a dump. There is nothing International about it. The only thing International is the UPS Jets, and the Fed Ex Jets unloading at the distribution center.
Any news on when Southwest is starting flights? Have they started construction in the terminal?
It's going to take the city residents to get woke up to the fact that the mayor is an empty suit. He works with no one to help the citizens out. Let see is the peoples are finally pissed off enough to kick Chickweed Loubomba & Bennie Bee Thompson out of office! If not live in your our mess & don't expect state taxpayers to bail your butts out.
“The Governor and Lieutenant Governor are smarter than you and have backbones as big as yours. The Fifth Circuit gave you a nice strong hint where it is going. If you can sell the damn thing, sell it and get the best deal. That beats losing and getting zero.”
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The mayor has zero business experience so there is no doubt in my mind that he and the city are going to end up losing the airport and in turn will get zero, nothing, nodda in return.
11:05, DEMOCRATS are pushing Delbert to primary Reeves in '23. Why? They're confident a Gov Delbert Hosemann can be rolled.
In my next life I want to come back as an airport commissioner at JAN
According to Southwest's website, flights to Jackson begin 6/6/2021.
What's with this editorial pronunciation of "MEET-ings", Ross? Sounds like you're suggesting that the LtGov is lying because he hasn't dropped everything on his plate to rush to answer your questions.
JAN is one of the easiest airports to get in and out of that I've ever used. I love the layout, and have always had good experiences with the people that work there.
I just wish it had the flights we use. As it stands, my family and I almost always have to fly in and out of either Memphis or New Orleans, and there is more to that than just not having Southwest.
The state is not aiming to takeover the airport because of mismanagement or from a desire to "straighten it out". If that were the case they could have taken JPS. Straighten it out. But who the hell wants it? But the airport property is one of Jackson's few remaining valuable assets and big money wants it. The issue is not settled or the leftenant would not be willing to bargain. I'm no Lumumba fan but I say, don't die easy Antar!
What's gonna happen is the mayor is gonna lose a) the airport; b) water infrastructure funding.
He could have gotten all of one and half the other, now he will lose both.
We are watching a young man getting schooled by someone more than twice his age.
Yes, bankruptcy is the only thing to put Jackson on a path to recovery (and use, it has worked well in Detroit). But, Jackson cannot do so under current Mississippi law - or so the wise folks at the Legislature and at Butler Snow has said.
A bankruptcy would also neuter Antar and his ambitions.
If I was Delbert I would walk into that next meeting wish the mayor good luck and walk out.
If I was Delbert, there wouldn't be a next meeting with this narrow ass piece of shit. There would be silence. And zero state help.
So, Lubumba has a city that was without running water for three weeks and he thinks he has a bargaining chip? Be real. He needs the state not the other way around. Hasn’t there been money set aside by the city and with grants in the past to fix Jackson’s water and sewer system?
The questions are:
How many time per month does the airport board meet?
What does an airport board member "make$" for attending each meeting?????
12:27, how does Mississippi law trump federal bankruptcy courts? Couldn’t a creditor ask the court to put them in involuntary bankruptcy? If the state prevents a bankruptcy filing by a bankrupt entity, isn’t there some liability to the state?
Chapter 9 of the Bankruptcy Code governs municipal bankruptcies. One of the requirements for a municipality to file bankruptcy is that the municipality must be specifically authorized to be a debtor by state law. No such law exists in Mississippi. This is in Section 109(c) of the Bankruptcy Code.
Kingfish, explain the Ed Blackmon comment.
Bruce Campbell field in Madison is a better operated facility.
No "preachers" or DJ's running that operation.
Hell...years ago a couple of big ass commercial jets tried to land at Bruce Campbell after mistaking that little landing strip for Jackson "International".
Thankfully,the pilots realized their mistake and aborted the landing on final approach.
But that's another story.
The Jacktown airport ain't Atlanta's Hartsfield International ...
but it seems to look like a rural Madison County runway from the air.
I will later but I'm going to let it percolate for a while and see if anyone gets it.
Just sayin. Jackson could save a lot of money by passing off the airport to the state. Not sure what it cost to operate but I bet it's a pretty penny. The airport is not going anywhere, it can still carry the name. All the gory none of the cost or headaches.
Some airports keep records of outgoing and inbound travelers. How many people that use the airport weekly/monthly are residents of Jackson as opposed to Rankin, Madison, and other state counties?
Another state capital is Columbia, SC the airport there is the Richland-Lexington Airport District (2 counties) and is a SC special district. The City of Columbia is happy not to finance the headaches. Each county gets 5 commission members and the city gets 2, work for them I guess.
CAE is another under served airport, 1.5 hours to Charlotte, 3 hours to ATL and 1.5 to CHS.
Kingfish,
Should Texas be made to drop its suits against the federal government as a condition of the disaster relief it requested and received?
Because I can’t see an objective difference.
The Lieutenant Governor and Senator Harkins (R-ealtor) care about the development opportunities of the property JMAA controls. There's lots of money to be divvied up along the new parkway. The state couldn't bring traffic to the airport, or care less about it. Those small government conservatives who rail about the inefficiencies of state government know it. It's a money grab.
"3 hours to ATL "
Before 9/11 ... with a tail-wind ... one could fly to Atlanta
from Baton Rouge in about an hour.
And that includes the time change.
There's lots of money to be divvied up along the new parkway.
So why hasn't Jackson developed it yet?
The sign on Old Brandon Road would have to be changed and the mayor's name taken off. Plus, they would have to take the weird posed arm crossed pictures of him down from the concourse. Oh yeah, and they would have to stop playing that looping audio of him crowing about welcome to Jackson
2:15 “for a municipality to file”. But if I’m a creditor I can petition to put them in involuntary bankruptcy. Right or wrong?
"According to Southwest's website, flights to Jackson begin 6/6/2021."
Oh. Well. That's the anniversary of D-Day. How fitting! Are they flying in non-potable water to flush boo boo? If not, why not?
Airport governance was set up when the surrounding counties and towns were insignificant and Jackson was it. Now 2/3rds of passengers come from the robustly populated suburbs. It is sensible that oversight should be more broadly based.
I would've given a week's pay to follow those jackwagons around Paris and the surrounding country side during the air show. No doubt they impressed the international air show attendees with their economic development expertise and, well, let's just call it "provincial" flair.
"Meanwhile, some Legislators grow tired of the trench warfare and want to play hardball with Jackson."
How much did Josh pay you to type that one? LOL
"I would've given a week's pay to follow those jackwagons around Paris"
Same here !
Marshall Ramsey had a Field Day with Fordice in Paris, but
nothing about Lil' Lord ckoke-a-Way and his squad over there.
10:02
That’s b/c the cartoonist is a lib.
Chok’s longterm chip is a partisan federal infrastructure bill with bennie’s blessing seein that jacktown gets some big money out of a bill unprecedented in size. And we have seen some honkin big ole bills post-pandemic
I've never understood the adulation for Marshall Ramsey. He is an apologist for the left and he uses unfair harshness to hammer that which opposes the leftists.
By "left" I don't mean liberal. Classic liberalism is something I disagree with but we can agree to disagree. Look how very liberal Piers Morgan is getting eaten by the left. The left tolerates no dissention among the ranks. Heck, the left is excoriating Martina Navratilova (a very liberal person) for not being a leftist.
Burying this in comments, but what the hell are the board members doing? Frontier is coming back next month with flights to Orlando and they haven’t even sent out a press release. What a joke. I would be pissed if I was a family going to Disney and had to drive somewhere else just because they can’t figure out the basics of running an airport.
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