Got to love it when good ole boys do good ole things, even in Ocean Springs. GC Wire reported:
Candidates running for office in Ocean Springs have been told they must submit to background checks ahead of the upcoming Republican primary election. But there’s a problem: Mississippi law says city officials have no authority to enforce such a mandate. Last week, challenging candidates for Alderman received an email from Deputy City Clerk Vicky Hupe with explicit instructions. “Please complete the attached release form to facilitate the background check required for your qualification status,” the email read. The attached form required candidates to provide personal information, including social security numbers and work histories. It also included a waiver under the Privacy Act of 1974: “I understand my rights under the Privacy Act of 1974, with regard to access and disclosure of records, and I waive these rights with the understanding that information furnished will be used by the City of Ocean Springs for the Elected Official Qualification process.” When asked about the requirement, City Clerk Patty Gaston defended the process. “Background checks are done by Police Dept to validate candidates,” she wrote in an email to GC Wire. “Just validating they can run.” Article
Kingfish note: Get ready to lose in court.
31 comments:
This is the same city that hired David Wilder on their police department. No problem violating rights of the people. https://youtu.be/KkDk3hfyFPo?si=4WdWjjG7xE2OWJXP
How ridiculous. Sure you have to prove residency but you don't have to have a background check conducted by the city in order to run for office.
Another question. Does the Ocean Springs Police Department even have the authority to do background checks even if the subject gives permission by signing that form? I wonder, has OSPD been using law enforcement tools and resources in investigating hiring of city employees? I'm not sure that is within law enforcement's authority. But I suspect others here will educate me on the subject.
Who let the dems run city hall? Oh, the voters?
What? No DNA sample requirement?
yeah it sucks that regular state employees have to submit to a background check but the anointed "elected" are exempt.
Emergency Injunction request filed in 3, 2, 1...
When they win the office they have to be bonded which several in the state can't be due to bankruptcy, crimes or past bond claims. Then the city has to have a special election since the winner can't provide a bond. Unnecessary costs to the municipality in my opinion. There are several towns that the aldermen and mayor are running again and there are bond claims for malfeasance from the past 4 years may be elected, can't be bonded and the town has to have a special election.
We really need to return to requiring the political party ( all of them) to be responsible for vetting their party candidates.
Can you back that up?
Let's add drug testing, too.
They may have some other problems down there.
"OCEAN SPRINGS, MS — The Ocean Springs City Attorney and Police Chief presented a program to the Board of Aldermen that would help get uninsured motorists off the streets. What the aldermen did not know was that both men would financially benefit from the city adopting the deal.
On Saturday, former Police Chief Mark Dunston confirmed reports he was on the Securix payroll while simultaneously overseeing the program as the city’s top law enforcement officer. When asked by GC Wire if he and his assistant were paid by the company while serving in their official city capacities, Dunston responded, “Absolutely.”
I'm sorry, but party's have to certify candidates as being eligible to run for an office, including municipal offices - and one of the qualification requirements is that the individual has not been convicted of certain felonies.
This is a problem for the parties (both Democrats and Republicans) in that they have no direct way to run such a check, except to ask LEOs to assist. True, there is no requirement to fill out such a form as this city has created, but if the political party committee charged with certifying the candidate has reason to believe that such a check needs to be run, they could ask for this information in the process of doing their statutory duty of assuring the candidate's eligibility.
People with a little authority are just making sh*t up. It seems to be rampant.
Not sure if 10:03 is asking me to back it up but I bond municipalities so yes I can. The new State Auditor guidelines are requiring $50,000 minimum bond on newly elected officials. Those in larger towns, Laurel, Meridian, Jackson, Vicksburg have to have a $100,000 bond. If they can't be bonded by a insurance company they can put up a cash bond for the amount.
A person could ask the Ocean Springs City Attorney what they are doing, but it appears he's been getting busy with some other matters!
How would a municipality purchase insurance coverage on an elected official not eligible to hold office by state code?
The above is a question that might also apply to the current and next Mayor of Jackson.
Specifically, if an elected official is sued for official acts misconduct of some sort; what happens should the insurer decline to pay for the legal representation of the elected official?
It seems like there could be a risk that when the elected official's legal expenses aren't covered by insurance the official could have no interest in helping defend the government body against the claims.
I believe Securix the same company that City of Pearl started using to generate revenue. When those uninsured motorists tickets started hitting mailboxes around here, I, being in the insurance industry, started asking questions. Many of my customers who are actually insured were receiving tickets. I got to asking around and the overwhelming consensus was that Securix was shady and not well run. Basically, a money grab per my sources who personally knew the owner and business. Inquiring minds want to know if Securix was paying mayors or aldermen in other municipalities to adopt their services. I remember when Pearl announced they were using their services I made a comment on this blog about it being a money grab. The city gets a portion of the proceeds from a camera capturing tags and running against insurance. The state of Mississippi has no filing system with insurance requirement so there is no way in H E double hockey stick that they can tell of every tag ran has insurance or not. There is a way to kind of see, like Lexis Nexus, but it's not without its issues and is for sure not good enough to be handing out tickets. My thoughts seem to be correct.
Simmer down, y’all. Let the Ocean Springs lefties run their little utopia commune. Must be they want to keep someone off the ballot and intend to use a background check to do it.
Hey. Hold up. This is coast people with their crazy ass coast problems. These people ain’t right and never been right. Look at our elected officials from the coast. 👀
So the obvious question is, what criteria do you use to disqualify a candidate? If that is not supplied up front in writing, then this will never hold up. Sounds pretty subjective.
I don't even give my SS# to my doctor. How likely is it that OS will safeguard a social security number to the level I would insist? For heaven's sakes, they want you to write it down on an old fashioned piece of paper. No thanks! Where is that piece of paper stored and for how long?
10:30am, please post a link. That is outright unethical if true.
Do they discharge raw sewage in Ocean Springs? Asking for a soon to be jailed friend.
The coast is, well, just different.
And if the Committee qualifies someone who has a disqualifying crime they don't know about, the people will want them crucified.
How about the Legislature actually write a gd election code that makes sense.
No meaningful penalties and non enforcement is how you have stuff like this continue even when there's a code for it.
See: Mayor of Jackson's missing campaign finance filings. Also budget and audit and
No doubt the people in Ocean Springs behind this are also on their HOA's board of directors.
Felons cannot vote. But, apparently, no one is going to stop them from being elected. God knows the Executive Committees aren’t doing the job.
F’ing Mississippi. You don’t get to be 49th or 50th in everything without some serious effort.
1:53, the problem is simple. No money, no staff, and responsibilities are placed on the least equipped and least capable per statute. The legislature could fix all of this if they cared. They don't and they are the problem.
Update: Slappped Down!
https://gcwire.com/city-clerk-blows-top-while-state-officials-condemn-actions-of-ocean-springs/
12:59 https://gcwire.com/mayor-serious-situation-regarding-city-attorney-securix-controversy/
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