It is clear from his record that Ronnie Musgrove cares deeply about the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
Musgrove helped protect the Coast as Governor and always spent time with Coast residents to better represent our needs (I'm from Ocean Springs).
Additionally, Musgrove supports the multi-perils insurance bill to help protect citizens and has been an attorney representing people who were denied insurance coverage.
After Hurricane Katrina he worked to bring new tax incentives to the area and helped educate local businesspeople on how to use them.
Interim Senator Roger Wicker on the other hand has taken over $80,000 from insurance companies, including money from insurance agents after Hurricane Katrina.
Over the next few days I hope to bring you more on how Musgrove has been a friend and advocate of the Coast.
If what you say is true, why didn't RM take advantage of his free media to give a targeted announcement speech to the coast voters? As Ana Marie astutely pointed out he didn't mention Katrina AT ALL in his announcement speech. Not good. Right now I'd say he isn't using decent political acumen. Wicker, on the other hand, has already spent a good deal of time down here (all well-covered by the press). Who is running RM's campaign? He's getting some bad advice!
ReplyDeleteSo why didn't he (RM) use his free media time down here to highlight his love for the coast? Who is running his campaign? As Ana Marie and others astutely reported NO mention of Katrina in his announcement speech. In the past few days, Wicker has opened an office down here, taken tours of still-devastated areas and has given several speeches. Politically very wise, I'd say. I'm disappointed in Ronnie's political wisdom, or lack thereof!
ReplyDeleteSo why didn't he (RM) use his free media time down here to highlight his love for the coast? Who is running his campaign? As Ana Marie and others astutely reported NO mention of Katrina in his announcement speech. In the past few days, Wicker has opened an office down here, taken tours of still-devastated areas and has given several speeches. Politically very wise, I'd say. I'm disappointed in Ronnie's political wisdom, or lack thereof!
ReplyDeleteHe did talk about Katrina. I'll cover that in another post. Ana Maria wasn't there. She only read the prepared remarks. He didn't stick with those.
ReplyDeleteWicker is our Senator and due to that gets coverage everywhere he goes. His campaign also has very deep pockets unlike Democrats in Mississippi.
Musgrove has done a reasonable job.
+ I don't think Ronnie has anyone running his campaign. At the moment I believe it's just his family working for his election.
ReplyDeleteYou're kidding - Only family?
ReplyDeleteAny word on Ray Mabus throwing his hat in the ring?
Sorry for taking up so much space, I just registered and didn't pay attention...I can't believe he hasn't hired any staff yet? What's going on w/ Shows' campaign? Unless I missed it, he hasn't been down here at all! So Wicker gets all the free coverage right now what w/ his tours and speaking engagements. I suppose he inherited the Trent and Haley machines.
ReplyDeleteThat's the point. Musgrove didn't care enough to talk about Katrina or insurance reform in his formal remarks.
ReplyDeleteSo, does this mean that Cotton Mouth Blog is fine with Ronnie Musgrove being on the payroll of the premier law firm that represents State Farm, the insurance industry, and George Dale? Just today, the Sun Herald reported the fact that Musgrove's law firm was on the Mississippi Gulf Coast defending USAA insurance company against a Katrina policy holder who lives in Harrison County.
How can anyone in good conscience support a candidate who is on the payroll and has this kind of connection with Greg Copeland's law firm, a candidate who we will expect to go to Washington, DC, and work unemcumbered by personal, professional, business, and financial conflicts of interest, a man who we will expect to be as ardent a champion of insurance reform as our own local hero, Congressman Gene Taylor.
With a good democrat in the race--that of former Congressman Ronnie Shows, I would expect Democrats from South Mississippi to unite behind one of their own rather than unite behind a man from North Mississippi with insurance baggage that is unconscionable.
Musgrove is counting on us being unable to connect the dots. We threw out George Dale. How could any self-respecting Democrat support a man who is a representative of George Dale's lawyer?
Come on. There is nothing in the Musgrove campaign for anyone in South Mississippi. Nationally, the Democrats rightly paint the Republican Party as being on the side of Big Business. Here in Katrina Land, that translates into Big Insurance.
I was considering Musgrove until I learned that he remained on the payroll of Copeland, the great defender of Big Insurance. We know that the Repubs will fund a 527 with one goal: burn into every South Mississippi voter's mind the image of State Farm, Copeland, and Musgrove. That will be enough to dampen the Democratic enthusiasm in South Mississippi to the point that he can't overcome it.
Let's all unite behind former Congressman Ronnie Shows and put a real Democrat in the Senate who will be free to work passionately, enthusiastically, and authentically on behalf of Katrina recovery and Insurance Reform.
Ray Mabus isn't getting in.
ReplyDeleteYep he inherited the Haley Barbour and Trent Lott machines.
I think that's kind of gotcha politics Ana.
ReplyDeleteIn the the Republican primary last year Phil Bryant ran an ad attacking Charlie Ross for belonging to a law firm that "is suing Governor Barbour." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LENI6655Gn4
In reality, Ross appears to be the candidate Haley Barbour wanted more if you believe what Sid Salter said about Barbour folks volunteering for him.
Ross wasn't suing the Governor and Musgrove isn't blocking post-Katrina progress.
If a Republican group wants to attack Musgrove they'll attack him on something else and from the chatter I've heard it'd likely be around things like the flag issue. Republicans don't want to make the race about insurance reform because then all it'd take would be a Gene Taylor or local advocates to endorse the/a Dem and it'd make it a positive.
I'll definitely ask him about those ties next time I see him, but I know he would be no puppet of insurance in Washington.
I do hope Shows gets his act together and quick. We need them both to get Wicker under 50% in the first vote.
Musgrove has staff. I was incorrect in earlier comments.
ReplyDeleteBryant ran ads attacking Ross for being a part of a firm that represents insurance companies.
ReplyDeleteBryant also ran ads making him look like he really liked the Coast.
Ross still did better on the Coast than he did in other parts of the state.
Those things don't effect the voters as much as one might think.
Comparing the Lt. Gov race to that of the U.S. Senate campaign to replace the legendary Trent Lott is rather silly.
ReplyDeleteYou make laugh. I suppose at your age, your political resume simply won't lend itself to determining what voters will and won't understand here in Mississippi. That's understandable given your level of experience. What is not understandable is failing to grasp the fact that RM has significant business and financial ties to the biggest lobbyist and law firm for property insurance here in Mississippi. That is a fact and will be exploited to its fullest. Bank on it.
Musgrove appears determined to keep those ties in tact.
Even though you are only in the middle of your undergraduate studies, I know some of your professors quite well. They were my profs and then, of course, they asked me to teach after I got my masters from there twenty years ago.
Only the most naive or inexperienced would conclude that Musgrove's ties to the protectors of BIG INSURANCE can somehow be glossed over with South Mississippi voters. That perspective is a major insult to every South Mississippi voter regardless of our political bent, our race, gender, age, or military status. The one thing that binds all of us is our Katrina experience followed by Big Insurance's betrayal.
All anyone has to do is go to Congressman Gene Taylor's campaign website and click on "Insurance Reform." There one will find 6 video excerpts from Taylor's famed Insurance Reform Town Hall Meeting he held here at Katrina's ground zero. There are also articles and other videos to bring home the point. For anyone needing convincing, just go take a look.
Insurance Reform is key to many votes here in South Mississippi. I wouldn't have expected you to have understood this. I hold out hope that you will come to a different conclusion as you continue your education in the political realm.
Instead of judging based on one or two speeches, it's more logical to assume that with what is likely going to remain a Democratic-led Congress (Both chambers) as well as choosing a Democratic president, that Mississippi would gain more by electing a Democratic senator.
ReplyDeletePeace.
ReplyDeleteYou know Ana Maria, insulting people on the internet about their age or rather anything is about 5 years OUT of style.
ReplyDeleteBut at guess at your age, it takes a while for "new" tricks to sink in.
See that wasn't nice was it? Nor contributed to debate. I would expect more from someone who was once considered to be a "educator".
I think in regard to Musgrove, you have to be careful how many dots you are trying to connect. And if in the end your relationship is nothing but causal, with no hard evidence.
Now I'm new to Mississippi, and don't know that much about its politics or what Katrina did.
But if you're going rail on Big Insurance, then get to the source. Harass Musgrove. Ask him to resign his ties. Maybe it will be a John Edwards-Predator Lending "awakening" on Musgrove's part if there is wrong doing in the people's eyes.
It sounds to me maybe we shouldn't promote RM. But your attitude does not make me want to promote anybody you're for then either. I'm sorry.
We all rallied around the run-Dale-out-of-office campaign. Cottonmouth taped and published some important footage in our collective, successful push.
ReplyDeleteNow, Cottonmouth is defending a member of the law firm that defended Dale. What could be the rationale, particularly since your family is from here in Katrina country?
What will be the pitch to family and friends?
"Hey, look, the guy works for the largest law firm defending Big Insurance, including State Farm. And yes, the guy works for the largest law firm that lobbies on behalf of Big Insurance. And, well, the guy defended George Dale who I helped run out of office because he sided with Big Insurance and didn't take the side of homeowners like my own family and friends. And, yes, Musgrove is a Democrat like George Dale, so you know I have no problem going against Democrats who wrongly defend Big Insurance.
"So, yeah, Musgrove continues to be on the payroll of these guys and has been since 2004. But, uh, well, uh, I'm supporting him, because I think that in spite of all these apparent conflicts of interest, Musgrove will somehow go up to Washington, DC, and come out of the closet as an ardent, vociferous, aggressive champion of insurance reform along the scale of Congressman Gene Taylor."
"... huh? What is my evidence that Musgrove will be a champion of insurance reform when he is getting a paycheck from Greg Copeland, the biggest defender of Big Insurance?"
"... well, uh, see . . . because I said so."
We deserve an explanation that is better than this, and I am hopeful that you will provide it.
Who is Musgrove's staff? Mississippians or out of DC? Just wonder whose advice he's taking cuz I still say Wicker is working the coast right now quite effectively.
ReplyDeleteAlso, has anybody out there heard ANYTHING from Shows? Has he gotten a campaign off the ground?
You are right sailor, from today's Sun Herald, Wicker said he would also push Taylor's multi-perils insurance bill in the Senate. The bill, which extends the National Flood Insurance Program to include wind coverage, passed the House of Representatives last year, but the Senate has not acted on it. "I am absolutely Gene Taylor's partner on that issue," Wicker said.
ReplyDelete