Cole VS. _____ in Ole Miss' Paper

The College Democrats and College Republicans at Ole Miss agreed to do a series of opposing editorials on several candidates. One of those was the race for Agricultural Commissioner. When time came for both to present their work the Republicans backed out of attempting to defend Lester Spell. Here is an excerpt of the Democrats' column on the choice for commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce:

Cole, on the other hand, has been an impressive candidate.

He vows to restore the "Country-of-Origin" labeling requirement for meat products sold in Mississippi, something that's been on the books for a while but not enforced. This is probably a good thing to have in place if there's another Mad Cow Disease scare, something that has no cure and is 100 percent fatal.

He also wants to do a better job of networking and marketing local growers and buyers.

Some people feel that cutting the state's grocery tax would put localities in a bad position. But what about the additional "fuel tax" that the people of this state have to pay for crops that are being grown elsewhere and then shipped here?

There are many factors that influence the price that is paid in the store for produce, but the price increases over the past three years, due to transportation costs alone for many vegetables in Mississippi grocery stores, is higher than the seven percent grocery tax rate itself.

Importation may not have been a big issue when the average unleaded regular price was $1.89 a gallon back in 2004, but it's nearly a dollar higher today.

The column is written by Jesse Johnson. Check It Out.