Eaves: "Good Husband" Ad

Eaves: "Different People" Ad

Eaves Has An Ethics Plan / Haley Has An Ethics Problem

Eaves' plan from a press release:

Mississippi’s standards for ethics should be stronger. Over the past decade, much of the rest of the country has been increasing disclosure standards, while Mississippi has done nothing. We need a Governor who will change this. Mississippi’s elected officials should be held accountable for their actions. The legislature has tried to pass ethics reform in the past, but has been thwarted at every turn by Governor Barbour and his special interest friends. As Governor, John Eaves will make ethics legislation a priority. Below is the outline of his plan.

Shinning Light on the Ethics Commission

Members of the Ethics Commission will be required to recuse themselves from cases that involve the person whom appointed them to the commission. Nor can they rule in cases where they have any financial interest before them or personal connection to any of the parties involved.

All complaints filed to the commission are to be made public on the commission’s website within 72 hours of filing. Only the personal information of the person filing the complaint and specific details that the commission deems sensitive may be redacted from the document.

All hearings, votes, and opinions of the Ethics Commission must be made public and available electronically within 72 hours of occurrences.

The review process for a complaint will be changed. First the complaint is received and the staff determines if it meets the minimum threshold of having any potential basis in fact. Once it meets that threshold, the staff presents it to the commissioners for a vote to proceed. If the vote is in favor of proceeding or a tie, then it will go forward and the staff will investigate the merits of the complaint. The staff is authorized to compel testimony of anyone, including elected officials. After the investigation is complete, the staff will present their findings to the commissioners who will then vote on the matter.


Keeping it All Out of the Family

Nepotism is defined in other sections of the Mississippi Code as relatives to the third degree, but conflict of interest applies only to relatives defined by parents, children, and spouse. Conflict of interest laws should be strengthened to include the same definition of nepotism used elsewhere in Mississippi law.

Giving Teeth to Ethics

Failure to disclose economic interests- If a candidate failed to properly file his or her “Statement of Economic Interest” and did so in an attempt to hide his or her sources of income, that person shall be subject to no less than one and to no more than five years in prison and a fine equal to the salary the State would have paid the candidate over his or her term.

Illegal Campaign Funding- If a candidate is found guilty of illegally taking funds, that candidate will be forced to pay a fine equal to the amount of illegal funds received plus 50%. The candidate may use campaign funds only to pay the portion of the fine based on the amount of illegal funds, not the 50% additional fee.

Electronically Searchable Disclosures

Today candidates in Mississippi can rest assured that their disclosures will hide in obscurity because there is no way to quickly search them. Under the Eaves plan, all candidates for the legislature or statewide office must file their campaign finance disclosures in an electronically searchable way in a database to be maintained by the Secretary of State. In addition, all lobbyist disclosures and all spending by outside groups to influence an election must be filed electronically as well.

Fuller Financial Disclosure

Each year that a candidate is running for statewide office, or is an elected statewide official, he or she must disclosure their annual income and the amount of taxes they paid to the US Treasury. This requirement may be fulfilled by releasing the summary pages of the candidate or officials tax returns.

Haley vetoed the only reform that made it to his desk; he hasn't brought it up since.

Eaves Site: Barbour's Record

The Eaves Campaign has put many of the charges against Haley Barbour in one place.

Check out www.Barbour'sRecord.com

New Eaves Ad "That's the Difference"

John Eaves contrasts how he would tackle important issues compared to how Haley Barbour has saying that unlike Barbour he will "serve my creator and the people of Mississippi."

Democrats Ought To Thank John Eaves

Daily Journal:

Eaves has run a credible campaign with effective television commercials that have at least kept Barbour interested in the race and less able to actively campaign for other candidates. Eaves also has raised some serious issues that probably deserve additional debate.

For instance, it seems Mississippians should at least explore and debate the possibility of providing health insurance for all children as Eaves has proposed. Maybe there is an innovative way to achieve a goal that probably most Mississippians would think was a noble effort.

Perhaps the pros and cons of Eaves' proposal to raise Mississippi's state casino tax from 8 percent to 10 percent should at least be explored.

And no doubt, if the governor is going to be able to shield all of his assets in a blind trust, then there should be some state oversight of that process.

The Daily Journal

Eaves decided to run knowing that the road would be steep and the chances would be slim. Even folks who disagree with him should thank him for giving Mississippi a credible choice in the general election for governor.

Democratic Candidate For Governor John Eaves

Eaves' Ad on Barbour's Immigration Record

John Eaves Defends Himself; Stands With America's Veterans

From the Clarion Ledger

"Yes, I did sue the military, and I would do it again because I stood up for veterans who had not been treated right by the Pentagon bureaucrats," Eaves said during a news conference at the War Memorial building in downtown Jackson.

For the past two weeks, Republican Gov. Haley Barbour has been airing TV commercials that say Eaves is "wrong for Mississippi."

"He's repeatedly sued America's military for personal financial gain," the announcer says.

Jesse H. Moore, an Army veteran who lives in Jackson, called the Barbour ad "distasteful."

"I think it's just a ploy for the governor to try and discredit John Arthur Eaves," said Moore, 65, who stood with Eaves.

The Clarion Ledger

Clarion Ledger Article On Jobs

The Clarion Ledger:

Eaves, a trial lawyer from Jackson, countered in an interview: ‘The governor likes to take credit for jobs, but just because he cuts a ribbon don't mean he brought the business. If he's going to take credit for every job that comes to Mississippi, he needs to take credit for every one that's lost, too.’ … In August, the national unemployment rate was 4.6 percent and Mississippi's was 5.9 percent. Only two states were worse off than Mississippi. Alaska's jobless rate was 6.3 percent and Michigan's was 7.4 percent.

It's always been odd to me when politicians took credit for jobs. People create jobs, small businesses create jobs, big businesses consolidate jobs, Governor's don't create jobs (unless they are government jobs).

Where Barbour's Money Is Going (The Mississippi Republican Party)

I've commented several times that I was curious how Barbour was spending so much money without appearing to be on TV any more than John Eaves.

Well, I've found two big pieces.

1. Mississippi Republican Party

From 7/30/07 to 9/17/07 the Haley Barbour campaign listed disbursements from the campaign to the Mississippi Republican Party of $1,750,000.00. That has paid for a lot of direct mail (see below) and for ads attacking Democrats running for Lt. Governor, Attorney General, and House Leadership. He wants to makeover all of state government in his own image.

Ads by the Mississippi Republican Party attacking Democratic nominee for Lt. Governor Jamie Franks have added up to $325,000 plus the Mississippi Republican Party transfered $35,000 in cash to his account for a total of $360,000 in assistance.

2. Direct Mail (paid for by Mississippi Republican Party)

While attempting to appear above the fray in his TV ads (with one exception) Barbour's money at the Mississippi Republican Party has purchased a lot of direct mailings attacking John Eaves from several angles. It's a reasonable strategy; appear cool and non-threatened in mass media and go hard negative in targeted media. If anyone will send me a scan I'd be happy to put them up.

Homecoming At Southern Miss

A homecoming at any college is likely exciting and many (including alumni) have been celebrating since Thursday.

One thing that makes this year different is all the elections. Several candidates including Democratic candidate for Governor John Eaves are scheduled to be on campus.

Partisans on both sides have littered the campus and medians with campaign signs.

I'm still curious how Barbour is spending all his money, but I did see this today which explains one small piece:



If you look there is a Barbour sign on this "mobile billboard." I'd never seen a candidate use one before.

Go Eagles!

Front Page New York Times Story on John Eaves

The New York Times:

“The Eaves campaign, with its heavy emphasis on prayer and faith, says it is gaining with evangelicals and born-again Christians in Mississippi, a voting bloc making up perhaps half of the electorate here. And evangelicals are paying attention.”



“‘I’m a Democrat because Democrats invest in people; I’m a Democrat because I’m a Christian,’ [Eaves] said in a recent interview, after shaking hands at a diner in the courthouse town of Kosciusko. ‘Jesus came to help the people. He healed the sick, and he tried to help the poor. The Democrats’ core fiber is to help people. That was Jesus’ mission.’”

The Full New York Times Article

Barbour Unintentionally Makes Argument For Eaves' Biblical Literacy Classes

In their debate last week Haley Barbour quoted the bible once. He used that opportunity to attack his opponent. I guess he thought it'd look cheeky.

Shortly after hamming it up for the crowd saying "my opponent likes to quote the bible," he brought up Daniel 5 outlining the point in the passage where King Belshazzar sees a hand appear out of an write on the wall. Barbour then states that even if a hand could appear right now in this room and write on the wall that Haley Barbour's blind trust is ok, that Mr. Eaves still wouldn't believe that Barbour had no ties to Barbour, Griffith and Rogers.

A college friend advised me to look up what Daniel 5 actually says. Yes, the hand appears, but here is what was written on the wall:

25 "This is the inscription that was written:
Mene , Mene , Tekel , Parsin [e]

26 "This is what these words mean:
Mene [f] : God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end.

27 Tekel [g] : You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting.

28 Peres [h] : Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians."

29 Then at Belshazzar's command, Daniel was clothed in purple, a gold chain was placed around his neck, and he was proclaimed the third highest ruler in the kingdom.

30 That very night Belshazzar, king of the Babylonians, [i] was slain, 31 and Darius the Mede took over the kingdom, at the age of sixty-two.

If Eaves somehow continues to close the gap this will be very ironic. For now it just serves as a good reminder of how much we need Biblical Literacy in our schools. The Bible is the foundation of much of literature, art, culture, and civilization. It's not unreasonable to expect students, or at the very least the Governor, to have at least a basic knowledge of it.

Eaves Ad: "Both Lawyers"

I think this one is in pretty heavy rotation. A few of my friends told me they've seen it multiple times. It plays off off one of the best lines in the first debate.

Dissecting Barbour's First Attack Ad Of 2007

The Barbour Campaign put out a vicious attack ad today that makes several claims. When I saw it I though the claims were rather simplistic and probably one dimensional. I e-mailed the Eaves campaign and left a comment on Y'allPolitics asking for background information. One commenter offered his take and was able to elaborate a little, but not much. With no other response from Y'allPolitics or the Eaves Campaign a friend and I took in on ourselves to do the research ourselves.

What follows is the central claims of the ad and deep background information on the two new claims:

Claim #1: Eaves sued the Navy for conducting training exercises vital to the safety of our troops.

Vieques Island, Puerto Rico is the place this lawsuit concerned.

The Navy used Vieques Island as a live fire bombing range since the Second World War. Over the course of sixty years the Navy bombarded the island -which is a mere 90 square miles- with every type of munition the Navy had in its arsenal. (This included Depleted Uranium a toxic substance which the Navy according to its own regulations was not supposed to use except for in warfare). In the case a former marine testified that they had tested chemicals on the residents of the island without the citizens' knowledge. The results of the Navy's prolonged activities on the Island have resulted in heavy metal contamination of the groundwater, vegetation, shellfish, and marine life which the inhabitants of the Island rely upon. Numerous scientific experts have conducted studies of the Island as well as the effects of the Navy's contamination on the Islanders and have found a direct correlation. In fact the Islanders of Vieques have a 30% higher rate of cancer then the Inhabitants of mainland Puerto Rico which is just 7 miles away from Vieques. The people of Vieques also have higher rates of numerous other disorders which can be linked to mercury, aluminum, cadamium, and other heavy metal contaminants which they were exposed to by the Navy's environmental contamination. In 2005, the Vieques Island site was placed on the EPA's Superfund List of the most hazardous waste sites in the country.

The plaintiffs in the suit, the people of Vieques, are American citizens. "Per capita, Puerto Ricans are amongst the highest in the United States as it relates to volunteering in the armed forces, as it relates to dying in the battlefield, and as to receiving the Congressional Medal of Honor because of their bravery." The people of Vieques were exposed to carcinogenic compounds because of the Navy's negligence. The suit which was brought was solely to compensate the people for the harm done not to stop the Navy's activities. In fact in 2003 - after the war in Iraq had begun - it was President BUSH who ended the Navy's activities on Vieques not Eaves or anyone else.

"There's been some harm done to people in the past. These are our friends and neighbors, and they don't want us there." - Pres. Bush June 14, 2001

Claim #2: Eaves helped "foreigners" sue the Marines.

First in 1998 a Marine Corp fighter pilot flying dangerously and recklessly low to the ground severed a cable which carried a gondola in the Alps. The pilot's actions caused 20 people to plummet 375 feet to the ground and die. The aircraft flown was a EA-6B Prowler and it was not to be flown below a minimum of 1000ft, however the pilot was flying just 375ft above ground. After the event the pilot was charged with involuntary manslaughter, conduct unbecoming an officer along with other charges. The pilot "was sentenced to six months in a military brig and discharged from the service." and the navigator "pleaded guilty to conspiracy and obstruction of justice and was also dismissed from the service." Information into the facts of the case can be found in the case Eyskens v. U.S. 140 F. Supp. 2d 553 (2000).

Claim #3: Eaves falsely attacked Governor Barbour.

The Eaves ad that Barbour is responding to and calling false is what the Barbour ad uses to say that Eaves is falsely attacking Haley Barbour. The problem here is that everything in the ad is sourced. If what is said is untrue Barbour should act to remove the appearance of impropriety. He has failed to do so.

Claim #4: Eaves has no vision for Mississippi.

Barbour has issued no new plans, now vision for what he's going to focus on these next 4 years. Eaves has proposed a plan called "Kid Care" which would cover thousands of Mississippi's children who are currently uninsured or under-insured. He has also stated how he would pay for plans to increase teacher pay and has made his positions on issues far more clear than Haley Barbour. We can debate the merits of one health plan or another or whether the public should be concerned with children's healthcare at all, but to say Eaves has no vision is obviously wrong. A vision right, wrong or indifferent is still a vision.

If you've stayed with me this far I congratulate you. You obviously have patience and if you are like a majority of my readers and are conservative you read something that you knew going in you might disagree with. Feel free to share this and again I had NO contact with the Eaves campaign in writing this. (The last line's for Sid; he doesn't take me at my word though I'd be delighted if he'd check my facts.)

John Eaves is a Real Sportsman (WAPT)

Eaves: I Love Guns (And Hunting) More Than My Opponent

I disagree with the gun positions of both candidates, but here is the Eaves Campaign's rather good response to the NRA endorsement of Haley:

EAVES HAS “A” RATING FROM NRA

Democratic candidate for Governor John Eaves has an “A” rating from the National Rifle Association, but unlike his opponent Eaves cleaned and skinned four deer last hunting season.

“I let my boys pull the trigger but then I did all the work,” said Eaves. “I’ve spent more than thirty years in duck blinds and deer stands and one of my biggest joys in life has been passing on that tradition to my four boys. I think we’ve got enough gun laws on the books and as Governor’s I’ll fight to protect our 2nd Amendment rights every day.”

Governor Haley Barbour received the endorsement of the NRA today, but it’s unclear when Barbour last fired a gun.

“I’ll bet Barbour has to rent guns when he goes out tame bird hunting with his good pal Giuliani, who as Mayor of New York City sued gun manufactures and infringed on people’s right to bear arms,” said Sharon Garrison, spokeswoman for Eaves. “If you measure a man by the company he keeps, Barbour and Giuliani could be the Laverne and Shirley of gun control.”



Eaves also said that as Governor he would fight to protect the rights of property owners, who under Barbour’s administration have seen rollbacks in their ability to hunt on their own land. For example, Jackson County passed an ordinance forbidding individuals from discharging a firearm on any tract of land less than ten acres in size.

Eaves said he strongly supports the mission of the NRA but touted the support of several Mississippi hunting organizations, promising to support their interests first.

“I don’t care who Barbour brings down from D.C., whether it’s Giuliani or all the friends from his lobbying firm,” continued Eaves. “If Giuliani gets elected President, gun owners ought to be shaking in their boots. I’ll serve the people of Mississippi and no one else.”

Eaves is an avid gun collector with over 30 guns he regularly uses for sport and hunting, ranging from the 16 gauge his grandfather gave him to his Colt AR 15. John has a lifetime gun license, and an extensive list of his collection follows.

Tied for 3rd; Addicted To Low Cost Cigarettes

Clarion Ledger:

As Mississippi politicians argue over whether to increase the cigarette tax, a new federal report shows the state is tied for the third-highest rate of adults who smoked in 2006.

A survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that in Mississippi and Oklahoma, 25.1 percent of adults ages 18-35 said they were smokers.

The figures, based on a random sample of 6,000 people, were published in Friday's edition of the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

This is really sad when you think about how we had what was considered one of the best anti-smoking programs in the nation; a program that was killed by Haley Barbour.

In 2006, Gov. Haley Barbour vetoed two bills that would've increased the cigarette tax and decreased the grocery tax. Mississippi has the nation's highest state sales tax on groceries, 7 percent.

Eaves:

"Cigarettes are cheap, and our children are getting hooked on them because the taxes are too low," Eaves said in Biloxi.

The CDC report showed smoking among adults was highest in Kentucky, 28.6 percent, and lowest in Utah, 9.8 percent. Utah had the highest rate of adults who have quit smoking, at 47.9 percent.

"Effective, comprehensive tobacco-use prevention and control programs should be continued and expanded to further reduce smoking initiation by young persons and to encourage cessation as early in life as possible," the CDC report said.

So we need something like say The Partnership for a Healthy Mississippi?

We need a governor who understands the needs of Mississippians and who won't stand in the way of progress.

Haley Barbour Doesn't Want You To See This Ad:

Haley Barbour's campaign sent a letter to television stations today demanding that they not broadcast this ad. They would be on firmer ground if anything in the ad wasn't true; the problem is it all is. Haley Barbour just can't stand dissenting views. We saw that in the debate when as soon as he was challenged he went off message and we see that now.