Bill Minor: Barbour machine showing wear

Political columnist Bill Minor is back this week with another hard hitting look at the Barbour administration. The once invincible Haley Barbour machine is as Bill put it "showing wear". Haley has enjoyed control of all three branches of government for all practical purposes. Billy McCoy has been the Democrats only hope of holding the governor at bay on key issues, and has taken a lot of heat for it. The governor has tried unsuccessfully to remove Speaker McCoy from his position.

Haley Barbour tried to rig the Nov. 4 election ballot to help his in-trouble Republican U.S. Senate candidate and surprisingly got kicked in the teeth by an 8-l vote of state Supreme Court.

Unfortunately, from most news stories that came out of the Supreme Court’s Sept. 18 action, many Mississippians could well have missed what happened. In terms of Mississippi political history and governance, what the Supreme Court did was monumental.

First and foremost, it opened the first real crack in Barbour’s unprecedented control of virtually all three branches of Mississippi’s government. Certainly it represented a rebellion by the state’s highest judicial body, which seemed dominated 7-2 by Barbour.

Minor then pivots from the ballot dispute to the issue of transparency regarding the disbursement of Katrina funds. Haley used his close ties to the White House to secure money for Mississippi,while at the same time playing along with their "Louisiana does not have their act together line." As we have learned since 2005, the White House lead by Karl Rove saw the hurricane as a political opportunity to remove the Democratic governor of Louisiana, Kathleen Blanco.

Of the $11.5 billion in housing recovery Community Development Block Grants appropriated by Congress, Mississippi had gotten $5.2 billion and Louisiana $6.3 billion, even though Louisiana’s home loss was three times Mississippi’s.

As Fentress points out, rarely after Katrina did Barbour miss an opportunity to make Louisiana look bad “with references to Mississippi’s self-reliance and refusal to whine, a slap at New Orleanians trapped in the flood.”

Fentress, who lives part time in New Orleans, with the help of a former Associated Press Capitol correspondent, secured an interview with Louisiana ex-Gov. Kathleen Blanco and learned that Blanco was resentful of how a neighboring governor portrayed her state’s heartbreaking dilemma.

“I always thought that was a very racial statement,” Blanco said of Barbour’s denigration of the New Orleans’ Katrina disaster, which hit the city’s poor African-American population hardest. Also, Blanco decried what she called “politicization of this disaster” by Barbour’s favoritism as a one-time adviser to George Bush.

When I went to the Katrina round table discussion in Denver, I was shocked to learn how angry Louisiana was at Haley Barbour. They felt that he had used his connections to make himself look good, while putting them down, which made it even harder for them to get the money they needed. They were very angry over the prospect of the port project in Mississippi, which they said was designed to steal Louisiana's commerce before they could back on their feet. Louisiana was focusing its federal money on housing, which is what it was intended for. Barbour had commandeered the federal money for Mississippi to use at his discretion. Where did the money go?

“I really thought the vision would be a great vision like the governor said it would be,” said Duany. “The chance to prepare for the 21st century, which perhaps was the only gift of the hurricane, has been squandered by an utter lack of vision at the state and regional level.”

Outside of lifting the Coast casinos out of water onto land to better ride out hurricanes and keep the slots clanging, many Coast community groups viewing the largely barren Mississippi Gulf front are asking: Where is all the recovery Barbour promised to get re-elected?

Today's NRCC: Crooked And They Just Don't Care, Sloppy Too

You may have read about how their treasurer was stealing from them.

Or perhaps you read about how they inflated their cash on hand and then had to backtrack.

Well now there is pretty solid information that they're breaking clear, long established campaign finance law:

The DCCC filed a complaint today with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) against Freedom's Watch and the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC). Freedom's Watch, a shadowy outside group, and the NRCC illegally coordinated their political attack ads against Democratic candidate Don Cazayoux (LA-06).

The Freedom's Watch and the NRCC's television ads are stunningly similar. A little digging revealed why – electronic identifiers show that the NRCC wrote the Freedom's Watch ad.

"The DCCC is filing this FEC complaint to hold Freedom's Watch and the NRCC accountable for their illegal coordination that is being used to mislead voters about Democratic candidates' positions," said Brian Wolff, Executive Director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. "Tom Cole may have gotten his wish when Freedom's Watch came to the NRCC's rescue, but breaking the law will be the NRCC's worst nightmare. Freedom's Watch own Word document clearly shows that the script for their ad came from the NRCC – that's clearly illegal."

Freedom's Watch is operating as the cash-strapped NRCC's de facto independent expenditure campaign:

• The script that Freedom's Watch provided television stations running their ads included electronic identifiers indicating that the NRCC created the Word document.
• The NRCC's ad buy in LA-06 ended the day the nearly identical Freedom's Watch ad began airing. The NRCC ad ran from 4/10/08 through 4/16/08. The Freedom's Watch ad began airing as the NRCC went dark – 4/16/08 and is scheduled to run through the special election on 5/03/08.
• The message, images, and citations in both the Freedom's Watch ad and NRCC ad are nearly identical. See for yourself – click here to see images of the ads side by side.
  
• Freedom's Watch is being run by Carl Forti, a longtime NRCC veteran who was responsible for the NRCC's independent expenditure campaigns and communications for nearly a decade. [Washington Post, 3/30/08] This is the same Forti who's responsible for attacks that led Republican Members and Republican candidates to call the NRCC "a rogue attack shop," responsible for "smears," "over-the-top accusations," "demonstrably false" and "misleading" attacks and "political mudslinging." [Boston Globe, 3/04/07]
  
• For the first time in memory, NRCC Chairman Tom Cole welcomed the participation of Freedom's Watch and other outside groups like it in House campaigns, saying "We hope we see them in political races all across the board." [Washington Post, 3/30/08]
  

Tom Cole: at long last have you left no sense of decency?

(The text of the complaint can be found in the comments)

I just donated $10 dollars to Rep. Don Cazayoux And You Should Too

If you want Democrats to have a majority large enough to pass universal healthcare it's going to take a few more.

I think we'll have a Democratic president (whether it is Madam or Mister President) and a strong majority in the senate with 3 to 6 pickups.

Rep. Don Cazayoux is running in the 6th Congressional District of Louisiana which includes Baton Rouge.

A couple of his ads:



This seat has been historically very Republican, but Cazayoux, like our own Rep. Gene Taylor, fits his District and will vote with Democrats the vast majority of the time. The Cook Political Report calls it a TOSS-UP. We can win this race, but he's going to need help.

If you can volunteer CLICK HERE or if like me you'd like to make a small donation CLICK HERE. Both are excellent choices.

And yes, for the record, I do like and respect Gene Taylor even if I disagree with him on some major issues.

Trent Lott Appears on To Not Tell The Truth

When Trent Lott resigned his position he said that new restrictions on lobbying that take effect after Dec. 31 "didn't have a big role" in his decision to retire.

He actually stated that he wanted to spend more time with his family and to pursue other job opportunities, possibly teaching.

As you now know he's going to set up a lobbying shop with retired Democratic Senator John Breaux from Louisiana.

Roll Call:Putting weeks of speculation to rest, former Sens. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) and John Breaux (D-La.) confirmed Friday they plan to file paperwork next week to form a powerful lobbying partnership called The Breaux Lott Leadership Group.

The Clarion Ledger has an appropriate response:

If he planned to turn lobbyist, but was not truthful about it, he has capped a 35-year career in public service by not being up-front and honest with those who supported him for decades.

If he decided out of the blue to turn lobbyist, he is capitalizing on a weakness in the ethics rules in squeaking by the 2007 deadline, and thumbing his nose at others who must abide by them.

And, either way, he's capitalizing on public service for private gain and using influence he garnered at public expense to affect the spending of public taxpayer dollars.

Whatever was on his mind, Trent Lott's actions speak louder than words, damaging the public's faith in government and elected public officials - and proving the cynics of government as justified. What a shame.

Enjoy The Supremes on "To Tell The Truth"


I used this Daily Kos post in preparing this post.

New York TImes Reports On Mississippi's Spending On Coast Housing

The New York Times:

The nature of that program helps explain the unhappiness in some neighborhoods. It provided grants of up to $150,000 to homeowners who lived outside of the federally defined flood plain and so did not have flood insurance to cover their losses when their houses were swamped by the storm surge.

To be eligible, families had to have carried regular homeowners’ insurance, so that, as the governor said when he was selling the plan to Congress, “we’re not bailing out irresponsible people.”

But advocates for the poor said that requirement barred many of the least affluent, especially retirees and the disabled, who live on fixed incomes. “The fact is, people who have no money choose food and medicine, and not insurance,” said Ashley Tsongas, a policy adviser for the aid group Oxfam America. “That moral superiority doesn’t recognize the reality people face.”

Renters were also excluded from the program, as they were in Louisiana, and homeowners who had wind damage were also not covered. Some federal officials have said Louisiana’s decision to help cover wind losses is one reason its program almost ran out of money.

... But some community advocates are dubious, noting that before the storm only 10 percent of the port jobs went to low-income residents. They also think the cost per job will be too high.

And they note that the port’s own master plan envisions a new tourist and casino development. “It’s not all about bananas,” said Reilly Morse, a lawyer for the Mississippi Center for Justice.

Mr. Morse and many others who oppose the port plan say the state should first ensure that all the families now living in more than 10,000 government trailers have a permanent place to live, that rental housing gets built and that all homeowners can repair their houses.

“I don’t have any problem with economic development and expanding the port, but not at the cost of people,” said James W. Crowell, president of the N.A.A.C.P. branch in Biloxi, just down the beach from Gulfport.

The New York Times Article

We often rightfully complain that much of the media has forgotten us after the immediate interest after Hurricane Katrina. I'm glad they're paying at least some attention.

An Ad I Wish Were Airing In Mississippi

In Louisiana the media largely has had the same attitude towards Bobby Jindal as the media in Mississippi has had towards Haley Barbour. The perception they leave is that we shouldn't even bother holding an election because they've already decided their choice. I really wish we had similar response in Mississippi. "Coronation" is an excellent response.

FEMA Failures Meet Democratic Oversight

"We have lost a great deal through our dealings with FEMA," said Paul Stewart, a former Army officer living in a trailer with his wife in Mississippi, "not the least of which is our faith in government."

When a retired military officer has lost faith in Bush’s government, that is a bell weather indicator of what many of us predicted since that horrendous day back in December 2000.

You remember that day in December in which the United States Supreme Court legally stopped the vote counting in a U.S. election. The self-proclaimed greatest democracy on the planet no longer believed that counting the votes counted in determining an election outcome. The case was Bush v. Gore, and a New York Times editorial last August summarized it succinctly.

The Supreme Court’s highly partisan resolution of the 2000 election was a severe blow to American democracy . . ..

And what we’ve learned since that day is just how true it is when we say that elections have consequences. Here we are with another set of scandals that negatively impact American lives directly in a real and palpable manner. One scandal centers on millions of dollars of ice for hurricane survivors melting in the sun. The other on FEMA deliberately weighing the cost of lawsuits against testing for the adverse health effects of its formaldehyde-filled trailers. Read more . . .

Update (John Leek): Paul Stewart is now running for Southern District Transportation Commissioner. He may just get my vote. :)