Jackson Free Press

Rep. George Flaggs, D-Vicksburg, told the Jackson Free Press Friday that the Mississippi Legislative Black Caucus adopted a position on Thursday against the candidacy of Columbus Rep. Jeffrey Smith's run for Speaker of the House. "We voted unanimously not to support Jeff Smith for Speaker and to not make a commitment to the position of Speaker Pro Tempore position, and to have another meeting later on," Flaggs said.

In August, The House Republican Conference vowed to unseat current Speaker Billy McCoy, with members instead throwing their support behind Smith, who votes with Republicans on many issues.

According to rumor, Legislative Black Caucus members Reps. Reecy Dickson, D-Macon, and Robert Huddleson, D-Sumner were willing to support Smith's campaign for control of the House, though the coalition vote seems to have put such rumors to bed.

"If there was a possibility of any support from coalition members, there doesn't seem to be one now," Flaggs said. "Jeff is an honorable and nice guy, but he's just wrong on the record and wrong on the future of Mississippi. He has consistently voted wrong on anything that represents the future, such as fully funding education and the reduction of the grocery tax. He's been aligning himself as a Republican more so than as a Democrat, and we don't think he suits the state as speaker."

Previous Comments

ID

96439

Comment

(Maggie and I apologize to Adam, by the way. He filed this story Friday, and we didn't get it up until day. I was out of town, and she didn't see it until today.)

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2007-10-22T16:14:48-06:00