Jackson Free Press

Mississippi lawmakers didn't even pretend to try to get their jobs done within the parameters set by the state Constitution this year. Instead, a week or so before their 90-day session ends, they passed legislation to extend it. How handy.

Part of the problem is that legislators apparently don't understand how the federal stimulus funds are going to affect the FY 2010 budget, and they say they need more time to review the numbers.

The bigger issue, though, is the Legislature's unwillingness to compromise. The House and Senate sit on either side of the building with their suited arms crossed and their minds permanently closed to finding middle ground. Even bills that both sides initially agree on, like limiting eminent domain, die in this epitome of an indecisive session.

In the meantime, the gang is spending tax payer money as if it weren't in short supply.

They haven't been able to come to an agreement on a cigarette tax—even when both houses agree that they should enact something—or on how to fund Medicaid, or where the money will come from to prevent Mississippi car tags from doubling in cost next year, mostly because they can't agree on a cigarette tax.

The whole fiasco of this session reminds us of 7-year-olds on a playground defending some imaginary line in the sand. Even if someone recognizes the stupidity of what they're doing, no one can give an inch for fear that their team will ostracized them. Every one of these legislators seem to value their own egos far more than the well-being of the people who elected them to do the job of law-making.

It seems silly, almost school-marmish to have to point out to grown men and women that they need to play nice, put aside their childish attitudes, and then buckle down and compromise. But here we are.

In a state where some counties report 20 percent unemployment, they can't get it together to override a governor who clearly stopped working for the people long ago, if he ever did. They can't bridge a 20-cent gap for a cigarette tax that will save the state millions in health care even if it never raises a dime in revenue. They have played patty-cake for years with funding MAEP and Medicaid instead of buckling down and finding a permanent solution.

We know the job can be tough, folks, but honestly, it's not rocket science. Please, put away your egos and get on with it.