Jackson Free Press

Will Oatis of Silver Creek wants to be the next governor of Mississippi. Oatis, 37, is running as an independent candidate. Education and economic development are his top political issues.

The state's education system is failing, he says. "No one seems to be in charge of it. I would take charge of it," Oatis told the Jackson Free Press this morning. He proposes a quality pre-K program that would take a couple of years to implement.

"Our economic-development efforts top out because of our failing education system. Children growing up in poverty come to school unprepared to learn," he said.

"As a lifelong Mississippian, I am committed to restoring the prominence of our beloved state," Oatis states in a news release. "Our glory is overshadowed by a failing education system and a lagging economy. Now is the time for Mississippi to return to the days of prosperity. Now is the time for our children to thrive. Now is the time for strong leadership."

He told the Jackson Free Press this morning Mississippi is good at going after big companies, but the incentive packages that draw them here create burdens for the taxpayers. His economic-development emphasis would be on "innovation-led" efforts, such as business incubators and other resource assistance for smaller, homegrown operations.

"It would cost less than $1,000 per job to get that started," Oatis said. He compares that with $75,000 per job the state spent (his figures) to bring San Jose, Calif.-based Stion, a solar-panel manufacturer, to Hattiesburg.

A member of the National Guard, Oatis has been in the military 20 years and served three tours in Afghanistan. As an officer, Oatis has more than 20 awards. He was born in Silver Creek, and earned a bachelor's in history from the University of Southern Mississippi. He is single.

Oatis will formally announce his run for governor at 2 p.m. Sunday, June 12 in Town Park in Silver Creek.

Previous Comments

ID

163807

Comment

Go for it, Will. Independents get a raw deal but if Bloomberg can do it, so can you. In other news: Palin emails are released. I found the following passage from the WSJ article very interesting: "The documents were released as paper printouts, filling six boxes, to requesters who had applied to receive them and paid $725.97 to the state of Alaska to cover copying fees" Can you imagine how much it would have cost to obtain 24,000 emails from Harvey Johnson's office? .... Much more than $700, guaranteed. The JFP can attest to this.

Author

jbreland

Date

2011-06-10T14:30:50-06:00