Jackson Free Press

Flanked by Gov. Haley Barbour and incoming Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves, state Sen. Gray Tollison announced that his becoming a member of the Republican Party was the best thing for his constituents.

The next day, and with far less fanfare, the Mississippi Republican Party welcomed state Rep. Donnie Bell of Fulton as the latest legislator to jettison the Democratic caucus for the Republican side of the aisle.

By most accounts, neither man's defection greatly stirred the balance of power.

Republicans hold a majority in the state Senate and appear to be heading toward one in the House as well.

Reeves and Mississippi Republican Party Chairman Arnie Hederman have said they look forward to the Legislature passing conservative legislation when lawmakers reconvene in January. Between the two newest Republicans, Bell will have the easier time falling in line. As a Democrat, he campaigned as a pro-life, conservative Christian who earned a National Rifle Association endorsement.

But judging by some of the stances Tollison has taken in the past, it's hard to see much evidence of good, strong, conservative values. In January 2011, Tollison sought to create the state's first electricity net-metering buy-back program through which residents with solar arrays or home wind turbines could sell their excess electricity back to the utility.

Then, when the Mississippi Senate passed a bill allowing law enforcement officials to check the immigration status of people they suspect of being in the country without documentation, Tollison expressed misgivings, telling the Associated Press that innocent people could be jailed and that police officers could subject themselves to legal action.

Tollison and Bell have given money to Democratic candidates. At the federal level, each has contributed to former U.S. Rep. Travis Childers, a Democrat who lost a re-election bid in 2010 to Republican Alan Nunnelee. According to information from the Center for Responsive Politics, Tollison donated $500 to the Childers campaign in 2008; Bell gave $300 the same year.

Tollison also gave $200 to the campaign of New Hampshire Democratic U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen in 2002. In 2008, Bell contributed to the congressional campaign of Democratic state Rep. Steve Holland of Plantersville, records indicate.

Political leaders at the county level can have tremendous sway in elections. A strong county chairperson can motivate loyal precinct captains to get the party faithful to the polls on election day, which is as much about numbers and turnout as it is about character and ideas.

That might help to explain why the people who have held those position in Lafayette County, where Oxford is located, are so miffed with Tollison.

Max Hill, who chaired the Democratic executive committee in Lafayette County until the Nov. 8 election, sent a seething a letter to the Oxford Eagle.

"Gray, you are not a man of character," Hill wrote. "At best your party switch is political opportunism. It shows that you are nothing more than a pawn in the political game that is played every day in the political arenas across our nation."

Hill, who said he was a high-school classmate of Tollison's and supported him in past elections, said the move surprised him, given Tollison's voting record.

"He expressed having many of the same Democratic ideas as myself and other local Democrats and progressives," Hill said. In addition to facing a Democrat in the next election, Hill added, "If he continues to vote as he did as a Democrat, I would image he would face a Republican primary challenger."

Merrill Nordstrom, who replaced Hill as the party's chairperson, said she mistrusts Tollison and believes he should resign.

"We all feel cheated. We feel hurt. We feel betrayed," Nordstrom said.

Neither lawmaker could be reached for comment as of press time Tuesday.

Pete Perry, chairman of the Hinds County Republican Party, doesn't anticipate that the men, both longtime legislators, will run into difficulty working with members of either caucus.

"Working with them is not going to be anything hard or unusual," Perry said. "Both are good legislators and good people."

Even though he says he talked to Gov. Haley Barbour about joining the Republicans in February 2011 and Lt. Gov.-elect Reeves and Gov.-elect Phil Bryant in the weeks leading up to the recent election, Tollison said he didn't make an announcement before Election Day because he was unopposed in his re-election bid.

He added that earlier in the week, he returned a $1,000 campaign contribution to the Lafayette County Democratic Party because "it wouldn't have been right" to keep the money.

Hill and Nordstrom said they received the check Friday, Nov. 11, a day after Tollison's press conference.