Jackson Free Press

ENI, a Canton, Miss.-based political-action committee formed in late March.

But that's about all we know so far.

The statement of organization, filed with the Jackson city clerk's office April 2, indicates the committee is not authorized by any particular candidate and its purpose is "to raise money in relation to the City of Jackson Mayoral Special Election."

The form lists Alance McKinney of Jackson as ENI's president/director and Fletcher Shaw of Canton as secretary/treasurer. State records also show a south Jackson address for two dissolved companies. Reached by phone, Shaw said the PAC was set up to back a candidate in the mayor's race, but referred a Jackson Free Press reporter to attorney John P. Martin, who prepared ENI's paperwork, for particulars.

"It's a political-action committee set up and established based upon the guidelines the election commission set up — no less or no more," Shaw told JFP.

Martin, of the Canton firm of Montgomery McGraw PLLC, called the JFP back Thursday to say that his firm's role in the PAC is only to serve as its agent.

Employees of Montgomery McGraw, including partner Bob Montgomery, a former Mississippi state senator and chief of staff to former Democratic U.S. Rep. G.V. "Sonny" Montgomery, have contributed to several political candidate campaigns over the years.

Most recently, Bob Montgomery gave to Republicans Gov. Phil Bryant, transportation Commissioner Dick Hall and Lucien Smith, a 2011 state treasurer candidate who now serves as Bryant's chief-of-staff. In past elections, Montgomery also gave to Republicans former Gov. Haley Barbour, Lt. Gov. Amy Tuck and Tate Reeves when he was state treasurer.

In addition, Montgomery has contributed to former Democratic Insurance Commissioner George Dale as well as several state supreme court candidates, races that are officially nonpartisan.

Fletcher Shaw said the ENI would be in compliance with state financial disclosure rules; runoff candidates—Chokwe A. Lumumba and Tony Yarber—will be required to file reports on Tuesday, April 15.

Candidates running in Jackson's Special Election today are hosting election watch parties this evening. Information for the individual events is listed below.

John Horhn Election Watch Party 7:30 p.m. Central City Complex 609 Woodrow Wilson Ave. Food and refreshments will be provided.

Harvey Johnson Pre-Election Tailgate -- Fish Fry and concert 4-8 p.m. Smith-Wills Stadium Lakeland Drive

Chokwe Antar Lumumba 7 p.m. Jackson State eCenter 1230 Raymond Rd.

Tony Yarber Classics Bar and Lounge 5571 Robinson Rd Ext.

Margaret Barrett-Simon Her home 1322 Hazel St.

Regina Quinn 7:30 p.m. Lakeover Center 6531 Dogwood View Parkway

Melvin Priester Priester Law Firm 5375 Executive Place

The John Horhn for mayor campaign sent footage of civil-rights hero Myrlie Evers last week for a paid ad on the JFP website of Mrs. Evers saying nice things about his "forward" leadership. The quote that has run on the JFP website in the ad for about the last week is "John's Horhn's motto is the way forward. Forward looking, forward acting, forward leadership. And that's exactly what we need today."

Today, we were a bit surprised to see a story by Jerry Mitchell in The Clarion-Ledger indicating that she is not endorsing a candidate and is telling people "to vote for a candidate of their choice."

The footage clearly indicated that Evers was backing Horhn and perhaps using scripted language: His campaign slogan, after all, is "The Way Forward."

We called the campaign today to ask if Mrs. Evers had backtracked on her endorsement of the senator. LaureNicole Taylor of the Horhn campaign respond: "No backtracking. She never said she is supporting John," she told reporter Haley Ferretti.

Still confused, I then asked to speak with her, and Taylor told me that Evers "can't officially endorse one particular candidate," but that she does support John Horhn.

Taylor, who sent the original footage to our advertising department for the ad, told me today that it should be taken down. I relayed that message to our advertising team.

Clear now?

Jackson State University released the following statement regarding the dismissal of a sexual harassment lawsuit against Athletic Director Vivian Fuller:

U.S. District Judge William H. Barbour, Jr., on March 13 dismissed the sexual harassment lawsuit filed against Jackson State University, JSU Director of Athletics Dr. Vivian L. Fuller and JSU President Carolyn W. Meyers by former JSU employee Lolita Ward.

According to the ruling, the court “found that Ward has failed to show that there exists genuine issues of material fact with respect to any of the claims alleged in her amended complaint.”

University Communications Executive Director Eric Stringfellow said university officials applauded the court’s decision.

“Since the beginning of the case, our position has been that the lawsuit was without merit. The U.S. District Court’s dismissal of Lolita Ward’s lawsuit vindicates the university,” Stringfellow said.

When the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission investigated Ward’s allegations, the federal agency determined it was unable to conclude that the information obtained established violations of any statutes.

So the old-school Republican strategist Haley Barbour has stuck his foot in his mouth again, perhaps purposefully. He went on CNN to defend New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's administration, which is under fire for various corruption allegations, including a serious accusation by Hoboken, N.J., Mayor Dawn Zimmer. When Barbour appeared on camera to downplay the allegations, he just looked and sounded like a garden-variety sexist grandpa when he called Zimmer a "lady mayor." As in, what the hell does her gender have to do with anything?!? And why would a man supposedly as smart as Barbour make such an error?

It could have been purposeful, of course, considering that the base of Barbour's party hasn't realized that we have moved into the 21st century and that blatant sexism ain't cool or attractive, and it sure won't attract the kinds of younger voters the GOP will desperately need to survive.

So how exactly does this help Christie get into the White House? The national GOP might think seriously before letting such an old-school political strategist speak for their candidates. Don't forget, after all, that he was the one who tried to pretend that the Citizens Council had good intentions in his hometown.

Most frustrating, this ignorance on a national stage once again makes Mississippi look bad.

Blech.

You ought to know you're in trouble when the folks who should be your biggest cheerleaders come and do a dance on your head and slap you around a bit.

Former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour has been a player in the Republican Party for decades. As a matter of fact, he was one of the big conservative brains (along with Lee Atwater) that came up with the Southern Strategy, a political mindset that has kept Southern politics stuck on the battlefield of black versus white since the days of Ronald Reagan. Barbour served as Reagan's political director and as chairman of the Republican National Committee.

Some might say that Mr. Barbour had a hand in stirring up the witch's brew that created right-wingers like the Tea Party—and I'd agree. But if he stirred the pot, he sure has no control over its content.

Now, Barbour is blasting conservatives, especially those on the ultra-shaggy edges of the right-wing fringe. The Washington Post calls them—the roughly 45 Republicans in Congress who refuse to bend at all, ever, under any circumstances—cast-iron conservatives .

“When you control the House, the Democrats control the Senate and the White House, you can’t exactly cram your stuff down their throat,” Barbour said in a Post TV "In Play" interview yesterday. “Some of our friends sometimes forget that.”

“The guys that wanted to make Obamacare the trip wire for closing down the government and making Obama cave in … that’s not going to happen; that was never going to happen,” he added.

Barbour goes on to blame the conservative troubles on—wait for it—outside agitators. The problem is, they're skunks of the same stripes:

Barbour went on to note that his bigger concern for the party moving forward was the number of outside conservative groups — he mentioned the Senate Conservatives Fund and the Club For Growth by name — who seek to vilify Republican Members of Congress for allegedly breaking with party orthodoxy.

“Some of these same people go out and raise money for outside organizations that attack the other Republicans not over principle, not over policy … over tactics,” said Barbour. “There is no excuse for making people think a conservative Congressman who has a 98 percent conservative voting record is a bad person because you disagree with his tactics.”

See the WaPo's The Fix blog for the entire interview.

Companies building a new 582-megawatt power plant near DeKalb are not holding it up as a model for plants around the nation. The Kemper County IGCC plant, now about nine months away from completion, will burn low-grade lignite coal and capture carbon emissions. Kemper is the first plant to use TRIG technology, which Atlanta-based Southern Co. developed in the 1990s.

Southern has said it hopes to sell the technology around the world as a solution to global change, but recently told Reuters that Kemper could not be replicated nationally.

"Because the unique characteristics that make the project the right choice for Mississippi cannot be consistently replicated on a national level, the Kemper County Energy Facility should not serve as a primary basis for new emissions standards impacting all new coal-fired power plants," Southern said in a statement to the wire service.

Louie Miller, who heads the anti-Kemper Mississippi Sierra Club, took aim at the report. Miller said, through a statement of his own, that the company's "confession" that Kemper is not a panacea for the nation's energy woes "should come as a shock" to its customers.

“Since day one, Mississippi Power, its parent Southern Company, and its high-profile backers like Governor Haley Barbour and United States Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu have promised that the Kemper Plant would be a shining model for new coal-fired power plants across the United States, as well as overseas," Miller said.

The Obama Administration recently announced new carbon-limiting rules on utility companies. Southern characterizes its corporate stance as climate-friendly, but told Reuters the new rules "essentially eliminate coal as a future generation option."

If you listen closely, you'll hear it: it's the sound of 147 Republicans who hope to replace Sen. Thad Cochran weeping.

OK, maybe it's not quite that many. But Mississippi pols have been jockeying for position for a while on the chance that Cochran, who is so old that he remembers a time when Congress did stuff, retires when his term is up.

But Jonathan Martin of the New York Times wrote on his blog, The Caucus, that Cochran, 75, is raising money like a first term representative.

Martin notes of Cochran:

"He is hosting a breakfast Friday morning at a Capitol Hill restaurant, charging $500 for individuals and $1,000 for political action committees. Next month, Mr. Cochran will attend another, pricier breakfast featuring former Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi at Mr. Barbour’s namesake Washington lobbying firm. And in November, Mr. Cochran is staging what he’s billing as a “fall retreat” at a new resort in Middleburg, Va."

Earlier this year, Cochran held fundraisers in West Point, Miss., and Washington D.C., records from the Sunlight Foundation's Political Party Time site show.

It's likely a safe Republican seat, though a high-profile Democrat could creep in if the Republican primary leaves the nominee bloodied and weak.

At this point, Cochran is kind of like a dominant male lion at the watering hole. Other Republican hopefuls just have to sit back and wait for Cochran to have his fill (serving in the Senate is the water in this analogy).

If they don't, Thad will have them for lunch.

http://jacksonfreepress.com/users/photos/2013/sep/20/13806/

Operation Shoestring just announced the panelists for its annual "Conversation About Community" luncheon: Jackson Mayor Chokwe Lumumba, former Gov. Haley Barbour and Wells Church pastor Rev. Keith Tonkel.

The event, which highlights and raises funds for Operation Shoestring's work with children and families in central Jackson, is scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 14, at the Jackson Convention Complex (105 E. Pascagoula St., 601-969-0114), from 11:30 a.m. until 1 p.m.

The featured panelists "will make public a conversation that’s been happening in living rooms and around kitchen tables across Jackson for a long time now," states a release about the luncheon. "Our capital city faces a declining tax base, a growing urban-suburban divide, struggling schools, crime and poverty. If Jackson, or Mississippi, for that matter, is going to rise, the solution will require our collective buy-in."

This year's "Conversation About Community" will be a frank, open talk about solutions.

“The potential of this event is enormous. Mayor Lumumba and Gov. Barbour bring vastly different perspectives to the task of moving our city and state forward. Providing a safe space for open dialogue between these two, with a faith-based voice of ‘what’s right’ coming from long-time central Jackson pastor Rev. Tonkel, has the potential to impact the trajectory of our city’s future in a profound way,” said Robert Langford, Operation Shoestring's executive director, in the release.

The organization's signature annual fundraiser was created as a way to put into action its mantra that “we all rise together.” The idea is to create a safe space for people and organizations from across the larger Jackson area, from all walks of life, to engage in open discussion about the critical issues that impact the children and families Shoestring serves in central Jackson and, ultimately, the larger Jackson community.

Tickets are $50, and sponsorships start at $125. Call Stacey Jordan for more information at 601-353-6336 ext. 27, or email [email protected]. Find out more at operationshoestring.org.

Today, Tate Reeves addressed the 40th annual confab of the American Legislative Exchange Council in Chicago.

In praising ALEC, Reeves took a shot at venerated Mississippi columnist Bill Minor.

Reeves said:

"Well, a few months ago he decided to attack ALEC," he said of Minor. "You see – Mr. Minor doesn’t believe legislators from around the country should gather to share ideas on how government can get out of the way so businesses can grow. Even more sinister, legislators also listen to businessmen and women on ways to add jobs and raise the personal income of our constituents.

Know that Steve (Seale) wasted no time in setting Mr. Minor straight on ALEC’s purpose – to act as a “forum for lawmakers to share ideas, grow a stronger Democracy and help make government work more efficiently and effectively.”

For the uninitiated, ALEC is like an Obamacare health-care exchange for conservative legislation. It's where conservative lawmakers shop for conservative legislation to earn political support of conservative voters.

Here's a press release from Reeves' office, which includes the full text of his speech:

MISSISSIPPI WORKS TO STRENGTHEN BUSINESS CLIMATE, LT. GOV. REEVES TELLS LEGISLATORS, BUSINESS OWNERS

CHICAGO – Mississippi is open for business and seeing success in attracting more jobs, Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves told a crowd of legislators from around the country at the 40th Annual Meeting of the American Legislative Exchange Council.

Lt. Gov. Reeves recounted legislative successes to grow businesses and reform education at the closing lunch with economist Dr. Arthur Laffer, who was member of President Reagan’s Economic Policy Advisory Board. Because Lt. Gov. Reeves was a featured speaker, ALEC funded his trip, and no taxpayer dollars were spent. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin and Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad also spoke at the meeting.

“With every bill that crosses my desk … I ask ‘Does this help the private sector grow and create jobs for Mississippians?’” Lt. Gov. Reeves told the audience. “That’s the approach we’ve tried in Mississippi. It’s working.”

In ALEC’s Rich States, Poor States report, Mississippi earned the 10th best economic outlook of all the states. The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis ranked the state’s GDP growth rate 17th in the nation after the economy grew 2.4 percent in 2012.

Lt. Gov. Reeves cited the 2012 updates to the workers compensation law, the $150 million tax break on inventory costs for small business and the Attorney General Sunshine Act as ways Mississippi is improving the business climate. He also spoke of education reform efforts in 2013 to provide students with a better opportunity for success.

“We can’t have a strong business climate without a strong workforce,” Lt. Gov. Reeves said. “And we can’t have a strong workforce without better education. It’s a simple formula, and one Mississippi has to master.”

Text of Lt. Gov. Reeves’ speech:

ALEC 2013 – Closing Lunch

I appreciate the privilege of speaking to you today. Appearing on the same …

OK, Snark King, it's your turn.

I've had it in the back of my head to blog about a really offensive post by The Clarion-Ledger's city reporter Brian Eason for weeks now, but it had fallen to the side in the need to report actual news. But while cleaning up my desk today, I started noticing a pattern—first from a clipping of another snarky thing he wrote calling a whole city office stupid, and then I saw a blog post belittling an enterprise story by our staff this week, but without actually saying what was in it or linking to it. So here's my Friday afternoon round-up of what I've been noticing about Mr. Eason's snark, which I assume is meant to be humor, except none of it is funny.

No. 1. Don't dare compare crime to terrorism, dumb little council candidate. After 20-year-old minister Corinthian Sanders decided to get involved enough to run for City Council, he made the mistake of saying that the "terrorism" of crime was one of his top priorities (as if he's the first to ever say that here). Sanders told the Jackson Free Press: "Let’s talk about getting our lawbreakers, criminals—I call them terrorists….(If) you can’t go anywhere without killing someone or robbing someone or terrorizing someone, that’s terror, (and) you’re a terrorist; you’re a domestic terrorist.” The mention of the word terrorism tickled Eason's funny bone. He snarked:

"To my knowledge, no major terrorist attacks have occurred or been planned on our streets, and the Jackson Police Department reported no terrorist incidents in 2012, according to its published crime stats. But maybe that’s what the terrorists want us to think.

"Lest anyone think Sanders is trying to politicize the Boston Marathon bombing, rest assured, his commitment to fighting terrorism on the streets of Jackson predated the explosions at the marathon.

"But while Sanders listed counter-terrorism as his No. 2 priority, right behind “protect, improve and increase affordable housing,” none of his competitors — or, indeed, any other candidates in the entire metro area — mentioned local terrorism as a problem worthy of their consideration.

Eason's blog post shows he later clarified what Sanders meant, and quoted Sanders' above words from the JFP in an addendum to the snark-post, but that nasty horse was out of Eason's barn by then. That's what you get for running for office in Jackson, Corinthian. The ire of a native Dallasonian. And I really don't know what all his references to monkey videos on your Facebook page were about, and don't care.

No. 2. In a post called "Common sense? Not at clerk's office," Eason showed the entire staff of the Jackson city clerk's office not to mess with him, no sir. He was irked that he couldn't get election results from the clerk's office at 11 a.m. the day after the primary. They didn't have certified results available, yet, and gave him a bit of a runaround. OK, it's fair to …

This open letter to mayoral candidate Jonathan Lee just came via email. Here it is, verbatim:

Jonathan Lee Candidate for Mayor of Jackson Public Letter

Dear Mr. Lee:

After watching one of your recent campaign commercials in which you portrayed Chokwe Lumumba as radical and racist, I was compelled to offer you a different world view.

I am a native of Yazoo city, the hometown of Michael Espy and Haley Barbour, two of our state’s most recognized political figures. Like Mike and Haley, I am a product of the public schools system, a graduate of Yazoo City High School. My ACT scores ranked me in the top 10 percentile in the country, and I was fortunate to earn distinction as a National Merit Finalist and accordingly received numerous scholarship offers.

Sarah King, my black, Northwestern University-educated high school guidance counselor told me….”You need to matriculate at Williams College, where you will be nurtured and taught to be a critical thinker. With a Williams College education, you will be equipped to change the world when you return to Mississippi. ”

So, naturally I chose Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts. Mrs. King was right on point. Williams College satisfied my natural thirst for knowledge and enlightenment, but it also showed me how easily one can cast seeds of discord and destroy a community.

Williams had a total of 60 black students enrolled in all classes. All of the students, from every conceivable ethnicity, were the top students in their high schools. A staff person in the admissions office remarked in one of the dining halls that they were pleasantly surprised at how well the minority students were performing – – especially the “10 percenters”. What was a 10 percenter?!

Shortly after this statement resonated, the campus newspaper ran a story that said Williams College was participating in a social experiment known as “Affirmative Action” and had elected to admit 10% of the students who would not ordinarily qualify for admission to the college.

The college wanted to honor its moral obligation to society by giving underprivileged, socially disadvantaged students the opportunity to obtain a Williams college education, but the newspaper article made the “10 percenter” concept appear as something to be ashamed of instead of portraying it as the wonderful program that it was.

Almost immediately, all students were trying to determine who was a 10 percenter. Some of them would be mean-spirited and say things that were destructive. A few said things like, “we know Herb Irvin is a 10 percenter, because he is from Yahoo, Mississippi”! All of a sudden, the black students were no longer on academic parity. Because of this 10 percenter phrase, the black students’ academic ability and capacity were questioned by the non-black students and the faculty, as well as by their fellow black students.

Some of the best black students left before graduation, because they didn’t believe that they earned the right to be there.

Against the advice of my classmates and friends, I …

Note: This story has been updated with a total donation figure that Lee's backers gave to federal Republican candidates since 2008. The new paragraph is bolded down below.

In the WAPT-Clarion-Ledger debate, Mayor Harvey Johnson Jr. alluded to the fact that he is a real Democrat when he unloaded on opponent Jonathan Lee in his closing statement. This is clearly a continuation of some Jacksonians' belief that Lee is a "Rankin County Republican," a meme we've heard off and on for months now.

We have factchecked both parts of that allegation to the best of our ability and will address them both below.

First, Rankin County

Lee's campaign materials make him sound like a life-long Jacksonian. His website states:

Jonathan was born, grew up and lives in Jackson. Jonathan was born and raised in Jackson into a family with deep ties throughout the community. The son of two Lanier graduates and part of a family whose roots span three generations in Jackson’s Georgetown community, Jonathan learned early what it meant to be proud of one’s city.

Jonathan called all of Jackson home – from growing up on Meadow Lane to getting picked up by his grandmother (“Big Mama”) after school who lived in Georgetown. After graduating from high school, Jonathan attended Mississippi State University, earning a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and a Master’s in Business Administration.

The part that is left out of that description is that Lee's family moved to Rankin County in 1988 when he was 11. He later graduated from Northwest Rankin High School and did not live in Jackson again until 2009 when records show that Lee and his wife moved into Jackson from Rankin County. When asked, he does not deny that he has lived less than four years in Jackson as an adult.

Lee, who is 35 now, took over as president of his father's company when he was 24, according to his campaign materials. He told the Jackson Free Press that he stepped down from the company, which he never owned, in December 2011, meaning that he ran it for about 10 years.

Candidate Lee ran into a Rankin-related controversy last year after a commenter posted on the Jackson Free Press site that he was still driving a Maroon SUV with a Rankin County plate. In response to an Aug. 10, 2012, query about it, Lee emailed the Jackson Free Press:

This particular rumor has been shopped around various media outlets all week. The vehicle I assume that they are referring to is my company vehicle. My personal vehicle is registered in Hinds County, a fact easily verified.

MPI is owned by an entity chartered and located in Rankin County. It was where our distribution company was originally located. In fact, MPI has only been located in Jackson for 19 years. For those 19 years MPI has paid property taxes, inventory taxes, and school taxes in Jackson, Miss. The parent company is still located in Rankin county …

There were some high-dollar contributors at a private meeting Speaker Philip Gunn had in his office last night. An unusual amount of activity at the Capitol yesterday evening led a TV news crew and a print reporter to investigate, but the journalists were turned away by Capitol security, wrote Clarion-Ledger political editor Geoff Pender today.

According to Pender's report, Gunn's policy director Nathan Wells called the meeting small and consisting of Gunn supporters who hadn't had a chance to visit the speaker's office.

Attendees included oilmen Billy Powell and Billy Mounger as well as Wirt Yerger and their spouses. All the men are high-rollers when it comes to political donations.

Mounger, who has worked in oil and gas development, gave more than $100,000 in both 2007 and 2011, but a quick review of those disclosure filings reveal that Gunn was not a recipient from Mounger in those two cycles.

Mounger has also given handsomely to federal campaigns, including former Gov. Haley Barbour's political action committee and to Republican members of Mississippi's congressional delegation. Powell of Powell Petroleum has also given while Yerger, president of Cavalier Wireless, gave $3,500 to candidates in 2011, including $1,000 to Gunn.

Wells insisted that the meeting was not a fundraiser. He told Pender: "We have food brought in for meetings all the time. This was completely paid for by (Gunn). There were no contributions, and none asked for. It’s not an event. We eat food here at meetings all the time.”

Gov. Phil Bryant has nominated staunch pro-life activist Terri Herring for the Mississippi Board of Public Health.

The Mississippi Department of Finance and Administration, which oversees the operation of state buildings, has recommended the former Worldcom Building in Clinton as the permanent home for the Department of Revenue, now housed in what's practically a shed, also in Clinton.

Downtown Jackson had been a front-runner for agency HQ, especially after a 2011 report commissioned by then-Gov. Haley Barbour said buying the Landmark Building would be the cheapest option for our cash-strapped state.

The issue has since become politically charged with Speaker Philip Gunn wanting to keep the agency close to his Clinton district.

DFA explains its rational in the following verbatim news release:

MS Department of Finance & Administration Recommends New Location for the MS Department of Revenue

Today, the MS Department of Finance & Administration has determined that, on the basis of receiving the highest evaluation score, the Mississippi Department of Revenue should execute a 20 year lease agreement with Duckworth Realty for the relocation of its offices to the South Pointe Building (the former Worldcom Building) in Clinton, MS. The initial annual cost to the State would be $2,878,000 resulting in a total cost of $41,428,492 (net present value) for the term of the lease agreement. This offer represented the lowest total cost to the State. The proposal submitted by Duckworth for the South Pointe Building includes 187,511 square feet of office space, 600 parking spaces, tenant improvements, security and janitorial services. The lease term would begin July 1, 2014.

Kevin J. Upchurch, Executive Director of the Mississippi Department of Finance & Administration, stated “We are pleased to have a more permanent solution to the issue of housing the MS Department of Revenue. The selection process was thorough and comprehensive. The main objectives of this process were the cost to the taxpayers, ease of access for citizens, and securing a more permanent, functional facility for MDOR employees. I am satisfied that this location meets all of those objectives.”

On November 1, 2012, DFA issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) to obtain new offices for the Mississippi Department of Revenue (MDOR) via a long term lease. A team consisting of three DFA employees and two MDOR employees was assembled to evaluate all proposals based on pre-defined calculations and scoring criteria. The State received six proposals and three were selected for further review. The three finalists were Hertz Investment Group, LLC (The Landmark Building), Ergon (Diversified Technologies Building), and Duckworth Realty (South Pointe Building).

DFA contracted with Allred Architectural Group, P.A. of Ocean Springs, MS to perform test fit analysis, building assessments, and environmental assessments of the three proposed buildings. This review was designed to determine each building’s ability to meet the needs of the MDOR. The review was also designed to identify any deficiencies within the buildings. Based on the results of these analyses, each finalist was asked to the submit a Best and Final Offer in which they were to explain how any noted deficiencies would be addressed, as well as, make any final …

According to NewsMax (ugh) our esteemed former lobbyist/former governor/current lobbyist Haley Barbour was on Fox News this weekend complaining that President Obama isn't paying enough attention to the debt.

Yesterday was a very good day for the JFP staff, and especially our writers and designers.

Who ARE you, and why would you do such a thing, Rep. Nunnelee, considering you come from state where domestic abuse is such an epidemic?

The Ledger gives one last smooch to Governor Barbour, "political genius."