Jackson Free Press

Democratic nominee for the mayor's office Chokwe Lumumba has filed a general election campaign finance report, which you can read here.

Councilman Lumumba has raised $71,614 since April 28, and spent $74,696 in that same period, leaving him with $15,333 in the tank headed into the June 4 general election against three independent candidates.

Year-to-date, Lumumba has raised $140,367 and spent $133,988.

Some of his biggest contributors on this report are Samuel L. Agnew of Baton Rouge, La. ($15,000), SJG Consultants Inc. of Greenville ($8,000), Winston Thompson III of Madison ($5,000) and a "G. Williams" of Ridgeland ($5,000).

An email is circulating Jackson asking voters to write in the name of Ward 1 Councilman and lobbyist Quentin Whitwell, a Republican, for mayor in the June 4 general election.

The email implores supporters to back Whitwell but to keep it on the low, meaning not to spread the news via the Internet and social media.

The message, which someone forwarded to the Jackson Free Press, states:

"We need your help! A week from today we have one last chance to vote in a mayor that will work for us! We need each of you to text, send emails, to at least 20-30 people in Jackson to go write in vote Tuesday June 4th for Quentin Whitwell! We believe that the turn out for Chuckwe [sic] will not be huge, due to the fact he thinks he already has won. We have to keep this off Facebook, and on the low until the actual day June 4th! That day we need as many volunteers, to help get out the vote for Quentin. We need each of you to tell your neighborhood associations to send out an email, go door to door Monday and Tuesday. We will need signs made to hold up in ridgewood , Old Canton , and anywhere else. I truly believe if we all can do our part we can pull this off! Please let me know if you are willing to help in anyway!"

We left a message with Whitwell to get his response.

The entertainment value of tonight's city council meeting just skyrocketed.

Stay tuned.

Editor's Update: The Clarion-Ledger stooped to new levels of bad journalism when one of its reporters tried to denigate R.L. Nave's coverage of this effort. Read all about it at http://www.jfp.ms/brianeason

Former mayoral candidate and Chokwe Lumumba supporter Regina Quinn contacted two of the three independent candidates asking them to drop out of the June 4 general election to select Jackson's next mayor.

Councilman Chokwe Lumumba won the Democratic runoff earlier this week, defeating businessman Jonathan Lee by more than 3,000 votes.

Friday morning, Quinn released this statement to the JFP:

"After witnessing the brutal run-off between Mr. Lee and Mr. Lumumba, I came to the conclusion that the City had had enough and needed to start the healing process sooner rather than later. Therefore, I contacted two of the three independent candidates to see if they agreed with me that it would be best for the City of Jackson to acknowledge that with 20,000 plus votes people had decided who they wanted as their next mayor, and that it was now time to start healing. If I erred, it was an error of the head but not of the heart."

"Apparently, the healing process will have to wait until June 4, 2013," she added.

The independent candidates are Francis P. Smith Jr., Cornelius Griggs and Richard C. Williams Jr.

Long-time Jacksonian Dorothy Triplett sent us this letter earlier today. It is reprinted verbtim:

I supported Mayor Johnson in the primary, and was disappointed that the voters (only 30 percent of the eligible voters) chose not to send him into the runoff. Once I pushed that disappointment down and asked myself for whom I would vote in the runoff, I began my ongoing struggle.

I know and respect both candidates. Both have distinct strengths and weaknesses, as do we all. I have talked with both, attended numerous forums/debates/political accountability sessions and found myself wavering back and forth between them. I've seen/heard the nastiness and the subtle advertising, and my stomach has turned with dismay at the way they (the ads and phone calls, not the individual candidates) played on the fears of citizens, and divided them racially and economically and by neighborhood. I listened to dear friends in both camps tell me why I should vote for one and not the other. I respect their views, and honor their commitment to their candidates.

When I cast my ballot—and I do believe each vote counts—I will do so prayerfully and without fear, and with the knowledge that, ultimately, it's not up to whomever we elect as mayor, but up to US—each and every one of us—to lead this great city into the future.

We will have to give our new mayor our support and put aside our angst and anger, our fear and foreboding, and have the faith that we can do great things, and continue the already-begun journey of changing the negatives of old, crumbling neighborhoods, absentee landlords, long-neglected infrastructure, results of our recent economic downturn (now thankfully moving upward), etc., etc., etc.

We will be better served by focusing on the positives and building on the vision of what CAN be. We will have to band together across this city with people we know and those we have yet to meet and work TOGETHER to make our city shine. And perhaps, if we do that with genuine purpose and resolve, with honesty and intentionality, and with the knowledge that we ALL have value, good ideas and skills, and richness of experience, we will find out more about ourselves and each other.

Dorothy Triplett Jackson

WAPT just released Mason-Dixon poll results that show that mayoral candidate Jonathan Lee's lead has shrunk three points since Friday, and Chokwe Lumumba's support has increased seven points. Lee leads 46 percent to 42 percent going into tomorrow's pivotal run-off face. The poll showed 12 percent still undecided. Lee led 49 percent to 35 percent in poll results released Friday.

The poll shows that Lumumba leads with black voters 46 percent to 36 percent with 18 percent undecided. Lee leads Lumumba 87 percent to 4 percent with white voters with 9 percent undecided.

The newest poll results come after several controversial campaign days, which included an anti-Lumumba TV ad using what Lee called "sound bites" to question Lumumba's religious faith, strength as a Democrat and like for police officers. The same day, news hit that Lumumba was also running a controversial ad, featuring Rep. Bennie Thompson endorsing Lumumba and questioning Lee's Democratic credentials.

Today, campaign controversy increased further with news of controversial flyers left on cars during church services, but any fallout from that is not likely reflected in the polls, yet.

The poll showed that 46 percent believe that Lumumba defeated Lee in a pivotal debate Friday night with 31 percent saying Lee won. The poll shows the debate had a huge impact: Lee led by 47 percent among debate watchers before the debate with only 38 percent of them supporting him afterward. Lumumba's support among debate waters jumped from 33 percent to 50 percent after the debate.

The poll has a +/- 4.5 margin of error.

Several new endorsements have happened over the weekend. Today, The Clarion-Ledger endorsed Jonathan Lee for mayor, after endorsing Mayor Harvey Johnson Jr. in the primary. Sen. John Horhn, who ran for Jackson mayor, four years ago, has also endorsed Lee.

Over the weekend, new Sen. Sollie Norwood, formerly a JPS school-board member, endorsed Lumumba.

If you know of others, feel free to post them below. We will update this page with a full endorsement list Monday.

As we approach the mayoral runoff, which will most surely decide Jackson's next mayor, the rumors are flying fast and furious. One we heard yesterday is that Chokwe Lumumba "killed an FBI agent and got away with it." This is a false assertion. But it surely morphed out of his history as a young organizer with the Republic of New Afrika (RNA), based in Jackson in the early 1970s. As we explain in this article in 2005, the then-racist police department essentially had an angry stand-off with the militant Republic of New Afrika, headed by Imari Obadele, that culminated in an early-morning Waco-esque raid on the group's heavily armed headquarters in west Jackson. (JPD even brought the Thompson tank.)

The resulting gunfight left a police officer dead and an FBI officer injured. The legal battle that followed was complicated, in no small part because Obadele was not present, but local authorities wanted him punished for the crime. There were also state-federal jurisdictional hurdles to scale, but ultimately eight of the "RNA 11" ultimately served time, ironically because lawyers used the precedent set in the federal trial of Klansmen in Neshoba County who conspired to kill three civil rights workers. In the 1960s, a state court wouldn't convict them, but several went to prison for a time under a federal civil-rights conspiracy charge.

RNA member Chokwe Lumumba was not present, did not shoot anyone and did not serve time.

Read Obadele's 2010 obituary here.

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 …

Democratic U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson is wading into the Jackson mayor's race, and endorsing Councilman Chokwe Lumumba over political upstart and businessman Jonathan Lee.

In the R-and-B-laced radio ad, Thompson refrains from naming Lee but says: "When I see Republicans from Rankin and Madison counties endorsing the other so-called Democrat, I know something is fishy."

Thompson goes on to say that the Republicans supporting the other candidate are the same people who "opened their checkbooks last fall for Mitt Romney in an effort to kick President Obama out of the White House."

As JFP city reporter Tyler Cleveland has pointed out, six of Lee's 10 biggest contributors have given to the GOP or Republican causes in the past. Thompson hits every buzzword, saying "these Republicans want to pass charter schools, create voter-ID laws, cut Pell Grants, end Medicare and reduce Social Security benefits."

At the end of the ad, Thompson advises voters not to fall for "old Republican tricks" and to "vote for the real Democrat" on May 21.

In other states I've lived, it would have been highly unusual for a Congressman to get involved in a party primary. Perhaps this is normal for Mississippi. Or, maybe it's just normal for Rep. Thompson?

The campaign to elect City Councilman Chokwe Lumumba as mayor announced several endorsements from key city leaders Friday morning in front of City Hall.

Among the endorsements Lumumba received were State Representatives Earl Banks and Jim Evans and District 5 Hinds County Supervisor Kenneth Stokes and his wife, Ward 3 City Councilwoman LaRita Cooper Stokes. Former mayoral candidate Regina Quinn, who endorsed Lumumba through a press release earlier this week, was there to back up her reasons for endorsing the one-term Ward 2 Councilman for mayor.

"I'm here to strongly endorse Chokwe Lumumba to be our next mayor," Quinn said, adding that she came to her decision after "serious thought." Quinn cited a past Clarion-Ledger story that revealed that women in Jackson were being paid, on average, 73 percent of their male counterparts were for the same job.

As she said in her press release, Quinn stated she thinks Lumumba is the only candidate who will take swift action to correct what she called a "sad situation" in terms of women's pay.

After Banks and Evans pledged their support for Lumumba, Kenneth Stokes, speaking on his behalf and for his wife, who was in Chicago on Friday, took an opportunity to defend his candidate against some of the attack ads launched by his opponent in the May 21 runoff, Jonathan Lee.

The ad shows Chokwe Lumumba making a speech on Feb. 13, 2009, at what looks like a book store, where the candidate talked openly about the police, religion and the Democratic Party. The ad uses Lumumba's own words to lead viewers to believe that Lumumba doesn't like police, isn't a "Barack Obama Democrat" and doesn't believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

"(The accusations against Lumumba are) just nonsense coming out of evil people's mouths," Stokes said. "Chokwe has done more work with young people in this community, coaching basketball and mentoring them, showing them there's a better way to live. As Charles Tisdale would have said, Chokwe is a man among men. He's the type of leader who won't back down. This is Jack-town, and we need a man. I'll repeat it in case somebody didn't hear me - We need a man."

Lumumba has already said publicly that the clips from the video featured in the ad were taken out of context, that he has always supported the Jackson Police Department and that if voters watched the full video, they would see he wasn't implying what the ad infers.

Stokes finished his statement by saying he didn't intend to cuss, but that the Jackson Free Press "can kiss my ass!" He made this point with emphasis to a round of laughter from the assembled city leaders behind him. When asked after the press conference why he made the statement, Stokes said he said it because the JFP should have endorsed Lumumba, but did not elaborate more on the record. The Jackson Free Press has not endorsed a mayoral candidate for the runoff.

Lumumba concluded the …

A local television report apparently has people confused about whether they can vote in the Democratic runoff for Jackson mayor and city council if they didn't bother to vote in the runoff. The answer is yes. Here is a statement from Jackson City Clerk Brenda Pree:

“ All registered voters are able to vote in their municipality’s runoff whether they voted in the first primary or not; however, there is no cross-over voting (i.e. if the voter voted in the Democratic Primary on May 7th, they must vote in the Democratic Runoff and vice versa for Republican—they cannot switch parties). A voter must be registered 30 days prior to the first Primary (May 7th) in order to vote in the Primary or Primary Runoff.”

Note that Jackson did not have a Republican primary this year, so it opens the door for any non-Democrats to flood the polls on Tuesday for the Democratic runoff.

That's the law, man.

"Look, Judge, if we've got to pay for justice around here, I will pay for justice. I've paid other judges to try to get justice, pay you, too, if that's what is necessary."

That statement, made by attorney Chokwe Lumumba to Leake County Circuit Judge Marcus D. Gordon on October 17, 2001 got Lumumba in trouble -- big trouble.

Gordon cited Lumumba for contempt, fined him $500 and ordered him to serve three days in the county jail. According to an Associated Press story written at the time, Lumumba was referring to the fine itself, meaning that he would happily pay the fine if it meant justice for his client at the time, Henry Payton.

A 2003 tribunal recommended a public reprimand for Lumumba but the bar sought a harsher punishment.

"Instead, the Mississippi Bar wanted Lumumba suspended from the practice of law for an unspecified period of time. The Mississippi Bar stated that the length of suspension would be left up to this Court to determine," records show.

The court ruled that in addition to the fines he'd been ordered to pay, a six-month suspension of Lumumba's law license would be appropriate. Lumumba appealed the decision to the Mississippi State Supreme court on the grounds that his speech was protected by the First Amendment. Both courts disagreed.

However, the appellate court found in August 2003: "Lumumba's behavior was done in the presence of the court and intended to embarrass or prevent orderly administration of justice. Further, it was both disrespectful to the judge and disruptive to court proceedings. We cannot fathom any situation that would warrant such behavior. This Court finds that the statements made toward the judge about how he can better get along with lawyers in the future, about the judge's "henchmen," about being proud to be thrown out of the courtroom, and about paying the judge for justice were made to embarrass the court or impede the administration of justice. This Court finds that the statements go far beyond zealous representation of one's client, and makes a mockery of the court and its proceedings."

In 2005, the state Supreme Court declined to hear Lumumba's appeal. The state high court reinstated Lumumba to the bar in 2007 with an 8 to 1 decision.

Here's a list of Chokwe Lumumba's top campaign donors* this year, over the past two reporting cycles:

Barry W. Howard ($10,000) - Madison, Miss. Howard has given to at least one Democratic candidate for Mississippi statewide office, Gary Anderson, who ran for insurance commissioner in 2007.

Chokwe Lumumba ($6,000) - Jackson, Miss. Lumumba, the sitting Democratic Ward 2 councilman, gave himself money on two separate occasions. One sum totaled $3,000; the other $1,500. Lumumba is an attorney who has represented a number of high-profile clients and has a long and sometimes controversial history in civil rights and law.

Adekuule Adekuubi ($5,000) -- Mississippi The name that shows up on the most recent campaign finance report appears to be a misspelling of Adekunle Adekunbi, vice president of business development for Garrett Enterprises Consolidated, the company owned by Jackson developer Socrates Garrett.

John Burge ($3,000) - N/A

Burk-Kleinpeter Inc. ($2,000) -- Baton Rouge, La. Its website states: "Burk-Kleinpeter, Inc. opened its Jackson office in 2012 to serve the expanding Jackson area market as well as to provide services to the Mississippi Dept. of Transportation and other state agencies." With Mississippi offices Ocean Springs and Jackson eight total branches in Louisiana and Alabama Baton Rouge-based engineering consulting firm, Burk-Kleinpeter is an equal-opportunity political donor. On the federal level, the firm has given to the election campaigns of Sen. David Vitter and former Rep. William Jefferson, convicted on federal bribery charges in 2009. The firm, has also been in state races where the company operates, giving $29,700 total since 1998. In Mississippi, Burk-Kleinpeter or its principals, William Burk and George Kleinpeter, has in recent years contributed to Gov. Phil Bryant, Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves

Dr. Demitri Marshall ($2,000) - Port Gibson, Miss. In 2011, a Houston grand jury indicted Marshall for nonpayment of child support and related medical expenses a child who resides in Texas. The one-count indictment charged Marshall with failing to pay more than $10,000 in child support and medical expenses ordered by a Harris County family district court dating back to 1997.

Moore's Auto Sales ($1,300) - Jackson, Miss. Moore's bills itself as "the finest luxury vehicles in metro Jackson." A search of the Mississippi secretary of state's website yielded no results for the business.

New England Contractors LLC ($1,300) - Jackson, Miss. Formerly known as East Parke Properties is listed as a general contractor based in Jackson. Abby G. Robinson, the registered agent for the company, secretary of state records show.

*Note: Lumumba also collected $300 on May 7, 2013 from a person listed only as "Anonymous Donor." Gerald McWorter and Judith Green whose addresses are listed as "PayPal" gave $1,000 and $500, respectively.

Read more about Councilman Lumumba: jfp.ms/chokwelumumba.

Last night's mayoral forum/debate/"job interview" seemed to have been born of a desire to shake things up, to breathe new life into the stodgy, old question-and-answer-from-a-fixed-podium-style debates of yore. For that effort in thinking out of the box, the organizers at Leadership Jackson probably deserve a cookie.

A small cookie, made of shortbread and perhaps with a bit of mint flavor given the clumsy execution of the event. It began with a Jeopardy-style quiz game designed to test the candidates' knowledge of such trivial matters as how many city council members does it take to sue the mayor and how many bond referendums voters have rejected in the past 30 years (answers: one and zero, respectively)

Organizers didn't have a clear understanding of how much time each of the candidates was supposed to have to answer, or even how long the thing was supposed to last. At the end, one moderator invited closing remarks while another moderator (who works with one of the campaigns) insisted on continuing to ask questions.

However bizarre, there were a few takeaways from the forum that featured Democratic runoff candidates Councilman Chokwe Lumumba and businessman Jonathan Lee--both of whom seemed agitated by the debate format--and an independent named Richard Williams who goes by "Chip."

First, and most strikingly, is that Councilman Lumumba needs to get up to speed on Jackson Public Schools. While Lumumba aced questions relating to the city council, where he stumbled was on questions about the composition of JPS' budget. Although the city has no hand in running the schools, the mayor does appoint members to the JPS Board of Trustees, and the city provides local funding for schools through property taxes.

Second, there isn't much room between Lee and Lumumba when it comes to some personnel issues, mainly whether department heads should be required to live in the city of Jackson. Lumumba added that because his administration would "encourage" property owners to live inside the city, having his department heads live in the city would set a good example.

Third, Lee is staying on message that he is a "second-generation operator of a small business." In the weeks leading up to the Democratic primary on May 7, news that the company Lee's father started was being sued by several companies came to light. When the Jackson Free Press asked Lee about the default judgments during an interview at JFP HQ, Lee said that the problems occurred after he stepped away from running the company as its president although questions remained about what he knew and when. Since Lee went on to finish in first place in the election, Lee clearly thinks the ensuing maelstrom didn't hurt his chances, so he's staying on message.

Fourth, judging by the crowd response, Lumumba's supporters are a little more fired up than Lee's polite backers. In winning the primary, Lee arguably had the most cohesive coalition of young African Americans and whites, pockets of west Jacksonians--the Koinonia Crowd, I call them because of Lee's …

At a press conference near City Hall, Democratic mayoral candidate Jonathan Lee and a handful of supporters announced a key endorsement from State Representative Credell Calhoun, who represents Mississippi's 68th district here in Jackson.

Lee also received endorsements from his pastor at Anderson United Methodist Church Joe May and New Jerusalem Church Pastor Duane Pickett. Pickett said it was important to him that Lee believes in the resurrection of Jesus Christ because "Jackson needs a resurrection."

http://jacksonfreepress.com/users/photos/2013/may/15/11876/

That statement was an obvious swipe at Chokwe Lumumba, who despite being baptized four different times in four different churches has made statements in the past about not being sure about the story of Christ's resurrection, a story integral to the Christian faith.

After hearing from the speakers, Lee took to the podium and after a brief statement took three questions from the assembled media.

The first question was about Lee's support, both financial and at the ballot box, from the white community. The reporter asked if Lee was trying to distance himself from his supporters. The candidate answered no, and asked the reporter to look at the numbers, which he said shows he had a wide range of support from voters all over the city.

As we pointed out in a story in Wednesday's JFP, which you can read here, we noted that the bulk of Lee's support indeed came from Jackson's white community in Wards 1 and 7.

Lee added that he was "very proud" of the way his campaign has been run.

When pressed on the issue, event organizer Othor Cain said we would move past that line of questioning and asked if there was anyone else who wanted to talk about something else.

The second question Lee fielded was whether or not he was disappointed by former candidate Regina Quinn's decision to endorse Lumumba. Lee, who had already mentioned Quinn as a future role model for his daughter, said he was a little bit disappointed because he thought he had laid out a plan she could get behind, but that he would move forward without her support.

The third question was whether or not the preachers' comments were implying that Lumumba was not a "true Christian." Lee vehemently denied that, saying the pastors were only there to talk about him, and not his opponent.

The press conference was set to take place on the lawn in front of City Hall, but about 10 minutes before the set 11 a.m. start time, security and City Clerk Brenda Pree emerged from the building and told Cain and Lee's campaign manager Tyrone Hendrix they would have to move the event 150 feet from the building, because absentee and early voting was taking place inside City Hall.

WAPT reported today on what is probably the most coveted mayoral endorsement, saying that Regina Quinn has endorsed Chokwe Lumumba for mayor. In a less significant announcement, Frank Bluntson has endorsed Jonathan Lee.

During the campaign, Quinn was angry at Lee for spreading around that she had voted Republican. This is what she told the JFP via email about it:

That’s ridiculous. Whoever put that information into “databases” is playing the same “old political games” they always play during the waning days of a campaign season. I assure you that if you ask for backup documentation to support that allegation, you will receive none. I have been the most transparent candidate in this race, Ms. Ladd. I told the voters that I filed for bankruptcy and successfully completed the bankruptcy plan to turn my financial life around. Likewise, if I were a Republican, I would proudly say so. Voters should not trust any candidate who would lie to them about who they are. I understand that Mr. Othor Cain has dishonored himself by starting these abject lies. After you satisfy yourself that I am telling the truth just like I did when I was attacked in this fashion the first time, I would suggest that you research the party affiliation of the candidate that Mr. Cain is supporting (Lee) because this allegation is obviously a diversion from his own candidate. Let me be clear, I am and have always been a Democrat and voted consistently that way, albeit I can and do work with people of all persuasions.

Regina Quinn

The JFP blogged here that Quinn's name did surface once in a voting database for a Republican vote, which she says was an error.

We're not saying, however, that Quinn endorsed Lumumba because she was angry at Lee. Her staff wrote this on her Facebook page May 10:

Regina is reviewing each candidate's written plan, has met with both, and continue to monitor supporter's opinions. She expects to announce soon whether she will endorse Lumumba, Lee, or neither first to you her supporters.

Quinn came in fourth in the primary, drawing more vote than most political watchers expected and seems to have a strong voting base among women.

UPDATE: Quinn campaign manager Aaron Banks told us tonight:

Hey Donna, When Regina makes her final decision we will get statement to you. We did not inform 16 of any endorsement and it is sad to say that they posted a story without verifying it with our campaign. But we will inform you first once her mind is made up thanks.

The budget for Jonathan Lee's campaign to become next mayor of Jackson has officially topped $400,000 since the start of 2013.

In a report filed Tuesday, May 14, 2013, with the City Clerk's office, the treasurer for Jonathan Lee's political action committee "Friends of Jonathan Lee" says the Lee campaign raised $66,459 since April 11, putting his calendar year-to-date total at $401,019.12.

The report says Lee has also spent $372, 762.08 total, and $65,815.41 of it since April 11, 2013.

The report, which you can read here, shows that Lee received several large donations in the past month, including a $2,500 donation from Guy H. White of Ridgeland and a $2,000 donation from Emmerson Asset Management, LLC. He also received $1,000 donations from The District Land Development Company, Bennchmark Construction Corp., Fondren Place Apartments LLC, Integrated Management Services and private citizens Susan McNease of Jackson, Steven Speights of Jackson, Samuel Lane of Jackson and Deshun Martin of Jackson.

Lee's opponent in the May 21 runoff, Ward 2 Councilman Chokwe Lumumba, also filed his report on time (yay!). His report indicates that his campaign has just topped the $100,000-mark, year-to-date, with $31,957 of that coming after April 11, 2013.

Lumumba has received large contributions in the past month, including a $5,000 from Adekuule Adekuubi (trust me, we are digging trying to figure out who these people are), $2,000 from Burk-Kleinpeter Inc. (an engineering company out of Baton Rouge, La.), $1,500 from himself, $1,300 from New England Contractors LLC (a Jackson business) and $1,000 donations from Adam Shakoor of Detroit, Mich., Herbert Irvin of Jackson, Mississippi Boys Hoops Inc. of Jackson, attorney John Walker of Jackson, J&J Wholesale of Clinton and attorney Winston Thompson of Jackson.

Ward 4 City Council hopeful De'Keither Stamps also filed a report, which you can read here.

Stamps report says he received a total of $4,940 between April 28 and May 11, 2013, from himself, coffee roastery engineer Nikdra Ford and Honeysucker and Honeysucker Inc. He spent $1,931 at A2Z Printing, and split the rest of his spending between Wal Mart, Raceway, Spaceage Marketing and Printing and Poll Watchers. He reports $277 cash-on-hand.

See, it's not hard to follow the law.

During the run-up to the Democratic primary, the main whisper campaign, coming from several candidates, seemed to be about who had—gasp!—voted Republican in the past. Now, it's over who is Christian enough to be mayor.

Mayoral candidate Chokwe Lumumba is pounding the same drum that President Barack Obama had to beat in order to protect his Christian credentials. Since Lumumba came in second in Jackson Democratic primary for mayor, the whispers from opponents about his not being Christian—and perhaps presumably Muslim?—have gotten louder and more insistent.

Lumumba responded to critics on his Facebook himself (or at least someone did on his behalf), writing:

I am a man who respects all people and their right to believe as they choose regarding faith. However, I AM a CHRISTIAN. In fact, I have ALWAYS BEEN A CHRISTIAN. I was raised in Church. My mother was a member of a Christian Women's Association in Detroit to combat prejudice in the Church. When I moved to Mississippi in the late 80s, I continued to attend Church. My late wife Nubia Lumumba, was a member of the Church Choir until her death in 2003. My children have been raised Christian. My daughter, Rukia Lumumba worked in the children's church and the church nursery throughout middle school and high school. My son often gives the message (sermon) at his current Church. GOD and Christianity is a part of who I am. #I AM A CHRISTIAN MAN, WITH AN AFRICAN NAME. #electlumumbamayor for Mayor on May 21st. #together we can make #jacksonrise

Under state law, a violation of any candidate's campaign-finance disclosure requirement could result in the state withholding certification of nomination, withholding salary of office, and a misdemeanor conviction that carries up to six months in jail and a fine of up to $3,000.

But the city hasn't seemed interested in enforcing those election rules. Mayoral candidate Chokwe Lumumba was a month late on the 2012 report, and filed his pre-primary election report, due Tuesday, April 30, on Election Day, May 7.

Similarly, the Jackson 20/20 PAC, which is strongly backing Jonathan Lee, did not file its pre-primary report until the day before primary day, six days late.

Lumumba and the 20/20 PAC will get a shot at redemption tomorrow, when reports covering any money raised or spent by candidates from April 28 through May 11 are due by 5 p.m.

After that, the 48-hour reports should be pouring in.

Ward 2 Councilman-elect Melvin Priester, Jr. , Ward 7 Councilwoman Margaret Barrett-Simon and incumbent Mayor Harvey Johnson Jr. all filed 48-hour reports last week, but they were the only ones.

Under Mississippi Sunshine Laws, candidates seeking the nomination of a party in a municipal election must file a report with the city clerk if they receive any donations of $200 or more after the tenth day, but more than 48 hours before 12:01 a.m. on the day of the election.

In English, that means that if a candidate gets a single contribution of more than $200 (which both mayoral candidates in the runoff have received consistently) then they would have to notify the City Clerk's office within 48 hours of receiving the donation.

We're hopeful all this information will be readily available, and we're ready to update the site as we receive them. Another special thanks to the Jackson City Clerk's office, which has been professional and helpful from the start of this process back in January.

Former Jackson Chamber of Commerce President Jonathan Lee and Ward 2 Councilman Chokwe Lumumba will square off in two debates this week, ahead of the May 21 runoff election that will put one of the two men into the Jackson mayors office.

The first is set for 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday at the Old Capitol Inn, and will not be broadcast on television. The second is Friday, May 17, downtown at the Mississippi College School of Law at 7 p.m.

It will be interesting to see the two go at it - mainly because they've stayed away from each other in past forums and debates, both focusing their efforts on their own message and their mutual disappointment with the administration of current mayor Harvey Johnson Jr.

Parents for Public Schools of Jackson is also hosting a mayoral candidate forum on Sunday, May 19 from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. It will be held in the Community Room in the Jackson Medical Mall, and each candidate will present his educational platform and vision for public schools in the City of Jackson and answer questions from the audience. Parents, high school students and interested community members are encouraged to attend.

It looks like Jonathan Lee and Chokwe Lumumba are headed into the runoff. Share your predictions for what the next to weeks will be like!

Here's the list of election night watch parties we've cobbled together. We'll update it as we get more information:

Harvey Johnson Campaign Headquarters, 4436 North State Street

Jonathan Lee The Penguin, 1100 J.R. Lynch Street

Chokwe Lumumba Clarion Hotel, 5075 Interstate 55

Regina Quinn Regency Hotel, 400 Greymont Ave.

A week after the deadline for submitting campaign-finance reports, and on the morning of Jackson city elections, Councilman and veteran attorney Chokwe Lumumba filed his campaign-finance report.

The report, dated May 6, shows that Lumumba raised $68,753 since the beginning of the year and spent $59,292, leaving the campaign fund with $17,963 in cash on hand.

Meanwhile, Lumumba's largest donor was attorney Barry Howard who contributed $10,000 while Lumumba gave himself $4,500 in two installment. Howard has given to at least one Democratic candidate for statewide office, Gary Anderson, who ran for insurance commissioner in 2007. Dr. Demitri Marshall of Port Gibson gave $2,000 and Jeannette Felton, also of Port Gibson, gave $1,000.

Several lawyers and businesses donated. Fidelity Refund and Check Cashers, whose telephone number goes to an AT&T store in Michigan, gave $300; Moore's Used Auto Sales on Gallatin Street in Jackson, gave $1,300 and La Quinta Inn and Suites gave $500. Marlboro, Md.-based Bowie Construction LLC and Jackson Fuel gave $500 a piece. A1 Bail Bond in west Jackson gave another $500.

Most of the donors listed Jackson addresses, with a smattering of Michigan and Georgia contributors. John Burge, whose address is not listed on the form, contributed $3,500. Michigan attorney Adam Shakoor, who has contributed to Democratic and Republican candidates in his home state, gave Lumumba $1,000.

Cochran Firm Mississippi, the local branch of the law office the late defense attorney who represented O.J. Simpson founded, and Precious Martin Sr. & Associates, each gave $1,000. Lumumba's law partner, Harvey Freelon, gave $1,100.

Eleven people on Lumumba's form list their address as "N/A." However, Lumumba has had at least three out-of-state fundraisers in the California Bay Area, in New York City and Washington D.C., but none of the people on the donor form list addresses near those cities.

Lumumba has explained the out-of-town fundraisers saying that fellow human-rights activists throughout the country support his candidacy. Saladin Muhammad, a North Carolina labor leader, gave $1,000. The Washington D.C.-based Black is Back coalition that advocates for reparations, single-payer health care, ending U.S.-led wars, freeing prisoner Mumia Abu Jamal and other "U.S. political prisoners/POWs/exiles" and rescinding the Patriot Act, gave $265. Eve Rosahn, who was indicted for providing a getaway car in a famous 1981 Brink's robbery, also gave $265. Prosecutors eventually dropped the charges against Rosahn, who works at a legal-aid clinic in New York City.

Advertising consumed the bulk of Lumumba's spending. He spent $13,205 with Space Age Graphics, $7,342 with WKXI (Kixie 107-FM), $3,545 with Comcast, $2,776 with YMF Media and $7,050 with Lamar Advertising.

Voters do not have to vote in every race on the ballot for their votes to count.

The Hinds County Board of Supervisors established the procedure for replacing District 2 Supervisor Doug Anderson, who died recently.

To replace Anderson on a temporary basis, board President Robert Graham said the board would accept resumes through County Administrator Carmen Davis' office until the end of May or early June. From there, the county would make sure the applicants live in District 2 and then interview top prospective candidates.

Supervisors scheduled the special election for Tuesday, Nov. 5. Candidates wishing to run must collect signatures from 50 qualified voters; the qualifying deadline is Sept. 6.

Hinds County could also soon have another void to fill. District 2 Supervisor Phil Fisher is a candidate for mayor of Clinton, which, like Jackson, votes tomorrow May 7.

http://jacksonfreepress.com/users/photos/2013/may/06/11783/

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 …

Who hasn't bothered to file campaign-finance reports for the primaries?

We're trying to find the context of the $294,000/grant accusation in the email the Lee campaign sent out, but wouldn't document. We found the 2008 Clarion-Ledger story that the Lee campaign cited, as well as stories in the JFP. First, the Ledger story.

It was about then-Mayor Melton's abysmal financial management. It mentions the administration's complaints about problems left over from Johnson--which I personally take with a grain of salt until I find out the context. Because if there was anybody who could blame anyone but themselves, it was the Melton administration. Here's the relevant part of the story, "City not responding to suggestions":

"An employee hired by Mayor Frank Melton to assess Jackson's fiscal situation says she is fed up with Melton and his department heads for not responding to her recommendations to fix the city's bookkeeping problems. Assistant Chief Administrative Officer Valerie Nevels, a former Internal Revenue Service criminal investigator, said the mayor has not reinforced her suggestions. ...Nevels outlined to the City Council Budget Committee and various department heads a recent audit of city finances. She said it indicated sloppy accounting has left the city at risk of losing millions in federal funds and blurred its financial condition. The audit examined records from Oct. 1, 2005, to Sept. 30, 2006. To improve financial management in the city, Nevels has tried training personnel in such areas as filing quarterly reviews, balancing accounts monthly and setting firm deadlines for purchases and transfers. But employees have ignored the procedures and guidelines she passed out Oct. 1, she said. Nevels said Melton's response was for her to "make it happen." ...

...Melton and Walker said the city's poor accounting practices are left over from previous administrations. Nevels concurred, saying that during former Mayor Harvey Johnson Jr.'s administration, the city had more people working on financial statements and grants but the same problems existed. Johnson, mayor from 1997-2005, said his administration "took great pains to make sure the financial system was adequate. Johnson said that in his last year as mayor the city's bond rating was increased twice. Despite his efforts, Johnson's administration left behind some mismanaged grants, which the current administration and council had to deal with last fall. The city had to repay more than $294,000 on a grant because the grant was not spent in the required time period. Another $29,412 had to be repaid for the same period. "Clearly (Johnson) didn't walk away from this enterprise with clean hands, nor is the Melton administration going to walk away with clean hands," council President Leslie Burl McLemore said.

I vaguely remembered this controversy because it surprised us that a Melton hire was whistle-blowing on him. So I searched our database and found these stories about the problems that Nevel revealed: No Oversight Costing City Nobody Minding the Store

Adam Lynch also reported on Johnson and grants in this story right after he returned to office.

Although all of those stories bring back painful Melton-era …

The turn this mayoral campaign has taken is extremely frustrating, especially between the Harvey Johnson and Jonathan Lee campaigns. And from where we sit, trying to get out as much accurate information as possible, we see it all. It is one thing to get good, solid public information from a candidate, supporter or anyone as we did last week when we received an envelope of real information about Lee's business issues—which, in turn, a led to a very revealing interview with the candidate, in which we learned that he actually never has been a business owner. The public has the right to know about all of this, and then decide what they think.

But this week, both campaigns have frustrated us. First, the Lee campaign put out a press release (see below) listing several accusations of the Johnson campaign. When our reporter called them to get backup materials, they refused to give us any. I guess we're all supposed to believe it without proof. (See: lesson in that envelope of documents we got last week.)

We're also frustrated with the Johnson campaign over the same press release, though. They put out a press release in response (also quoted in below story) that referred to our story about Lee's business woes and used the fact that Lee is facing those troubles as a response to the allegations?

Huh?

That is not a response. A response would be actual information about the incidents referred to—on which both campaigns failed epicly. It's as if it is a push-and-shove game on a playground. "Oh, yeah?" "Oh, yeah!"

What the public needs is information: documents, links, sources, people will go on the records. It's what we're in the business of doing: gathering and disseminating facts. We cannot legally put out garbage on people and public officials, and the campaigns should not, either. Granted, the Johnson campaign was responding to Lee based on a factual story about his business problems, but a much better response would be information that refuted and/or gave context to the allegations in the email.

Not to mention how many half-baked accusations are flying around; Lee supporters have been especially fond of floating theories to us about the Johnson administration—which none of them bothered to pitch us over the last four years—but then not being able or willing to back them up with documents or people to talk to.

One case in point: a story someone mentioned to me last Sunday; he told us who to call to get details, which we did Monday; he wouldn't talk unless we knew exactly which questions to ask, which we didn't because it's their story tip; the original source then said he'd provide those Wednesday; we didn't hear from him; texted him last night; he texted back this morning with a 90-minute window we could talk to him in; we were on daily deadline and couldn't; now says he's too busy to talk. I told him to call me when he can so we …

You knew we weren't going to make it through two days in a row without more sniping between Jackson's incumbent mayor Harvey Johnson, Jr. and challenger Jonathan Lee.

On Wednesday, the Lee campaign circulated an e-mail declaring Jonathan the "hands-down winner" of Tuesday's night's debate, then made these charges against the Mayor:

• During his first two terms The City of Jackson was investigated for mismanaging $519,000 worth of federally funded grants.

• In 2008 The City of Jackson was forced to "repay more than $294,000 on a grant because the grant was not spent in the required time period. Another $29,412 had to be repaid for the same period." (Clarion Ledger, January 28, 2008) Again, an investigation that came as a result of the mismanagement of federally funded grants during Mayor Johnson's first two terms.

• It's taken 10 years to even begin repairs on Fortification Street (the City received $6.3 million to make improvements to Fortification Street in 2002). The Fortification Street project began in July 2012--approximately 10 months before Election Day, May 7, 2013.

The second accusation against Johnson over the $294,000 left on the table is accurate, according to a story the Clarion Ledger's archive. The story is about the money mismanagement of the Frank Melton administration, but mentions that many of the problems that mayor had were systemic from the Johnson years. It was an error that happened under Johnson that cost the city the grant money.

The e-mail went on to say that Johnson received $13,750 in campaign contributions from a prominent law firm, which was in turn "awarded" $170,000 worth of work as a part of the Siemens deal with the city to repair water infrastructure and another, who gave $16,500 in 2009, was given $100,000 for work in the Siemens deal.

The JFP is in the process of trying to procure a copy of Johnson's campaign finance reports from 2009.

Johnson's campaign issued this response around 4 p.m. Thursday afternoon:

"It’s come to our attention that once again… Jonathan Lee is using deception and lies in an attempt to mislead the public. He recently released information about our record that is false and taken out of context.

"Instead of telling half truths about our campaign, Mr. Lee needs to focus on his own finances. The fact of the matter is Mr. Lee has had four default judgments entered against his business. And, he deliberately misled the public when he touted that he was a business owner. In fact, he mentioned it during his commercials, on his website, and through social media. The fact is, while he was in charge of his family business, Jonathan Lee ran it into the ground. Eventually, vendors had to file lawsuits, obtaining default judgments of more than $150,000, in order to recover the money that Mr. Lee’s company owed them. When the media found out about Mr. Lee’s mismanagement of his second generation company, Mr. Lee suddenly announced that he never …

Doing some research just now, I ran into this interview from last week with mayoral candidate Chokwe Lumumba that I think many of you will find interesting. In it, he discusses the "Jackson-Kush Plan" and where it fits into his organization's plan "for self-determination and economic democracy

From the plan:

“In order to create the democratic space desired, we aim to introduce several critical practices and tools into the governance process of the Jackson city government that will help foster and facilitate the growth of participatory democracy” [to include Participatory Budgeting, Gender-Sensitive Budgeting, Human Rights Education and Promotion for city employees, a Human Rights Charter, Expanding Public Transportation, Solar and Wind-Powered Generators, and a “South-South Trading Network and Free Trade Zone” to partner with the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM) and the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (ALBA) — ed.]

In the interview with Lumumba, he explains show his work in Jackson is part of a larger plan for the region:

CL: Our plan is essentially a self-determination tactic and strategy for African people in America, particularly and specifically in the areas which are affected by the plan. We call it the Jackson-Kush Plan, because Jackson is the city that we’re in and where we are running for mayor in May 2013, while the western part of Mississippi is the Kush District.

From Tunica, which is in the northwest part of Mississippi, all the way down to Wilkerson County in the southwest, are 18 contiguous counties. All are predominantly Black, with the exception of Warren County which is 47% Black.

We’re fighting for the self-determination of that region. This type of self-determination is strategically or tactically tied to enhancing other fights of self-determination in other areas of the South.

We’ve often heard of the Black Belt South [the historic term of reference to agricultural regions in the Deep South with majority Black population — ed.], but hopefully self-determination is not only in the South. It will inspire movements of self-determination intelligently laid in other parts of the country.

Lumumba told the interview why he ran for City Council in the first place:

Should we run? We didn’t want to give credence to an oppressive system… But we’re in a city that’s 85% Black, in a county that’s 70% Black, and in a region where 17 of the 18 counties are predominantly Black.

So we adjusted our strategy to account for the fact that people with whom we are organizing in good faith, to fight against the conditions that they are experiencing, should be entitled to put people in office and expect them to do what they wanted them to do.

We decided it was important that we run for seats, and pick those where there was a high probability we could win. So we ran for the City Council.

Lumumba says he hopes to establish an "alternative" form of governing:

ATC: Have you developed particular forms for expressing self-determination?

CL: …