Reflections on the special session
by Alan Lange
7/3/9
Haley Barbour emerged victorious this past week. While states nationwide were issuing IOUs, the Mississippi legislature actually passed a balanced budget albeit kicking and screaming from the pressure levied on them by Governor Barbour. This may be viewed historically as Governor Barbour's second greatest accomplishment of his term (the first being of course the response to Katrina). It will likely further serve to raise his stock among conservatives in the 2012 Presidential conversation.
Remember where we came from before the Special Session.
The Billy McCoy-led House wanted $0 hospital assessment on Medicaid. Governor Barbour got $60M that will increase to $90M under certain conditions in 2011.
McCoy and the MS Hospital Association wanted total protection for hospitals against cuts. They wound up being up to $40M at risk should Barbour need to make cuts to balance the budget.
McCoy's leaders wanted no taxes on small tobacco. Governor Barbour got close to $10M against House leaders initial wishes.
Governor Barbour artfully ran out the clock and boxed the Legislature in and had them literally begging him to be called back into the session. He set the tone by requiring that all revenues be taken care of first before expanding the call for revenue bills. It took extraordinary discipline to slay the spending dragon, but again, it may well be viewed as one of his greatest accomplishments as Governor.
The PSC
The PSC has very closely aligned themselves with Attorney General Jim Hood. Given the PSC's history of corruption in its ranks (former commissioner D.W. Snyder went to jail for corruption), several senators were uneasy about expanding their charter for "more technical resources" when the Public Utilities Staff has a full complement of advisory staff that are functionally at the beck and call of the PSC. Many around the Capitol believe that the game plan for the PSC and Hood was to expand the PSC staff and then make a move to disband the PUS in a few years. Instead of settling for what they had under extraordinary budget circumstances, House leaders pressed their luck on the PSC power grab and it got shot down in committee on the Senate side. It was just another side effect of the Legislature playing chicken with the Governor over the budget and not including him in deliberations forcing the special session.
The interesting thing this does is that it creates a situation where Barbour could, theoretically, call the legislature back for a quick deal of funding the PSC/PUS at a static level next week. He would then have line item authority on revenue bills for the most part up until July 15. Any of those vetoes would not be able to be acted upon by the Legislature until they are next in regular session in January allowing him a little more control on the revenue side for FY10 . . . theoretically.
A Little Intrigue
Just before sine die in the Senate, Lt. Governor Phil Bryant announced the 10 members of the Senate that would serve on the all-important redistricting committee. He chose 5 Democrats and 5 Republicans. That would seem to be a direct challenge to House Speaker Billy McCoy, who has totally frozen out Republicans since his 62-60 vote to be re-elected as speaker. Should McCoy choose a lopsided Democrat majority on this committee, fur will certainly fly. There has been almost no mention of this anywhere in the press, but lobbyists, politicos and insiders are watching it carefully.
Entergy was unanimously condemned by state Public Service Commissioners from all four states in the Entergy service area for refusing to build more transmission lines and preventing cheaper electricity from reaching its customers. Entergy was grilled for five hours at a historic joint meeting of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the state public service commissions on June 24, 2009, in Charleston, S.C.
The Chairman of the FERC, Jon Wellinghoff was quoted in the Platts' trade publication, as stating:
"What Entergy needs to understand here is that they have a huge potential liability if they're wrong. And certainly if their actions cause specific damage to consumers, I think their liability is the sky...That's like a lawyer's dream" (Electric Power Daily, June 25). Mr. Wellinghoff was appointed by President George W. Bush and was recently elevated to FERC Chairman by President Barack Obama.
At the conference, FERC Commissioner Suedeen Kelly told the state regulators that "It's very significant to me that you are all united in your concerns. Entergy has allowed its transmission system to deteriorate in ways that both jeopardize reliability and competition . . . both of which are bad." Chairman Wellinghoff said he was "extremely concerned" about reliability for customers.
Entergy has refused to follow the recommendations of the Southwest Power Pool (SPP) to build more transmission lines to allow for cheaper electricity to reach consumers. The SPP was established by FERC in an attempt to reform and improve transparency, transmission planning, and power procurement through independent review of Entergy's transmission system. Nevertheless, an Entergy spokesman at one point told the Chairman of FERC that its electricity purchases were confidential and could not be shared with the FERC.
Entergy already has a bad track record with the FERC. On September 27, 2006, the FERC found Entergy guilty of bid rigging, as follows:
"However, the Commission puts Entergy on notice that if such violations occur in the future, the Commission will consider civil penalties as a potential remedy. Moreover, at the Commission stated in the Enforcement Policy Statement, a factor to be considered in determining the appropriate penalty is whether a company has a history of violations. Finally, as discussed herein, going forward, we expect Entergy to adhere to guidelines issued in Allegheny and will consider invalidating, as not just and reasonable, wholesale sales contracts that are the result of affiliate abuse [bid rigging]."
(Opinion No. 485 , page 29, paragraph 82)
Mississippi Public Service Commissioners Lynn Posey and Brandon Presley attended the event along with State public service commissioners from Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas, and Mississippi. The state commissioners unanimously criticized Entergy for using its own interpretation of mandatory transmission planning requirements as a reason to exclude some transmission projects recommended by the independent transmission coordinator. Commissioner Presley questioned Entergy as to why Entergy had ignored a SPP recommendation to build a major transmission line North Mississippi.
Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood addressed the regulators advising them of the transparency problems the state of Mississippi was having with Entergy's efforts to keep its ratepayers in the dark about its business practices. "Our goal is to find the truth," General Hood told the panel. "What we find is that Entergy has, at every turn, tried to thwart our statutory authority to enforce Public Service Commission law." When Entergy of Mississippi's attorney and vice president for regulatory affairs arose and demanded time to respond, Wellinghoff responded, "No, you can sit down."
Attorney General Hood's Office was forced to file a lawsuit against Entergy in December on behalf of the State, charging the company with fraud, unjust enrichment, anti-trust violations and other illegal conduct. The case is currently pending. Entergy has already admitted to overcharging Mississippi ratepayers for power. Since last year, General Hood has tried to convince Entergy to turn over documents about its business practices to shed some light on the way in which it operates. Entergy has refused every request.
A hearing on whether part of the Jackson Police Department's recent sergeant exam was corrupted will be conducted next week by the city's Civil Service Commission.
During a commission meeting last month, attorneys for several officers alleged the private testing company and JPD officials unfairly prevented them from completing the three-step testing process.
One of the attorneys, Dale Danks Jr., also alluded to possible cheating and conflicts of interest, stating he would show that during the hearing.
"We're going to take testimony from individuals about how they have been affected and lay that down by our rules and regulations and see if any have been violated," said the Rev. Horace Buckley Sr., commission chairman.
The commission then will determine if the department may continue its promotions process.
About 180 officers attempted the exam, vying for 25 open sergeant positions. For officers, the tests offer not only a chance at a promotion, but a pay raise. According to figures previously offered by JPD, a patrolman makes between $28,887 to $34,672 annually while sergeants make $40,541to $48,871.
The U.S. Justice Department has intervened in a so-called "whistleblower" lawsuit that accuses several companies and former government employees of rigging a winning bid on a $3.2 billion computer contract at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi.
The lawsuit, unsealed Wednesday by a federal judge in Gulfport, alleges three former or current federal employees conspired to steer the Stennis contract to Science Applications International Corp. A company started by one of those former employees had teamed up with Science Applications to bid on the contract.
The defendants allegedly shared secret information about the bidding process with Science Applications and chose a type of contract that favored the company's successful bid in 2004.
The Justice Department estimates the scheme cost the federal government more than $116 million.
A notice filed by the Justice Department this week says the government is taking over only part of the suit, which private lawyers filed on behalf of David Magee, a former Stennis employee who reported the alleged bid-rigging scheme to federal agents and his superiors.
Lockheed Martin Corp. and a subsidiary that operates at Stennis also are named as defendants in the False Claims Act suit. The subsidiary, Lockheed Martin Space Operations, also had teamed up with Science Applications on the federal contract, the Justice Department said.
The federal government is intervening in the part of the case that includes allegations against Stephen Adamec and Robert Knesel, a former director and a deputy director of the Naval Oceanographic Major Shared Resource Center at Stennis; Haskin Dale Galloway, a former federal employee who is chief executive officer of Applied Enterprise Solutions; and Science Applications.
In what Sheriff Malcolm McMillin called an effort to rehabilitate prisoners, Hinds County sent state inmates, including a violent offender, off site to work.
The apparent good deed, though, was in violation of state law, and was discovered during a recent inspection.
The Sheriff's Department this year had three female inmates out working: two at local nonprofits and the other at the county jail's switchboard.
Aside from one inmate being a violent offender, the others were ineligible to perform community service because they had not been approved to do so by the state.
McMillin's office for years has sent inmates into the community to work in exchange for "good time" credit on their sentences. McMillin has said he was unaware his department was violating the law.
"There's no answer for it," McMillin said. "I'm not going to have any problems with it because it's not happening anymore."
Gov. Haley Barbour and Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann, along with more than 1,000 public officials from throughout the state, will be notified next week that they missed the May 1 deadline to file their ethics reports.
According to records at the Mississippi Ethics Commission, Barbour and Hosemann are the only two of the eight statewide elected officials to miss the deadline.
“We are aware and we are working on it,” said Laura Hipp, a spokeswoman for Barbour.
Pamela Weaver, a Hosemann spokeswoman, said in a separate interview, “We are aware of it now and we are working on it.”
Under Mississippi’s ethics laws, which were strengthened in 2008, public officials are supposed to file all sources of income of more than $2,500, all stock holdings of more than $5,000 and all official positions in businesses.
Those rules apply for adults living full-time in the household of the public official.
The Ethics Commission is supposed to notify via letter the public officials who do not file. Then the public official will have 15 days to file a report.
U.S. Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Bay St. Louis, is a booster for the $550 billion defense authorization bill the House approved last week and for good reason — it includes billions for Navy shipbuilding that will help the Gulf Coast.
But the bill also has a provision with a distinctly local flavor — an investigation into the Armed Forces Retirement Home beachfront land deal that involves Gulfport Mayor Brent Warr.
The bill makes a major step in getting the Navy to a fleet size of 313 by authorizing funds for 18 ships — eight new ships; three under construction; and seven in the pipeline. The fleet is now at 287 ships.
Taylor is chairman of the House Armed Services Committee’s Seapower and Expeditionary Forces Subcommittee and has been concerned about building up the size of the Navy’s fleet.
There are also millions of dollars in the bill for the Gulf Coast, such as $6.5 million to relocate the base entrance for the Gulfport Combat Readiness Training Center.
But additional items sponsored by Taylor are aimed at the sale of Armed Forces Retirement Home property. One provision would require the Defense Department’s inspector general to conduct an investigation “of the acquisition and subsequent disposal in 2003 of beachfront property adjacent to the Armed Forces Retirement Home in Gulfport, Mississippi” and another would eliminate the “special authority of requiring that future disposals of excess property by the Armed Forces Retirement Home be done in accordance with existing laws pertaining to the disposal of federal property.”
Warr and his family bought the property, but he and his wife are now facing Katrina fraud charges.
It's by far the hottest controversy in real estate this summer, and it could directly affect the value of your house -- probably negatively -- by tens of thousands of dollars.
The issue concerns low-balled valuations and the new rules guiding appraisers in price-depressed and rebounding markets. Consider these snapshots of what's going on:
- In San Diego, Steve Doyle, division president for Brookfield Homes, is trying to close out the final 20 houses of a 120-unit single-family subdivision. Prices range from $340,000 to $350,000. But recently there's been a major hitch: Appraisers assigned by banks are coming in with valuations $60,000 or more less than Doyle's selling prices. The appraisers, who Doyle says are unfamiliar with local market trends, inexperienced or both, are using distressed sales -- foreclosures and short sales of existing houses -- as their "comparables." Some of the distressed properties are in poor condition, and all of them offer fewer amenities, according to Doyle.
- In Wilmington, N.C., a loan applicant with a house in excellent condition, and an umblemished payment record, sought to refinance into a 4 3/4 percent mortgage. She had purchased the property four years ago for $160,000 and made about $20,000 worth of improvements in the interim. Her loan application, according to Paul Skeens, president of Colonial Mortgage Group of Waldorf, Md., was "a slam dunk. Nothing to it." The house was worth $180,000 to $200,000, accordingto a local realty estimate.
But when an appraiser with little local knowledge was sent in by a bank to value the house, he chose two short-sale properties that had both closed in the mid-$140,000 range, and one inheritance sale at about $155,000. The last property was "in horrible condition," Skeens said. "I'd call it dog meat." The deal-paralyzing appraised value that came in for the cream-puff refi: $149,000.
Bottom line: Be aware of the issue. It affects your equity, even if you're not currently buying or selling. And watch whether Congress fixes the problem.
Two congressmen -- U.S. Reps. Travis Childers, D-Miss., and Gary Miller, R-Calif. -- have introduced legislation calling for an 18-month moratorium on the appraisal code. In identical letters to James Lockhart, the top regulator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and Cuomo, the National Association of Realtors also requested a moratorium and complained that the code is raising consumers' costs, distorting property values and killing sales.
Asked for comment, Lockhart said through a spokesperson that his agency is "monitoring" the situation, and considers "the views of market participants important."
Gulfport Mayor Brent Warr, the highest-ranking public official charged with Hurricane Katrina fraud, won't be allowed to send questionnaires to potential jurors in his federal trial.
Warr and his wife, Laura, have pleaded not guilty to charges in a 16-count federal indictment accusing them of seeking a homeowners assistance grant for a house they owned but did not live in. They're also accused of making false claims to their insurance company.
Brent Warr's lawyer has said the charges arose from a misunderstanding about the Warrs' living arrangements and a beachfront home they were renovating when the storm hit Aug. 29, 2005.
Warr didn't seek re-election this year. George Schloegel takes over Monday as mayor.
Questionnaires are sometimes used to gauge potential jurors' views, but judges don't have to allow them. It's not clear what Brent Warr's attorney, Joe Sam Owen, wanted to ask people in the jury pool. Owen didn't immediately return a phone call Thursday.
U.S. District Judge Walter J. Gex III ruled Wednesday that the questionnaire is unnecessary. Attorneys will be able to question potential jurors in person.
Federal prosecutors had argued against using questionnaires, saying a copy of it could be leaked to the media because Warr's case is so high-profile.
"A juror questionnaire is just one more opportunity for the press to comment and try the issues outside of the courtroom, exactly the thing we hope to avoid," the government said in a motion June 1.
Senator Merle Flowers to speak at DeSoto TEA Party on July 4th
The national grassroots anti-tax organization, Taxed Enough Already (TEA), is having a rally in DeSoto County on Saturday, July 4th. Senator Merle Flowers (R-Olive Branch) will deliver the keynote address at noon .
“Americans are fed up with government at all levels for taxing us too much, spending too much, and placing huge public debt burdens on the backs of our children and grandchildren,” said Flowers.
“The TEA Party movement is made up of citizens from all walks of life who are concerned about our inefficient and bloated government. Government spending has spiraled out of control, and we are on the verge of seeing the largest tax increases in U.S. history. These government actions have harmed small businesses, drastically affected the housing market, hurt charitable giving, and led to higher energy prices. We want our voices to be heard, we are taxed enough already,” said Flowers.
“The TEA Party rally on July 4th is free of charge and open to the public. I hope everyone brings their children to the rally as we celebrate America ’s freedom,” said Flowers.
The event will be held on the courthouse lawn on the square in Hernando. A bluegrass band will perform at 10:30 a.m. The formal program will begin at noon . Speakers include Flowers, Fox News political analyst Angela McGlowan, as well as an open microphone for the public.
The Mississippi Public Service Commission is furloughing most of its 73 employees until the agency has a budget.
Commission chairman Lynn Posey and two commission members told The Associated Press that about a dozen employees will keep working, including six investigators.
Commissioners were interviewed as they were preparing to notify staff members about the furloughs.
"We're now down to protecting rate payers with spit balls," commissioner Brandon Presley said.
Legislators failed to pass a PSC budget before the fiscal year started Wednesday. The agency's funding didn't pass because of a dispute about commissioners' requests for additional staff members. House Democrats supported the request, but Senate Republicans opposed it.
The Clarion-Ledger did a good job of slamming Rep. George Flaggs (D-Vicksburg) for what they called his self-serving attempt to delay passage of Medicaid funding. Flaggs held up the process for over two hours by demanding a reading of the 82 page bill. I am not sure what Flaggs was trying to prove, did he want to be known as the man who single handily shut down government?
However, another interesting tidbit has surfaced following the Flaggs publicity stunt, and that is the issue of funding for the Public Service Commission. As you may know, a special session will be needed to fund the department who is operating without a budget. Paul Gallo is reporting that members of the legislature are blaming Flaggs for the failure to fund the PSC. A new special session will cost an estimated $60,000. Can the taxpayers send the bill to Mr. Flaggs?
YP - Dueling PSC Press Releases: Rates Up or Down?
On Tuesday, June 30, the Mississippi Public Service Commission issued orders regarding Entergy Mississippi, Inc. Commission Chairman Lynn Posey (D-Union Church) from the Central District, and Southern District Commissioner Leonard Bentz (R-Woolmarket) voted for the orders while Northern District Commissioner Brandon Presley (D-Nettleton) voted against the order. The dueling press releases make for an interesting study in spin.
Today, Central District Public Service Commissioner Lynn Posey (D-Union Church) announced that the Commission has issued orders to Entergy Mississippi, Inc. which will reduce customer rates by $1.91 per 1000 kilowatt hours for average residential customers.
In addition to this cost savings for the rate payer, Entergy Mississippi, Inc. agreed to pay for fuel audits for fiscal 2008 and fiscal 2009 by an independent audit firm which would be hired by the Commission. Another cost saving measure for the rate payer associated with the orders is the agreement that Entergy Mississippi, Inc. withdraw its appeal of the Commission’s denial of the $3.775 million increase pursuant to last year’s formula rate plan evaluation.
Posey states, “By issuing these orders outlining the above referenced cost savings, the Commission has met its statutory requirements to make sure Entergy Mississippi, Inc. provides affordable as well as reliable energy for its customers.”
Jackson, Mississippi (June 30, 2009)- Northern District Public Service Commissioner Brandon Presley (D-Nettleton) today cast the sole vote against a $14,500,000.00 rate increase for Entergy Mississippi customers. Presley said due to the rate increase consumers will see their power bills increase during the hottest months of the year.
“This rate increase has come about because of Entergy’s formula rate plan that I have advocated changing since day one because it allows the company to ‘grade its own papers’ when it comes to service quality.” Presley said. “The purpose of this plan is to, in-part, tie rates to service quality, yet that gets very little independent scrutiny under the current set-up.”
Presley noted that none of the complaints from consumers of poor service, etc., that are registered with the PSC against Entergy are taken into account when setting the rates under the current plan. “Entergy could have a valid complaint filed by each and every one of their customers in Mississippi, and it would not decrease their profits one penny under this current plan,” Presley said. “Try explaining a plan like that to your neighbor down the road; it makes no sense at all.”
Presley added that Entergy Mississippi has indicated that today they intend to dismiss their current appeal before the Mississippi Supreme Court involving the Commission’s denial earlier this year of a $3,775,000.00 rate increase.
So Posey voted for lower rates and Presley voted against higher rates, but they voted opposite on the same measure. Who is telling the truth? Posey said rates are going down and Presley said rates are going up.
Presley stuck by his story yesterday on Mississippi Network News when he said, "The proposed rate increase is $14.5 million that comes at a terrible time for Mississippi consumers. So, this rate increase is going into effect during the hottest months of the year, and I felt that it just wasn’t a justified rate increase."
Posey also stuck by his story on Supertalk Mississippi's "On Deadline with Sid Salter" when he said, "The rates aren’t going to be raised. That’s a fuel adjustment money that they receive because statute says they can receive it. Actually, your rates will be going down $1.91 per 1000 kilowatt hours starting July 1."
Finally, one of them came around. WLBT interviewed both commissioners and it turns out, Presley admitted that rates are going to go down. Presley said, “Rates are going to go down but they're not going to go down as much as they would have...They're going to go down about a $1 and 91 cents per month they would have gone down in excess of $3.”
It is not unusual to see a scathing press release issued by Brandon Presley attacking Entergy Mississippi, but it is unusual to have two dueling press releases on a split vote come out apparently contradicting each other. And it is interesting that Presley alleges in his press release that “consumers will see their power bills increase during the hottest months of the year” but finally acknowledge to the press after being contradicted in public by the Posey, the Commission chairman, that actually, “rates are going to go down”.
As some newspapers are going out of business and many more are shedding costs, a lot of investigative journalists who have devoted years to exposing government corruption and corporate scandals are leaving their newsrooms.
While some have been given pink slips, others left on their own steam, bailing out for corporate or political PR jobs, teaching gigs or even new careers as private investigators.
Still others are seeking fulfillment in a different kind of public service. Take, for instance, the paths of Doug Frantz and Joel Sappell, two former journalists for the Los Angeles Times.
"The issue for me has always been ... Can I find a job where I can look myself in the mirror every morning before I go to work and say, 'I'm going to do good?' " says Frantz, a former L.A. Times reporter and managing editor.
Frantz is now chief investigator for the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Mississippi) and four other Democratic lawmakers are under investigation for possibly receiving improper gifts.
Thompson was in Jackson Monday speaking before the Greater Jackson Chamber Partnership.
The Committee on Standards of Conduct is looking into whether Thompson's trip to a business conference in the Caribbean last November was paid for by lobbyists.
Thompson says the committee approved the trip before he left, but they received a complaint after he returned home.
"The law requires me to say if I'm invited, to submit the info, and whether or not the trip was approved is subject to the ethics committee," Thompson told WLBT. "I did it, they sent me a letter back in writing saying it's fine. I followed the law absolutely."
"While not all issues are resolved, overall this is a prudent, balanced budget that I believe will serve the state's taxpayers, agencies and their constituents well for the next fiscal year. I am especially pleased the Legislature accepted my proposal to carry forward $60 million from the Health Care Expendable Fund as a cushion against the revenue shortfalls that are expected next year," Governor Barbour said.
"I appreciate the hard work it took to reach a consensus on many issues and want to thank legislators like Senators Alan Nunnelee and Hob Bryan and House members Robert Johnson and Johnny Stringer as well as Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant and House Speaker Billy McCoy," he said.
But, sounding a cautionary note, Governor Barbour said this budget contains so much federal stimulus money that "we must learn to wean ourselves from it soon, as it ends after next year." Spending on all three levels of education will be the highest ever, but the federal stimulus funds make that possible.
Disagreement over the size of the Public Service Commission's staff left it as the only state agency unfunded as the fiscal year began Wednesday.
State officials say they expect the issue will be resolved in the coming days, but holding another special session likely will cost Mississippi taxpayers thousands of dollars.
The Legislature ended a three-day special session at midnight Tuesday and completed everything in the $6 billion state budget except the PSC's spending plan.
Gov. Haley Barbour, however, used his partial veto authority to eliminate parts of seven appropriations bills. Among the sections vetoed were a provision to pull $7 million from the state's "rainy day" fund to support the community mental health centers and $100,000 from the fund for the Mississippi Technology Alliance.
Barbour also vetoed a section that took away the Public Safety commissioner's authority to handle overtime pay for troopers.
The special session cost taxpayers about $141,000. A one-day session for the PSC budget could tack on nearly $60,000 more.
The Hill conducted an interesting analysis of how the most vulnerable House Democrats have voted at the beginning of the 111th Congress.
The most likely members to break with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi aren’t too surprising, given that they hail from very conservative districts. Rep. Bobby Bright (D-Ala.) voted with Republicans on 13 out of 15 key votes, while Rep. Walt Minnick (D-Idaho) voted with the GOP on 10 of 15. Their political futures depend on creating their own identity, separate from the interests of the national Democratic Party.
Reps. Travis Childers (D-Miss.), Parker Griffith (D-Ala.), Frank Kratovil Jr. (D-Md.) and Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.) were also notable mavericks, breaking with their party on eight key votes.
A few surprises: Rep. Zack Space (D-Ohio), representing a rural eastern Ohio district that gave John McCain 53 percent of the vote, has supported Pelosi’s positions on every major legislative item. Rep. Mark Schauer (D-Mich.), another swing-district Democrat, joined with the Democratic leadership on all the key votes.
Spending by lawmakers on taxpayer-financed trips abroad has risen sharply in recent years, a Wall Street Journal analysis of travel records shows, involving everything from war-zone visits to trips to exotic spots such as the Galápagos Islands.
The spending on overseas travel is up almost tenfold since 1995, and has nearly tripled since 2001, according to the Journal analysis of 60,000 travel records. Hundreds of lawmakers traveled overseas in 2008 at a cost of about $13 million. That's a 50% jump since Democrats took control of Congress two years ago.
The cost of so-called congressional delegations, known among lawmakers as "codels," has risen nearly 70% since 2005, when an influence-peddling scandal led to a ban on travel funded by lobbyists, according to the data.
Rep. Bennie Thompson (D., Miss.), the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, led a group to Brazil, Argentina, Peru and Panama. "This trip further solidified the message that homeland security does not begin or end at our borders," says Mr. Thompson's spokeswoman.
The congressional trips are possible thanks in part to an unlimited fund created by a three-decade old law. Nearly two dozen government officials work full-time organizing the trips. Much of the costs are not made public, including the cost of flying on government jets. The Air Force maintains a fleet of 16 passenger planes for use by lawmakers.
Sen. Thad Cochran's baby grand piano in his office in the Dirksen Senate Office Building is believed to be the only one in the Senate–and he uses it.
Cochran plays the dark red wood Kurtzmann "occasionally," in his words, sometimes for relaxation on a Friday, for example. The senator has played piano since the fourth grade, after his parents encouraged him and his brother to learn two musical instruments each.
Cochran chose piano and clarinet, while his brother became an athletic star "and got a pass," Cochran said. Cochran's mother also played piano, while his father sang in a church choir.
Republicans lead Democrats in mayoral offices in Mississippi's top 15 cities with nine seats to the Democrats six. Gulfport, Biloxi, Meridian, Tupelo, Southaven, Pascagoula, Clinton, Pearl and Olive Branch elected Republican mayors. Jackson, Hattiesburg, Greenville, Vicksburg, Columbus, and Starkville elected Democrats. The partisan breakdown remains unchanged from last cycle except Vicksburg where Democrats defeated an independent for a pick-up.
The Vicksburg win by Paul Winfield with about 60 percent of the vote over two-term incumbent Laurence Leyens was a highlight of the Democrats night. Other big wins include a 96-vote squeaker as incumbent Connie Moran stayed off a challenge by well-funded Republican Scott Walker in Ocean Springs. Doug Lee returned to office in Lucedale by defeating two-term Republican incumbent Dayton Whites, a rematch of their 2001 race when Whites defeated the then incumbent Lee. In Starkville, 28-year-old Parker Wiseman's bested all comers in a well funded, grassroots oriented campaign, keeping Starkville for the Democrats after pushing out incumbent mayor Dan Camp in the Democratic Primary. Democrats describe Wiseman as a rising star in the party.
Republicans earned wins in the open seats for mayor in Tupelo and Meridian. Both were Republican seats but targeted by Democrats with significant resources. Jack Reed, Jr. took close to 70 percent of the vote in Tupelo. Barely had the ballots been counted before Republicans began speculating whether Reed would follow in his father's footsteps and look at a future gubernatorial run.
Cheri Barry became Meridian's first female mayor by defeating Democrat Percy Bland with just fewer than 300 votes. Four-term Republican Mayor John Robert Smith did not seek re-election.
On the Coast, former Democratic Governor William Winter took the stage at swearing-in ceremony and praised new Republican Gulfport Mayor George Schloegel saying, "I'm a George Schloegel Democrat and as far as I'm concerned we're on the same team."
Meanwhile, new Pascagoula Republican Mayor Robbie Maxwell took to heart the political axiom, "you either run scared or you run unopposed." No one qualified against him. After effectively winning the election on the qualifying deadline day, he did still politic and reached out to voters; but his was strictly a positive campaign.
In 2008, Joel Gill campaigned as the Democratic nominee against Republican Gregg Harper for Mississippi's Third Congressional District seat vacated by retiring Congressman Chip Pickering. Gill, an alderman-at-large for the town of Pickens and cattleman by trade in Holmes County (not in the Third District) ran on the slogan, "All Beef, No Bull." Gill did not win his congressional campaign, but this year voters elected him Mayor of Pickens in a nonpartisan election. Three-term mayor Jonathan Moore did not seek reelection.
Voters in Greenwood disappointed Congressman Bennie Thompson by electing independent Carolyn McAdams over incumbent Democrat Sheriel Perkins. Thompson campaigned for Perkins telling voters they needed to reelect the incumbent to set "Greenwood free again" and if they wanted to stop the hospital from continuing to lay off employees and close wards, they needed to keep the same leadership. Trying to sell change and incumbency at the same time reminds me of what Pappy O'Daniel told his son in "O Brother Where Art Thou" when he suggested that maybe they should get some of that "reform": "How we gonna run reform when we're the damn incumbent?"
A third independent candidate in the race, Curressia Brown, was disqualified and removed from the ballot, which Thompson praised while accusing Brown of only being in the race to split the black vote. Perkins and Brown are black; McAdams is white. Thompson said, "There was somebody else in this race, but, you know, God don't like ugly, and with prayer and good lawyers, we can work wonders, and we can even get bad folk off the ballot." McAdams win follows another campaign axiom, "all politics is local."
Race also made the news in the election in Philadelphia, but not in a divisive way. In a town that is 55 percent white, James A. Young, a Pentecostal minister and former county supervisor, defeated incumbent three-term mayor Rayburn Waddell to become the first African-American mayor. The New York Times, CNN, and other national news outlets reported on this story contrasting Young's election against the 1964 "Mississippi Burning" civil rights murders in Neshoba County.
For much of the past month, it appeared quite possible (many said “likely”) that the Legislature would fail to adopt a FY ’10 budget in time to greet the new year. Medicaid was the hangup, and seemingly intractable problems pushed all potential solutions just beyond reach.
“We’re close” was the uniform refrain recited by weary negotiators in response to increasingly skeptical inquiries. As each June day passed by, there was little evident movement and less hope. Finally, the Governor, the Senate and the House (not to mention the Mississippi Hospital Association) all gave their joint blessing to a compromise agreement, and Medicaid was reauthorized and reappropriated less than three hours from the program’s scheduled demise.
What, then, to make of the special session? Success or failure? Triumph attained, or disaster averted? It depends, I think, on whether you’re a “glass half empty” or a “glass half full” kinda guy.
HALF EMPTY – Special Session? You gotta be %#@*&+#% kidding me! The Legislature had 90 days in the Regular Session and failed to produce a budget. Then lawmakers twice extended the Regular Session, adding 60 more days, and still got nothing accomplished. The not-so-special session cost taxpayers $141,000 to do something that could, and should, have been accomplished months earlier.
HALF FULL – Forcing an ultimate special session by refusing to extend the Regular Session for a third time was a smart tactic for which House Republicans deserve credit. Strengthened by this defining move, Governor Barbour cleverly declined to call the Legislature back into session at all until an overall budget deal was pretty much in hand. The resulting three-day special session was tightly focused, and lawmakers proved remarkably productive when compelled to work under the gun. The $141,000 actually is a bargain when compared to the still greater cost to taxpayers had the Regular Session otherwise inevitably continued to drag along in aimless spurts throughout June.
HALF EMPTY – Partisan rancor continues to infect the Legislature, especially the House, where implicit and explicit accusations of racism, inhumanity and cruelty routinely have come to characterize any debate touching on Medicaid. A House committee very nearly sabotaged the delicate four-fold Medicaid compromise by offering deal-killer amendments which had no hope of becoming law. One objecting House member single-handedly caused the entire Legislature to waste a precious two and a half hours Tuesday evening by requiring the entire 70-plus pages of the compromise bill to be read aloud prior to a final vote. Had any Senator subsequently been inclined to act so irresponsibly, the wheels would have come off the Medicaid compromise altogether.
HALF FULL – Cooler heads prevailed, and cooperation trumped partisanship in the end. Oft-maligned Medicaid chairman Dirk Dedeaux ably handled the legislation in an even-handed manner on the floor, and Speaker McCoy and Speaker Pro Tempore Compretta adroitly managed the debate so as to diffuse the simmering mini-revolt within the erstwhile House “leadership” team. Ultimately, most rural white Democrats, virtually every Republican, and a few key Black Caucus members all joined together behind Speaker McCoy to muster the four-vote margin necessary for final passage of the Medicaid compromise. Although it is much too early to herald the birth of a new bipartisan governing coalition, the potential for the future clearly is there for anyone to see.
According to Sen. Merle Flowers, R-Olive Branch, population totals that have risen steadily since the last census in 2000 have the county on track to gain a third Senate seat and two more House seats.
Two senators and five representatives currently serve DeSoto County.
"We are leading the charge," Flowers said about DeSoto County's role in Mississippi adding nearly 94,000 residents between 2000 and a year ago.
Census data released Wednesday placed the state's population at an estimated 2.9 million as of July 1, 2008, with DeSoto County accounting for nearly 155,000 of those residents.
In DeSoto County, the population estimate reflects a growth of 47,549 residents, or 44.4 percent, since 2000.
Southaven grew most, by 15,095 residents, and for the fourth consecutive year was the No. 5 Mississippi city in terms of population.
It was followed locally by Olive Branch with 10,773 new residents, Horn Lake with 4,643 and Hernando with 4,356.
I am writing to bring to your attention recent statements by insurance company attorneys that show beyond any doubt that companies shifted Hurricane Katrina claims to the National Flood Insurance Program that should have been covered by their own homeowners policies. On June 9, 2009, the Mississippi Supreme Court heard oral arguments on the interpretation of "anti-concurrent causation" (ACC) clauses in homeowners insurance policies. The attorney for Nationwide, Christopher Landau, told the Supreme Court that Nationwide applies the ACC clause to exclude coverage of all damage caused by hurricane winds if subsequent flooding was sufficient to cause the damage. In response to questioning, Landau answered that even if a house were 95 percent destroyed by winds before any flooding, Nationwide would owe nothing to the policyholder if the flooding was severe enough to have destroyed the house. JUSTICE PIERCE: So you're sequencing, if 95 percent of the home was destroyed, and then we have the event of the storm surge, then you would not pay a dime? MR. LANDAU: Your Honor, if we prove that the storm surge was sufficient to cause - we have that burden, again, and that is absolutely crystal clear. If we can prove that the storm surge was sufficient to cause all of this, it is no answer then to say, ‘Yeah, but I'm going to show it -- I'm going to have somebody come in and say, "Look, guess what, the window was broken before the storm surge came and then wiped away the whole house. But you don't get into those kinds of issues precisely because of the sequencing of the damage. JUSTICE PIERCE: So you wouldn't pay a dime? MR. LANDAU: If - again, we wouldn't pay a dime for things where we can carry our burden, which is right there in the policy, of showing that the loss was caused concurrently - JUSTICE PIERCE: I'm giving you -- the example is 95 percent of the home is destroyed, the flood comes in and gets the other five percent, and you know that. Does your interpretation of the word "sequence" mean you pay zero? MR. LANDAU: Yes, your Honor. USAA' s attorney Greg Copeland offered a slightly more reasonable interpretation of ACC, but the effect is still to shift some of USAA's costs to NFIP. USAA acknowledges that it must pay for damage caused by wind acting independently from flooding, but insists that it owes nothing on losses caused by wind if flooding is a contributing cause. In fact, Copeland asked the Court to mandate instructions to juries telling them that if they conclude that a loss is caused by the combination of wind and flooding, it is covered by NFIP and not by the homeowners policy. Copeland even claimed that it was the intent of Congress when enacting the National Flood Insurance Program that the federal government should pay for all damage caused the combination of wind and flooding. JUSTICE CHANDLER: And back to this word of "synergistic" or concurrent combined forces of wind and water, if the jury is told that if they believe it was a combined concurrent force of wind and water that caused the damage, you're going to say that the Plaintiff is not entitled to damages? MR. COPELAND: Yes, sir. JUSTICE CHANDLER: But now as I understood the Plaintiff, the Plaintiff is going to argue that, if there are combined forces, then they are entitled to payment because the per square inch of force from water alone is insufficient to cause the damage. MR. COPELAND: Yes, sir. JUSTICE CHANDLER: That's really the disagreement between the two sides that matters; is that correct? MR. COPELAND: Yes, sir. And that's what this second sentence in this policy addresses. JUSTICE CHANDLER: I'm looking at it. MR. COPELAND: And it was - it had to go somewhere. It did not go in the homeowner's policy. It went in the National Flood Insurance. That's what Congress did. The National Flood Insurance Act does not obligate NFIP to pay for any wind damage that occurs in combination with flooding. In fact, the regulations specify that Write Your Own insurance companies have a contractual obligation to represent NFIP and federal taxpayers when handling flood claims. They have a fiduciary responsibility that prohibits them from placing their own corporate interests ahead of NFIP's interests. Several companies blatantly violated that obligation by insisting that the Anti Concurrent Causation clauses in their homeowners policies excluded coverage of wind damage if flooding contributed to the loss. Under the current system, NFIP allows insurance companies to handle flood claims backed by federal taxpayers while they also handle their own homeowners claims for wind damage. GAO described this arrangement as an "inherent conflict of interest." Properties on the Mississippi Gulf Coast suffered four hours of hurricane force winds, with gusts as high as 140 mph, before the storm surge. GAO concluded that NFIP performed almost such poor oversight of flood claims that it did not collect enough information to be able to verify that NFIP paid only for damage caused by flooding. After Hurricane Katrina, State Farm initiated an industry lobbying campaign to persuade NFIP Administrator David Maurstad to waive the requirement for proper investigation of flood claims. State Farm drafted NFIP's Expedited Procedures for Hurricane Katrina, and was so confident in their approval that State Farm claims managers implemented the procedures almost two weeks before they were adopted. On September 9, 2005, the State Farm Flood Coordinator in Mississippi, Alexis "Lecky" King, emailed adjusters who were handling both claims, that "the flood claim should be resolved, paid and closed. However, the wind claim will remain open pending the investigation and resulting findings." On September 13, 2005, State Farm sent its adjusters a document entitled, "Wind/Water Claim Handling Protocol" which instructed them that "where wind acts concurrently with flooding to cause damage to the insured property, coverage for the loss exists only under flood coverage. 1' State Farm, Allstate, Nationwide, and other companies sent their adjusters out to pay full policy limits on flood policies before investigating how much damage had been caused by flooding and how much had been caused by wind and wind-driven debris. The insurers then delayed and denied claims for wind damage under their own policies, forcing thousands of policyholders to sue. GAO also found that insurance companies received windfalls from NFIP by collecting much more in adjustment reimbursements and administrative subsidies than the companies spent handling flood claims. Additionally, federal taxpayers paid billions of dollars for FEMA trailers, housing vouchers, homeowner assistance grants, subsidized loans, and casualty loss tax deductions to assist homeowners during the year or two or three while they waited for an insurance settlement or court date. I urge the Obama Administration to support H.R. 1264, the Multiple Peril Insurance Act, to protect homeowners and taxpayers by creating an option in the National Flood Insurance Program to offer coverage of both wind and flood risk in one policy. By covering wind and flood risk in one policy, the multiple peril option will allow coastal homeowners to buy insurance and know that hurricane damage would be covered. They would not need lawyers, engineers, and public adjusters to distinguish between wind and flood damage. The bill requires premiums for the new coverage to be risk-based and actuarially sound, so that the program would be required to pay for itself. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the multiple peril program would be budget neutral. Every taxpayer in America will benefit from the Multiple Peril Insurance Act because much more hurricane damage would be covered by insurance premiums rather than by costly and inefficient disaster assistance programs. The new program also will reduce future hurricane damages by requiring local governments to adopt and enforce the windstorm building codes recommended by the International Code Council. The current insurance system is not a competitive market, so the prices charged by insurers and reinsurers are not determined by market efficiency. The Wharton Risk Management Center at the University of Pennsylvania found that insurance premiums in some coastal areas are 5 to 10 times higher than the estimated losses that the insurance companies expect to pay. There is high demand for homeowners insurance because most homeowners are required by their mortgages to purchase coverage. Even though insurance premiums have increased substantially in every coastal area since Hurricane Katrina, companies continue to reduce the availability of private insurance coverage. When supply does not respond to increases in demand and price, no one can credibly claim that the private market has the capacity or the desire to cover the hurricane insurance market. In Gulf and Atlantic Coast communities from Texas to Maine, the private insurance market has collapsed. Insurers have dumped hundreds of billions of dollars of coastal properties into state wind pools and other insurers of last resort. Most of the statesponsored plans are not able to spread risk efficiently and not able to build up sufficient reserves to cover a major hurricane. The federal multiple peril program will spread coastal wind risk in a much more efficient manner than the state pools. Single state pools concentrate risk so that a large portion of the pool could be affected by a single event. In order to account for the capital to pay for a major hurricane, the poois are forced to charge excessively higher premiums to buy more reinsurance. The federal multiple peril insurance plan would cover a broad geographical area so that even a large hurricane would affect only a small percentage of the policyholders. The federal plan would establish a stable risk pool that would not have wild swings in premiums after each disaster. The federal government can easily establish risk-based premiums and create an actuarially-sound program if the Administration commits to the effort and staffs the program with appropriately skilled professionals. There are several substantial differences between the proposal for actuarially-sound multiple peril insurance coverage and the existing flood insurance program. First, the flood insurance program was not designed to pay 100% of its costs. The flood program grandfathered properties that were built before the flood maps were implemented. Those properties receive subsidized premiums for the first $35,000 of flood insurance. The new windstorm coverage in the Multiple Peril Insurance Act does not include any subsidies and requires that the premiums pay the full costs of the program. Second, the flood insurance program is not responsible for levees, dams, and other structures, but it is often left with most of the bill when they fail. Much of the NFIP debt for Hurricane Katrina resulted from flooding that would not have happened if the levees and floodwalls had performed to expectations. Much of the recent flooding in the Midwest also was the result of levee failures. Flood risk also can be dramatically altered by developments elsewhere in the flood plain. Wind insurance premiums are much simpler than flood premiums because they do not require assumptions about the performance of levees, dams, and other structures. Third, every Gulf and Atlantic state already has a state-sponsored wind pool or other insurance pool of last resort that collects detailed wind and loss data and contracts for hurricane risk models. The insurance industry also has compiled volumes of data on wind risk, which they use to determine which properties to cherry-pick while leaving the rest to the state-sponsored insurance pools. FEMA could easily acquire the same data and models that states and insurance companies use to determine hurricane wind risks. The first goal of federal disaster policy should be to improve our preparedness for hurricanes and other disasters. One of the best ways to meet that goal is to ensure that more coastal homeowners have insurance that will cover hurricane damage promptly and efficiently, so they will not have to depend on federal disaster assistance. Another important goal should be to reduce future hurricane damage by encouraging stronger building codes and mitigation standards. The Multiple Peril Insurance Act would accomplish both of those goals in an efficient and fiscally responsible manner. I urge you and others in the Administration to actively support this legislation. Thank you for your interest and attention to this important issue. I look forward to continued discussions about the need for disaster insurance reform.
The president ultimately took seven questions, including four that had been selected by aides who waded through hundreds of videos submitted through the White House Web site. (One, though, came from a Republican congressman from Texas asking about medical malpractice.) Three questions were from members of the audience, all of whom were associated with groups close to the Democratic Party.
Asked whether a government-run, single-payer health care system could work, Mr. Obama said no, explaining that most people are insured through employers that are private companies. But he renewed his push for a so-called public option, which could compete with private insurers and, Mr. Obama said, “keep insurers honest.”
On a sleepy week in Washington, with the Fourth of July holiday approaching, the reach of the event was unclear. But the Republican National Committee was watching, setting up its own blogging operation that provided a running commentary.
“WOW! A question from a guy who works for Health Care for America Now, an organization promoting President Obama’s government-run plan. Coincidence?” wrote Matt Moon, a deputy research director at the committee.
Later, Mr. Moon added, “President Obama doesn’t have an answer to these questions, he has a speech for each of these questions.”
The policy and politics, though, was interrupted for a moment when Debby Smith, 53, of Appalachia, Va., rose to address the president. She explained how she was struggling to get treatment for cancer in her right kidney, saying, “I have a new tumor and have no way to treat it.”
The president walked over to Ms. Smith, who was fighting back tears, and summoned her into the aisle. He listened to her story, briefly embraced her and offered his thoughts, as photographers circled into capture the moment.
“I don’t want you to feel like you’re alone on this,” Mr. Obama said. “Without knowing all the details, I’m not going to give you an answer right now about exactly how we can help.”
As she spoke to reporters later, Ms. Smith said she was active in Organizing for America, a Democratic group that grew out of the Obama campaign. The White House said it was a coincidence that the president called on her. He did not seem to know her because after he extended a hug, he said awkwardly, “What was your name again?”
R. Allen Stanford’s former chief financial officer and right-hand man at his fallen financial empire has struck a plea deal with prosecutors, his lawyer said today.
David Finn, who represents former Stanford Financial Group finance chief James Davis, said that his client will plead guilty to a crime in coming weeks as part of his ongoing cooperation with the government.
Davis is slated to appear before a U.S. magistrate on July 13, and at that time will plead not guilty to three counts of conspiracy and fraud pending against him “for procedural reasons,” Finn said, to allow time to notify victims of a subsequent plea hearing.
And at that subsequent hearing before senior U.S. District Judge David Hittner, Davis will plead guilty to those three counts, Finn said.
“We will accept responsibility and change the plea,” Finn said. “We continue to cooperate as of this moment.”
Mississippi’s Public Service Commission has requested an opinion from Attorney General Jim Hood “as to what functions it can legally continue to perform without a budget.”
Budgets for the Public Service Commission and the Public Utilities Staff were left unfunded at the beginning of the new fiscal year that started today.
According to a news release from the PSC, the three elected commissioners “stand united with their commitment to serve the public despite the lack of funding.”
“We want to communicate to the public that we are working on a step-by-step basis until this issue can be resolved,” the release said.
Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Miss. says yes. That's why he's pushing a proposal to broaden the National Flood Insurance Program to cover hurricanes. His argument is that the federal flood program ends up paying for a lot of hurricane-related damage anyway so it should collect premium for that, not private companies.
Taylor produced the video below using court testimony from a case against USAA insurance that was heard before the Mississippi Supreme Court earlier this month.
USAA and Nationwide Insurance attorneys said that a so-called anti-concurrent clause buried in most insurance policies legitimately exempts companies from paying for windstorm damage when any water damage is involved.
Here is an excerpt from the transcript, an exchange between Mississippi Supreme Court Associate Justice Randy Pierce and Nationwide Attorney Christopher Landau:
JUSTICE PIERCE: I’m giving you -- the example is 95 percent of the home is destroyed,
the flood comes in and gets the other five percent, and you know that. Does your interpretation of the word “sequence” mean you pay zero?
MR. LANDAU: Yes, your Honor.
We'll add thoughts from Nationwide and USAA when they get back to us.
Most teens now will need their parents' permission before using a tanning facility, 16-year-olds can donate blood, and Internet pharmacies face stricter regulations.
It's been estimated that about 1,500 more teens across the state will be able to donate blood because of House Bill 150, which Gov. Haley Barbour signed into law on April 17.
Those additional donors could mean as many as 2,000 to 5,000 lives saved, said Tony Bahou, spokesman for Mississippi Blood Services in Jackson.
"It will have a great impact on the blood supply in the state," Bahou said.
The 16-year-olds still have to meet the overall requirements for blood donation, including a minimum weight of 110 pounds. There also are pre-donation restrictions related to foreign travel, diet and liquid intake.
They elected Wilbert Jones to represent them in the Legislature with a comfortable 64 percent of the vote.
Jones beat out opponent Bill Marcy in Tuesday's run-off election with 1,664 votes. Marcy received 920 votes, or 36 percent of the total vote, including adsentee ballots.
"It's a calmness," Jones said shortly after his victory became clear. "I feel great. I have very strong supporters that believe in me. It was just a matter of getting out the vote."
Though Jones was happy with his percentage of the vote, he admitted he was disappointed with the low overall voter turnout. Only 2,385 people turned up to vote in the election, though the circuit clerk's office reported there were more than 10,000 active registered voters in the district.
Jones, who plans to declare as a Democrat, will replace the late Rep. Charles L. Young, Sr., who passed away in April while in his 30th year in office. The Young family endorsed Jones immediately after he qualified for the special election to fill Rep. Young's seat.
Lawmakers had to come to a quick agreement. Medicaid was set to expire at midnight unless they agreed to reauthorize the health-care program that serves nearly 600,000 lower-income Mississippians.
On the day before the new fiscal year begins, leaders in the House and Senate and Gov. Haley Barbour agreed to the provisions in House Bill 71. The bill cleared the House first and then the Senate.
Barbour has said he can run Medicaid by executive order if the program was not reauthorized, but Attorney General Jim Hood has said the governor would have no spending authority.
House Bill 71 mirrors in many ways an agreement the House and Senate reached last week, one which Barbour said he wouldn’t accept. The current bill limits the amount of cuts that Barbour can make on hospitals and health-care providers. The previous bill would have exempted hospitals and nursing homes from future cuts.
"There are a lot of dogs and cats in this bill, many of which I wouldn't have done in normal policy, but just because I didn't agree with them doesn't mean that they're bad or terrible," Barbour said
The next task for Minnesota's new junior senator will be to complete his transformation from edgy comedian to influential politician.
To prepare, Al Franken has studied the experiences of former Sen. Bill Bradley, the basketball star who won his seat in 1979 after a Hall of Fame career with the New York Knicks. Mr. Bradley kept his head down and worked on unglamorous issues such as tax policy. Mr. Franken is determined to follow suit.
"We've talked about this -- how do you come in with a certain cachet, as Bill Bradley or Jay Rockefeller or Hillary Clinton had to do, and make sure you don't p -- off your colleagues from the get-go?" said Norman Ornstein, a close friend of Mr. Franken's and a scholar at the conservative American Enterprise Institute. "He will be very cognizant of that."
Mr. Franken faces an obstacle previous Senate arrivistes didn't. In his years hosting a liberal radio show and writing books such as "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right," he might find it hard to work with some Republican colleagues. Mr. Franken has friends in the GOP, but has thrived on insulting conservatives.
"Republicans will have their guard up and approach him with caution due to his overly partisan nature as a liberal media star," said Ron Bonjean, a onetime aide to Sen. Jon Kyl (R., Ariz.) and former Republican Sen. Trent Lott of Mississippi. "He will have to make the first move."
The day began with 14 states lacking a final budget signed by the governor. By evening, several had come to some agreement.
But some states -- most significantly, Arizona and Pennsylvania -- faced the specter of a government shutdown for failing to have a budget in place by the start of the new fiscal year today. Two others -- Ohio and North Carolina -- basically conceded that they needed more time by passing legislation to allow government business to continue into July while they keep debating.
In Mississippi, Republican Gov. Haley Barbour called legislators back into session Sunday to pass a budget that included a special Medicaid funding package. Late Tuesday, it was unclear if the sides could agree. Barbour contended that he could keep government running by executive order if a deal wasn't reached by midnight.
Even though several states had completed budgets, officials will probably have to revisit them because revenue continues to plummet, said Todd Haggerty of the National Conference of State Legislatures.
He noted that last year, states cut $32 billion in spending, then had to frantically cut another $60 billion after July 1 because tax receipts tailed off.
"There's a definite possibility, unless revenues improve soon, that states are going to have to continue to make these hard decisions and revisit these budgets," Haggerty said.
The surprisingly personal political battle between Barbour and the leadership of the MHA over Barbour's "hospital tax" lasted some three years.
When I first began reporting on the "hospital tax" question in mid-2006, Barbour and the Division of Medicaid said that the Legislature had known for years that the state's Medicaid Disproportionate Share Hospital funding plan was questioned by the federal government.
Both said that the Public Health committees in both houses were specifically advised during the 2006 regular session that the feds would disallow the former funding plan on June 30, 2006. But lawmakers like respected state Rep. Cecil Brown, D-Jackson, disputed that claim.
"We did not know there was a problem for 2007," Brown told me on July 16, 2006. "Certainly if we had known about this during the session, we would have addressed it somehow. It was never mentioned in the (2006) tobacco tax debate, which would have been the logical place for it to come up."
The federal Medicaid disallowance of the state's former DSH funding mechanism left the state's Medicaid program short $90 million that had previously been used to draw down another $270 million in federal matching funds, according to Division of Medicaid executive director Bob Robinson.
The 50-plus Democrats considered vulnerable by The Cook Political Report have voted with Republicans about 20 percent of the time on those 15 votes. Some of the members didn’t desert the party on any of the major votes.
The votes include last week’s climate change bill, the stimulus package, President Obama’s budget and other votes like an amendment to cut off funding for the closure of Guantánamo Bay prison.
The defection rate has been much higher in the subset of 10 Democrats whose districts went for GOP presidential nominee John McCain (R-Ariz.) by double digits — 45 percent. All but one voted with Republicans on the energy bill and all but two voted to keep Guantánamo open.
Congressional representatives, Ron Klein (D-Fla.) and Henry Brown (R-S.C.), Candice Miller (R-Mich.) and Gene Taylor (D-Miss.) got things underway with Resolution 505 two years ago. After passage in the U.S. Senate, the bill was signed recently by President Obama.
The designation signifies governmental recognition of the industry's importance to the U.S. economy. An estimated $1.9 billion in economic stimulus dollars have been directed to accelerate dredging of waterways throughout the country. Many other projects that support boating activities have received or will be receiving federal funds, as well.
House Minority Leader John Boehner’s (R-Ohio) animated speech on climate change late last week has attracted praise from both Republicans and Democrats.
Boehner, known for his laid-back personality and constant shrugs, delivered a scathing critique of the Democrats’ climate bill that passed 219-212 on Friday. Some political observers on and off Capitol Hill say the speech could represent a significant change in Boehner’s leadership style.
Fifteen minutes into what most expected to be a two-minute closing argument against the bill, Boehner pulled out a pair of reading glasses from his coat pocket and flipped open the four-inch binder he had slammed on the lectern before him.
Rep. Gene Taylor (D-Miss.), who voted against the bill, said, “If I were the average Joe listening to this at home I’d think, ‘That was a pretty good speech.’ ”
“I actually thoroughly enjoyed John Boehner’s speech,” said Rep. David Wu (D-Ore.). Wu backed the bill on Friday.
In his remarks, Boehner said, “It’s hard to say in the first six months of the new Congress that this could be the defining vote and the defining bill for this Congress, but I really, truly believe that this is the defining bill.”
Most importantly, Boehner — who has been overshadowed at times in his career by former Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas) and President George W. Bush — united his GOP conference.
The infamous Phoebe factoids controversy has re-surfaced--this time in a film.
A documentary by a Chicago production company focuses on how big not-for-profit hospitals, including Phoebe, deal with uninsured and under-insured patients. Phoebe administrators say it's not factual.
The film is called "Do No Harm". "The whole thing started off with those faxes," said Albany surgeon Dr. John Bagnato.
It's a documentary with a series of faxes called the Phoebe Factoids at the center. "They could have been ignored or they could have taken them as legitimate criticism," said Bagnato, "instead they went on an illegal witch hunt and that's where we are today."
In the film you see some of the events following that faxed criticism of Phoebe's administrators and financial practices. Dr. John Bagnato and his then office manager Charles Rehberg were booked into the Dougherty County Jail and indicted after it was revealed they were the anonymous faces behind those Factoids.
"I was sort of fascinated by their story because of who they were," said Rebecca Schanberg. Film director Rebecca Schanberg describes the film as a story about two whistleblowers taking on hospital corruption and the plight of the uninsured.
"I think what we'd like to do is bring to light the fact that hospitals in general, although they can take care of people and be really great, their financial practices need to come in line with their medical practices," said Schanberg.
One thing is certain--"Do No Harm" will be seen all over the United States. "It's being picked up by those who would like to create some rallying cry for health reform based upon one inaccurate fax," said Wernick.
"The negative publicity that has occurred over there has more to do with what they did and less to do with what we did," said Bagnato.
Dr. Bagnato thinks this will re-ignite a national debate about the cost of healthcare. A screening will take place in Atlanta next month. The filmmaker says they're working on one here in Albany also.
Joel Wernick claims the production was paid for by a "Scruggs Cartel" to portray the hospital poorly. Richard Scruggs is an attorney who sued Phoebe. He's now in prison for trying to bribe a judge.
The University of Virginia’s Larry Sabato says despite the fact that current Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid now likely has the votes he needs to pass Democratic legislation, he should heed the words of former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott. (:18)
CHICAGO (AFP) — Comic Al Franken formally won his battle for a US Senate seat from Minnesota on Tuesday, a victory that enhances Democrats' ability to enact US President Barack Obama's ambitious agenda.
Franken's victory, quickly hailed by the White House, would give Democrats and their two reliable independent allies the 60 votes needed to overrun any Republican efforts to use parliamentary delaying tactics, such as filibusters.
Obama's Democratic allies have a robust majority in the House of Representatives, so a unified, filibuster-proof Senate edge would deal a sharp blow to Republican efforts to block or force changes to major legislation.
Minnesota's Supreme Court ruled in Franken's favor after a months-long legal and political battle with Republican incumbent Norm Coleman over the results of the November 4 election.
Coleman quickly conceded and congratulated his rival, while the state's Republican governor, Tim Pawlenty, said he would shortly sign the formal document certifying Franken's victory.
"I'm thrilled and honored by the faith that Minnesotans have placed in me," said Franken, who rose to fame on the legendary Saturday Night Live comedy show. "We have a lot of work to do in Washington."
Republicans looking to derail or modify Obama-backed legislation would likely target a handful of swing-vote Democrats who have indicated discomfort with some of the president's plans.
after years of arguing that the Vietnamese fish isn't catfish — and winning a federal law saying as much — the U.S. farmers are now trying to have it both ways. Under their latest lobbying strategy, they want the Vietnamese imports considered catfish so that they will be covered by a new inspections regime that they pushed through Congress last year.
The move — an example of how influential industries work their will in Congress — could block Vietnamese imports for years and risks a broader trade war.
If the Obama administration signs off on the plan, the fish that's long been a staple of Southern cooking could unravel years of improving relations between the U.S. and its former enemy.
The inspections feud is the latest in a long-running battle between a $400 million domestic farm sector that raises catfish in ponds across the Mississippi Delta and a burgeoning industry in Vietnam, where fish are raised in ponds and cages along the Mekong River.
The U.S. industry — mostly located in Mississippi, Alabama and Arkansas — has had a string of successes on Capitol Hill and in Southern legislatures.
Along with winning frequent federal aid, it pushed a labeling law through Congress in 2002 that forced the Vietnamese fish to be sold in the United States under unfamiliar names such as pangasius, basa or tra. A year later, it won an antidumping case authorizing tariffs of up to 64 percent on the Vietnamese fish. The southern states where most catfish farming is done now require restaurants to disclose where their fish was raised.
Gov. Haley Barbour, Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant, and others are to be commended for their wisdom and courage in standing up against shortsighted legislative demagogues and the powerful Mississippi Hospital Association.
The Governor is right. We obviously cannot continue to use one time monies to pay for annually occurring expenses.
House Speaker Billy McCoy needs to break the log jam and get on board with the Governor and the Lt. Governor.
Some 400,000 of our state's citizens are on Medicare and Medicaid. They deserve better representation that they are getting from McCoy and his cronies.
WASHINGTON - A new research has predicted that the Mississippi River Delta in the US would drown by the year 2100.
“There’s just not enough sediment to sustain the delta plain,” study author Michael Blum of Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, told National Geographic News.
Deltas are coastal landmasses created from a river’s sediment deposits as the water flows out to sea. The Mississippi River’s delta plain, for example, includes the lacy “toe” of southern Louisiana.
All deltas are degrading to some extent, as their sediment settles and sinks.
Today, sediments collected along the Mississippi cover about 23,360 square miles (60,500 square kilometers) ranging in thickness from less than 33 feet (10 meters) upstream near Memphis, Tennessee, to about 328 feet (100 meters) in the delta at the tip of southern Louisiana.
The drainage basin of the roughly 2,350-mile-long (3,782-kilometer-long) river, however, includes about 40,000 dams and levees built over the past century.
These structures control flooding and improve navigation, but they also trap sediment or funnel it completely through to the sea.
Previous studies suggested that dams and reservoirs built since 1950 have trapped as much as 70 percent of the river’s natural amount of sediment.
With less material feeding it, the delta plain has been experiencing erosion.
The Obama Administration today announced that Michael Sullivan will serve as executive director for the USDA’s Farm Service Agency in the state and Trina George will serve as state director for Rural Development.
Sullivan has been a full- time farmer since 1970. He operates a 2,000-acre row crop, poultry and cattle business with his brother. From 1990-1996, he worked in a variety of senior management roles at the National Furniture Market in Tupelo, rejoining the group in 2000 as executive director.
In addition to his agricultural experience, Sullivan has years of service in civic and charitable activities and was honored in 2005 for his efforts in raising more than $2 million for the City of Hope Cancer Research Hospital in Los Angeles.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in agricultural economics from Mississippi State University.
George has worked in Thompson’s congressional office since 1994 as a special projects coordinator and office manager. She is responsible for coordinating outreach services, participates in district development events and works with federal agencies to resolve constituent issues.
State legislators approved more than 110 bills Monday in the second dizzying day of Mississippi's special legislative session called to adopt a state budget before the 2010 budget year begins Wednesday.
Gov. Haley Barbour, who called legislators into session Sunday, expanded his call Monday to include revenue bills to finance operation of most state government agencies.
Legislators waded through uncharted waters by trying to draft a budget with just 48 hours left in the 2009 fiscal year, but they appeared to make progress on a budget -- something they had failed to achieve in the first five months of the legislative sessions that began Jan. 4.
A bill propping up the state wind pool with an extra $20 million is headed to Gov. Haley Barbour’s desk after clearing the Legislature Monday during the ongoing special session.
The appropriation for the Mississippi Insurance Department for next fiscal year passed both chambers of the Legislature easily, clearing the Mississippi Senate in a unanimous vote Monday. It also easily passed the House of Representatives. The measure contains $40 million, including the extra $20 million, for reinsurance programs aimed at offsetting premium increases in the wind pool, which is the insurance of last resort for homeowners who can’t get private-market wind coverage.
Mississippi Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney, who supported the extra money, said Monday that exactly how much a difference the funds will make won’t be known until he gets new rates on reinsurance, but it will help.
Ten states were scrambling Monday to pass budgets before a Tuesday deadline, with a handful -- including Arizona, Indiana and Mississippi -- facing the possibility of partial shutdowns if their legislatures don't act in time.
Sales-tax revenues also have swooned, leaving 48 states with a combined revenue shortfall of $166 billion in the coming fiscal year, according to a report released Monday by the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
"States are in uncharted territory," said Susan K. Urahn, managing director of the Pew Center on the States in Philadelphia, citing "both the precipitous nature and size of the drop in revenues."
All but four states begin their fiscal years on Wednesday, and all except Vermont require that their budgets be balanced. States without budgets in hand include California, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Delaware, Illinois, Ohio and Connecticut, where Gov. Jodi Rell, a Republican, has said she will veto the budget passed by the Democrat-controlled Legislature.
Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, a Republican, called the Legislature into special session Sunday to deal with the budget. "Everyone should agree we have an ox in the ditch," he said in a statement.
He exempted Medicaid from the budget deliberations; financing that health program has been a key sticking point in negotiations with the Legislature.
If a budget is not enacted by Tuesday night, the matter may end up in court.
Attorney General Jim Hood, a Democrat, said in an interview Monday that he is prepared to sue the governor should he try to authorize certain kinds of interim spending in the absence of a budget. The state constitution allows some agencies to spend money to perform core duties, Mr. Hood said, but others would have to suspend some or all operations.
Hood announces 2 guilty in Benton County voter fraud
Jackson, MS--A seven day jury trial has ended with a guilty verdict in two Benton County Voter Fraud cases, announced Attorney General Jim Hood.
The decision came yesterday (Monday, June 29) against Clinton Moffitt, age 30, of 232 Leard Street in Hickory Flat, MS and Ada Moore Tucker, age 50, of 14 John L. Skelton Road in Ashland, MS before Judge Andrew K. Howorth in Benton County Circuit Court. The jury found both defendants guilty of one count conspiracy to commit voter fraud and not guilty of one count each of voter fraud.
Judge Howorth delayed sentencing after a request for a pre-sentencing investigation by the defense. Moffitt and Tucker both face a maximum sentence of five years behind bars.
"I was proud of the Benton County Jury for standing up against vote buying," said Attorney General Jim Hood. "I'm just sorry the defendants put the members of the jury in that position. Hopefully, these convictions will send the message that Benton Countians will not tolerate vote buying."
Judge Howorth will sentence Moffitt and Tucker on July 14th in Ashland, MS. These cases are the first two of sixteen indictments to be heard in Benton County concerning voter fraud issues.
This case was prosecuted by Special Assistant Attorneys General Stan Alexander and Brandon Ogburn with the Public Integrity Division of the Attorney General's Office.
###
Jan Schaefer
Public Information Officer
Office of the Attorney General
State of Mississippi
"The House Appropriations Committee has met three times today and then we members worked those same bills on the floor, trying to meet the deadlines to keep state agencies working.
"Several times, in the committee work, attempts were made to take more money out of the Contingency Fund (the "rainy day" fund) than the joint budget committee agreed to do. The agreement with the governor was to take out $95 million this year and each year for the next two years, and no more, in order that the rainy day fund will not be depleted. There is at present $360 million in this fund. The governor and conservatives in both houses feel we need to plan for the future years, when revenues are not predicted to increase in any measurable way.
"It seems the House leadership is determined to spend more money in all other areas and make up the hole in the Medicaid budget from the stimulus funds and available monies in other funds, and not continue the hospital assessments in order to get the federal match funds."
House adjourns at 11:08 p.m. Monday night. We will reconvene at 9:00 a.m. Tuesday, June 30, the final day of the 2009 fiscal year.
2 minutes ago from web
Speaker McCoy announces that Governor Barbour has agreed to add Medicaid to the special session "call" Tuesday morning. There is a "deal."
House has passed a sine die resolution to end session at midnight June 30. This procedure will insure budget can be finalized Tuesday.
Speaker McCoy says that "in my heart" he really believes there will be a Medicaid solution tomorrow (Tuesday).
Mr. Obama had few words of comfort for those who may have taken a political risk by voting for the House climate change bill, and no threats for the 44 House Democrats who defied their leadership to oppose it.
“I think those 44 Democrats are sensitive to the immediate political climate of uncertainty around this issue,” Mr. Obama said. “They’ve got to run every two years, and I completely understand that.” Many of them represent districts that rely heavily on coal for power generation or that are home to industries vulnerable to international competition. Mr. Obama said the House bill contained transitional assistance for these regions.
But he expressed scorn for the Republicans who fought the bill. He noted that some of them were predicting political doom for those who voted for it, recalling the 1993 battle over an energy tax that failed and helped Republicans gain control of the House a year later.
Those Republicans, he said, “are 16 years behind the times,” comparing their position to that of their party’s leaders in the energy and health care debates of the early Clinton years.
“They’re not fighting the last war,” he said. “They’re fighting three wars ago.”
Help me get this straight: If you're a Democrat and voted against the bill, you're a smart politician and to be forgiven. If you're a Republican and voted against the bill, you're a Neanderthal and to be ridiculed.
This strikes me as unfair. Will the reporters covering the comments notice?
“You can’t run away from Jackson, you have to stay here and invest in Jackson,” he said. “Mayor (Harvey) Johnson’s gonna need all of our help.”
Thompson was the featured speaker at the Greater Jackson Chamber Partnership’s membership luncheon at the Jackson Convention Complex.
Over the course of his speech, the eight-term congressman addressed a variety of issues including health care, President Barack Obama and federal earmarks.
“There’s some notion in this community that earmarks are bad,” Thompson said.
He mentioned several earmark-funded projects under way in the metro area like the new federal courthouse, the FBI headquarters and improvements to the west section of County Line Road.
At least a few civic-minded Mississippians are determined to reverse the state’s 18-county Delta region from being perpetually branded as the “poor who will always be with us.”
Where other attempts have failed over the past five decades, an ambitious, broad new long-range plan to lift the Delta out of its persistent poverty — without government carrying the load — has emerged after three years from a commission headed by respected black leader Robert Clark.
Best known as the first African-American elected to the Legislature 70 years after Reconstruction, Clark, now as a retired lawmaker from Holmes County, is devoting his life to improving the quality of life in his long down-trodden region.
His legislatively-created commission has produced what it has called “The Delta Strategic Compact” which essentially addresses economic and cultural problems inherent in the Delta. But importantly, it provides a four-tier framework behind which resources of all the public and private entities working in the region can be harnessed.
Would you be interested in owning a part of one of the nation's major automakers?
Legislation being proposed by U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., could see that happen in the wake of the federal government's bailouts of General Motors and Chrysler. After those companies emerge from bankruptcy, the U.S. Treasury will have a 60 percent stake in GM and an 8 percent share in Chrysler.
As its name implies, the senator's plan would see "Auto Stock for Every Taxpayer" by equally dividing stock certificates among the 154 million citizens who paid income taxes in 2008. The stocks would be in the citizens' names and effectively get the government out of automaker ownership.
Citizens would be free to sell their stocks or hold onto them in hopes of an automaker rebound to prosperity. Such a move would increase the stock's value and the potential windfall for its owner.
Wicker's plan presents some intriguing possibilities as it again would leave automakers' fates up to the economic winds of a free market system.
As an exclusive to the blog, Chuck Moellenberg, Jr., partner at Jones Day and a key player in defending Sherwin-Williams in lead paint litigation, says this regarding "Shermeker Pollard, et al. v. The Sherman-Williams Co. Inc. et al."
Jones Day partner, product-liability expert - Chuck Moellenberg, Jr., on the record:
"Jane, this ian an one-off, aberrational lead paint product identification case that took years to travel through the Mississippi courts. Unfortunately, when the trial court denied Sherwin-Williams' change of venue motion, the case had to proceed in Jefferson County, Mississippi, where no out-of-state product manufacturer to our knowledge has been able to win a jury verdict.
"The overwhelming evidence of the case showed that it was impossible for plaintiff's family to buy lead-based paint made by Sherwin-Williams as they claimed in 1979 and after, because Sherwin-Williams had removed all lead ingredients from all of its residential paints by the end of 1972 at the latest. It had also issued a strong policy memo in 1977 instructing its stores to make certain not to sell any lead-containing paint to residential customers. Moreover, even the plaintiff's experts conceded that there is no scientific support for plaintiff's claim that his brief, one-time moderately elevated blood lead level could cause permanent brain damage.
Political Speaking - Founders Square – Wednesday, July 29, 2009
9:30 a.m. Honorable Mark Duncan (D), District Attorney, 8th Circuit Court District,
State of MS.
9:40 a.m. Honorable Vernon Cotton, 8th Circuit Court Judge, State of MS
9:50 a.m. Honorable Marcus Gordon, 8th Circuit Court Judge, State of MS
10:00 a.m. Honorable C. Scott Bounds (D), State Representative, District 44
Mississippi House of Representatives
10:10 a.m. Honorable Giles Ward (R), State Senator, District 18
Mississippi State Senate
10:20 a.m. Honorable Dick Hall (R), Commissioner of Transportation, Central District
State of Mississippi
10:30 a.m. Honorable Lynn Posey (D) Public Service Commissioner, Central District,
State of Mississippi
10:40 a.m. Honorable Stacey Pickering (R), State Auditor
State of Mississippi
10:50 a.m. Honorable Jim Hood (D), Attorney General, State of Mississippi
11:00 a.m. Honorable Phil Bryant (R), Lieutenant Governor, State of Mississippi
Political Speaking - Founders Square – Thursday, July 30, 2009
9:30 a.m. Honorable T. Kenny Griffis, Mississippi Appellate Court Justice,
District 3, Place 2
9:40 a.m. Honorable Jim Kitchens, Mississippi Supreme Court Justice,
District 1, Place 3
9:50 a.m. Honorable William L. (Bill) Waller, Chief Justice, Mississippi Supreme Court
District 1, Place 1
10:00 a.m. Honorable Mike Chaney (R), Commissioner of Insurance
State of Mississippi
10:10 a.m. Honorable Tate Reeves (R), State Treasurer
State of Mississippi
10:20 a.m. Honorable Delbert Hoseman (R), Secretary of State
State of Mississippi
10:40 a.m. Honorable Haley Barbour (R), Governor
Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour has expanded the agenda of a special legislative session.
In a statement Monday, Barbour said he is now allowing lawmakers to consider budget bills for most general fund agencies, such as public education. The state fiscal year begins Wednesday.
When the special session started Sunday, Barbour initially allowed lawmakers to consider only special fund agencies, which get their money from fees or specific taxes such as the gasoline tax that goes to the Mississippi Department of Transportation.
Barbour still is not allowing legislators to consider a budget for Medicaid, the government health insurance program for the needy. House and Senate negotiators have not come up with a Medicaid funding plan that the governor likes.
Ralph S. Janvey, whom the Securities and Exchange Commission appointed as the "receiver" in the case, wants to take $9.5 million from the players, an amount that mostly consists of their initial investments, so that the athletes' money can be split up among all of Mr. Stanford's purported victims.
"The fact that the [ballplayers] are innocent investors and committed no wrongdoing does not entitle them to retain proceeds received from the fraudulent" scheme, lawyers for Mr. Janvey wrote in a filing last week with the U.S. District Court in Dallas.
Gene R. Besen, an attorney for all seven players, declined to comment on the move by the receiver.
Targeted by the filing are accounts at Pershing, a clearing broker used by Mr. Stanford and where brokerage accounts were held by retired pitcher Greg Maddux, retired New York Yankees slugger Bernie Williams, current Yankees outfielder Johnny Damon, Boston Red Sox outfielder J.D. Drew, Texas Rangers outfielder Andruw Jones, Tampa Bay Rays first baseman Carlos Pena and Jay Bell, a shortstop who played for several teams before retiring in 2003.
David B. Smith, a Virginia lawyer who is co-chairman of the Forfeiture Abuse Task Force of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, said Mr. Janvey's filing is "unusually aggressive."
On the lower end, Mr. Damon stands to lose $400,070, which includes the $400,000 principal that Mr. Damon put up and about $70 in interest he got from Mr. Stanford. According to court records, Mr. Maddux is at the higher end, with the receiver seeking nearly $3.7 million - Mr. Maddux's $3.5 million initial investment and $170,000 in profit.
"At the end of the day, these guys will get something back from the collective pot," white-collar defense lawyer Barry J. Pollack said. "While they might be putting in $1.25 now, they may be getting 75 cents down the road."
The receiver argues it is only fair that all of the money recovered goes into one pool and is distributed among all the investors, both those who made money and those who lost money.
Clarion-Ledger
6/29/9
*Please note The Washington Times reported this story, not The Clarion-Ledger.
In a major reverse-discrimination case, the Supreme Court on Monday ruled that white New Haven firefighters were discriminated against when the city threw out a promotion test because not enough minorities did well on it.
The 5-4 ruling overturns an appeals court decision by Judge Sonia Sotomayor, President Obama's nominee to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice David Souter.
Justice Kennedy, writing for the majority, said New Haven could not show a convincing reason why the test should be thrown out, and said the threat of lawsuits from minority candidates wasn't justification.
"Many of the candidates had studied for months, at considerable personal and financial expense, and thus the injury caused by the citys reliance on raw racial statistics at the end of the process was all the more severe," Justice Kennedy wrote in an opinion joined by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., Justice Antonin Scalia, Justice Clarence Thomas and Justice Samuel A. Alito.
For decades, AEI scholars like Newt Gingrich have offered policy recommendations that often found their way into the Republican Party platform. AEI scholars were prominent in the Bush administration, and today AEI is considered a bastion of pro-business, neoconservative thought.
Here the older scholars leading AEI's research efforts are buttressed by younger research assistants. And while the Republican Party remains popular among many of the elder scholars, more of the assistants are beginning to consider calling themselves Democrats; some even voted for Barack Obama.
This phenomenon is important because it reveals a startling truth: Republicans are in danger of losing the majority of an entire generation of young Americans to the Democratic Party, and the effects could be disastrous for both the party and the future of a balanced political dialogue.
Gov. Haley Barbour has said he might include supplemental tobacco fees in a special session call, perhaps this week. We won’t know until the governor — who has the power to control topics when lawmakers meet outside their regular dates — prepares his letter setting the agenda.
Going into the 2009 session, it was pretty much a foregone conclusion that the Legislature would increase Mississippi’s excise tax on cigarettes. That was done. Mississippi’s 18 cents-per-pack levy was hiked to 68 cents per pack, effective within weeks of the federal increase to $1.01 per pack.
Add Mississippi’s 7 percent sales tax and it’s clear smokers are paying a lot more for cigarettes today than a few months ago.
But there’s another number in the tally.
Twelve years ago this month, former Attorney General Mike Moore settled a lawsuit against what is commonly called “Big Tobacco.” The term groups major brands who agreed in the settlement to make annual payments to compensate the state for providing medical services to Medicaid and other citizens with tobacco-related illnesses.
The overall revenue difference to the state would not be great. It’s just a matter of equalization. And it should be done.
James Franklin Bibbs and Mary Annette Purnell, both of Winona, were taken into custody at the courthouse during the trial in September after Circuit Judge Joseph Loper accused them of trying to taint the jury pool.
Bibbs' trial is July 8, and Purnell's is Sept. 8. No locations have been chosen.
Curtis Flowers was being tried for the fifth time in the killings of four people at the Tardy Furniture Store in Winona in 1996.
He was convicted and sentenced to death three times, with each conviction being overturned on appeal. His fourth trial in December 2007 resulted in a hung jury, and the district attorney's office was again seeking the death penalty at the September 2008 trial.
Loper has recused himself from hearing the perjury cases, and Circuit Judge Jannie Lewis was appointed by the Mississippi Supreme Court.
On the first day of testimony, Purnell was arrested during the afternoon recess after it was discovered she possibly had lied about her relationship with Flowers. Purnell had said she did not know Flowers, but an anonymous juror cut from the jury pool told the court that Purnell did know Flowers and that a car belonging to Flowers' parents had been seen at her home.
Loper said Purnell was listed on the visitor's log as being able to visit Flowers in jail and that more than 60 telephone calls from the jail had been made to Purnell's home.
According to the court record, twice during the trial, the jury informed the judge that information not presented during the trial was being introduced in the jury room by Bibbs, namely that he was "working near Tardy Furniture the morning of the murders and that the evidence had been planted in the store."
After nearly 16 hours of deliberation, the jury foreman told Loper they could not reach an unanimous decision, which was needed to impose the death penalty. Loper dismissed the jury and told Bibbs that it "was absolutely ridiculous that he would come in here and lie to this court."
Prisoners rights attorney Ron Welch, who monitors jails housing state inmates as part of a federal court order, inspects jails annually to determine if they will be approved to house state inmates.
The disapproval letters went out to the counties this month.
Each jail was given at least a year and some two years to correct deficiencies, Welch said.
Jails Affected:
Calhoun County, which had been allowed to house a maximum of 22.
Holmes-Humphreys County Jail, which had been allowed to house a maximum 18.
Holmes-Humphreys Regional Corrections Facility, which had been allowed to house a maximum 280 states inmates, can house no more than 250 now.
Pontotoc County, which had been allowed to house 26.
Sunflower County, which had been allowed to house 9.
Tippah County, which had been allowed to house 10.
Johnson has been meeting with prospective appointees but has not announced whether he plans to keep any of Melton's people or who might replace them.
Here's a look at who occupies the top jobs in the city and whether they are likely to stay or go:
Shirlene Anderson
Title: Homeland security coordinator
Salary: $65,911.92
Why she may stay: Melton created the job for Anderson when he removed her as police chief. As the only person to hold the position, Johnson may elect to keep her for her experience working on homeland security issues.
Why she may go: Anderson was one of Melton’s more personal appointments and is a visible reminder of the prior administration. Anderson had worked for the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics before becoming the city’s first female police chief. She often accompanied Melton on patrols in JPD’s mobile command unit.
Thelman Boyd
Title: Public works director
Salary: $86,458.08
Why he may stay: Boyd worked for Johnson as the deputy director of public works before being named director under Melton. Boyd says he wants to keep his job but has not talked to Johnson about his chances. “I still have an interest in staying on and working in the next administration,” he said.
Why he may go: The public works director oversees the city’s streets and utilities. Both issues were heated topics this campaign season, and Johnson has promised to deliver improvements.
Vernon Hughes
Title: Fire chief
Salary: $94,688.40
Why he may stay: Unlike police chief, there is less political heat in naming the top slot in the Fire Department. Hughes has served nearly two years as chief with little complaint. He may be allowed to stay.
Why he may go: Like many appointments, Johnson just may have another name in mind. Hughes said he would like to stay on and has talked with some members of Johnson’s transition team.
Tyrone Lewis
Title: Interim police chief
Salary: $86,557.92
Why he may stay: The Police Department is starved for stable leadership. Over the past two decades, JPD has averaged a new chief every 1› years. Lewis rose through the ranks and appears well-liked inside the department.
Why he may go: With crime a top issue in the campaign, Johnson may feel it necessary to personally select a new chief. Lewis said he hopes he can make a case to stay on. Either way, Lewis may be around a while. When first elected in 1997, Johnson took a long time to appoint his first chief, and Walter Zinn, Johnson’s campaign manager, said a decision on who will be chief will be made at a “prudent” pace.
Sarah O’Reilly-Evans
Title: City attorney
Salary: $114,100.32
Why she may go: O’Reilly-Evans has filed paperwork to leave the city June 30. It is likely Johnson wants to pick his own attorney to this key advisory position for any mayor.
First, the Senate passed a bundle of non-appropriations bills in the form of SB 2001. It included the JSU landswap, the authorization to sell the millions of cigarettes State Auditor Stacey Pickering seized, the non participating cigarette tax increase, and several other punchlist non-appropriations items. This bill will likely be referred to multiple committees in the House because there are lots of components to it.
The House took a more piecemeal approach. Most signficantly, the House cigaratte tax bill has been transferred to the Senate and got referred to Senate Finance. The rumor has it that the house cigarette bill was gutted in Senate Finance with a strikeall amendement and then killed. However, as of the writing of this post, the system still shows the bill as alive in Senate Finance.
It seems that there will likely be agreement between the House and Senate on the dozens of small state agencies that are fee-based (like PERS, the State Medical Licensure Board, State Board of Nursing, etc.). These will be re-authorized and "government" will not necessarily halt on Wednesday. However, the big ticket constitutional budget items (MDOT, Education and Medicaid) will likely be the last things to come through, likely in that order.
Barbour is trying to force the hand of the legislature to (1) get the revenue house in order first and (2) reauthorize the smaller ticket items so that appropriate focus can be put on reigning in the bigger ticket items. The bigger question is whether Legislators will go along with that strategy. Expect a late night at the Capitol. We should know a lot more by Monday morning.
On the Sunday morning talk shows, Republicans said the House legislation was doomed.
“This bill coming out of the House is going nowhere in the Senate,” Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said on “NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “This idea of climate change is real, in my opinion, and the way you solve the problem is not you have some major tax on industry and private sector.”
On CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi said the legislation simply made energy more expensive. On “Fox News Sunday,” Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said, “Think of it as a light-switch tax.”
The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the average American household would pay an additional $175 a year in energy costs by 2020 as a result of the provision, while the poorest households would receive rebates that would lower their annual energy costs by $40.
David Axelrod, the senior adviser to President Obama, appearing on ABC’s “This Week,” said Republicans were trying to use inaction as a strategy to solve the nation’s energy problems. He also wondered aloud on NBC’s “Meet the Press” if the Republicans wanted to allow new energy jobs to go to other nations like China and India.
A wide variety of measures aimed at improving the coastal insurance market will be explored at a multi-state insurance forum scheduled on the eve of the National Governor’s Association conference.
Mississippi Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney expects key stakeholders at the conference, including insurance commissioners from coastal states, insurance industry representatives and mitigation specialists. Chaney also hopes Gov. Haley Barbour, who is on the agenda, will bring coastal governors with him.
“It’s top-notch,” said Joseph Ammerman, a spokesman for the Mississippi Insurance Department, the host of the two-day forum July 16 and 17 at IP Casino Resort. “We’ve got a great lineup of speakers. The commissioner has been telling everybody who has agreed to speak, ‘We want answers.’
Should he also resign as the governor of South Carolina?
BARBOUR: I don’t think so, but that’s up to the people of South Carolina. But no, I don’t think so.
SCHIEFFER: This seems to go beyond just the fact that, you know, he became involved in this relationship. He was basically missing in action for five days. He’s the governor of Mississippi (sic). He wasn’t there -- of South Carolina. He was not there. People didn’t know where he was.
I can remember one time several years ago, Governor Barbour, when you were supposed to be on “Face the Nation” and you canceled at the last minute, you said, I’m very sorry, there’s a hurricane coming and I’ve got to make sure we’re all set and prepared to do that. Isn’t this more than just a sex scandal here? I mean, this is dereliction of duty, isn’t it?
BARBOUR: You know, Bob, I don’t know all the details. But I’ve been in politics a long time. I’ve made it my policy, I just don’t talk about people’s personal problems. I don’t think it’s appropriate, I don’t think it’s polite, and I don’t think it achieves any purpose. The people of South Carolina will decide that. For us at the Republican Governors Association, we’re just going to keep focused on what we were doing to start with. And I don’t believe what happens in South Carolina will change one vote in the governor’s race in New Jersey. And of course that’s what we’re focused on now, is the New Jersey and the Virginia governors races this November.
SCHIEFFER: But what about the Republican Party in general? Your chances in 2012? This is the party that’s called itself the party of family values and so on and so forth. You’re going through a series of scandals now. This is not the first. Just like in the past, Democrats --we have seen Democrats involved in things like this.
What does this do to the image of the party and how you try to project yourself and present yourself as a party, Governor?
Call me a pessimist, but when news broke last week about plans to build a hybrid car plant in Mississippi - I found it a bit suspect.
No, this is not Toyota's plant in Blue Springs set to build the new generation Prius at some point - we all hope. I am speaking of a Chinese company's efforts to build a $6.5 billion plant in Tunica County. The facility would reportedly employ 25,000.
Yep, that's four times the 5,500 people at Nissan and would more than double the number of people working in the state's auto manufacturing industry today, and that includes suppliers.
And it would double the workers at the state's largest private employer - Northrop Grumman in Pascagoula.
Civil Suit
Hybrid Kinetic's efforts to bring the manufacturing facility to Tunica came to light because of a civil lawsuit in Oxford's U.S. District Court battling over ownership of the company.
Hybrid Kinetic Automotive Holdings alleges two executives were supposed to set up the project in Mississippi but instead are attempting to open the business as their own.
The plaintiffs are a subsidiary of a Chinese company called Far East Golden Resources Group Limited. The company owns auto dealerships and sells auto parts, a Businessweek.com profile says.
STATE OF MISSISSIPPI
Office of the Governor
A PROCLAMATION BY THE GOVERNOR TO THE MEMBERS OF THE LEGISLATURE:
WHEREAS, by the provisions of Section 121 of the Constitution of the State of Mississippi,
the Governor is vested with the power to convene, by public Proclamation, the Legislature in
Extraordinary Session whenever, in his judgment, the public interest requires it; and
WHEREAS, it is the Governor's judgment that the public interest requires that the Legislature
be convened in Extraordinary Session for the consideration of the matters hereinafter stated:
NOW, THEREFORE, I, Haley Barbour, Governor of the State of Mississippi, do hereby issue
this Proclamation to convene the Legislature in Extraordinary Session, and do designate June 28,
2009, at 2:00 P.M., as the time, and the State Capitol in the City of Jackson, Mississippi, as the place,
in which said Session shall be convened; and do designate as the subjects to be considered at said
Extraordinary Session, when so convened, the following matters so relating exclusively to and for no
other purpose:
I . AN ACT TO IMPOSE A FEE OF $0.0125 PER CIGARETTE ON NONSETTLINGMANUFACTURER
CIGARETTES; TO REQUIRE MONTHLY REPORTING OF THE
NUMBER AND DENOMINATION OF STAMPS AFFIXED TO PACKAGES OF
NONSETTLING-MANUFACTURER CIGARETTES, THE NUMBER OF INDIVIDUAL
PACKAGES OF NONSETTLING-MANUFACTURER CIGARETTES SOLD OR
PURCHASED IN THIS STATE OR OTHERWISE DISTRIBUTED IN THIS STATE FOR
SALE IN THE UNITED STATES AND ANY OTHER INFORMATION THE STATE TAX
COMMISSION CONSIDERS NECESSARY OR APPROPRIATE TO DETERMINE THE
AMOUNT OF THE FEE IMPOSED BY THIS ACT OR TO ENFORCE THIS ACT; TO
REQUIRE REGISTRATION OF NONSETTLINGMANUFACTURERS WITH THE
ATTORNEY GENERAL; TO REQUIRE DEVELOPMENT, MAINTENANCE AND
PUBLICATION BY THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF A LIST OF
NONSETTLING-MANUFACTURERS THAT HAVE CERTIFIED THEIR
COMPLIANCE WITH THIS ACT; TO PROVIDE FOR ENFORCEMENT OF THE
REQUIREMENTS IMPOSED BY THIS ACT.
2. AN ACT TO AUTHORIZE LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS TO SEIZE TOBACCO
FOUND IN MISSISSIPPI THAT IS DETERMINED TO BE THE PRODUCT OF
CERTAIN ILLEGAL ACTS IF THE LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER ESTIMATES
THAT THE RETAIL VALUE OF THE PROPERTY SEIZED IS $15,000.00 OR MORE; TO
PROVIDE THAT TOBACCO THAT IS A PRODUCT OF AN ILLEGAL ACT SHALL BE
CONTRABAND GOODS FORFEITED TO THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI; TO
PROVIDE THAT IF THE VALUE OF SUCH TOBACCO IS $15,000.00 OR MORE, THE
CUSTODY OF THE TOBACCO SHALL BE TURNED OVER TO THE CHAIRMAN OF
THE STATE TAX COMMISSION WHO SHALL HAVE AN INVENTORY AND
APPRAISAL OF THE TOBACCO PREPARED; TO PROVIDE THAT IF THE TOBACCO
RECEIVED FROM A LAW ENFORCEMENT
OFFICER HAS AN ESTIMATED RETAIL VALUE IN EXCESS OF $1,000,000.00, THE
STATE AUDITOR MAY, UPON THE REQUEST OF THE CHAIRMAN OF THE
STATE TAX COMMISSION, ASSIST IN CONDUCTING THE INVESTIGATION.
INVENTORY, APPRAISAL AND SALE OF THE TOBACCO RECEIVED; TO
PROVIDE THAT WHERE SUCH TOBACCO REPRESENTS MULTIPLE SEIZURES
OR ONE OR MORE SEIZURES WHERE THERE ARE MULTIPLE PERSONS OR
OWNERS HAVING A POTENTIAL INTEREST IN THE TOBACCO SEIZED, THE
CHAIRMAN OF THE STATE TAX COMMISSION MAY INVENTORY, APPRAISE AND
PROCEED WITH THE FORFEITURE AND SALE OF THE TOBACCO BASED ON
EACH SPECIFIC SEIZURE, PROBABLE COMMON INTEREST OR OWNERSHIP OF
THE TOBACCO OR A COMBINATION THEREOF; TO PROVIDE THAT NOTICE OF
THE SEIZURE AND THE IMPENDING FORFEITURE OF THE TOBACCO SHALL BE
GIVEN IN WRITING FOR FIVE DAYS AT THREE PLACES IN THE COUNTY WHERE
THE TOBACCO WAS SEIZED; TO PROVIDE THAT THE NOTICE SHALL DESCRIBE
THE PROPERTY, STATE THE TIME AND PLACE AND CAUSE OF SEIZURE AND
GIVE THE NAME AND PLACE OF RESIDENCE, IF KNOWN, OF THE PERSON FROM
WHOM THE PROPERTY WAS SEIZED, AND SHALL REQUIRE ANY PERSON
CLAIMING THE PROPERTY TO APPEAR AND MAKE SUCH CLAIMS IN WRITING,
WITHIN FIVE DAYS FROM THE DATE OF THE FIRST POSTING OF THE NOTICE;
TO PROVIDE THAT THE CHAIRMAN OF THE STATE TAX COMMISSION SHALL
DELIVER A COPY OF THE NOTICE TO THE PERSON OR PERSONS FROM WHOM
THE PROPERTY WAS SEIZED, AND ALSO TO THE OWNER, IF KNOWN; TO
PROVIDE THAT ANY PERSON CLAIMING THE SEIZED TOBACCO WITHIN THE
TIME SPECIFIED IN THE NOTICE MAY FILE A CLAIM AND BOND WITH THE
CHAIRMAN OF THE STATE TAX COMMISSION; TO PROVIDE THAT IF A CLAIM
AND BOND IS FILED WITH THE CHAIRMAN OF THE STATE TAX COMMISSION,
THE CHAIRMAN SHALL TRANSMIT THE SAME WITH THE DUPLICATE LIST OR
DESCRIPTION OF THE PROPERTY SEIZED TO THE COUNTY ATTORNEY OF THE
COUNTY OR THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY OF THE DISTRICT IN WHICH SUCH
SEIZURE WAS MADE, AND THE COUNTY ATTORNEY OR DISTRICT ATTORNEY,
AS THE CASE MAY BE, SHALL PROSECUTE THE CASE TO SECURE THE
FORFEITURE OF THE PROPERTY IN THE COURT HAVING JURISDICTION UNDER
THE STATE TOBACCO TAX LAW; TO PROVIDE THAT IF NO CLAIM IS FILED WITH
THE CHAIRMAN OF THE STATE TAX COMMISSION, AND NO BOND IS GIVEN
WITHIN THE TIME SPECIFIED, THE TOBACCO SHALL BE FORFEITED WITHOUT
FURTHER PROCEEDINGS AND SHALL BE SOLD; TO PROVIDE THAT THE
TOBACCO SHALL BE OFFERED FOR SALE BY THE CHAIRMAN OF THE STATE
TAX COMMISSION AT PUBLIC AUCTION TO THE HIGHEST BIDDER AFTER
ADVERTISEMENT; TO PROVIDE THAT THE CHAIRMAN OF THE STATE TAX
COMMISSION MAY REJECT THE HIGHEST BID IF HE DETERMINES THAT IT IS
NOT EQUAL TO THE REASONABLE VALUE OF THE PROPERTY BEING SOLD AND
REQUEST ANOTHER BID OR MAY OFFER THE PROPERTY FOR SALE IN SMALLER
LOTS; TO PROVIDE FOR THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE PROCEEDS RECEIVED
FROM ANY SUCH SALE; TO PROVIDE THAT A PURCHASER OF CIGARETTES AT
SUCH A SALE SHALL, WITHIN 72 HOURS FROM RECEIPT OF THE CIGARETTES
FROM THE STATE TAX COMMISSION, CAUSE MISSISSIPPI CIGARETTE STAMPS
TO BE AFFIXED TO THE CIGARETTES PURCHASED OR SHIP THE CIGARETTES
TO A LOCATION OUTSIDE THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI; TO PROVIDE THAT IF,
BECAUSE OF THE VOLUME PURCHASE, THE PURCHASER IS UNABLE TO STAMP
OR DISPOSE OF THE TOBACCO WITHIN THE 72HOUR
TIME PERIOD, THE
CHAIRMAN OF THE STATE TAX COMMISSION MAY EXTEND SUCH TIME PERIOD;
TO PROVIDE THAT IF THE PURCHASER IS A LICENSED WHOLESALER WHO IS A
QUALIFIED INTERSTATE DEALER UNDER THE STATE TOBACCO TAX LAW, HE
WILL HAVE THE OPTION OF PLACING THE CIGARETTES IN HIS SEGREGATED
STOCK FOR INTERSTATE BUSINESS WITHIN THE SAME 72HOUR
PERIOD
WITHOUT AFFIXING MISSISSIPPI CIGARETTE STAMPS TO THE CIGARETTES; TO
PROVIDE THAT IF THE PURCHASER MAINTAINS A BONDED WAREHOUSE
UNDER THE STATE TOBACCO TAX LAW, THE PURCHASER WILL HAVE THE
OPTION OF
PLACING THE CIGARETTES IN THE BONDED WAREHOUSE WITHIN THE
72-HOUR PERIOD WITHOUT AFFIXING MISSISSIPPI CIGARETTE STAMPS TO
THE CIGARETTES; TO PROVIDE THAT IF, BECAUSE OF THE VOLUME OF THE
PURCHASE, THE PURCHASER IS UNABLE TO STAMP OR DISPOSE OF THE
CIGARETTES WITHIN THE 72-HOUR TIME PERIOD, THE CHAIRMAN OF THE
STATE TAX COMMISSION MAY EXTEND SUCH TIME PERIOD; TO AUTHORIZE
THE STATE TAX COMMISSION TO REQUIRE THE PURCHASER TO PROVIDE
INFORMATION REGARDING THE DISPOSITION OF THE CIGARETTES
PURCHASED AT THE SALE; TO AMEND SECTIONS 27-69-27, 27-69-53 AND
27-69-55, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO CONFORM TO THE PROVISIONS OF
THIS ACT.
3. AN ACT TO DIRECT THE STATE FISCAL OFFICER TO TRANSFER $165,580,247.00
FROM THE BUDGET CONTINGENCY FUND TO THE STATE GENERAL FUND;
$3,505,281.00 FROM THE HURRICANE DISASTER RESERVE FUND (FUND 37SS)
TO THE STATE GENERAL FUND; $13,006,065.00 FROM THE HURRICANE
DISASTER RECOVERY FUND (FUND 3996) TO THE STATE GENERAL FUND;
$4,974,032.00 FROM THE EMERGENCY AID FUND TO LOCAL GOVERNMENTS
FUND (FUND 39EA) TO THE STATE GENERAL FUND; TO DIRECT THE STATE
FISCAL OFFICER TO TRANSFER $30,059,168.00 FROM THE WORKING CASH
STABILIZATION RESERVE FUND (FUND 3992) TO THE BUDGET
CONTINGENCY FUND DURING FISCAL YEAR 2009.
4. AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 4 OF SENATE BILL 1505, 2009 REGULAR SESSION,
TO DIRECT THE STATE FISCAL OFFICER TO TRANSFER DURING FISCAL YEAR
2010 $189,972,000.00 FROM THE STATE GENERAL FUND (FUND 2999) TO THE
BUDGET CONTINGENCY FUND; $500,000.00 FROM THE BOLL WEEVIL
MANAGEMENT FUND (FUND 3429) TO THE BUDGET CONTINGENCY FUND;
$20,000,000.00 FROM THE HURRICANE DISASTER RESERVE FUND (FUND 37SS)
TO THE BUDGET CONTINGENCY FUND; $64,940,832.00 FROM THE WORKING
CASH STABILIZATION RESERVE FUND (FUND 3992) TO THE BUDGET
CONTINGENCY FUND; $3,500,000.00 FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF INSURANCE
(FUND 3501) TO THE BUDGET CONTINGENCY FUND; $556,804.00 FROM THE
RESTITUTION FUND (FUND 3993) TO THE BUDGET CONTINGENCY FUND;
$3,000,000.00 FROM THE UNCLAIMED PROPERTY FUND (FUND 3178) TO THE
BUDGET CONTINGENCY FUND; $200,000.00 FROM THE ARCHIVES AND
HISTORY - NEW CAPITOL R&R FUND (FUND 3480) TO THE BUDGET
CONTINGENCY FUND; $1,210,094.00 FROM THE STATE PERSONNEL BOARD
(FUNDS 3610, 3614) TO THE BUDGET CONTINGENCY FUND; $1,000,000.00
FROM THE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SERVICES (FUND 3601) TO THE
BUDGET CONTINGENCY FUND; TO DIRECT THE STATE FISCAL OFFICER TO
TRANSFER $30,000,000.00 FROM THE TRANSPORTATION SUPPORT FUND (FUND
3941) TO THE STATE GENERAL FUND, PROVIDING EQUAL INSTALLMENTS
OVER A SIX MONTH PERIOD BEGINNING AUGUST I, 2009, AND THAT THE FULL
AMOUNT OF THE TRANSFER BE RETURNED TO THE TRANSPORTATION
SUPPORT FUND PRIOR TO JULY 1, 2013.
5. AN ACT TO APPROPRIATE $27,000,000.00 FOR FISCAL YEAR 2010 FROM
BUDGET CONTINGENCY FUND TO THE MOTOR VEHICLE AD VALOREM TAX
REDUCTION FUND.
6. AN ACT TO PROVIDE DEFICIT APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2009 FOR
OFFICE OF GOVERNOR DIVISION OF MEDICAID IN THE AMOUNT OF
$27,683,215.00; FOR UNIVERSITY OF MISSISSIPPI MEDICAL CENTER IN THE
AMOUNT OF $559,623.00; FOR DEPARTMENT OF MENTAL HEALTH IN THE
AMOUNT OF $7,000,000.00; FOR JUDGMENTS AND SETTLEMENTS OF THE
OFFICE OF ATTORNEY GENERAL IN THE AMOUNT OF $225,846.00.
7. AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 6 OF HOUSE BILL NO. 364, 2009 REGULAR
SESSION, TO PROVIDE THAT AN APPROPRIATION OF NOT LESS THAN
$27,000,000.00 TO THE MOTOR VEHICLE AD VALOREM TAX REDUCTION
FUND FOR FISCAL YEAR 2010 IS NOT REQUIRED TO BE ENACTED DURING
THE 2009 REGULAR SESSION IN ORDER FOR CERTAIN PROVISIONS Oil
HOUSE BILL 364 TO TAKE EFFECT FROM AND AFTER JULY 1, 2009.
8. AN ACT APPROVING THE EXPENDITURE OF SPECIAL FUNDS FOR THE
PURPOSE OF DEFRAYING THE EXPENSES OF THE TOMBIGBEE RIVER
VALLEY WATER MANAGEMENT DISTRICT FOR THE FISCAL YEAR 2010.
AN ACT MAKING AN APPROPRIATION FROM SPECIAL FUNDS IN THE STATE
TREASURY FOR THE PURPOSE OF DEFRAYING THE ADMINISTRATIVE
EXPENSES OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE PUBLIC EMPLOYEES'
RETIREMENT SYSTEM AND FOR THE MAINTENANCE AND OPERATION OP THE
RETIREMENT SYSTEM BUILDING FOR THE FISCAL YEAR 2010.
10. AN ACT MAKING AN APPROPRIATION FROM SPECIAL FUNDS IN THE STATE
TREASURY FOR THE PURPOSE OF DEFRAYING THE EXPENSES OF THE STATE
OIL AND GAS BOARD FOR THE FISCAL YEAR 2010.
11. AN ACT MAKING AN APPROPRIATION FROM SPECIAL FUNDS IN THE STATE
TREASURY FOR THE PURPOSE OF DEFRAYING THE EXPENSES OF THE
MISSISSIPPI PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION FOR THE FISCAL YEAR 2010.
12. AN ACT MAKING AN APPROPRIATION FROM SPECIAL FUNDS IN THE STATE
TREASURY FOR THE PURPOSE OF DEFRAYING THE EXPENSES OF THE PUBLIC
UTILITIES STAFF FOR THE FISCAL YEAR 2010.
13. AN ACT MAKING AN APPROPRIATION FROM SPECIAL FUNDS IN THE STATE
TREASURY FOR THE PURPOSE OF DEFRAYING THE EXPENSES O ' THE
MISSISSIPPI REAL ESTATE COMMISSION FOR FISCAL YEAR 200.
14. AN ACT MAKING AN APPROPRIATION FROM SPECIAL FUNDS IN THE STATE
TREASURY FOR THE PURPOSE OF DEFRAYING THE EXPENSES OF MISSISSIPPI
REAL ESTATE APPRAISER LICENSING AND CERTiFIC, : ,T1ON BOARD FOR THE
FISCAL YEAR 2010.
15. AN ACT MAKING AN APPROPRIATION FROM SPECIAL FUNDS IN THE STATE
TREASURY FOR THE PURPOSE OF DEFRAYING THE EXPENSES OF THE
MISSISSIPPI ATHLETIC COMMISSION FOR THE FISCAL YEAR 2010.
16. AN ACT MAKING AN APPROPRIATION FROM SPECIAL FUNDS IN THE STATE
TREASURY FOR THE PURPOSE OF DEFRAYING THE EXPENSES OF THE STATE
BOARD OF MEDICAL LICENSURE FOR THE FISCAL YEAR 2010.
17. AN ACT MAKING AN APPROPRIATION FROM SPECIAL FUNDS IN THE STATE
TREASURY FOR THE PURPOSE OF DEFRAYING THE EXPENSES OF THE
MISSISSIPPI STATE BOARD OF PHYSICAL THERAPY FOR THE FISCAL YEAR
2010.
18. AN ACT APPROVING THE EXPENDITURE OF SPECIAL FUNDS FOR THE
PURPOSE OF DEFRAYING THE EXPENSES OF THE MISSISSIPPI STATE BOARD OF
PSYCHOLOGY FOR THE FISCAL YEAR 2010.
19. AN ACT APPROVING THE EXPENDITURE OF SPECIAL FUNDS FOR THE
PURPOSE OF DEFRAYING THE EXPENSES OF THE MISSISSIPPI COAST
COLISEUM COMMISSION FOR THE FISCAL YEAR 2010.
20. AN ACT MAKING AN APPROPRIATION FROM SPECIAL FUNDS IN THE STATE
TREASURY FOR THE PURPOSE OF DEFRAYING THE EXPENSES OF THE
MISSISSIPPI STATE BOARD OF NURSING HOME ADMINISTRATORS FOR THE
FISCAL YEAR 2010.
21. AN ACT MAKING AN APPROi R1AT ION FROM SPECIAL FUNDS IN THE STATE
TREASURY FOR THE PURPOSE OF DEFRAYING THE EXPENSES OF THE
MISSISSIPPI BOARD OF NURSING FOR THE FISCAL YEAR 2010.
22. AN ACT APPROVING THE EXPENDITURE OF SPECIAL FUNDS FOR THE
PURPOSE OF DEFRAYING THE EXPENSES OF THE STATE BOARD OF
REGISTRATION FOR PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERS AND LAND SURVEYORS
FOR FISCAL YEAR 2010.
23. AN ACT APPROVING THE EXPENDITURE OF SPECIAL FUNDS FOR THE
PURPOSE OF DEFRA Y ING THE EXPENSES OF THE STATE BOARD OF
COSMETOLOGY FOR THE FISCAL YEAR 2010.
24. AN ACT MAKING AN APPROPRIATION FROM SPECIAL FUNDS IN THE STATE
TREASURY FOR THE PURPOSE OF DEFRAYING THE EXPENSES OF THE
BOARD OF EXAMINERS FOR SOCIAL WORKERS AND MARRIAGE AND
FAMILY THERAPISTS FOR THE FISCAL YEAR 2010.
25. AN ACT MAKING AN APPROPRIATION FROM SPECIAL FUNDS 1N,THE STATE
TREASURY FOR THE PURPOSE OF DEFRAYING THE EXPENSES OF THE
VETERANS' HOME PURCHASE BOARD AND MAKING NEW HOME LOANS AS
AUTHORIZED BY LAW FOR THE FISCAL YEAR 2010.
26. AN ACT APPROVING THE EXPENDITURE OF SPECIAL FUNDS FOR THE
PURPOSE OF DEFRAYING THE EXPENSES OF THE STATE BOARD OF 3ARBER
EXAMINERS FOR THE FISCAL YEAR 2010.
27. AN ACT MAKING AN APPROPRIAT _ON FROM SPECIAL FUNDS IN THE STATE
TREASURY FOR THE PURPOSE OF DEFRAYING THE EXPENSES OF TEE STATE
BOARD OF OPTCMETRY FOR THE FISCAL YEAR 2010.
28. AN ACT MAKING AN APPROPRIATION FROM SPECIAL FUNDS IN THE STATE
TREASURY FOR THE PURPOSE OF DEFRAYING THE EXPENSES OF THE
MISSISSIPPI DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION, FOR T.- E FISCAL YEAR 2010.
29. AN ACT MAKING AN APPROPRIATION FROM SPECIAL FUNDS IN THE STATE
TREASURY FOR THE PURPOSE OF DEFRAYING THE EXPENSES OF THE STATE
BOARD OF REGISTRATION FOR FORESTERS FOR THE FISCAL YEAR 2010.
30. AN ACT APPROVING THE EXPENDITURE OF SPECIAL FUNDS FOR THE
PURPOSE OF DEFRAYING THE EXPENSES OF THE PAT HARRISON
WATERWAY DISTRICT FOR THE FISCAL YEAR 2010.
31. AN ACT APPROVING THE EXPENDITURE OF SPECIAL FUNDS FOR THE
PURPOSE OF DEFRAYING THE EXPENSES OF THE YELLOW CREEK STATE
INLAND PORT AUTHORITY FOR THE FISCAL YEAR 2010.
32. AN ACT APPROVING THE EXPENDITURE OF SPECIAL FUNDS FOR THE
PURPOSE OF DEFRAYING THE EXPENSES OF THE PEARL RIVER BASIN
DEVELOPMENT DISTRICT FOR THE FISCAL YEAR 2010.
33. AN ACT APPROVING THE EXPENDITURE OF SPECIAL FUNDS FOR THE
PURPOSE OF DEFRAYING THE EXPENSES OF THE PEARL RIVER VALLEY
WATER SUPPLY DISTRICT FOR THE FISCAL YEAR 2010.
34. AN ACT MAKING AN APPROPRIATION OF SPECIAL FUNDS FOR THE
SUPPORT OF THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF BANKING AND CONSUMER
FINANCE FOR FISCAL YEAR 2010.
"There are political prosecutions that have gone on around the country," Diaz said. "Innocent men are sitting in federal prisons. ...It's time for us to do something."
Diaz was acquitted of corruption charges in a 2005 federal trial and later on federal tax evasion charges.
He joined other targets of recent federal investigations, along with their families and attorneys, at a forum in Washington to press for action against "selective investigations" by federal prosecutors under the Bush administration.
They said the investigations were politically motivated and targeted mostly Democrats, including a governor, state elected officials and local judges.
"This has been a war against Democrats," said Charles Walker Jr., whose father, former Georgia state Senate Majority Leader Charles Walker, is serving a 10-year sentence for stealing from a charity and other crimes. "It's a different day, a different regime, and we are hopeful that things will turn around."
Justice Department officials under the former administration have been accused of dismissing several U.S. attorneys for political reasons. Critics also have complained about their handling of civil rights and voting rights issues.
he House on Friday passed a historic climate change bill, giving Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) one of the biggest victories of her tenure and answering a call from President Obama for the United States play a leading role in reducing greenhouse gasses.
The bill passed with 219 votes, two more than the 217 that ended up being necessary for passage. Eight Republicans voted for it, while 44 Democrats voted "no."
Democrats pulled out all the stops to secure those votes, even arranging for Reps. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.) and John Lewis (D-Ga.) – who had both been absent for weeks – to fly in for the vote on final passage.
After the 219-212 vote, Democratic Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) said Kennedy and Lewis ended up as the 218th and 219th votes, declaring that Democrats had secured the 217 votes they needed from the rest of the caucus.
At least one Democrat who voted "no" said that his leadership needlessly forced vulnerable Dems to take a vote that will come back to haunt them.
"A lot of people walked the plank on a bill that will never become law," Rep. Gene Taylor (D-Miss.) told The Hill after the gavel came down.
At the same time, Republicans managed to have some fun of their own.
Guest lineup for the Sunday TV news shows:
___
ABC's "This Week" — David Axelrod, White House senior adviser; Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa.
___
CBS' "Face the Nation" — Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations; Gov. Haley Barbour, R-Miss.
___
NBC's "Meet the Press" — Axelrod; Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.; former Gov. Mitt Romney, R-Mass.
___
CNN's "State of the Union" — Gen. Ray Odierno, the top U.S. commander in Iraq; Gov. Tim Pawlenty, R-Minn.; T. Boone Pickens, chairman and CEO of the energy investment fund BP Capital.
"Fox News Sunday" _ Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius; Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.; Odierno.
Governor Barbour has reportedly notified some legislators that the Special Session to solve the state's budget crisis will convene on Sunday at 2:00 p.m.
There will be three calls.
1. To authorize basic state services (which will take the pressure off of July 1).
2. To pass a bill for the equal taxation of non participating tobacco products
3. To agree on a medicare fix.
Reportedly, there is not full agreement on Medicare between Governors and House Democrats loyal to Speaker Billy McCoy yet, and it could still stall out. However, it is likely very close with both sides likely betting the other will bend a bit amid the pressure of a session.
Rep. Mark Baker says they've had no input
by Alan Lange
6/27/9
From: Rep. Mark Baker (R., Brandon), Leader, Mississippi House Republican Conference
Subject: Press Release on Mississippi Budget
There has been some confusion about the positions of various parties in the current impasse over the state budget. At the present time the regular session for 2009 has ended and no budget was passed. Thus, there is NO "House Position" on the budget. Speaker Billy McCoy (D., Rienzi) has hand picked negotiators to represent his position and perhaps the positions of other Democrat leaders in the House.
We in the Republican Conference were not allowed to be part of the development of the House proposals. Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant appointed two Republicans and one Democrat to his conference team. Speaker Billy McCoy ignored the Republicans in choosing his conference team. It would seem that if Speaker McCoy truly wanted to build a concensus for the budget he would at least have input from a group that makes up 49 members of the 122 member House.
Washington, DC - Congressman Travis Childers (D-MS) released the
following statement regarding his vote against the American Clean Energy
and Security Act of 2009 (H.R. 2454), which passed in the House by a
vote of 219-212:
"Like many of my colleagues, I strongly support increasing American
energy independence and protecting our environment through conservation
and the use of clean and renewable energy sources. Our national security
and global future depend on the creation of a comprehensive energy
policy. During my first few months in Congress, I even outlined a
six-point plan to reduce our nation's reliance on foreign oil and
promote the use of alternative energy sources.
"While I commend the Administration's and House leadership's commitment
to legislation intended to promote conservation and energy independence,
I could not in good conscience vote for a bill that could significantly
raise costs for hard working American families and producers -
specifically the agriculture industry - during today's difficult
economic times.
"For American agriculture and American families, higher energy costs
could considerably outweigh potential benefits. These costs will be
passed on to agriculture's production inputs, and businesses will pass
on the cost of emission allowances to consumers, creating a ripple
effect that makes total costs and potential benefits impossible to
measure. Having no way of knowing the ultimate cost for both families
and industries, I felt it was irresponsible to vote for this bill.
"Additionally, the bill will likely have a disproportionate effect on
energy consumers in the South. It is a well-known fact that Southern
energy suppliers have fewer opportunities than their counterparts in
other regions to develop alternative sources, which puts them on an
unlevel playing field and creates higher bills for Southern families.
"This being said, I applaud House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin
Peterson for his tireless work to incorporate provisions in the bill
that are critical to the American agriculture and forestry industries. I
supported his amendments, which give the U.S. Department of Agriculture
appropriate authority in a cap-and-trade program, among other important
provisions. However, for the reasons outlined above, I could not vote
for the bill as a whole.
"I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues on both sides
of the aisle to come up with an effective comprehensive energy policy,
as well as my colleagues throughout Mississippi to ensure our state
works to further develop clean and renewable energy sources that reduce
costs for hard working families."
The Sarah McClendon Group holds a forum on alleged-selective prosecutions by the Justice Department during the Bush administration. Speakers include Judiciary Cmte. Counsel Elliot Mincberg, who substituted for Chairman Conyers and fmr. Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Oliver Diaz, who was twice acquitted on tax and corruption charges.
Today, James Cordrey, legal editor at LexisNexis, confirmed that a jury in Mississippi returned a verdict against Sherwin-Williams in "Shermeker Pollard, et. al. v. The Sherman-Williams Co. Inc., et al." According to the E-mail Bulletin, issued by MEALEY'S LITIGATION REPORT: LEAD, that jury "handed down a $7 million verdict against The Sherwin-Williams Co. in favor of a boy who had claimed that the defendants were strictly liable and negligent for selling lead paint that was used on his house and resulted in his lead poisoning ... The verdict, handed down June 25, awarded economic damages only, as punitives were not sought."
The plaintiff Shermeker Pollard, reports Cordrey, individually and on behalf of her son Trellvion Gaines, filed the original complaint in Jefferson County Circuit Court against:
Sherwin-Williams
NL Industries
Robert Case d/b a Fayette Lumber & Supply Company
William Darsey, individually and d/b/a Darsey Hardware Company and Darsey Hardware & Furniture Company
Hirsch's Store.
The MS Hospital Association, currently in the midst of the state's budget controversy over Medicaid, also had a run in with MS GOP Chair Brad White.
Apparently, the Hospital Association had a meeting and invited representatives from the MS GOP and the MS Democrat Party. MHA agreed to make a $1000 contribution to each PAC for the appearance from their respective representatives.
Sam Hall confirmed and showed. Brad White initially confirmed, but then cancelled a couple of weeks before the meeting and did not cite a reason for his cancellation. The MHA apparently did not take too kindly to that. Not only did the MHA send the GOP's $1000 to the Dems, but their chief lobbyist also sent letters to each Republican member of the MS House.
From: Brad White [mailto:brad@msgop.org]
Sent: Friday, June 26, 2009 1:49 PM
To: brad@msgop.org
Subject: Steve Dickson
Importance: High
All:
Attached you will find a letter I received from Ms. Shannon Coker of the Hospital Association inviting me to speak at the MHAPAC’s breakfast on June 25th. Unfortunately, two weeks ago I had to cancel my appearance at this meeting. Yesterday, I received a note from Mr. Steve Dickson along with a copy of a letter he sent to each of the House Republicans. These letters are also attached. Why Senate Republicans were left off I am not sure.
After receiving Mr. Dickson’s letters I felt compelled to respond. My response is attached. A hard copy of this correspondence has been placed in the mail to you this morning.
Please let me know if you have any questions. I think this pretty much speaks for itself.
Before, moderate rural Democrats in the U.S. House were standing up to Nancy Pelosi in opposition to the “cap and trade” National Energy Tax (H.R. 2454).
They know how harmful this massive tax will be. But now, she’s been able to strong arm a number of them into a deal, and a vote may happen by Friday, June 26th.
This national energy tax would possibly be the largest tax increase in American history, it would cause gas and electricity prices to skyrocket, and add to our already spiraling federal deficit. We simply cannot afford this.
Our representatives must hear from us before Friday, and we must urge them to vote against H.R. 2454.
Your call today could change the game.
Enter your zip code below to get contact info for your member of Congress.
If you are looking for what to say, here’s a list of facts about how the energy tax would:
1. Reduce aggregate gross domestic product (GDP) by $9.6 trillion
2. Destroy an average of 1-3 million jobs, every year
3. Raise electricity rates 90 percent after adjusting for inflation
4. Raise inflation-adjusted gasoline prices by 74 percent
5. Raise residential natural gas prices by 55 percent
6. Raise an average family's annual energy bill by $1,500 annually
7. Increase the federal debt by 26 percent, which is $29,150 per person
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has put cap-and-trade legislation on a forced march through the House, and the bill may get a full vote as early as Friday. It looks as if the Democrats will have to destroy the discipline of economics to get it done.
Despite House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman's many payoffs to Members, rural and Blue Dog Democrats remain wary of voting for a bill that will impose crushing costs on their home-district businesses and consumers. The leadership's solution to this problem is to simply claim the bill defies the laws of economics.
Their gambit got a boost this week, when the Congressional Budget Office did an analysis of what has come to be known as the Waxman-Markey bill. According to the CBO, the climate legislation would cost the average household only $175 a year by 2020. Edward Markey, Mr. Waxman's co-author, instantly set to crowing that the cost of upending the entire energy economy would be no more than a postage stamp a day for the average household. Amazing. A closer look at the CBO analysis finds that it contains so many caveats as to render it useless.
Members of the Congressional Black Caucus on Friday organized a moment of silence on the House floor to honor of pop star Michael Jackson, who died Thursday of cardiac arrest.
“His heart couldn’t get any bigger, and yesterday, it arrested,” Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) said. He was joined at the microphone by Ways and Means Chairman Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) and Rep. David Scott (D-Ga.), among other CBC members.
“A young man has left Earth but now resides in the stars,” said Rep. Diane Watson (D-Calif.), who stood at another microphone with Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) and others.
“This was a multitalented person who entertained the world with his dynamic portrayals, his songs that he had written, his style of dancing,” Watson said. “We pay tribute to the culture that he has left behind.”
The Mississippi Religious Leadership Conference says the months-long impasse "has bordered on ethical irresponsibility."
"These actions leave many Mississippians agonizing over how they will survive what appears to be a political battle," the group wrote in a letter to Barbour and lawmakers.
Barbour and Attorney General Jim Hood predicted major problems if the fiscal year begins in less than a week without a spending plan. Hood said only services mandated by the Constitution - such as public schools, courts and mental institutions - will continue operating if the new year begins Wednesday without a budget.
He said other state agencies won't be able to spend money - forcing state troopers off the roads and furloughs for state workers. The Republican governor said he could use executive authority to keep essential services running, but Hood, a Democrat, said a court order would be required for some.
Linda Benson of Jackson said she's worried that her 97-year-old mother may lose benefits needed to keep her in a nursing home.
"It's ridiculous that they can't get something worked out, just totally ridiculous," Benson said. "It's putting so many people in jeopardy."
Barbour wants a $90 million tax on hospitals to help pay for Medicaid, the health-care program that serves nearly 600,000 lower-income Mississippians. He recently rejected a House and Senate plan for a $60 million tax that could increase to $90 million when federal stimulus funds expire. Barbour objected to a provision that would prevent him from making future cuts.
Barbour, named head of the Republican Governors Association Wednesday, has participated in fundraisers and news conferences in New Hampshire, Washington, D.C., and Virginia this week.
The chairman of law firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP contradicted testimony by former American International Group Inc. Chief Executive Officer Maurice “Hank” Greenberg at a civil trial over whether his private company improperly took $4.3 billion in AIG stock.
AIG attorney Theodore Wells rested his case today after Richard Beattie, chairman of New York-based Simpson Thacher, denied Greenberg’s claim that the lawyer told him in 2005 that Starr International Co. should end a deferred-compensation program for reasons of corporate governance.
“No, I knew nothing about the compensation plan at that time,” Beattie told federal jurors in New York.
AIG, formerly the world’s biggest insurer, has accused Starr International, or SICO, of improperly taking the money after ending the deferred compensation plan for AIG employees in retaliation for Greenberg’s March 2005 ouster. The company claims SICO unilaterally ended the retirement plan and violated its duty to continue compensating top AIG executives.
Beattie, who represented AIG’s independent directors, testified about a January 2005 dinner at the St. Regis Hotel in New York. He disagreed with the testimony of Greenberg, 84, who spent seven days on the witness stand during the trial. Greenberg testified that Beattie advised him at the dinner to separate SICO from AIG.
Former U.S. District Judge Charles Pickering Sr. will be the guest speaker at "Tea Party II: Spirit of 1776."
The event is scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Jones County Courthouse in Laurel. It is open to the public.
Pickering also served on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. He is a former state senator and former president of the Mississippi Southern Baptist Convention.
Hospital chiefs from Brookhaven, Meadville and Monticello agree that paying their share of the governor's desired $90 million hospital tax would cut deep into their bottom lines and in some instances could cause staff and service reductions. They also pointed out that taxing hospitals to pay for a state social service is unfair, saying the state should fund the program and not private businesses.
"What governor wants to do is balance the state budget on the backs of hospitals who are taking care of the poor people in Mississippi," said Alvin Hoover, chief executive officer of Brookhaven's King's Daughters Medical Center. "Whose responsibility is it to pay for Medicaid? Not hospitals. We're the service - people are supposed to pay hospitals to provide health care."
House and Senate budget negotiators Sunday night announced they had finally reached an agreement on the state's approximately $5 billion budget for fiscal year 2010, but Barbour announced Monday he would not call a special session to bring the spending plan to a vote in the Legislature. With the regular session over, lawmakers are dependent on the governor to recall them to Jackson to establish a budget before the new state fiscal year starts July 1 - one week away.
A federal judge has sentenced four people to prison for health care fraud, including former Moss Point Municipal Judge Jimmy Davis Hull.
The Moss Point-based conspiracy defrauded Medicare of more than $5 million in a scheme to send unqualified employees into the homes of elderly Medicare patients, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Evidence presented at trial in January showed the patients received bogus physical therapy treatments and Medicare was billed as much as $1,300 per visit.
The companies also had offices in Biloxi, Tchula, Durant and Jackson.
U.S. District Judge Louis Guirola Jr. gave prison terms of 10 years each to Pamela Hull and Jacqualine Crawley. Both were found guilty on multiple counts including conspiracy to commit fraud. They were owners or partners of Rehabilicare Inc., Mississippi Care Partners Inc., Select Care Inc. and Statewide Physical Medicine.
Kachikwu said he had once worked closely with Jefferson, testifying that in May 2004, he had gotten information that authorities in Nigeria were prepared to arrest the congressman, who was in the country trying to resurrect the telecommunications project. Kachikwu said he learned the arrest was based on complaints from a fellow NDTV executive that Jefferson had sought bribes from the company.
Kachikwu said he drove the congressman and iGate CEO Vernon Jackson to the airport about 5:30 a.m. so they could leave the country earlier than planned and keep Jefferson from being imprisoned.
Thursday's session began with an announcement by Judge T.S. Ellis III that he had excused a female juror. He didn't say why, other than it was for a valid reason.
She was replaced by one of four alternates, also a woman.
The county earlier this week paid M3A Architecture of Jackson $320,000 for the project.
An additional invoice obtained by The Clarion-Ledger shows the architect billing another $713,600.
The total for the design plan for the jail is now at $1.36 million.
That does not include other costs such as engineering fees and $150,000 the county paid to buy 20 acres in Raymond for the jail. Those costs bring the total to about $1.47 million.
Concerns about whether the county could afford to run the jail - coupled with the state saying it no longer needed the beds - led to the cancellation of the project earlier this month.
In a phone call moments ago with Blackburn's staff I learned that unless something changes immediately, i.e. before noon tomorrow, the Democrats have one or two more votes than necessary to pass Cap and Trade/Tax.
Therefore your role is more important than ever.
In a surprise move, Nancy Pelosi and the House Democrats have called for a floor vote on the dangerous, anti-growth "cap and tax" climate bill tomorrow.
t would create numerous regulations and spending programs and result in higher energy prices, gas prices, food prices, and unemployment. In our key vote alert to all House members, we cited a Heritage Foundation report that said the direct and indirect taxes created by this bill would approach almost $3,000 a year for a family of four. And real GDP losses would equal more than $9 trillion.
Please call your Tennessee congressman Lincoln Davis today and urge him to vote NO on the Waxman-Markey energy tax bill. He's wavering. Your call may push him to do the right thing.
You can reach him in Columbia at Phone: 931.490.8699 or DC at Phone: 202.225.6831.
One other undecided in our area (Mississippi) is Travis Childers (D-MS-01) Phone: 202-225-4306 Fax: 662-844-5437 and in Mississippi at Tupelo, MS 38804
p. (662) 841-8808
f. (662) 841-8845
Barbour is somebody to watch, say his Republican allies. He served as head of the Republican National Committee under Ronald Reagan, was a successful lobbyist, and then won praise for his Hurricane Katrina cleanup despite the Bush administration's bumbling efforts there. He's dismissing the talk, for now, as he focuses on helping Republicans win election to the House and Senate in 2010.
But that hasn't stopped the buzz in Washington, where we're already hearing of a 2012 ticket teaming Barbour with another two-term governor, Indiana's Mitch Daniels. He was a White House political director under Reagan and served as George W. Bush's first budget chief. Like Barbour, he's popular in his state, though quick to reject talk of his political future while still in office.
The GOP is developing a deep bench for the 2012 presidential primary. Sanford toppled off. Barbour has been mentioned as someone who belongs there. Term limits as governor of Mississippi and speeding up the clock to serve as RGA chairman pretty much ensure his spot on the bench, which also sports Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (Ga.) and Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, undoubtedly with several more to emerge.
The ultimate Washington insider, Barbour went home to Mississippi in 2003 and ran against the Democrat incumbent governor — a tough task for anyone. Far from a “sure thing,” he wasn’t afraid to wear out the shoe leather working hard for the prize — working at least as hard as he’d advised candidates for decades to do. He translated well from inside the Washington Beltway to “back home.” He earned his stripes as a candidate and the respect of voters in his home state, as well as his many friends and admirers around the country, defeating Gov. Ronnie Musgrove with the largest voter turnout for a gubernatorial race in the history of the state. From fundraising, campaign strategy, party-building, candidate recruitment and media training to knowing the ins and outs of Capitol Hill and the White House, Barbour’s leadership and expertise is unparalleled.
As governor of Mississippi, the Reagan Republican garnered the endorsement of several high-profile Democrats in his bid for reelection. And he did the state and the nation proud when his beloved Mississippi was hit hard by Hurricane Katrina, garnering comparisons to Rudy Giuliani in the tragic wake of Sept. 11. His efforts to evacuate residents prior to Katrina, crack down on looters and rebuild after the devastation now serve as a blueprint for future disaster management for other governors.
A hugely successful and trusted lobbyist, he’s as comfortable in the halls of power as when teaching Sunday school back home. Unapologetic for being a lobbyist, a Republican and a Southern white male, his cheerful endurance in politics and government speaks for itself. As chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC), he was known (and beloved) for treating the lowest-ranking employee with the same respect and friendliness as the highest-level donor or bigwig who entered the building. He walked the building, made an effort to know everyone’s name and made a national party headquarters an uncharacteristically pleasant place to work. To this day, a commonly uttered and affectionate beginning to Republican operatives’ sentences is “Back when Haley was chairman ... ” He hasn’t been chairman for more than a decade, but folks are still learning from his leadership.
A former aide in Reagan’s White House, and heralded as one of the best RNC chairmen in decades, Barbour has long been considered the gold standard of party leaders. His leadership as GOP party chairman helped usher in the first Republican House and Senate majorities in a generation.
As top Mississippi lawmakers continued wrangling Thursday over the unfinished state budget, the Republican governor and Democratic attorney general sharply disagreed about what happens if there's still no spending plan when the fiscal year begins next week.
Gov. Haley Barbour said he can run government by executive order. Attorney General Jim Hood said that's true for some agencies, but not all. Hood said Medicaid patients are at risk of losing critical services, including prescription coverage.
"Somebody's going to die ... if he lets this thing keep going in the direction it's going," Hood said, criticizing Barbour's decision to reject a tentative budget deal earlier this week.
Hood said while some "core functions" such as prisons, public schools and mental health facilities could operate under executive order, other services would have to stop unless a judge issues an order to keep them going.
For example, Hood said that without a court order, state troopers could be forced stay off the roads because the Department of Public Safety is not explicitly mentioned in the state constitution.
Gregg Harper secures $68M in MSU ground sensor research funding
WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Representative Gregg Harper (R–Miss.) announced $8 million in funding today for continued research and development of Advanced, Long Endurance Unattended Ground Sensor Technologies (UGS) housed at Mississippi State University.
“The unparalleled research conducted at Mississippi State University for the Unattended Ground Sensor program benefits the U.S. Special Operations Command’s ongoing efforts to provide real-time battlefield information to our troops,” said Congressman Gregg Harper. “I am encouraged by the House’s decision to include defense funding for this instrumental Mississippi research project.”
The Unattended Ground Sensor aims to achieve and maintain real-time battlefield situational awareness in modern military operations. The reliable and up-to-the-minute technology provides critical support for the U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) in their global war on terrorism. Specifically, the continued research and development will preserve vital USSOCOM reconnaissance and surveillance missions by providing robust target detection, imaging, tagging and tracking; high bandwidth conversions of communications data, both voice and video; and data exfiltration via satellite communications for display using advanced visualization technologies.
H.R. 2647, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010, passed the U.S. House of Representatives by a vote of 389 – 22 and now heads to the U.S. Senate for approval.
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A conservative man of faith and integrity, Gregg took the Oath of Office in January 2009 to serve the citizens of Mississippi’s Third Congressional District. Prior to being sworn-in, his peers elected him as the only freshman on the Republican Steering Committee in the House of Representatives. Gregg is the only Republican freshman appointed by Republican Leader John Boehner to the Committee on House Administration and also sits on the Committee on the Judiciary and the Committee on the Budget. Gregg currently resides in Pearl with his wife of 29 years, Sidney, and their two children, Livingston and Maggie, where the Harpers are active members of Crossgates Baptist church.
Lt. Governor Phil Bryant was kind enough to make time to answer a few questions about the current state of affairs on the budget impasse between Governor Haley Barbour and the Mississippi Legislature.
WHY DIDN’T THE LEGISLATURE DO ITS JOB AND HAVE A BUDGET BY MARCH?
A budget could have been completed by the end of March, but the problem is, we would be right back where we are now facing larger deficits in Medicaid and pushing Governor Barbour to make cuts well into the 2010 Fiscal Year. With the recession, revenue losses and federal stimulus money to deal with, the Governor, Speaker and I all agreed to postpone the session in April because we had little information regarding the stimulus money and how exactly that would affect our budget. Clearly, that was the prudent and fiscally-responsible thing to do, even if it meant delaying final action on the budget.
As I have said since the beginning of this process, for too long Mississippi has used budgets that would knowingly force the Governor to make cuts later in the year. It’s irresponsible to be making promises for money that would never be there. I have never wavered from these simple common sense principles that we as lawmakers should budget ourselves using real numbers and real approaches to the process.
AS ACTING GOVERNOR, WHY DIDN’T YOU CALL A SPECIAL SESSION AND PASS A BUDGET?
Governor Barbour and I agree on the important principles of a balanced budget with no anticipated deficits and moving money forward for 2011. I respect the Governor and his office, and to be consistent with the principles we agree upon, he will call a special session when there is an agreement. I do not intend on betraying this alliance by some sort of power grab just to satisfy those who want the Governor and I at odds.
IT SEEMS YOU BACKED OFF YOUR EARLIER SUPPORT OF THE HOUSE AND SENATE BUDGET PLAN ANNOUNCED SUNDAY NIGHT.
In my release Sunday night, I clearly stated, “Mississippi Senate and House leadership tentatively agreed upon a nearly $6 billion state budget for 2010…the issue of funding Medicaid with recurring revenue sources remains unresolved.” My position has not changed and I have consistently said we need a balanced budget, with no anticipated cuts by the Governor and money moved forward to 2011. We continue to have a tentative budget agreement.
DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU ARE JUST A SPECTATOR IN THIS PROCESS BETWEEN THE HOUSE LEADERSHIP AND GOVERNOR?
That has been the most ridiculous statement I have heard during this entire process. The spectators are those safely seated in the stands. I think people realize that we are dealing with very complex and detailed issues and they do not need to be taken lightly. I am constantly involved with discussions, meetings and decisions on the budget. We must keep good lines of communication open between the Governor, House and Senate in order to reach an agreement. I think Mississippians know that I have always been a consensus-builder without abandoning my conservative principles, and I’ll continue to offer that kind of leadership.
WILL GOVERNMENT IN MISSISSIPPI SHUT DOWN?
The Legislature can go to work as soon as the Governor calls us back. That will take an agreement on Medicaid funding, plain and simple. If we pass the end of the fiscal year, the Governor will issue an Executive Order for essential services.
Posted June 25, 2009 - 1:44 pm
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Friday, July 3, 2009
