Butch Brown Confirmation Questions

The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal suggests the following questions for Butch Brown in a biting editorial.

Why did MDOT not follow legislative intent in administering the Vision 21 Program, instead parceling out projects on a commission district apportionment?

Does MDOT have a plan to propose for raising adequate highway funding for full implementation of Vision 21 in a timely way, and for funding special needs related to economic development?

What plan, if any, does MDOT use to regularly communicate its decisions and policies to the Legislature, particularly the transportation committees, and to the governor's office?

How much does MDOT spend annually on executive-level travel expenses for out-of-state meetings and conferences, and what method of accountability is used to quantify the results of the travel expenditure?

Apparently the answers to these questions don't really matter, and the committee will just go through the motions:

Brown has said he sees no reason why he shouldn’t be reconfirmed. [Republican Senate Highways and Transportation Committee Chairman Tom] King has said he believes Brown has the votes to be reconfirmed.

I think I would question his judgement in writing a letter on MDOT stationary on behalf of Douglas Hodgkin who was convicted in 1987 of capital murder in the death of Jean Elizabeth Gillies, a University of Mississippi student who was raped, sodomized and strangled.

MDOT Executive Director Butch Brown sent at least two letters on agency letterhead supporting Hodgkin's parole, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press through a public records request.

The letters in Hodgkin's Parole Board file date back as far as 1996 and coincide with the years he was eligible for parole.

In letters dated Nov. 16, 2004, and May 1, 2006, Brown describes himself as a former elected official, current head of a state agency and "close friend of Douglas Hodgkin's father, Will, a gentleman of utmost integrity with the highest moral character."

Will Hodgkin was a successful banker in central Kentucky.

Brown, the MDOT chief and former Natchez mayor, wrote that he was "acutely aware of the horrible crime Douglas committed" but he "has been adequately punished" and "serving additional jail time will serve no useful purpose."

In a telephone interview, Brown said he still believes in second chances.

"I don't know the Hodgkins, I only know a friend of theirs who was our consultant on the bridge replacement on the Mississippi Gulf Coast ... and as I recall, they weren't trying to get him paroled, they were trying to get him relocated to Kentucky."

Brown's letter, however, said "Douglas Hodgkin deserves an opportunity to be paroled."

It also says Brown was a "close friend" of Hodgkin's father. Brown now says "that's a stretch. I'm not a close, personal friend, I think I met him once."

"I don't think I even wrote the letter, to be honest with you," Brown said. "I think I just put it on my letterhead."
He said he doesn't know who may have composed the letter.

You can attend the hearing and even speak at it.

Mississippi Department of Transportation Executive Director Larry L. “Butch” Brown’s confirmation hearing will be held Tuesday at 2 p.m. in room 216 at the state Capitol. Anyone who wishes to speak for up to five minutes will be allowed to sign up to do so at the meeting. The reconfirmation hearing will be held the day before the Legislature reconvenes. The committee will likely vote on Brown’s nomination on Wednesday, as they can only call a meeting while the Legislature is in session and if they approve his nomination, it will likely go before the full Senate on Thursday.