A Liberal Praises Haley Barbour

Ellen Ratner calls Haley Barbour a Katrina Hero

As one of the almost million volunteers who went to help after Hurricane Katrina (about one out of every 230 adults in the United States) I have seen the devastation and recovery first hand. At first it seemed totally unbelievable, as if the country had moved from first world status to third world status in twenty-four hours. Basics such as clean water and soap, luxuries in places like poverty ridden Sudan were not available. People were stuck in the Superdome without a way out. This, I thought could not be America.

What we learned from Hurricane Katrina is that good leaders become great leaders and others are shown to be empty suits. It also became clear that government has a job to do but only local communities can implement those tasks. Locals know who needs what and how to cut through the bureaucracy. They also can hinder response (such as zoning out housing solutions) but in general it is the best line of action and defense.

I have written about Gov. Haley Barbour several times but I really can't write enough about what he did after the storm. I knew Barbour from his days as RNC Chair and to say that our politics are different would be an understatement. However, he ran the storm response like FDR ran the recovery from the Great Depression. Mrs. Barbour went out all over the state without saying a word that she was the governor's wife and reported who needed what every night. Gov. Barbour responded by making sure local needs were being being met.

There were no political calculations on his part, it was just helping as needed. He has moved around the Gulf Coast as if he was just the good neighbor from across the street. I've been around politicians for 19 years as a reporter and Barbour is a master of being totally present to his citizens. It is a rare gift.

Bennie Thompson on Abortion

A number of reporters mentioned U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson's recent town hall meeting where abortion opponents asked him his position on the health care bill in regards to abortion. He glazed over it saying it was no where mentioned.

WLBT:

People stepped up to the microphones to ask Thompson questions that ranged from whether abortion was contained in the bill and if illegal immigrants are covered.

The congressman said the answer to both was no.

JFP:

Skeptics of the bill voiced their questions regarding including abortion funding and the cost to taxpayers. When asked if abortion would be covered in the bill, Thompson replied: "Abortion is not mentioned anywhere in this bill." Many in the crowd shouted back at him that it is mentioned.

Clarion Ledger:

One of the most common concerns among opponents at Thompson's meeting on Monday at the M.W. Stringer Grand Lodge on Lynch Street was that abortion or death counseling for elderly would become a part of the plan.

"Can you tell me that federal dollars will not go to abortion?" Jim Chamblee asked.

As Thompson told the crowd that abortion was not mentioned in the bill, skeptical audience members nodded disapprovingly and yelled back at him, saying it was.

The Jackson Free Press rightfully criticized this answer.

When asked about abortion, he would only say that it is "nowhere mentioned in the bill."

According to http://www.factcheck.org, while the main bill does not mention abortions, the Caps Amendment adopted July 30 states that some abortions "shall" be covered by the public option plan. This amendment is modeled after the Hyde Amendment under Medicaid in which the government pays for some abortions in cases of rape, incest or to save the life of a mother.

Elected officials should tamp down rhetoric, hold respectful forums and give us the complete information we need to make intelligent decisions.

More than that, Thompson's colleague in Mississippi, U.S. Rep. Travis Childers, actually makes "abortion" the cornerstone of his possible opposition to the health care bill.

Congressman Travis Childers (D-Mississippi) was among a group of 19 pro-life Democrats who wrote a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, informing her that they would only support health care legislation that "explicitly excludes" federal funding of abortions.

"When I was a candidate, since I've been in Congress, and today, I have said and I continually say, and I will not veer from this -- federal funding for abortion is a deal-breaker for me on any health care reform bill, period," he states. "If it is included, that's automatically lost my vote on anything. I'm very firm on that."

Democrats in Mississippi can't have it both ways. Either their health care push in Congress includes abortion and Thompson tried to mislead his constituents and the press, or it does not and Childers is playing political games with the abortion issue.

Regime Change at MDOTourism

Butch Brown requires reconfirmation by the Mississippi Senate to continue as Executive Director of MDOT. The Clarion Ledger has actually called for a "regime change" at MDOT, and for Brown's ouster:

"Regime change" became a popular phrase during this decade for the act of removing a person who is perceived to use his or her authority in a manner that's less than altruistic and particularly for those who rule with an iron fist.

It's time for "regime change" at the top of the Mississippi Department of Transportation.

The state Senate should withhold confirmation of Brown's reappointment. MDOT would greatly benefit from new leadership as an agency and the state's Transportation Commission would benefit from breaking up what has degenerated - for whatever reason - into an untenable but reliable 2-1 split on many vital policy matters.

Butch Brown has led MDOT on several misadventures. Brown, Brown and Minor agreed that the 10th floor of MDOT's headquarters in Jackson needed an expansion and renovation of their executive offices and their meeting room at a time when many Mississippians were living in tents on the Gulf Coast in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

MDOT's present leadership also decreed that the agency needed a $530,000 helicopter - ostensibly because MDOT had an extra half million dollars to spend on law enforcement and also because its leaders said they needed the chopper to search for the elusive mystery tankers of untaxed gasoline supposedly being smuggled into the state.

To date - after what we're sure has been years of aerial surveillance - no such sinister smuggling operation has been uncovered. What a shock!

The latest? MDOT travel records show that over the last four years Director Brown spent $80,316 and Commissioner Brown spent $69,187. Hall has spent $12,638 and Minor spent $44,505. Wayne Brown and Butch Brown took trips out of the country, including Puerto Rico, Brussels, Budapest and Vienna. Wayne Brown even went to Cancun.

The commissioners from the northern and southern districts also seem to agree with Brown that none of them particularly likes working with Central District Commissioner Dick Hall. They voted to move Hall's staff out of the building and into a trailer in Rankin County.

The state Senate can bring "regime change" to MDOT and should do so.

The reasons for ousting Butch Brown go on forever. Whether it is traveling the world on the taxpayer's dollar, or the termination of Harry Lee James, or the political termination of Shirley Rutland, or his determination to bulldoze historic Church Street in Port Gibson in opposition to local wishes and those of their elected Transportation Commissioner.

The Sun Herald has called him "intoxicated by power" with inexcusable arrogance. Even the columnist Bill Minor (not the Commissioner Bill Minor) has been critical of Butch Brown in the wake of Katrina who said Coast folks were "seeing no results and a litany of excuses" and calling Brown's responses "arrogant."

The Clarion Ledger mentioned the helicopter. Consider this from The Magnolia Report:

"I have no idea why the helicopter was purchased or what it's being used for. I know that it's parked out at Hawkins Field. I know that MDOT has a pilot hired to fly it. I've been told it's been used to fly (MDOT executive director) Butch Brown back and forth to Natchez." Central District Transportation Commissioner Dick Hall on the helicopter MDOT bought from the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics

"That helicopter has never been used to fly me to Natchez and if Dick said that, then he's just a liar, a pure and simple liar." MDOT Executive Director Butch Brown’s response to Hall’s allegations.

So then, why did Butch buy the helicopter? To find that illusive gas tanker on the Mississippi River that was bypassing state gas taxes? Yeah, right. They should ask him about that at his confirmation hearing!

Tupelo Daily Journal Endorses Wicker

Today the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal endorsed Cochran, Wicker, Childers.

Wicker for Senate – Wicker, like Cochran, has proven that he understands the importance of securing federal discretionary spending producing jobs and prosperity that otherwise would go elsewhere. Some call it pork; we call it investment. He was an effective 1st District congressman who has stayed in close touch with his constituents and deserves a chance to prove he can carry that effectiveness into the Senate over the better part of a full term. Given the likely strengthened Democratic majority in the Senate, that may require a less party-oriented approach on Wicker’s part.

We have considerable respect for the accomplishments of Musgrove, especially as an education-oriented governor and lieutenant governor. But Wicker gets the nod on experience at both the federal and state levels and a proven ability to deliver in areas critical to the economic success of our region and state.