If you had to vote again in the Mayor's race. . .

[lamarrebel]

Although the election was less than two months ago, there has been heated and ongoing discussion of the Johnny DuPree Mayoral administration and the problems within the Police Department. I am curious if anyone has changed their minds or would now have voted differently if the election were held today?

[Sir Mickey Mouse]

Personally, in my own humble opinion, I believe that had the election been scheduled for this fall, one or more of the candidates wouldn't even be QUALIFIED to run.

[aaron]

I am not hearing about anything that I didn't hear about before the election. I think at least 90% of the 7,000 that voted for Dupree wouldn't change their minds if he was convicted and jailed.

[lamarrebel]

Unfortunately, I think with the overall population of Hattiesburg, you are correct. It's like Bill Cliinton all over again -- no matter how much he shamed the American people and the honor and prestige of the Presidency, the Democrats backed him up.

I've only heard the vaguest of rumors linking DuPree to anything illegal, but I guarantee you that even if he were ever indicted for something (pure hypothetical, now), there would be voices in the African-American community calling yelling white racism in the Bush appointee's U.S. Attorney's office. We heard it when Laurel's Thaddeus Edmondson was brought up on bribery charges by the state, and when former Jackson City Councilman Louis Armstrong was indicted on similar charges of rezoning a strip club.

The imperial arrogance of DuPree and his hacks will only continue to divide or city and drive its residents to Lamar County, Petal and other outlying areas. With more of the Republican vote out by 2009, I wonder if the Republicans will even really put anyone up? I don't think Carter Carroll will run, and a Fordice-ian style non-politician won't play well in a city with Hattiesburg's demographics.

[Sir Mickey Mouse]

You're right... Laurel folks see no wrong in Edmonson's conviction, either. The new mayor Melvin Mack just appointed, and the council approved, Mary Edmonson (Thaddeus' wife) to a city position created for her and 4 others "because they helped me on my campaign." Mary Edmonson ran for city council of Ward 7 to replace Thaddeus when he went to prison and she actually told people "Everything my husband knew about politics, he learned from me."

Scary.

[lamarrebel]

yes...I am beginning to be afraid that Melvin Mack may prove to be even worse for Laurel than Johnny DuPree has been for Hattiesburg. Quite a scary thought.

With these newly created positions and Mack's appointees, I am reminded to the words of Andrew Jackson, "to the victor, belong the spoils!" Democratic spoil system pandering at its worst.

[lamarrebel]

I guess I also forgot that with HCG gone, there are hardly any DuPree supporters on here...except for the impersonators.

No. 700!! (Hank Aaron here I come!)

[Omerto]

I agree with all your appointments, Hawkeye. But, what about you? You ought to get something out of the coup? I'd certainly support it!!

[2002usmgrad]

Who would do PR?

[2002usmgrad]

I'd imagine that would keep them at bay, at least until like november.

[noway]

Queen Mother you have my vote!!!But I think bartspoon could be in internal affairs?

[Monkey]

Queen Mom, can I be your Monkey Helper Girl???
:smt038

[Monkey]

Well, Kong's got my vote for Mayor! Noway's a great chief! and Queen Mom -- I'll protect us all from the media!! Nobody wants a monkey on their back!!!!!
:smt038 :-D

[reality]

If I could vote again, I would write in King Kong :jester: and he would appoint noway as Chief of Police:stop: and we would live happily ever after.


The End

Hubba: be City Attorney
Tully: be Bennie's JOB
Reality: be Comodore
ynotme: Fire Chief

Wow I hate I wasn't online last night. Hawkeye, and everyone else who agreed, thanks for the vote of confidence, and yes, I would accept the job if offered. :p Guess that means I would be working along side King Kong!! WOOOHOOOO!!! :smt038 Definitely Queen as PR, and all the rest have my vote as well! :-D

[lamarrebel]

If I actually thought I could have a prayer of winning, I'd stay in the City of Hattiesburg (but in the Lamar County SD) and think about running myself in '09. That's how disguested I am with what I am seeing in the City. After all, my undergraduate training was in public administration, and I'd bring an outsiders fire much like Fordice did in 1991 or as Frank Melton is doing now in Jackson. We have an admistration afflicted with a growing cancer of incompetence, patronage, and political hacks running City Hall, and it, somehow, has to stop.

I have a general three prong test that I would apply when deciding to run for any public office. First, what do I have to offer the public? That's most important, and if I can't answer that question to my own satisfaction, then the test stops there. Second, am I satisfied with the job the incumbent is doing, if he is running again? I could answer yes on the first test and no on the second. The third test, is if the chance of winning is there. That's where the test fails here -- I believe that now any viable challenger to Johnny DuPree and his gang will have to come within the African American community. A Don Quixote effort is simply not my cup of tea.

[HubCityMan1912]

Well said hubbarrister, and astute observations (although the #3 saddens me to admit 'tis true)...

[bartspoon]

My frist task in internal affairs would be to stop the rumors that Hawkeye has been cooking up the dogs he has been catching...and feeding them to the inmates..
and to not allow HD or WDAM access to our dog catching facilities, or our jail.

[lamarrebel]

Have sort of a reverse news blackout? Let Bob and the Indpendent in, but blow off WDAM and the Hattiesburg American? That would be an interesting sight.

[aaron]

Just get 7,000 friends and you can do anything you want, no matter what any newspaper prints about you. Then lock everyone out and really start getting your own agenda accomplished.

[ynotme297]

i agree with aaron. first you have to get the voters off their butts. there were enough voters out there to change the outcome of the race, but they just didn`t care enough, well now they are crying foul. serves them right. if you don`t vote, then you got no say. jmo

[Omerto]

. . . there were enough voters out there to change the outcome of the race . . . jmo

I'm not so sure about this one (not to be disagreeable or confrontational) but most recent research shows Hattiesburg may have already "turned the corner" in terms of its "demographics".

Rowell had the most sophisticated "get out the vote effort" in Hattiesburg's history. The informed conclusion is that the most folks who visit this site that live within the corp. limits of Hattiesburg are now the "minority." The highly touted "60 percent majority " just wasn't/isn't here anymore.

Research on consumer purchasing in Hattiesburg is far more sophsticated than election research--even by the GOP (Sorry about that, Hubbarrister).

Within the corp. limits of Hattiesburg, the "fastest growing" categories of new businesses in the past two years have been "Check Cashers" and "Title Loan" companies. (I, personally, would have bet on "Home Security Systems" but I was wrong).

Aaron, and others, have been right in previous posts. . .it's going to take an organized, orchestrated effort to turn the City around. Why don't we become "constructive" on how to do that????

[bartspoon]

I agree completly Omerto, how do we organize it. Do we need to get the churches envolved. That is a tremendous number of folks. We need the mailing list of the big church's. And we need the Rowell campaign mailing list. And we need the young people. Im not sure if USM would be a good source of voters who think like we do. But we need to do something quick. The next election will be here before we know it. We need to be poised and ready for action. This site is the place to start, but it telegraph's our strategy to the opposition. Hubbarrister, what would you do if you were the strategy maker of our "Get the right folks registered and voting".

[aaron]

In 3 years, I would start a "Get out and Vote" campaign instead of the political mudslinging. I wouldn't use this campaign to promote one candidate or the other, just Get Informed and Vote. I would also advise the Republicans to pay for this unbiased campaign.

[2002usmgrad]

In 3 years, I would start a "Get out and Vote" campaign instead of the political mudslinging. I wouldn't use this campaign to promote one candidate or the other, just Get Informed and Vote. I would also advise the Republicans to pay for this unbiased campaign.

If the republicans paid for it, it would not be viewed as an unbiased campaign, unless the democrats chiped in equally as well. I think there should be one, but no party should be responsible to pay for it. I also think that the democratic party in Hattiesburg would not chip in. I feel they don't want the people they are trying to win over to be educated on political issues, then they might actually look into it and figure out why they don't want to vote for the democrats' candidate.

[hubcap]

In 3 years, I would start a "Get out and Vote" campaign instead of the political mudslinging. I wouldn't use this campaign to promote one candidate or the other, just Get Informed and Vote. I would also advise the Republicans to pay for this unbiased campaign.
The Jaycees tried that, and it was largely met with apathy. But it doesn't have to be that way.

I'm telling you, there are resources that are untapped. You just have to expand your horizons.

[nonnegotiable]

I'm not very knowledgeable about the how-tos of running a political campaign. But I remember reading that Carl Rove (regardless of whatever you think of the current controversy) was absolutely masterful during the last presidential election in increasing voter turn-out and educating voters about the issues. Maybe someone (perhaps Barrister) could research some of the strategies he used and tell us how we could tailor them to fit our local situation.

I don't think you can rally the USM votes. The Kerry camp was successful in registering college students - but it was a presidential election. IMO, students are probably more apathetic than residents.

To be successful, you're going to have to sway a great number of those who voted for Dupree this time to move away from him. I think this can only be done if the corruption in our city government is fully exposed and those responsible are held accountable. Only then, can you hope that some of Dupree's current supporters will decide they don't want to go down with a sinking ship! Perhaps then, they'll look to a different candidate. We'll need someone who can bridge the gaps in a divided city!

I also like the idea of an organized group of individuals bonded together for the purpose of recreating stability, integrity, honesty and vision in our city's government. Now how do we do that? We need ideas like the ones we're offering here and then we need a leader! Any thoughts?

We also need to pray for guidance and leadership as we attempt to tackle all of these difficult issues! This is a big order for a small group on a website - it's not too big for God, though!


Amen to that! But the only way the Democrats got them to vote was to offer them a bucket of fried chicken! I guess the only way to get to most people is through there stomach. My wife's grandma told me the only way my wife got me was through her cooking!

[beggingforrelief]

As a political novice there are some things that a candidate can do to unseat an incumbent.

a) show where an incumbent has benefited by personal gains while in office. Than show the voting area where they could of had the same service but had not received it.

b) get out into the enemies territory and ask what there concerns are and how you would address them.

c) don't promise something that you cannot provide. But in politics that is hard to do to buy votes.

d) no infighting within your own camp or party.

Some of the things that friends (afro-americans) of mine have told me after the election was that Betsey heard what they were saying but they don't thing she was listening to them. Also they were not dedicated to voting for DuPree but peer pressure provided by Rev. Fairley's terrorist group made it uncomfortable to vote against DuPree for fear of "community retribution".

This came from a resident from the east side of HAttiesburg who was approached about putting up a DuPree sign in their yard, Whenthey balked, peer presure was applied until they gave in.

[aaron]

Well, I don't want to get into a big discussion about something that's over, but Betsy Rowell may have had one of the most advanced campaigns ever, but she might as well have been out on the side of the road with a yard sign in her hand after Hattiesburg First got finished.

I'd like to see the results after a solid Republican campaign is run with no mudslinging, and don't even talk about the your opponent. Just talk about yourself and become believable and trustworthy. Rowell just didn't have it. Personally, I think someone coming from the outside that wasn't in Hattiesburg politics before would be a good move.

[lamarrebel]

I agree to an extent, but I believe especially four years from now that this non-politician will have to come from the African American community. I believe that given the shifting numbers no white candidate can win, and the only reason there is still a 3-2 white majority on the council is due to the way the districts are drawn after the last census, which still showed a narrow white majority. Both Wards 1 and 4 have close to 40 percent BVAPs today judging from the election returns, where was 2 is probably 90 percent BVAP and ward 5 75 or 80 percent (it includes Timberton) The sad thing, with so much of it beholden to the Rev. Ken Fairley, I don't think you will see any improvement. Only when someone emerges who can inspire the trust of all of our city, both black and white, and who will work tirelessly to address the problems throughout our city, will we again begin to move forward again as a City.

[bartspoon]

I just find it hard to believe that the majority of register voters in Hattiesburg are black. Its just that all most all of the black registered voters voted. Im trying to find out now how many people registered to vote in the last 4 years. I bet the difference between the morgan defeat (700 votes) and rowell and dupree (over a thousand) is the number of new registered voters. when you have the fairley machine intimidating and picking up kids at the basketball courts who will be 18 at election time and geting them to register, and draging bumbs off the street. I worked the east street precinct and i can tell you. there were lots of 18 year old voters there. They would come in droves..like a bus just pulled up. Voting for the frist time. Now you dont see that in the white precincts. Im trying to find what the black white registered voters ratio is.. but that is not easy to get. If anyone can help i would appreciate it.

[Omerto]

I wish Hattiesburg First had put their resources behind a credible African American Independent candidate who could have split the Black vote. I think that is Hattiesburg's only hope for the future--a credible African American running as an Independent who can draw Black votes off Dupree.

[lamarrebel]

The turnout percentage in the bigger heavily African American voting precincts (i.e. Rowan Eaton, boht 95 percent plus black) was roughly the same as that at Thames (80 percent white). I would venture the voter turnout was roughly 55 percent black, with 98-99 percent of it going to DuPree and DuPree winning roughly 10 or 12 percent of the white vote.

Without having new actual census figures there is no way of knowing the exact numbers for sure. I can only base my opinions based on the trends (heavy white flight into Lamar County and Petal since 2000 (look at student enrollments at Oak Grove), big ongoing population shifts going on in Highland Park, Blair, and to a lesser extent at Camp, Woodley and Thames. No whites are moving into the East 6th Street USO precinct or Eaton, but blacks are moving into historically white precincts in ever increasing numbers. The result of this is that Morgan lost by 700 votes in '01 -- Betsy by 2400 this year (7100 to 4700). Even if the GOP had run a perfect campaign without any divisiveness, I do not believe Betsy, LJD, Senne or Elvis could have won.

[HubCitySlicker]

I wish Hattiesburg First had put their resources behind a credible African American Independent candidate who could have split the Black vote. I think that is Hattiesburg's only hope for the future--a credible African American running as an Independent who can draw Black votes off Dupree.

The Chain Gang tried that before and lost then, too. People are smarter than that, although Chain apparently doesn't realize it. Chain and his Republican cohorts ought to try to do something constructive, rather than destructive.

[HubCitySlicker]

Well, I don't want to get into a big discussion about something that's over, but Betsy Rowell may have had one of the most advanced campaigns ever, but she might as well have been out on the side of the road with a yard sign in her hand after Hattiesburg First got finished.

I'd like to see the results after a solid Republican campaign is run with no mudslinging, and don't even talk about the your opponent. Just talk about yourself and become believable and trustworthy. Rowell just didn't have it. Personally, I think someone coming from the outside that wasn't in Hattiesburg politics before would be a good move.

:idea:

[Omerto]

I'd like to see the results after a solid Republican campaign is run with no mudslinging, and don't even talk about the your opponent. Just talk about yourself and become believable and trustworthy.

Good point, Aaron.

The closest thing was Mike Randoph's campaign for the Supreme Court. The Canons of Judicial Ethics (how's that for an oxymoron) prohibit you from saying anything negative about your opponent. The Canons didn't stop certain GOP leaders in Forrest and Lamar Counties from saying negative stuff about Randolph, but it was the type campaign you are seeking.

Randolph's local organization man, and Randolph's personal connections in the African-American community in Hatttiesburg, produced sizable margins in Forrest County. As I recall, Randolph even carried Lamar County, despite local opposition to his appointment by Governor Barbour. (I may be wrong about Lamar and wouldn't mind being corrected.)

My point is that I agree with you regarding a credible candidate.

I also think, though, as I said in earlier post, that you are going to need a well-financed, credible African-American running as an Independent if you're going to have a chance.

[JB2379]

I know that it is too late to change the outcome of the recent mayoral election. However, in four yeras, I would't mind running against Dupree in the democratic primary just to split the black vote. I know a lot of people in Hattiesburg and have a lot of family and friends here, who would vote for me, even though they may attend Dupree and Fairley's church. This would be a very goody way to get Dupree out of office. It's just an idea. I'm not really a politician or affiliated with any party, but I would do this in the best interest of the city of Hattiesburg.

[lamarrebel]

Actually, that isn't true. The Canon of Judicial Ethics does not prohibit per se negative attacks against judicial candidates. Look at the attacks Chuck McRae launched against Jess Dickinson in 2002 (Jess's face was transposed on a cow in one ad). Negative attacks are, for better or worse, overall protected by the first amendment. Canon 5 does prohibit a judicial candidate from knowingly misrepresenting the identity, present position, qualifications or other fact concerning the candidate or any opponent.

That being said, both Mike Randolph and Court of Appeals Judge Joe Lee ran campaigns the way judicial campaigns should be run (free of negative ads), other than the fact that Randolph again raised an uncomfortable amount of money for the race. I have long found it outrageous that individuals can only give $1,000.00 to Presidential candidates, but can give $5,000.00 to appellate judge candidates in Mississippi.

Why were many Republicans in the area opposed to Mike Randolph's appointment? Many thought his record was not conservative enough, and that the Governor was ignoring his own campaign rhetoric on issues such as tort reform. As needed as tort reform has been, those laws will mean nothing if the Supreme Court were to strike them down. It'd be glory days for the MTLA all over again. While Randolph has done much defense work in his career, in recent years he's made bundles doing hard core plaintiff's work. In 2002, he admitted to both the Forrest and Lamar County GOP groups supporting Larry Buffington instead of Jess Dickinson, who was endorsed by the State GOP. Buffington, whom I personally like and is a good judge when it comes to family and other issues that traditionally belong in chancery court, is little more than Chuck McRae minus the bad behavior when it comes to tort cases. Plaintiff's lawyers pre tort reform were looking for ways to guise their suits under the grand term of "equity" to get them into Buffington's Chancery Court, instead of Circuit Court, where juries ultimately decide. John Deakle, the biggest plaintiff's hack around here, referred to Buffington as one of "our" judges. Because of this, I thought Judge RIP Pritchard or Rep. Joey Fillingane among others would have been a better choice.

Although I did not want another Judge from the coast, I was prepared to support David Ishee from Gulfport, as I concluded he was clearly the most conservative candidate in the race. After he was effectively bribed out of the race, by being appointed to the Court of Appeals, I know Fred Drews all but openly endorsed Joe Lee and the Lamar County GOP leadership basically told its members to vote their conscience at a meeting, while highlighting the strengths and weeknesses of both candidates (Lee's BIPEC rating was 45).

[Omerto]

As I said, I wouldn't mind being corrected.

By the way, what was Justice Randolph's percentage of the vote in Lamar County? I really can't remember.

[lamarrebel]

I do not have the exact numbers in front of me, but Justice Randolph won with over 60 percent of the vote in Lamar County. Judge Lee carried some of the southern precincts in the county (Lumberton/Purvis -- he grew up in the Talowah community), but Randolph won overwhelmingly in Oak Grove and Sumrall.

That being said, the results were hardly unexpected. Randolph had the Governor's juggernaut behind him, and plastered the airwaves with television ads over the month leading up to the election. Judge Lee refused to accept any contributions of over $2000 and only aimed to raise $70K for his overall campaign. It was about like George Washington sending in 30,000 troups to put down the Whiskey Rebellion; with overwhelming numbers, you are probably going to win easily!