Better MS Report

From Better Mississippi Report: Nothing like having the luxury of a taxpayer-funded tour around the district during the last week of a campaign to keep a candidate in the public eye. Just ask incumbent Public Service Commissioner Leonard Bentz. Bentz announced today a series of “ratepayer forums,” where Bentz and his staff will meet with [...]

From Better Mississippi Report: As Republican gubernatorial candidate Phil Bryant swings across the state taking credit for this weekend’s sales tax holiday, Better Mississippi Report wants to set the record straight. Other than serving as president of the state Senate, Bryant had NOTHING to do with the legislation. State Rep. Percy Watson, a Democrat from [...]

The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal: The campaign for lieutenant governor has devolved into a debate over whether Treasurer Tate Reeves, the front-runner to capture the open lieutenant’s governor’s seat, is a watchdog for the taxpayers or a lapdog. Reeves’ Republican primary opponent, Senate President Pro Tem Billy Hewes of Gulfport, has run a television ad [...]

Bill Minor, syndicated columnist: In the Republican race for lieutenant governor, Billy Hewes is on the right track to unmask his opponent, Treasurer Tate Reeves, for claiming to be the “taxpayers’ watchdog.” Previously, published reports have shown Reeves fattened his campaign war chest with contributions from people who handle state bond business that the treasurer [...]

GOP gubernatorial candidate sent campaign messages to taxpayer-funded school teacher e-mail accounts From Better Mississippi Report: JACKSON (Wednesday, July 6, 2011) – Republican gubernatorial candidate Phil Bryant’s weekly campaign e-mails have appeared unsolicited in teachers’ in-boxes across the Rankin County Public School system, according to documents obtained by Better Mississippi Group. Better Mississippi Group questions [...]

The Clarion-Ledger: The streets of Indianola were still glistening from a rare rainfall in this bone-dry summer, and 11 neatly dressed Republicans stood in a side room of the Sunflower County Library waiting for lieutenant governor candidate Tate Reeves. He had a full schedule and arrived about 25 minutes late for a one-hour meet-and-greet event. [...]

The Clarion-Ledger: The Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians will have a new chief — the first woman to hold the title. Tribal Council member Phyliss J. Anderson defeated Miko Beasley Denson, who was seeking a second term, in a runoff election held Tuesday. Anderson, 50, received 1,741 votes compared to 1,408 votes for Denson, according [...]

THE CLARION-LEDGER: Several questions from members of a packed audience during a Tuesday night political forum at Jackson City Hall focused on issues with the Hinds County jail. The forum, sponsored by Women for Progress, featured Democratic candidates for sheriff, circuit clerk and tax assessor. But the lion’s share of the attention was on the [...]

THE CLARION-LEDGER: Rubel L. Phillips, a pioneer in the Mississippi Republican Party whose two campaigns for governor in the 1960s set the stage for winning statewide campaigns that would come later, has died at a Ridgeland retirement community. He was 86. Phillips died Saturday at the Blake at Township, officials with Sebrell Funeral Home in [...]

THE CLARION-LEDGER: State Sen. Billy Hewes admits he faces a unique challenge in running for lieutenant governor. Though he’s been in the Legislature for 20 years, the Gulf Coast resident has lacked the statewide name recognition of his opponent, Tate Reeves, who has been elected treasurer twice and hales from the more centrally located Rankin [...]