[Ladd] Haley’s March to the Sea

by Donna Ladd
Jan. 13, 2004

On the JFP blog recently, someone asked me if I was willing to give Gov. Haley Barbour the benefit of the doubt. That question gave me pause. I think of myself as independent-minded, free of party affiliation, fair-but-tough and willing to consider many viewpoints, even as I refuse to defend any view blindly. The problem, of course, is that Barbour really pissed me off during this campaign. It wasn't because he's a Republican—duh, he gets to be, even if I don't care for today's prevailing corporate Republicanism—but because I believed he cleared a path of destructiveness through the state, a modern-day march to the sea, to get there.

Barbour played to our worst instincts with his race-tinged rhetoric, like the wink-wink criticisms of Musgrove for "attacking our flag." How he wouldn't ask for his photo to be taken off the über-racist Council of Conservative Citizens Web site. His not-so-subtle jab at Head Start mothers. How his party push-polled white neighborhoods with loaded questions to scare people into voting for him. Hell, even the wedding photo his wife sent around in Northeast Jackson showed their wedding cake with Colonel Reb on top of it.

We don't need this. We have a history of problems in the state, and we've come a long way, and we still have work to do. Together. The last thing we need is the national GOP machine chugging in and trying to make us hate each other again. At what price? Potentially undoing all the dedicated healing that people like William Winter have accomplished over the years?

So, do I have it in me to give Barbour the chance to be a good governor without going all snarky on him before he's even inaugurated? Perhaps he just used his expertise at Southern Strategy politicking to get into the office where he can change things and unify the state. Maybe he truly thought playing the race card was the only way he could win and then, rather perversely, come in and save us from race division. Perhaps.

I finally settled on an answer: It's up to Barbour. This wasn't our game; the new governor needs to convince me, and other Mississippians, that he deserves the benefit of our doubt. Can he do that? Sure, if he will. He's made a bit of a start already by appointing a respected man like Reuben Anderson as head of his transition team. He's kept some good people on board (and fired some questionable ones). Indications are, he's even kept some people who have some major differences with him; for instance, Corrections Commissioner Chris Epps, who has progressive thoughts on alternative sentencing. Barbour should now listen to him.

In fact, the best way the governor can prove that he is not the sum of his campaign is to engage immediately in the bread-and-butter issues that affect everyday Mississippians. He needs to prove, and quickly, that he was not sent back here to give away the farm (or more jobs, or constitutional rights) to big industry. He needs to get specific, and fast, about the priorities that so many people have here: education, good health care, affordable insurance, jobs, support of businesses actually owned by Mississippians.

I will state for the record right now that I'll try to forgive the race rhetoric and the vague answers during the campaign if Barbour will make up for it now. Today. This moment. Or at least as soon as the last inaugural Maker's Mark empty is trashed. That is, Mississippians are sitting here in one of the poorest states saddled with 41 indicators that deem us the most unlivable state (according to a company Barbour looked to for crime information during the campaign), and we need to hear specifics about how he is going to help us help ourselves get off the bottom. Before I start believing, I'd like to hear him address the following pressing concerns in a progressive way that transcends partisanship:

1. Public Education. Is public education a priority of his administration? Will he support funding education first and the allocation of money needed to ensure the Mississippi Adequate Education Program is fully funded? What about teacher pay and college funding? Will he stand up to the current administration as the realities of No Child Left Behind really begin to take a toll?

2. Health Care. In 2003, the Stennis Institute of Government found that a majority of Mississippians (78 percent) were willing to pay higher taxes for guaranteed health insurance coverage, and that was a majority of Democrats and Republicans. The truth is, even if higher taxes are anathema to partisan Republicans, Mississippians are perfectly willing to pay more taxes to fill our basic needs, particularly health care.

3. Fight Poverty. Mississippians are not averse to their tax money going to help the most needy, of which we have way too many. In fact, 57 percent say the state should spend more on Medicaid.

4. Progressive Taxation. Last year, the Stennis Institute also made an excellent case for the state switching to more progressive taxation that would take more burden off the poorest citizens, allowing them a chance to actually grab onto those bootstraps Barbour's party talks about so much.

5. Smart-on-Crime. Barbour hawked rhetoric about being tough on crime during the campaign, presenting Jackson as a city where people are afraid to go out of their homes at night. (Please.) We call on Barbour to lead the way in nuanced, complex discussions about crime that consider the myriad causes, and set an example of how to talk about crime without race scare tactics and overblown rhetoric.

6. Juvenile Justice. The state faces very serious problems with juvenile justice from over-zealous "school to jail" practices, especially in many majority-black districts. Will Barbour entertain ideas such as restorative justice, as advocated by Myrlie Evers-Williams, to help young people recover their lives? Will he help tone down the "wild animal" rhetoric and help our communities find ways to help young people without dooming their futures?

6. Jobs. Will Barbour promote and reward small and creative businesses and incubators to help Mississippians create jobs for ourselves and to plug the brain drain? Will he focus on the concerns of local businesses first rather than those of big industry?

7. Insurance Reform. Is Barbour willing to look his own gift horses in the mouth and acknowledge that the state needs to take a serious look at both the insurance industry and what industries are actually endangering the lives of Mississippians more than others, rather than simply try to legislate against over-hyped "lawsuit abuse"? Will Barbour help take the debate to a higher plane by calling on hearings on insurance practices in the state?

8. Unity. Will the governor help the state heal after his divisive campaign? Will he avoid future uses of race rhetoric, even as his re-election time approaches? As we enter 2004—the 40th anniversary of Freedom Summer and the 50th of Brown v. Board of Education—will he lead the state's next stage of reconciliation by doing everything he can to encourage Mississippians to face our history and understand each other better?

Sure, this is an ambitious wish list. Will Barbour sell us out, or will he have the courage to be a daring governor and help re-pave his destructive path of last fall? We're about to find out. Let the games begin.
Donna Ladd is the editor-in-chief of the Jackson Free Press.

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