Jackson Free Press

In Mississippi, non-presidential federal election years can be a bit of a bore. The Republican establishment picks their guys for U.S. Senate and the congressional seats that aren't occupied by Bennie Thompson, while Thompson himself also skates to an easy victory.

Not only did 2014 put that paradigm on its head in terms of pure entertainment value for news and politics junkies, but also for raising awareness about the way elections have been run in this state since time immemorial and the need for that to change.

Perhaps the best example of this, maybe even in the whole country, was the state's Republican primary for U.S. Senate. The contest, between state Sen. Chris McDaniel and incumbent U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran, should go down as a textbook example of how American democracy should not work.

It's hard to recall any discussion of big ideas and solutions to Mississippi's myriad problems in that campaign, which never seemed to break out of the muck. There was name-calling and race-baiting, which is bad enough. But equally problematic was a nauseatingly lack of transparency from either campaign. This extended to surrogates, including Bishop Ronnie Crudup's pro-Cochran political-action committee All Citizens for Mississippi.

Also, consider the special election for Jackson mayor resulting from the untimely death of Mayor Chokwe Lumumba in February. Mayoral elections in Jackson are always crowded, messy affairs, but the truncated timetable of this particular contest brought into focus the importance of candidates supplying complete, timely information.

In large part because of our commitment to transparency, the public came to better understand the influences of such groups as Hayes Dent Public Strategies, a Republican firm that worked for then-Councilman Tony Yarber, and Citizens for Decency, a PAC that attorney Precious Martin founded to help Yarber's opponent, Chokwe A. Lumumba.

And let's not forget the daily battles we wage for government officials and their communications staffers to obtain basic public information to disseminate to citizens who own that information.

It's no wonder Mississippi, by one measure this year, drew the dubious distinction as the nation's most corrupt state. This, even as study after study shows that states that are most committed to transparency and integrity tend to have better economic health.

All is not lost, however. Election season is again upon us, and Mississippians will return to the polls next November to elect their legislators, constitutional officers, county leadership and representatives to other offices.

In short, 2015 will be a chance for candidates and the public to act on the lessons of the past year, and demand accountability from office-seekers and incumbents. We look forward to spirited, substantive debate in 2015 that, if conducted transparently and honestly, will only make Mississippi better in the years to come.