Jackson Free Press

Jackson area residents can now support one of the city's important nonprofits without a second thought .

Operation Shoestring just announced the panelists for its annual "Conversation About Community" luncheon: Jackson Mayor Chokwe Lumumba, former Gov. Haley Barbour and Wells Church pastor Rev. Keith Tonkel.

The event, which highlights and raises funds for Operation Shoestring's work with children and families in central Jackson, is scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 14, at the Jackson Convention Complex (105 E. Pascagoula St., 601-969-0114), from 11:30 a.m. until 1 p.m.

The featured panelists "will make public a conversation that’s been happening in living rooms and around kitchen tables across Jackson for a long time now," states a release about the luncheon. "Our capital city faces a declining tax base, a growing urban-suburban divide, struggling schools, crime and poverty. If Jackson, or Mississippi, for that matter, is going to rise, the solution will require our collective buy-in."

This year's "Conversation About Community" will be a frank, open talk about solutions.

“The potential of this event is enormous. Mayor Lumumba and Gov. Barbour bring vastly different perspectives to the task of moving our city and state forward. Providing a safe space for open dialogue between these two, with a faith-based voice of ‘what’s right’ coming from long-time central Jackson pastor Rev. Tonkel, has the potential to impact the trajectory of our city’s future in a profound way,” said Robert Langford, Operation Shoestring's executive director, in the release.

The organization's signature annual fundraiser was created as a way to put into action its mantra that “we all rise together.” The idea is to create a safe space for people and organizations from across the larger Jackson area, from all walks of life, to engage in open discussion about the critical issues that impact the children and families Shoestring serves in central Jackson and, ultimately, the larger Jackson community.

Tickets are $50, and sponsorships start at $125. Call Stacey Jordan for more information at 601-353-6336 ext. 27, or email [email protected]. Find out more at operationshoestring.org.

The American Family Association won’t accept mail using the new Harvey Milk postage stamp—not even donations. AFA released a statement late May urging their supporters not only to refuse to buy postage donning the face of the late gay California politician, but also to reject mail received with that postage.

Experiments conducted by other bloggers show that the AFA will hold true to their incessant boycotts: each sender got his money back.

Milk, the first openly gay elected official in California, promoted gay rights legislation and was assassinated in 1978. He is still an icon for gay activism and “gave hope and confidence to the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community in the United States and elsewhere at a time when the community was encountering widespread hostility and discrimination,” according to a USPS statement released after the reveal of the new Milk stamp.

The AFA, however, believes the commemoration of Milk is “disturbing to say the least,” touching on the fact that the stamp was introduced after seven years of lobbying by the drag queen (they leave out prominent LGBT-rights activist and San Diego Human Rights Commissioner) Nicole Murray-Ramirez.

The AFA cites Milk’s biography The Mayor of Castro Street: The Life and Times of Harvey Milk to claim he was a pedophile. Milk, according to the source, had a relationship with a 16-year-old while in his thirties. “This is not diversity; this is perversity,” Tim Wildmon, AFA president, said in a press release.

Either way, AFA is missing out on a few $5 to $10 checks (and one $100 one) from some hilarious Internet trolls.

Mississippi has earned a D- grade on the Center for Public Integrity's 2015 investigation of state government transparency and accountability issues. The state's overall rank nationally is 33rd out of 50 states.

After this year's election, it should come as no surprise that Mississippi was ranked last in the campaign-finance category.

As early as the primary elections, disputes over personal campaign-finance spending raged. For example, Stacey Pickering, the state's auditor, used campaign-finance money to buy an RV and a garage door. He said at the time that the FBI was not investigating, despite reports to the contrary.

Advocacy organizations played important roles in the campaign-finance game too--especially in DeSoto County where four Republican legislators were ousted for their anti-charter school views when Empower Mississippi, a pro-charter organization, funded their opponents' successful campaigns.

The only regulations in place in Mississippi state law limit corporate donations to candidates or political parties. Individuals, lobbyists, political initiatives or political action committees are not limited in their spending on candidates or campaigns, an important factor in the Initiative 42 public-school funding campaign and the "Vote No" anti-42 campaign this last election. Dark money--donations made through or by organizations with no transparency about motivation or primary sourcing--influenced both sides of the Initiative 42 debate.

Mississippi also received failing grades in the following categories: public information access, electoral oversight, executive accountability and judicial accountability.

The report stated that Mississippi could rise from its last-place rank if legislators would examine and update campaign-finance laws in the state.