Jackson Free Press

In its Sunday edition, The New York Times is reporting that New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is investigating several private equity firms, including Bain Capital for possibly abusing a tax strategy "in order to slice hundreds of millions of dollars from their tax bills."

The attorney general, Eric T. Schneiderman, has in recent weeks subpoenaed more than a dozen firms seeking documents that would reveal whether they converted certain management fees collected from their investors into fund investments, which are taxed at a far lower rate than ordinary income.

Among the firms to receive subpoenas are Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Company, TPG Capital, Sun Capital Partners, Apollo Global Management, Silver Lake Partners and Bain Capital, which was founded by Mitt Romney, the Republican nominee for president. Representatives for the firms declined to comment on the inquiry.

Mr. Schneiderman’s investigation will intensify scrutiny of an industry already bruised by the campaign season, as President Obama and the Democrats have sought to depict Mr. Romney through his long career in private equity as a businessman who dismantled companies and laid off workers while amassing a personal fortune estimated at $250 million.

The subpoenas, by a Democrat, went out before a huge document leak recently that raised questions about Bain Capital's practices:

The tax strategy — which is viewed as perfectly legal by some tax experts, aggressive by others and potentially illegal by some — came to light last month when hundreds of pages of Bain’s internal financial documents were made available online. The financial statements show that at least $1 billion in accumulated fees that otherwise would have been taxed as ordinary income for Bain executives had been converted into investments producing capital gains, which are subject to a federal tax of 15 percent, versus a top rate of 35 percent for ordinary income. That means the Bain partners saved more than $200 million in federal income taxes and more than $20 million in Medicare taxes.

The subpoenas, which executives said were issued in July, predated the leak of the Bain documents by several weeks and do not appear to be connected with them. Mr. Schneiderman, who is also co-chairman of a mortgage fraud task force appointed by Mr. Obama, has made cracking down on large-scale tax evasion a priority of his first term.

As a retired partner, Mr. Romney continues to receive profits from Bain Capital and has had investments in some of the funds that documents show used the tax strategy.

Be sure to read the entire article for a succinct explanation about the fees/interest practices of many financial firms. This ends the piece:

The leaked documents show that Bain has in recent years waived management fees in at least eight private equity and other funds, including one formed as early as January 2002. The documents stated that Bain executives had the right to decide either annually or each quarter whether to waive some or all of their management fees; they also had …

Yesterday was a very good day for the JFP staff, and especially our writers and designers.

During this 10th anniversary of the Bush invasion of Iraq, I remember well the week that the war started. The JFP was only a few months old and still making a name for ourselves. When we realized that Bush was actualy pushing ahead with the threatened Iraq campaign, we postponed our planned cover story (an interview with then JPD Chief Robert Moore) and published this "myths" of the Iraq War instead. (The other story ran the next week.) At the time, the war was popular, and supporters were lying through their teeth as we now know, even trying to convince Americans that attacking Iraq was, somehow, a way to go after Saddam Hussein (presumably because they had Islam in common).

This was one of those decisions we didn't have to make. We knew it wouldn't be a popular move to publish a cover story and a cover that was clearly against Bush's war, but we started this newspaper to tell the truth, no matter who it perturbs. So in one of our early "do the right thing and wait" moves (which publisher Todd Stauffer now calls stories like these), we put the issue out and waited for the other shoe to fall.

It didn't. The issue after this one had our biggest ad sales as of that time, and we only lost three distribution spots (one of which returned, and the other two are out of business).

The truth isn't always popular, but it is the Fourth Estate's responsibility to tell it. I'm fond of saying that my editorial decisions over the year have kept my conscience clear. This one was no exception.

May all of the soldiers, and civilians, who lost their lives in the Iraq War rest in peace. That includes my cousin, Josh Ladd, who died in Iraq believing he was fighting for a just cause.

Verbatim statement, just in:

National Organization for Woman, Mississippi Insists Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant apologize for statements against working mothers

The Mississippi Chapter of the National Organization for Women condemns the comments Governor Phil Bryant made regarding working women and working families being the cause of education problems in Mississippi.

His statement places all responsibility on mothers and none on the state. It disregards the impact of racism and integration in the decline of Mississippi's historically underfunded schools. It conveniently takes away any responsibility from the Governor and his failure to focus on jobs, healthcare, states economy, and equal/adequate funding for schools.

Rather, the Governor and GOP-controlled House and Senate have been focused on abortion restrictions, guns, school prayer, and immigration.

The Governor is missing the economic reality of the lives of many Mississippians--where both parents have to work, they do not choose to work. Even if women are not economically forced to work, we have the right to make a career without being made scapegoats by state officials who are not doing all they can to create great schools.

If Governor Bryant is sincerely concerned about having a Mississippi where one parent can stay home-if they choose-then we urge him to focus on statewide policies that make that possible. We encourage him to support policies like state-funded childcare so families can afford to have one person work. We encourage him to support raising the minimum wage, so one job/one parent can support a family. Lastly we encourage him to support medicaid expansion because healthy kids are able to learn better and kids need healthy parents.

Policies like these matter just as much if not more than if a child's mother has a job. Governor Bryant you can not blame Mississippi mothers for the state not doing its job.

Ouch. After GOP vice presidential hopeful Paul Ryan cited Rage Against the Machine as on eof his favoriate bands, Rage's guitarist Tom Morello responded in an op-ed on the Rolling Stone webiste.. Morello started with the money quote: "Paul Ryan's love of Rage Against the Machine is amusing, because he is the embodiment of the machine that our music has been raging against for two decades."

Here's more:

Charles Manson loved the Beatles but didn't understand them. Governor Chris Christie loves Bruce Springsteen but doesn't understand him. And Paul Ryan is clueless about his favorite band, Rage Against the Machine.

Ryan claims that he likes Rage's sound, but not the lyrics. Well, I don't care for Paul Ryan's sound or his lyrics. He can like whatever bands he wants, but his guiding vision of shifting revenue more radically to the one percent is antithetical to the message of Rage.

I wonder what Ryan's favorite Rage song is? Is it the one where we condemn the genocide of Native Americans? The one lambasting American imperialism? Our cover of "Fuck the Police"? Or is it the one where we call on the people to seize the means of production? So many excellent choices to jam out to at Young Republican meetings!

Seriously, Ryan. This reminds me of when the Reagan campaign tried to misappropriate Springsteen's "Born in the USA," helped along with a naive George Will. Message to politicians: listen to the lyrics, fools.

Read more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Born_in_the_U.S.A._(song)

The Human Rights Campaign just released this verbatim statement:

JACKSON, Miss. -- Today, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Mississippi hailed the Jackson, Mississippi City Council for voting to advance city-wide non-discrimination protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity in housing, public accommodations and employment. Passed by a 7-0 vote, the measure also expands the city’s hate crimes statute to include tougher penalties for perpetrators who commit crimes motivated by the victim's real or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity or expression.

“As the LGBTQ community grapples with the horrific massacre in Orlando, it is truly encouraging to see the Jackson City Council taking decisive action to protect and affirm the rights of all their citizens,” said HRC Mississippi State Director Rob Hill. “Discrimination and hate have no place in Jackson, and everyone, regardless of who they are, should have the legal right to feel safe in their community. We thank Councilman Tyrone Hendrix for his continued leadership on issues of equality, and are confident that the Council’s actions will serve as an example to communities across the country.”

Today’s vote comes just days after a tragic shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, claimed the lives of 49 people and injured more than 50 others. While that crime has not yet been labeled a hate crime, according to the most recent FBI statistics available, more than 20 percent of hate crimes reported nationally in 2014 targeted people based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. As a recent investigation by the Associated Press uncovered, this reporting dramatically undercounts LGBTQ data, as it is based on local, non-mandatory reporting. Strong, fully-inclusive hate crimes legislation at the local level plays an important role in improving data collection and ultimately saving lives.

Mississippi is one of 20 states that do not have hate crimes laws explicitly protecting sexual orientation and gender identity, and one of 32 without fully-inclusive LGBTQ non-discrimination protections.

Jackson his been leading on the issue of LGBTQ equality. Earlier this year, the Jackson Public School District’s Board of Trustees unanimously voted to extend fully-inclusive sexual orientation and gender identity workplace protections to their employees. With almost 30,000 students, the district is the second largest in the state and one of the first in the Mississippi Public School system o grant employment protections to LGBTQ staff members.

In 2014, HRC launched Project One America, an initiative geared towards advancing social, institutional and legal equality in Mississippi, Alabama and Arkansas. HRC Mississippi continues to work to advance equality for LGBT Mississippians who have no state level protections in housing, workplace, or public accommodations. Through HRC Mississippi, we are working toward a future of fairness every day—changing hearts, minds and laws toward achieving full equality.

Here at the JFP, we are going into the final push of the city election season before the primaries on May 7. We are still finishing mayoral candidates' JFP interviews (with the goal of doing one for each of them!) and we will be doing additional endorsement interviews with the candidates we deem to be the most competitive in upcoming weeks (starting this week).

We want your help, though. Tell us the questions below that you would ask either all of the candidates or a particular one--include the name(s) if so.

Meantime, read our candidate interviews to date here: Mayor's Race 2013 Jackson City Council Races 2013

We need your input so please take time to weigh in!

I swear: The last decade feels like a blur. It's been such a ride here at the Jackson Free Press. As we've been putting together the birthday issue that hit the streets today, we went through 10 years of issues. I also re-read our old business plan, mission, cause statement: even found rough drafts and old possible names for the paper. (We even considered "Jackson Weekly" early on; thank goodness we didn't go with THAT!? I mean, we're a daily now online and on mobile, so that would have problematic.)

One thing I found was this draft "mission statement" and this list of goals we set up in 2002 for the paper. It makes me feel warm and fuzzy now to know how many of these high-falutin' goal we managed to conquer. See for yourself:

September 2002: The JFP's Mission What: "Our mission is to provide straightforward, in-depth, well-reasoned and insightful reporting about news, politics and cultural events in Jackson."

1. We will entertain and challenge readers with knowledgeable and critical coverage of Jackson’s cultural strengths.

2. We will present a news voice that appeals to the under-served people of the community.

3. We will encourage civic participation and voting.

4. We will promote diversity through hiring, reportage and viewpoints, distribution and active solicitation of non-white businesses in our advertising pages, calendar, classifieds and one-to-one pages.

5. We will recruit and train journalists and other staffers and contributors from under-served communities.

6. We will promote locally owned businesses over corporate and big-box outlets and provide a marketplace for entrepreneurship and enterprise that improves Jackson and its neighborhoods.

7. We will encourage and watchdog intelligent redevelopment of downtown Jackson.

8. We will cheer on an artistic, creative, inclusive approach to quality-of-life improvements.

9. We will work to encourage health and wellness in the community every way possible.

10. We will play an active role in building a diverse and cohesive progressive community that will attract positive economic development and Mississippi’s best, brightest and most creative people."

If Mississippians read the Sunday edition of the state's allegedly largest newspaper two days before the presidential election, you get nothing of substance about how the election affects our state.

The turn this mayoral campaign has taken is extremely frustrating, especially between the Harvey Johnson and Jonathan Lee campaigns. And from where we sit, trying to get out as much accurate information as possible, we see it all. It is one thing to get good, solid public information from a candidate, supporter or anyone as we did last week when we received an envelope of real information about Lee's business issues—which, in turn, a led to a very revealing interview with the candidate, in which we learned that he actually never has been a business owner. The public has the right to know about all of this, and then decide what they think.

But this week, both campaigns have frustrated us. First, the Lee campaign put out a press release (see below) listing several accusations of the Johnson campaign. When our reporter called them to get backup materials, they refused to give us any. I guess we're all supposed to believe it without proof. (See: lesson in that envelope of documents we got last week.)

We're also frustrated with the Johnson campaign over the same press release, though. They put out a press release in response (also quoted in below story) that referred to our story about Lee's business woes and used the fact that Lee is facing those troubles as a response to the allegations?

Huh?

That is not a response. A response would be actual information about the incidents referred to—on which both campaigns failed epicly. It's as if it is a push-and-shove game on a playground. "Oh, yeah?" "Oh, yeah!"

What the public needs is information: documents, links, sources, people will go on the records. It's what we're in the business of doing: gathering and disseminating facts. We cannot legally put out garbage on people and public officials, and the campaigns should not, either. Granted, the Johnson campaign was responding to Lee based on a factual story about his business problems, but a much better response would be information that refuted and/or gave context to the allegations in the email.

Not to mention how many half-baked accusations are flying around; Lee supporters have been especially fond of floating theories to us about the Johnson administration—which none of them bothered to pitch us over the last four years—but then not being able or willing to back them up with documents or people to talk to.

One case in point: a story someone mentioned to me last Sunday; he told us who to call to get details, which we did Monday; he wouldn't talk unless we knew exactly which questions to ask, which we didn't because it's their story tip; the original source then said he'd provide those Wednesday; we didn't hear from him; texted him last night; he texted back this morning with a 90-minute window we could talk to him in; we were on daily deadline and couldn't; now says he's too busy to talk. I told him to call me when he can so we …

The Campaign for Southern Equality just sent this verbatim press statement:

Gay Couple Records Legal Marriage License in Mississippi Creating First Known Public Record of Same-Sex Marriage in State

(March 24, 2014) - On March 24, Anna Guillot and Chrissy Kelly, a same-sex couple, paid $12 to record their legal marriage license at the Rankin County Chancery Clerk’s Office - the first known time that a gay couple has created a public record of their marriage in Mississippi. The couple, who live in Rankin County, were married in New York on July 13, 2012. Their marriage is recognized by the federal government and a growing number of states. However, Mississippi law refuses to recognize same-sex marriage; as a result married couples like Ms. Guillot and Ms. Kelly are regarded as legal strangers in their home state.

“We’re just like anybody else. We love each other and we want to be treated the same as everyone else,” said Ms. Guillot. “We want people to know they are not alone. There are gay couples here in Rankin County,” added Ms. Kelly.

Beginning in 2011, same-sex couples have recorded their legal marriage licenses in North Carolina and Alabama, as part of the Campaign for Southern Equality’s WE DO Campaign, a growing campaign that calls for full equality for LGBT people. “Couples like Anna and Chrissy are doing everything in their power to have their marriage recognized - including creating a public record of their marriage. Now no one can deny the reality of their marriage, their love or their commitment. We are calling for Mississippi to treat LGBT people equally under the law,” says Rev. Jasmine Beach-Ferrara, Executive Director of the Campaign for Southern Equality.

The WE DO Campaign will continue tomorrow morning. At approximately 10 a.m. on March 25th same-sex couples will request marriage licenses at the Hinds County Courthouse. This action will continue weeks of intense focus on LGBT issues in Mississippi, following successful efforts by LGBT rights advocates, including CSE, to strip a proposed legislation (SB 2681) of language that would license discrimination against LGBT individuals.

Amber Kirkendoll, a minister at the Safe Harbor United Church of Christ in Flowood, and her partner Jessica Kirkendoll, are one of the couples who will apply for a marriage license. “We'd like to know that when one of us has an emergency, there will be no questions about the other being by her side. We want to be confident that if ever one of us is unable to make decisions, no questions will arise about who else to turn to. And when asked if we are married, we pray for the day there will be no awkward hesitation, but a very firm and celebratory ‘Yes!’ to anyone who asks!,” says Amber. The Kirkendolls will be joined by other same-sex couples who seek to have their relationships recognized by Mississippi. Clergy, friends and family will stand in support of the couples as they take this action.

Last summer same-sex couples …

Melvin Priester Jr. filed a 48-hour report today showing that he has raised $6,150 more in mayoral contributions. That brings his total to $110,785 by our math to Lumumba's $138,801. Horhn is in third with $104,593

Harvey Johnson Jr. has raised $7,000 more in campaign dollars this week according to his 48-hour report, bringing his total to $67,355.

(For the record, both of these reports and some earlier ones are near-illegible, which is disconcerting coming from serious candidates for mayor. Priester, for one, spent a lot of his JFP interview talking about getting details right. Why not start during the campaign?!?)

To summarize, As of 5 p.m. today, this is where the money stands based on reports legally required to be filed:

1. Chokwe Lumumba: $138,801
2. Melvin Priester Jr.: $110,785
3. John Horhn: $104,593
4. Tony Yarber: $95,716
5. Harvey Johnson Jr: $67,355
6. Margaret Barrett-Simon: $54,680
7. Regina Quinn: $38,968

Read our original April 2 report about initial April 1 filings and where cash-on-hand stood then.

View all campaign finance reports in the JFP Document Morgue.

Social media is buzzing today about a New York Times article that features a lot of amazing personalities and locally owned businesses that make our city great—many of which started in the city's last decade of progress. This is the kind of media we need to see more of about the city—not the whole metro, but the city itself—and it's up to all of us to create the kind of place that national media want to cover. Cheers to all of you, especially the folks we love who ended up in the article. Nice going, Jackson!

My only regret about it is that the reporter didn't look around more parts of our city for cultural points and businesses to include. One that I believe should be in any article about Jackson's progress is Koinonia Coffee House, which is not only an excellent restaurant, but has become a gathering place for diverse Jacksonians. I like to think of it as our own tiny Busboys & Poets. And now that city election season is nearly over and emotions running less high, it's going to be even more fun to hang out in again. In fact, I just got off the phone with a St. Louis organization that brings a diverse group of black and Jewish students to Mississippi every summer, and they just assume that is where they will gather at least one time during the trip. Go there if you haven't!

Any other spots y'all think they missed? Feel free to add them below.

This open letter to mayoral candidate Jonathan Lee just came via email. Here it is, verbatim:

Jonathan Lee Candidate for Mayor of Jackson Public Letter

Dear Mr. Lee:

After watching one of your recent campaign commercials in which you portrayed Chokwe Lumumba as radical and racist, I was compelled to offer you a different world view.

I am a native of Yazoo city, the hometown of Michael Espy and Haley Barbour, two of our state’s most recognized political figures. Like Mike and Haley, I am a product of the public schools system, a graduate of Yazoo City High School. My ACT scores ranked me in the top 10 percentile in the country, and I was fortunate to earn distinction as a National Merit Finalist and accordingly received numerous scholarship offers.

Sarah King, my black, Northwestern University-educated high school guidance counselor told me….”You need to matriculate at Williams College, where you will be nurtured and taught to be a critical thinker. With a Williams College education, you will be equipped to change the world when you return to Mississippi. ”

So, naturally I chose Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts. Mrs. King was right on point. Williams College satisfied my natural thirst for knowledge and enlightenment, but it also showed me how easily one can cast seeds of discord and destroy a community.

Williams had a total of 60 black students enrolled in all classes. All of the students, from every conceivable ethnicity, were the top students in their high schools. A staff person in the admissions office remarked in one of the dining halls that they were pleasantly surprised at how well the minority students were performing – – especially the “10 percenters”. What was a 10 percenter?!

Shortly after this statement resonated, the campus newspaper ran a story that said Williams College was participating in a social experiment known as “Affirmative Action” and had elected to admit 10% of the students who would not ordinarily qualify for admission to the college.

The college wanted to honor its moral obligation to society by giving underprivileged, socially disadvantaged students the opportunity to obtain a Williams college education, but the newspaper article made the “10 percenter” concept appear as something to be ashamed of instead of portraying it as the wonderful program that it was.

Almost immediately, all students were trying to determine who was a 10 percenter. Some of them would be mean-spirited and say things that were destructive. A few said things like, “we know Herb Irvin is a 10 percenter, because he is from Yahoo, Mississippi”! All of a sudden, the black students were no longer on academic parity. Because of this 10 percenter phrase, the black students’ academic ability and capacity were questioned by the non-black students and the faculty, as well as by their fellow black students.

Some of the best black students left before graduation, because they didn’t believe that they earned the right to be there.

Against the advice of my classmates and friends, I …

Former Mayor Harvey Johnson Jr. just responded to a Sen. John Horhn attack ad with this statement posted on his Facebook page. It is repasted here verbatim:

STATEMENT OF HARVEY JOHNSON CONCERNING FALSE AND MISLEADING ADVERTISEMENT OF JOHN HORHN Senator John Horhn mailed and passed out to voters a postcard falsely stating that I was responsible for increasing water bills by 100% while in office. The truth is this: During my last term as mayor the City imposed a modest water rate hike of 12 percent in 2011, the first increase in six years. After I left office last July, the Mayor and the City Council increased water rates by 29 percent and sewer rates by 108 percent. If I had been in office last year I would not have increased rates that dramatically at one time. Just two days before the mailer was dropped, Senator Horhn, at a mayoral forum conducted by the Working Together Jackson organization, pledged to refrain from attacks on his opponents. Clearly, he should have come clean at that event by admitting that his next order of business when he walked out the door would be to launch a false attack on me.

In a separate flyer, Horhn promotes himself as a "fit, strong and robust black man who's ready to take this city forward" and criticizes his various opponents. That one is posted below as well as the flyer mentioned above.

http://jacksonfreepress.com/users/photos/2014/apr/07/16845/

http://jacksonfreepress.com/users/photos/2014/apr/07/16846/

http://jacksonfreepress.com/users/photos/2014/apr/07/16847/

VERBATIM STATEMENT: Seventh Mississippi city to pass diversity resolution recognizing the role LGBT people play in thriving communities

WASHINGTON – Tonight, Waveland, Mississippi unanimously passed an anti-discrimination resolution recognizing the dignity and worth of all city residents - including those who are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT). Waveland becomes the seventh Mississippi city to pass such a resolution and joins Starkville, Hattiesburg, Greenville, Magnolia, Bay St. Louis and Oxford.

“This is another important step forward to ensure that all Mississippians are treated equally and with respect and dignity,” said Human Rights Campaign (HRC) President Chad Griffin, a native of Arkansas.

Public opinion on equality in Mississippi is far ahead of law in the state. A poll conducted last summer found that 64 percent of residents back workplace non-discrimination protections for LGBT employees and nearly 60 percent of Mississippians under the age of 30 support marriage equality.

“The approved action is important for the people of Waveland. This sends a strong message throughout Mississippi that LGBT citizens are welcome in our fantastic city,” said Mayor David Garcia. “We are proving to the country that our city is on the right side of history.”

Just last month, HRC launched Project One America, an unprecedented effort to expand LGBT equality in Mississippi, Alabama and Arkansas. This summer, HRC Mississippi will open office space in Jackson staffed with a statewide director, community organizer, and faith organizer. The community-based program will focus on changing hearts and minds, gaining enduring legal protections and building more inclusive institutions from the church pew to the workplace.

For details on Project One America in Mississippi, visit http://www.hrc.org/states/mississippi

The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality. By inspiring and engaging all Americans, HRC strives to end discrimination against LGBT citizens and realize a nation that achieves fundamental fairness and equality for all.

During the last couple weeks of talking about the Confederacy (and the state flag that celebrates it), we've encountered any number of historic inaccuracies in the arguments of those who don't want to change our state flag.

One of them is that (a) not many white Mississippians even owned slaves and (b) that only 6 to 10 percent of Confederate soldiers owned slaves.

Here are the problems with that argument as the chart and link before bring into full relief. As you can see in this excellent MPB documentary, many Confederates soldiers were just 17 or 18 years old. But many of the soldiers' families owned at least one or two slaves.

Based on 1860 Census results, 49 percent of Mississippi households owned slaves at the start of the Civil War, and more than half the population of our state—55 percent—were slaves. Slavery was massive here and directed affected nearly half the white families in Mississippi, including some who weren't as wealthy as the planters who owned many slaves (and who were at first exempt from fighting in the Civil War when the Confederacy instituted a draft, but that's another subject).

The chart below shows the number of slaves in all of the states that existed at the start of the Civil War.

Also, read my column this week, "Driving Old Dixie Down," for many links to historic sources about Mississippi and other Confederate states at the start of the war, including extensive evidence of why the Confederacy formed: in order to have a strong central federal government to force slaves on any new states, and to ensure that it got its runaway slaves back.

http://www.civil-war.net/pages/1860_census.html

http://jacksonfreepress.com/users/photos/2015/jul/02/21958/

Read and enjoy info about previous Chick Ball, but see the top few posts at http://www.jfpchickball.com for current information!

Long-time Jacksonian Dorothy Triplett sent us this letter earlier today. It is reprinted verbtim:

I supported Mayor Johnson in the primary, and was disappointed that the voters (only 30 percent of the eligible voters) chose not to send him into the runoff. Once I pushed that disappointment down and asked myself for whom I would vote in the runoff, I began my ongoing struggle.

I know and respect both candidates. Both have distinct strengths and weaknesses, as do we all. I have talked with both, attended numerous forums/debates/political accountability sessions and found myself wavering back and forth between them. I've seen/heard the nastiness and the subtle advertising, and my stomach has turned with dismay at the way they (the ads and phone calls, not the individual candidates) played on the fears of citizens, and divided them racially and economically and by neighborhood. I listened to dear friends in both camps tell me why I should vote for one and not the other. I respect their views, and honor their commitment to their candidates.

When I cast my ballot—and I do believe each vote counts—I will do so prayerfully and without fear, and with the knowledge that, ultimately, it's not up to whomever we elect as mayor, but up to US—each and every one of us—to lead this great city into the future.

We will have to give our new mayor our support and put aside our angst and anger, our fear and foreboding, and have the faith that we can do great things, and continue the already-begun journey of changing the negatives of old, crumbling neighborhoods, absentee landlords, long-neglected infrastructure, results of our recent economic downturn (now thankfully moving upward), etc., etc., etc.

We will be better served by focusing on the positives and building on the vision of what CAN be. We will have to band together across this city with people we know and those we have yet to meet and work TOGETHER to make our city shine. And perhaps, if we do that with genuine purpose and resolve, with honesty and intentionality, and with the knowledge that we ALL have value, good ideas and skills, and richness of experience, we will find out more about ourselves and each other.

Dorothy Triplett Jackson

Travis Childers is officially entering an already-heated Senate race for Thad Cochran's seat. Tea Party-backed state Sen. Chris McDaniel is in an ugly battle with Cochran for the Republican primary seat. Here is Childers' statement, just released, reprinted verbatim:

“Today I am filing to run for the U.S. Senate to make sure that all Mississippians have a Senator in Washington looking out for them.

“Regular people and small businesses across Mississippi are still hurting in this economy, but Washington is more partisan and dysfunctional than ever. That has got to change. What I know is that the old ways of Washington aren’t working, and a new breed of partisanship isn’t the answer. Right now the powerful corporations and special interests have all the power, and the middle class and seniors are paying the price. We need to end tax breaks for big corporations that ship jobs overseas, protect Medicare and Social Security, give small business owners a tax break, and pass a balanced budget amendment to force the politicians to cut the wasteful spending.

“I look forward to formally launching my campaign and traveling to every corner of our great state in the weeks to come. Mississippians know that I have a solid record of being an independent guy who will work across party lines and stand up to the powers that be when needed. In the U.S. Senate, I will continue to put Mississippi’s middle class first.”

From Northeast Mississippi, Travis Childers is a small business owner and a local economic development leader, who has brought over one thousand jobs to his local community. During his time in the House of Representatives, Travis had one of the most independent voting records in Congress. Travis is pro-gun, pro-life, and was endorsed by the NRA. In the Senate, Travis will lead the fight for a Balanced Budget Amendment, protect the Medicare and Social Security benefits that seniors have earned, and protect Mississippi jobs by ending tax breaks for big corporations that ship jobs overseas.