Jackson Free Press

Under state law, a violation of any candidate's campaign-finance disclosure requirement could result in the state withholding certification of nomination, withholding salary of office, and a misdemeanor conviction that carries up to six months in jail and a fine of up to $3,000.

But the city hasn't seemed interested in enforcing those election rules. Mayoral candidate Chokwe Lumumba was a month late on the 2012 report, and filed his pre-primary election report, due Tuesday, April 30, on Election Day, May 7.

Similarly, the Jackson 20/20 PAC, which is strongly backing Jonathan Lee, did not file its pre-primary report until the day before primary day, six days late.

Lumumba and the 20/20 PAC will get a shot at redemption tomorrow, when reports covering any money raised or spent by candidates from April 28 through May 11 are due by 5 p.m.

After that, the 48-hour reports should be pouring in.

Ward 2 Councilman-elect Melvin Priester, Jr. , Ward 7 Councilwoman Margaret Barrett-Simon and incumbent Mayor Harvey Johnson Jr. all filed 48-hour reports last week, but they were the only ones.

Under Mississippi Sunshine Laws, candidates seeking the nomination of a party in a municipal election must file a report with the city clerk if they receive any donations of $200 or more after the tenth day, but more than 48 hours before 12:01 a.m. on the day of the election.

In English, that means that if a candidate gets a single contribution of more than $200 (which both mayoral candidates in the runoff have received consistently) then they would have to notify the City Clerk's office within 48 hours of receiving the donation.

We're hopeful all this information will be readily available, and we're ready to update the site as we receive them. Another special thanks to the Jackson City Clerk's office, which has been professional and helpful from the start of this process back in January.

The budget for Jonathan Lee's campaign to become next mayor of Jackson has officially topped $400,000 since the start of 2013.

In a report filed Tuesday, May 14, 2013, with the City Clerk's office, the treasurer for Jonathan Lee's political action committee "Friends of Jonathan Lee" says the Lee campaign raised $66,459 since April 11, putting his calendar year-to-date total at $401,019.12.

The report says Lee has also spent $372, 762.08 total, and $65,815.41 of it since April 11, 2013.

The report, which you can read here, shows that Lee received several large donations in the past month, including a $2,500 donation from Guy H. White of Ridgeland and a $2,000 donation from Emmerson Asset Management, LLC. He also received $1,000 donations from The District Land Development Company, Bennchmark Construction Corp., Fondren Place Apartments LLC, Integrated Management Services and private citizens Susan McNease of Jackson, Steven Speights of Jackson, Samuel Lane of Jackson and Deshun Martin of Jackson.

Lee's opponent in the May 21 runoff, Ward 2 Councilman Chokwe Lumumba, also filed his report on time (yay!). His report indicates that his campaign has just topped the $100,000-mark, year-to-date, with $31,957 of that coming after April 11, 2013.

Lumumba has received large contributions in the past month, including a $5,000 from Adekuule Adekuubi (trust me, we are digging trying to figure out who these people are), $2,000 from Burk-Kleinpeter Inc. (an engineering company out of Baton Rouge, La.), $1,500 from himself, $1,300 from New England Contractors LLC (a Jackson business) and $1,000 donations from Adam Shakoor of Detroit, Mich., Herbert Irvin of Jackson, Mississippi Boys Hoops Inc. of Jackson, attorney John Walker of Jackson, J&J Wholesale of Clinton and attorney Winston Thompson of Jackson.

Ward 4 City Council hopeful De'Keither Stamps also filed a report, which you can read here.

Stamps report says he received a total of $4,940 between April 28 and May 11, 2013, from himself, coffee roastery engineer Nikdra Ford and Honeysucker and Honeysucker Inc. He spent $1,931 at A2Z Printing, and split the rest of his spending between Wal Mart, Raceway, Spaceage Marketing and Printing and Poll Watchers. He reports $277 cash-on-hand.

See, it's not hard to follow the law.

At a press conference near City Hall, Democratic mayoral candidate Jonathan Lee and a handful of supporters announced a key endorsement from State Representative Credell Calhoun, who represents Mississippi's 68th district here in Jackson.

Lee also received endorsements from his pastor at Anderson United Methodist Church Joe May and New Jerusalem Church Pastor Duane Pickett. Pickett said it was important to him that Lee believes in the resurrection of Jesus Christ because "Jackson needs a resurrection."

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That statement was an obvious swipe at Chokwe Lumumba, who despite being baptized four different times in four different churches has made statements in the past about not being sure about the story of Christ's resurrection, a story integral to the Christian faith.

After hearing from the speakers, Lee took to the podium and after a brief statement took three questions from the assembled media.

The first question was about Lee's support, both financial and at the ballot box, from the white community. The reporter asked if Lee was trying to distance himself from his supporters. The candidate answered no, and asked the reporter to look at the numbers, which he said shows he had a wide range of support from voters all over the city.

As we pointed out in a story in Wednesday's JFP, which you can read here, we noted that the bulk of Lee's support indeed came from Jackson's white community in Wards 1 and 7.

Lee added that he was "very proud" of the way his campaign has been run.

When pressed on the issue, event organizer Othor Cain said we would move past that line of questioning and asked if there was anyone else who wanted to talk about something else.

The second question Lee fielded was whether or not he was disappointed by former candidate Regina Quinn's decision to endorse Lumumba. Lee, who had already mentioned Quinn as a future role model for his daughter, said he was a little bit disappointed because he thought he had laid out a plan she could get behind, but that he would move forward without her support.

The third question was whether or not the preachers' comments were implying that Lumumba was not a "true Christian." Lee vehemently denied that, saying the pastors were only there to talk about him, and not his opponent.

The press conference was set to take place on the lawn in front of City Hall, but about 10 minutes before the set 11 a.m. start time, security and City Clerk Brenda Pree emerged from the building and told Cain and Lee's campaign manager Tyrone Hendrix they would have to move the event 150 feet from the building, because absentee and early voting was taking place inside City Hall.

The campaign to elect City Councilman Chokwe Lumumba as mayor announced several endorsements from key city leaders Friday morning in front of City Hall.

Among the endorsements Lumumba received were State Representatives Earl Banks and Jim Evans and District 5 Hinds County Supervisor Kenneth Stokes and his wife, Ward 3 City Councilwoman LaRita Cooper Stokes. Former mayoral candidate Regina Quinn, who endorsed Lumumba through a press release earlier this week, was there to back up her reasons for endorsing the one-term Ward 2 Councilman for mayor.

"I'm here to strongly endorse Chokwe Lumumba to be our next mayor," Quinn said, adding that she came to her decision after "serious thought." Quinn cited a past Clarion-Ledger story that revealed that women in Jackson were being paid, on average, 73 percent of their male counterparts were for the same job.

As she said in her press release, Quinn stated she thinks Lumumba is the only candidate who will take swift action to correct what she called a "sad situation" in terms of women's pay.

After Banks and Evans pledged their support for Lumumba, Kenneth Stokes, speaking on his behalf and for his wife, who was in Chicago on Friday, took an opportunity to defend his candidate against some of the attack ads launched by his opponent in the May 21 runoff, Jonathan Lee.

The ad shows Chokwe Lumumba making a speech on Feb. 13, 2009, at what looks like a book store, where the candidate talked openly about the police, religion and the Democratic Party. The ad uses Lumumba's own words to lead viewers to believe that Lumumba doesn't like police, isn't a "Barack Obama Democrat" and doesn't believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

"(The accusations against Lumumba are) just nonsense coming out of evil people's mouths," Stokes said. "Chokwe has done more work with young people in this community, coaching basketball and mentoring them, showing them there's a better way to live. As Charles Tisdale would have said, Chokwe is a man among men. He's the type of leader who won't back down. This is Jack-town, and we need a man. I'll repeat it in case somebody didn't hear me - We need a man."

Lumumba has already said publicly that the clips from the video featured in the ad were taken out of context, that he has always supported the Jackson Police Department and that if voters watched the full video, they would see he wasn't implying what the ad infers.

Stokes finished his statement by saying he didn't intend to cuss, but that the Jackson Free Press "can kiss my ass!" He made this point with emphasis to a round of laughter from the assembled city leaders behind him. When asked after the press conference why he made the statement, Stokes said he said it because the JFP should have endorsed Lumumba, but did not elaborate more on the record. The Jackson Free Press has not endorsed a mayoral candidate for the runoff.

Lumumba concluded the …

You want to know why people are scared of Chokwe Lumumba? Here's a good place to start.

The headline that appears on a story that the WAPT web site (www.wapt.com) reads, "Lumumba wants to remove Christopher Columbus from history books."

The headline is misleading at best.

I was at the debate last Friday night when Lumumba made the comment that we need to stop teaching our children that Christopher Columbus discovered American in 1492. "Columbus didn't discover America. America wasn't lost, Columbus was," Lumumba is correctly quoted in the story as saying.

What the story doesn't do is put the quote in context. The way it reads, you'd think Lumumba was asked about education and launched into a Christopher Columbus hate-a-thon. He was asked how we can keep students from dropping out of Jackson Public Schools, and he answered that maybe if our black youth was learning a little bit more about black culture and roots, they might be a little more interested in school and have a little bit more self-worth.

Besides, Lumumba is right about Columbus and the wording "Columbus discovered America." You can't be the first person to discover something that someone else has already found. Native Americans lived here before Columbus sailed across the Atlantic Ocean; therefore, he cannot be the first man to "discover" America. Even if you don't believe that African people from the northern part of the continent crossed the Atlantic before Columbus—and some do—you can't deny that Christopher Columbus was not the first man to set foot in the Americas.

But the story on WAPT gets worse. It clumsily tries to explain Lumumba's beliefs, saying that he believes "people from northern Africa had been traveling to the North American continent years before Columbus did in 1492," and my personal favorite line of the story: "In fact, a Google search by 16 WAPT News shows the discovery of America is a widely disputed one."

Well, at least you did your homework.

Reached by phone Thursday afternoon, Lumumba said the headline and the idea that he wants to remove Columbus from the history books is "disappointing."

"I never said that. ... What I was really saying is that we need to add the people who came before ... . I just want the history books to accurately reflect that Columbus opened the Western Hemisphere to Europe," he said. "He did not discover it." Lumumba said he has used that line hundreds of times over the years, and said it was curious that it was just getting publicity now.

The bigger issue is that here we are, two days after Lumumba won the primary runoff, and this is the headline on local news stations. The divisiveness hit Twitter and Facebook as soon as the race was called. It hit comment sections on web sites of the JFP and Clarion-Ledger shortly thereafter. Now it is in a headline on WAPT. Where will it be in a month? A year?

For his part, Lumumba said he's …

Former mayoral candidate and Chokwe Lumumba supporter Regina Quinn contacted two of the three independent candidates asking them to drop out of the June 4 general election to select Jackson's next mayor.

Councilman Chokwe Lumumba won the Democratic runoff earlier this week, defeating businessman Jonathan Lee by more than 3,000 votes.

Friday morning, Quinn released this statement to the JFP:

"After witnessing the brutal run-off between Mr. Lee and Mr. Lumumba, I came to the conclusion that the City had had enough and needed to start the healing process sooner rather than later. Therefore, I contacted two of the three independent candidates to see if they agreed with me that it would be best for the City of Jackson to acknowledge that with 20,000 plus votes people had decided who they wanted as their next mayor, and that it was now time to start healing. If I erred, it was an error of the head but not of the heart."

"Apparently, the healing process will have to wait until June 4, 2013," she added.

The independent candidates are Francis P. Smith Jr., Cornelius Griggs and Richard C. Williams Jr.

Democratic nominee for the mayor's office Chokwe Lumumba has filed a general election campaign finance report, which you can read here.

Councilman Lumumba has raised $71,614 since April 28, and spent $74,696 in that same period, leaving him with $15,333 in the tank headed into the June 4 general election against three independent candidates.

Year-to-date, Lumumba has raised $140,367 and spent $133,988.

Some of his biggest contributors on this report are Samuel L. Agnew of Baton Rouge, La. ($15,000), SJG Consultants Inc. of Greenville ($8,000), Winston Thompson III of Madison ($5,000) and a "G. Williams" of Ridgeland ($5,000).

The campaign to elect Chokwe Lumumba as Jackson's next mayor just posted a video of rapper Ludacris endorsing Lumumba for mayor and urging Jacksonians to vote today.

You can see the video here.

The secret, underground Quentin Whitwell write-in campaign could be doomed if they don't get an emergency endorsement from Chingy in the next hour.

I got my hopes up today when I saw an item on a city council workshop meeting agenda about a tax increment financing (TIF) for a hotel project in downtown Jackson. We've heard rumors for weeks the city is close to a deal with a hotel management group to build and open a much-needed convention center hotel.

Unfortunately, this wasn't it.

The city council meeting didn't happen because there weren't four members present at 4 p.m., but mayor Harvey Johnson Jr. stuck around long enough to fill us in on that item.

"This is not the much-anticipated convention center hotel," Johnson said. "This is another much-anticipated hotel down on West Street at the site of the old Mississippi Valley Title building. ... It's a good project, it's an exciting project, but it's not the convention center hotel."

Westin Hotels has apparently bought the old MS Valley Title building, and plans on tearing it down to put in a hotel at the same location. Details on the plan are not available yet, but the agenda item to be voted on by the city council at tomorrow's regularly-scheduled 10 a.m. meeting calls for the city to provide tax incentives not to exceed $1.75 million to the hotel group.

The mayor added that they are in talks with a hotel group about the convention center hotel project, and that hopefully they would have something to say about that before the end of the month, which is his last day in office before mayor-elect Chokwe Lumumba takes office on July 1.

"We just need to figure out exactly what we need to do to make sure of what the city's portion of the deal would be, and try to get some indication from them that that proposal would be acceptable," Johnson said. "Then they can move ahead with some financing. At that point, we'll pass some kind of resolution of support or something along those lines."

Hopefully the city council will get a quorum tomorrow, because I'd sure like to hear more about the deal.

Construction to replace a 90-year-old water line and three feet of Yazoo clay began today on West Street between Woodrow Wilson Avenue and Marshall Street.

The construction has forced the close of both southbound lanes from Woodrow Wilson Avenue to Millsaps Avenue, and one northbound lane in the same area. The city is suggesting vehicles over 12 feet wide take another route. Traffic is being detoured to State Street.

West Street sidewalks are also closed from Woodrow Wilson to Millsaps Avenue. Those sidewalks will be replaced during the process, but are not safe while construction is going on.

Neighborhood streets near the construction zone could be subject to closure as well, as crews will need to replace the water lines at each street as they get to them.

A press release from the city says the closures are expected to last two or three months. Once the work on the southbound side of the street is completed, similar restrictions will be put in place for the northbound side of the street.

Jackson television station WLBT is reporting that JPD Chief Rebecca Coleman has resigned.

The 61-year-old Coleman has served as a JPD officer for 24 years.

Mayor-elect Chokwe Lumumba said at a WAPT/Clarion-Ledger debate at Mississippi College's School of Law that, if elected, he would replace Coleman.

Coleman told WLBT her plans are to "take it easy for a while," do some traveling and volunteer work.

Here is the list of events scheduled for Lumumba's inauguration celebration, which will apparently last four days:

Friday, June 28, 2013 Kick-off celebration (3 p.m. - 7 p.m.) - Smith Park

Saturday, June 29, 2013 Ward 2 celebration (10 a.m. - 1 p.m.) - Presidential Hills, Ward 3 celebration (Noon - 3 p.m.) - Grove Park, Ward 4 celebration (2 p.m. - 5 p.m.) - Westside Park, Wards 5 & 7 celebration (4 p.m. - 7 p.m.) - Battlefield Park

Sunday, June 30, 2013 Ward 1 celebration (1 p.m.-4 p.m.) - Parham Bridges, Ward 6 celebration (3 p.m. - 6 p.m.) - Leavell Woods Park

Monday, July 1, 2013 Inaugural prayer service ( 8 a.m.) - Word and Worship Church, Oath of office ceremony & reception (Noon) - Jackson Convention Complex, The People's Inaugural Celebration (7 p.m. - 11 p.m.) - Jackson Convention Complex

No word on music for the People's Inaugural Celebration, but here's to hoping it's as good as the election-night entertainment at the Clarion Hotel with Southern Komfort Brass Band.

The complaint filed in chancery court has been withdrawn and District 3 Judge Denise Owens ruled Thursday to allow the city of Jackson to issue bonds to pay for the $90 million sewer and water improvement project with the Siemens company.

According to Advanced Technology Business Solutions attorney Herbert Irvin, the company and its president Dan Hewitt withdrew its complaint, which accused Siemens of promising savings it couldn't possibly deliver, because it got a closer look at the deal.

"After looking at the contract and the details," Irvin said. "We saw the economic impact of the temporary and permanent jobs, and realized the positive economic impact the deal with have on the city."

The original complaint stated, "When the energy savings proposal was presented to the City Council of the City of Jackson, Mississippi, project representatives stated that the City of Jackson would realize an annual savings of approximately $8 million during the 15-year period of the loan. In reviewing the preliminary official statement for the bond transaction, we find that there will not be any appreciable, discernible savings generated by this project – only increased collections from these users of the water system due to more accurate metering."

Hewitt could not be reached for comment.

The Mississippi State baseball team opens play in the best-of-three national championship series at 7 p.m. tonight against the UCLA Bruins in Omaha. It is the first time a team from Mississippi has garnered a berth in the series.

The Bulldogs (51-18) will send Trevor Fitts (0-0) to the mound, while the Bruins coach John Savage has penciled in Adam Plutko (9-3) as his starter. Mississippi State is undefeated in three games so far at T.D. Ameritrade Park after sandwiching a pair of wins against Oregon State around a win over Indiana last week.

ESPN will air the game starting at 7 p.m. and a broadcast is available for online streaming at www.watchESPN.com.

After dropping the opening game of the best-of-three College World Series Championship at Omaha, Neb. Monday night, Mississippi State will need to win two games in a row to capture the school's first national championship.

The Bulldogs (51-19) will face the UCLA Bruins (48-17) in Game 2 tonight at 7 p.m. on ESPN.

UCLA starting pitcher Adam Plutko lifted the Bruins, scattering four hits over six innings of work before he left the game with the 3-1 lead. Including Monday night's win, the Bruins have only allowed seven runs in their past seven games combined.

Mississippi State will have to break that streak by getting some key hits, a feat they struggled with Monday night. The Bulldogs were sluggish out of the gate, and Plutko retired the first 10 hitters before Alex Detz singled with one out in the fourth inning.

If Mississippi Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann has his way, Magnolia State voters will be required to show photo identification to vote, and it could start as early as 2014.

Hosemann, seizing on the U.S. Supreme Court decision last week to strike down the Voting Rights Act of 1965, is looking to push forward on a voter ID law that was rejected by the federal government in 2011. Now that the Voting Rights Act is null and void, Mississippi is free to set whatever laws it sees fit. Free photo identification is available through the circuit clerk's office.

The Secretary of State is currently soliciting comments from members of the public who have questions or concerns. You can reach the office at (601) 359-1350 or go online and visit the Secretary of State web site at www.sos.ms.gov.

Mayor-elect Chokwe Lumumba will be sworn in today at noon, but the proverbial cat may be out of the bag on his first announcement after being inaugurated.

On Saturday, Jackson State University put out a press release congratulating Deputy-Chief Lindsey Horton on being named the city's next police chief.

City officials have not confirmed that Horton has been chosen, but Lumumba hinted to television station WAPT to expect an announcement soon after he was sworn in today at the Jackson Convention Center.

Horton would replace Rebecca Coleman, whose four-year tenure as chief ended Saturday.

You can read more about Horton in a 2011 JFP profile here.

One of the events at yesterday's City Council meeting that fell through the cracks was Mayor Chokwe Lumumba's announcement that he has picked former JSU associate professor Safiya Omari to serve as his Chief of Staff.

The Shreveport, La. native has served as associate professor of social work and health sciences and Director of the Southern Institute for Mental Health Advocacy Research and Training at Jackson State since 1999. She holds a PhD from Northeastern University, where she studied social psychology.

Omari was co-chair of Lumumba's transition team alongside former Bennie Thompson aide Synarus Green. She sat front and center at Tuesday's City Council meeting, which was about as interesting as they come.

You can read a review of that meeting here.

Lumumba's media contact Latrice Westbrooks said the mayor is in the process of filling other positions, and that announcements would be forthcoming. Stay tuned!

According to a press release from the desks of U.S. Attorney Greg Davis and Hinds County Sheriff Tyrone Lewis, a police impersonator is contacting metro area residents claiming to be a Hinds County Sheriff's Deputy.

The release says the impersonator is demanding social security and drivers license numbers, and telling people if they do not turn over the information, they will face immediate arrest. Davis and Lewis warn that these types of calls are not being made by law enforcement agencies, and advising that you should never give out any identification information over the telephone to someone you do not know and trust, even if they claim to be a police officer.

The case is being investigated by the Hinds County Sheriff's office and the U.S. Secret Service. If you have been contacted by someone you believe to be an identity thief, or if you have any information about the scam, you are encouraged to call the sheriff's office at (601) 974-2900 or the U.S. Secret Service at (601) 965-4436.

The Jackson City Council really got the ball rolling on its new term Monday afternoon by kicking the can on two important issues - the confirmation of Lumumba's selection of fire and police chief - not one week, but two weeks down the road.

Council President Charles Tillman, Ward 4, set a public hearing for Thursday, July 18, at 6:30 p.m. for citizens to come out and let their voices be heard on the appointment of Lindsey Horton and Willie Owens as police and fire chief, respectively. Mayor Chokwe Lumumba held a press conference to introduce the duo minutes before the council meeting began.

When asked by Councilwoman Margaret Barrett-Simon, Ward 7, why the delay of a vote was necessary, Tillman said he was going to "be accommodating" to the council members who were not present who said they wanted to be a part of the process.

The two absent members were Quentin Whitwell, Ward 1, who was attending a Mississippi Bar Association Convention and LaRita Cooper-Stokes, Ward 3, who does not attend special meetings of the council on principle.

Tillman ended the meeting by saying he should have his committee appointments done by next week, at the latest, and said he's excited about how efficient this council is going to be.

The good news: Tillman approved Cooper-Stokes' seating arrangement proposal, and the council now sits in the correct order - from 1 to 7 – except seats 4 and 5 are flipped so the president can sit in the middle. (So the order is now 1-2-3-5-4-6-7.) Perhaps next, the council can get its priorities in order.