Jackson Free Press

Congressional mail authorities have confirmed that a letter sent to Mississippi's junior U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker contained ricin, a bean-based poison, POLITICO reports.

POLITICO reports that U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri indicated the letter came from someone who frequently writes to lawmakers, but McCaskill would not name the person.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said no other senators received the ricin-laced mail.

Apparently whoever did it was just mad at Wicker that day.

Expo is slated for May 11 at Metrocenter Mall.

There were some high-dollar contributors at a private meeting Speaker Philip Gunn had in his office last night. An unusual amount of activity at the Capitol yesterday evening led a TV news crew and a print reporter to investigate, but the journalists were turned away by Capitol security, wrote Clarion-Ledger political editor Geoff Pender today.

According to Pender's report, Gunn's policy director Nathan Wells called the meeting small and consisting of Gunn supporters who hadn't had a chance to visit the speaker's office.

Attendees included oilmen Billy Powell and Billy Mounger as well as Wirt Yerger and their spouses. All the men are high-rollers when it comes to political donations.

Mounger, who has worked in oil and gas development, gave more than $100,000 in both 2007 and 2011, but a quick review of those disclosure filings reveal that Gunn was not a recipient from Mounger in those two cycles.

Mounger has also given handsomely to federal campaigns, including former Gov. Haley Barbour's political action committee and to Republican members of Mississippi's congressional delegation. Powell of Powell Petroleum has also given while Yerger, president of Cavalier Wireless, gave $3,500 to candidates in 2011, including $1,000 to Gunn.

Wells insisted that the meeting was not a fundraiser. He told Pender: "We have food brought in for meetings all the time. This was completely paid for by (Gunn). There were no contributions, and none asked for. It’s not an event. We eat food here at meetings all the time.”

I was just at the Hinds County Circuit Clerk's doing research for a story , and a couple of employees were talking about a mini-plague of serpents in the basement office.

This week, employees have stumbled across five earth snakes in the file room, Circuit Clerk Barbara Dunn said. Earth snakes are nonvenomous and grow up to around 8 inches. Employees said they have been unable to ascertain how the asps are getting in the building.

The thing that really made my skin crawl, though, was being charged $1 per page to make copies. Mississippi has some of the nation's worst open-records laws, which makes a lot of documents public but lets government agencies charge whatever they want. What stung the most was that I had to make the copies myself, and still had to fork out $84 for a pretty skimpy stack of paper (pictured).

Where's Nick Fury when you need him?

http://jacksonfreepress.com/users/photos/2013/apr/24/11644/

http://jacksonfreepress.com/users/photos/2013/apr/24/11645/

Looks like both property and violent crime rates continue to drop across the city, according to the latest COMSTAT numbers released by the Jackson Police Department.

The report for April 15-21, which you can read here, details how, across the board, property crime is down 18.5 percent year-to-date and violent crime is down six percent.

The biggest drops in rates appear to be in business burglary and grand larceny, which are down 43.3 percent and 45.1 percent, respectively. There have been 114 business burglaries to date in 2013, compared to 201 in 2012, and there have been 150 acts of grand larceny in 2013, down from 273 year-to-date in 2012. Auto burglaries have also fallen off at a rate of 41.7 percent (74 YTD compared to 127 last year).

Homicides, which have been a hot topic of discussion in recent weeks, are down 33.3 percent (14 in 2013 to 21 in 2012).

There were some trouble spots in the report as well. There has been a rash of house burglaries in the past week in Precinct 3, which covers Northwest Jackson from I-220 to Mill Street. Police responded to 16 house burglaries, four of which took place in the Queens neighborhood between Flag Chapel Road and Magnolia Road.

Precinct 2, which spans from West Hwy. 80 to I-55 through the downtown area, saw a congestion of house burglaries near Washington Addition and between Terry Road and Gallatin Street. Police responded to eight auto thefts last week alone. But looking at the bigger picture, crime is down this year 23.6 in that precinct, traditionally Jackson's most dangerous.

I will soon launch our first eBook in a new "Ghosts of Hinds County" series. The first will focus on the juvenile-detention scandal of the 1990s. If you want to hear about it right away, please subscribe (free) to jfpdaily.com. We will announce it to the daily list as soon as it's live.

(An added benefit to subscribing: You get daily breaking news on weekdays and invitations to all our big events, including the Best of Jackson party, so there's that.)

The launch will originally scheduled for early May, but election coverage conspired against me. If you have something you think you could add to a piece about the juvenile detention days of old, please email me at [email protected]. We can talk confidentially if needed.

My email today is absolutely filled with city politics. I just came out of a meeting and discovered that the Jackson 20/20 PAC that we wrote about in this earlier story has now endorsed candidates other than Jonathan Lee (when we wrote the story, all the money had gone to pay Lee's campaign folks). Attorney Dorsey Carson sent an email out inviting people to meet the candidates today at Hal & Mal's.

In response, attorney and Harvey Johnson supporter Sam Begley replied to Carson, copying me, a local blog and The Clarion-Ledger reporter who made Lee supporters very happy this weekend by reporting that Begley had sent an email to someone linking to judgments against Lee (a story we broke last Wednesday--but based on an envelope of documents, not on that email which we did not receive). In those replies, Begley accuses the 20/20 PAC of "laundering" money to Lee's campaign.

Here is the 1/31/13 Jackson 20/20 campaign finance report.

Begley also included links to other potential judgments against Mississippi Products Inc., Lee's family company. Rather than try to sort it all out immediately, I'm pasting the entire email thread below, as well as the invitation to the PAC's candidate gathering. (I also have some other comments about The Clarion-Ledger story this weekend, but this post is confusing enough, so I will blog it separately.)

We in no way endorse Begley's accusations in the emails. We are posting this for the public to examine yourself.

Here are the emails; the most recent one is on the top:

Dorsey, Being the sage lawyer you are perhaps you can explain why, with the only documents of record with the Mississippi Secretary of State showing Jonathan Lee as the President of Mississippi Products,Inc., the decision makers for your PAC would endorse a man for mayor whose company can't pay its bills, to the tune of $170,000, and lets default judgments be taken, then hides from WJTV and evades questions from the Jackson Free Press., and tells us he never owned the company and hasnt been associated with it for more than a year. Oh, and it looks like MPI has an answer due on a complaint brought by yet one more of its vendors. see link below and documents attached. Please tell us that this is just a business dispute that happens all the time. SAM

Hinds County Civil Case Detail: Diversey Inc. v. Mississippi Products Inc.

On 4/29/2013 4:25 PM, Carson, Dorsey wrote: I'll resist the urge to respond, Sam. If the media wants a comment, then I'll be more than happy to provide one on the record.

Dorsey

From: Sam Begley [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Monday, April 29, 2013 4:17 PM To: Carson, Dorsey Cc: [email protected]; [email protected] Subject: Re: After work "MEET THE CANDIDATES" hosted by Jackson 20/20 from 5:00-6:30 p.m. TODAY: Jonathan Lee, Kevin Lavine, Joseph Kendrick, and De'Keither Stamps

Thanks Dorsey. The "multi candidate endorsement" appears to be a nice way to launder money intended for Jonathan Lee …

Jonathan Lee supporters are using a Clarion-Ledger article to defend a controversy he's mired in—but it actually helps build the case that he was dishonest about his position at the company.

In a week that can't get any better, not even an story on an endorsement can be lame.

The Jackson Police Officers Association announced yesterday their endorsement of mayoral candidate and former south Jackson business owner Jonathan Lee.

Lee was hailed by that group's president, Earnest Perry, as a "visionary" and "a strong leader with a willingness to work with local and state government."

Reached by phone on Monday, Perry backed up sentiment in the groups press release that the interview process was thorough, and that five candidates (Lee, Regina Quinn, Robert Amos, Chokwe Lumumba and Harvey Johnson, Jr.) were interviewed. He called Johnson's interview "intensive."

The problem is, Earnest Perry is not a police officer. He was a JPD detective until 2009, when then-chief Malcolm McMillan transferred him because he violated city policy regarding Fuelman, though no charges were ever filed against him.

In response to the JPOAs endorsement announcement Monday, the campaign to re-elect Harvey Johnson, Jr. released this statement minutes ago:

"Recently, our campaign, along with other candidates for mayor, was invited to meet with the Jackson Police Officer Association (JPOA). The meeting was presided over by a person who is no longer an active police officer and recently separated from the department. The tone of the meeting made me very uncomfortable, as it became clear that in order to receive an endorsement of my candidacy, I would have to specifically agree to change the command staff and management at JPD. It is not unreasonable to believe that the candidate for mayor that the group endorsed agreed to those demands. As Mayor and as a candidate for mayor I simply cannot permit the sound administration of JPD to become the product of a backroom political deal.

"JPOA is not the same organization I have known and recognized over the years. It is now comprised of less than 10% of JPD’s rank and file officers. A disproportionate number of the officers in this group, having been disciplined for various infractions, appear to be disgruntled with the more rigorous standards implemented by our command staff. The vast number of officers, however, are successfully meeting the challenges associated with a large paramilitary organization operating in an urban environment. This administration will continue to strive to make JPD the best law enforcement agency in the region by insuring that our officers are well trained, equipped, compensated, and likewise treated fairly in their work assignments."

On Monday, Perry described the group that did the interviews as "very diverse," and said it was made up of 10 panelists from various backgrounds, including a fire department union member, a city worker union member, a neighborhood watch president, and local businessmen and lawyers.

Lee did not immediately return phone calls Tuesday afternoon.

The state of Mississippi is moving closer to carrying out the first execution of 2013.

The Mississippi State Supreme Court denied today Willie Jerome Manning's requests for a rehearing and a stay of execution. Manning wants DNA tests that were not available at the time of his conviction in the early 1990s. Manning received the death penalty for the December 1992 killings of two Mississippi State University students, Tiffany Miller and Jon Steckler.

Manning has maintained his innocence. This Mississippi Innocence Project filed a brief in support of Manning. Innocence Projects usually don't get involved with cases that lack compelling evidence of innocence. Of the seven people Innocence Project helped exonerate, six of them were freed because their DNA was absent from the scene of the crime, the brief states.

In addition to the DNA request, Manning's attorney said one of the prosecution's jury-selection tactics in Manning's trial was discriminatory. Voisin said some candidates listed publications such as Jet and Ebony magazines on a jury questionnaire. Prosecutors dismissed some of the potentials because they read liberal publications.

In 2012, Mississippi tied with Arizona and Oklahoma for second-most executions carried out in the United States, with six in each state. Texas led the nation with 15 executions in 2012. Manning is scheduled to be executed May 7 at Mississippi State Penitentiary in Parchman.

Doing some research just now, I ran into this interview from last week with mayoral candidate Chokwe Lumumba that I think many of you will find interesting. In it, he discusses the "Jackson-Kush Plan" and where it fits into his organization's plan "for self-determination and economic democracy

From the plan:

“In order to create the democratic space desired, we aim to introduce several critical practices and tools into the governance process of the Jackson city government that will help foster and facilitate the growth of participatory democracy” [to include Participatory Budgeting, Gender-Sensitive Budgeting, Human Rights Education and Promotion for city employees, a Human Rights Charter, Expanding Public Transportation, Solar and Wind-Powered Generators, and a “South-South Trading Network and Free Trade Zone” to partner with the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM) and the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (ALBA) — ed.]

In the interview with Lumumba, he explains show his work in Jackson is part of a larger plan for the region:

CL: Our plan is essentially a self-determination tactic and strategy for African people in America, particularly and specifically in the areas which are affected by the plan. We call it the Jackson-Kush Plan, because Jackson is the city that we’re in and where we are running for mayor in May 2013, while the western part of Mississippi is the Kush District.

From Tunica, which is in the northwest part of Mississippi, all the way down to Wilkerson County in the southwest, are 18 contiguous counties. All are predominantly Black, with the exception of Warren County which is 47% Black.

We’re fighting for the self-determination of that region. This type of self-determination is strategically or tactically tied to enhancing other fights of self-determination in other areas of the South.

We’ve often heard of the Black Belt South [the historic term of reference to agricultural regions in the Deep South with majority Black population — ed.], but hopefully self-determination is not only in the South. It will inspire movements of self-determination intelligently laid in other parts of the country.

Lumumba told the interview why he ran for City Council in the first place:

Should we run? We didn’t want to give credence to an oppressive system… But we’re in a city that’s 85% Black, in a county that’s 70% Black, and in a region where 17 of the 18 counties are predominantly Black.

So we adjusted our strategy to account for the fact that people with whom we are organizing in good faith, to fight against the conditions that they are experiencing, should be entitled to put people in office and expect them to do what they wanted them to do.

We decided it was important that we run for seats, and pick those where there was a high probability we could win. So we ran for the City Council.

Lumumba says he hopes to establish an "alternative" form of governing:

ATC: Have you developed particular forms for expressing self-determination?

CL: …

You knew we weren't going to make it through two days in a row without more sniping between Jackson's incumbent mayor Harvey Johnson, Jr. and challenger Jonathan Lee.

On Wednesday, the Lee campaign circulated an e-mail declaring Jonathan the "hands-down winner" of Tuesday's night's debate, then made these charges against the Mayor:

• During his first two terms The City of Jackson was investigated for mismanaging $519,000 worth of federally funded grants.

• In 2008 The City of Jackson was forced to "repay more than $294,000 on a grant because the grant was not spent in the required time period. Another $29,412 had to be repaid for the same period." (Clarion Ledger, January 28, 2008) Again, an investigation that came as a result of the mismanagement of federally funded grants during Mayor Johnson's first two terms.

• It's taken 10 years to even begin repairs on Fortification Street (the City received $6.3 million to make improvements to Fortification Street in 2002). The Fortification Street project began in July 2012--approximately 10 months before Election Day, May 7, 2013.

The second accusation against Johnson over the $294,000 left on the table is accurate, according to a story the Clarion Ledger's archive. The story is about the money mismanagement of the Frank Melton administration, but mentions that many of the problems that mayor had were systemic from the Johnson years. It was an error that happened under Johnson that cost the city the grant money.

The e-mail went on to say that Johnson received $13,750 in campaign contributions from a prominent law firm, which was in turn "awarded" $170,000 worth of work as a part of the Siemens deal with the city to repair water infrastructure and another, who gave $16,500 in 2009, was given $100,000 for work in the Siemens deal.

The JFP is in the process of trying to procure a copy of Johnson's campaign finance reports from 2009.

Johnson's campaign issued this response around 4 p.m. Thursday afternoon:

"It’s come to our attention that once again… Jonathan Lee is using deception and lies in an attempt to mislead the public. He recently released information about our record that is false and taken out of context.

"Instead of telling half truths about our campaign, Mr. Lee needs to focus on his own finances. The fact of the matter is Mr. Lee has had four default judgments entered against his business. And, he deliberately misled the public when he touted that he was a business owner. In fact, he mentioned it during his commercials, on his website, and through social media. The fact is, while he was in charge of his family business, Jonathan Lee ran it into the ground. Eventually, vendors had to file lawsuits, obtaining default judgments of more than $150,000, in order to recover the money that Mr. Lee’s company owed them. When the media found out about Mr. Lee’s mismanagement of his second generation company, Mr. Lee suddenly announced that he never …

A disagreement over parking in Fondren caused a social-media stir this week.

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 …

Willie Jerome Manning, convicted of the 1992 murders of two Mississippi State students, is scheduled to be executed on Tuesday May 7.

Manning has always said he did not commit the crime; in fact, he says he was at a club on the night of the murders. For years, he's been trying to convince the state to test DNA from the crime scene. As gruesome as the murders were, there should be lots of biological material to test. One of the victims, Tiffany Miller, was shot twice in the face at close range. One leg was out of her pants and underwear, and her shirt was pulled up. Her boyfriend John Steckler's body had abrasions that occurred before he died, and he was shot once in the back of the head. A set of car tracks had gone through the puddles of blood and over Steckler's body.

Already the Mississippi State Supreme Court has denied Manning's request to have DNA tests done that were unavailable in the early 90s. Now, Manning's attorneys have produced information that shows the Federal Bureau of Investigation erred in its testimony in Manning's case. In a letter to Oktibbeha County District Attorney Forrest Allgood, who prosecuted the case, U.S. Justice Department officials state "that testimony containing erroneous statements regarding microscopic hair comparison analysis was used" in Manning's case.

The letter goes on to say that information the FBI presented in its testimony "exceeded the limits of science, and was, therefore, invalid." The FBI offered to perform the mitochondrial DNA testing, and requested Allgood's office respond by May 6 -- the day before Manning is to be put to death.

It's unclear whether Allgood will be receptive. One of the issues Manning raised in his appeal is that Allgood illegally kept African Americans off Manning's jury by dismissing potential jurors who said they read African American magazines for reading liberal publications. David Voisin, Manning's attorney, said if approved the testing could take several weeks depending on which lab is used.

This afternoon at the Capitol, death-penalty opponents and Manning supporters called on Gov. Phil Bryant to stop the execution. The Mississippi Innocence Project field a brief in support of Manning this week. Kennedy Brewer, who was freed in 2008 with DNA tests after being convicted and sentenced to death for killing his girlfriend's young daughter, also wrote Bryant asking to give Manning the same opportunity to clear his name that Kennedy received.

Sister Maati, of Our Community Against Racism, invoked this year's 50th anniversary of Medgar Evers' assassination and said allowing Manning's execution take place, considering the discriminatory fashion in which his lawyers say the DA picked his jurors, would demonstrate that Mississippi has not moved beyond its legacy of injustice.

"Mississippi, prove that institutional racism is no longer a part of your southern heritage, or admit that the execution of Willie Manning is yet another Mississippi lynching," Sister Maati said this afternoon.

We're trying to find the context of the $294,000/grant accusation in the email the Lee campaign sent out, but wouldn't document. We found the 2008 Clarion-Ledger story that the Lee campaign cited, as well as stories in the JFP. First, the Ledger story.

It was about then-Mayor Melton's abysmal financial management. It mentions the administration's complaints about problems left over from Johnson--which I personally take with a grain of salt until I find out the context. Because if there was anybody who could blame anyone but themselves, it was the Melton administration. Here's the relevant part of the story, "City not responding to suggestions":

"An employee hired by Mayor Frank Melton to assess Jackson's fiscal situation says she is fed up with Melton and his department heads for not responding to her recommendations to fix the city's bookkeeping problems. Assistant Chief Administrative Officer Valerie Nevels, a former Internal Revenue Service criminal investigator, said the mayor has not reinforced her suggestions. ...Nevels outlined to the City Council Budget Committee and various department heads a recent audit of city finances. She said it indicated sloppy accounting has left the city at risk of losing millions in federal funds and blurred its financial condition. The audit examined records from Oct. 1, 2005, to Sept. 30, 2006. To improve financial management in the city, Nevels has tried training personnel in such areas as filing quarterly reviews, balancing accounts monthly and setting firm deadlines for purchases and transfers. But employees have ignored the procedures and guidelines she passed out Oct. 1, she said. Nevels said Melton's response was for her to "make it happen." ...

...Melton and Walker said the city's poor accounting practices are left over from previous administrations. Nevels concurred, saying that during former Mayor Harvey Johnson Jr.'s administration, the city had more people working on financial statements and grants but the same problems existed. Johnson, mayor from 1997-2005, said his administration "took great pains to make sure the financial system was adequate. Johnson said that in his last year as mayor the city's bond rating was increased twice. Despite his efforts, Johnson's administration left behind some mismanaged grants, which the current administration and council had to deal with last fall. The city had to repay more than $294,000 on a grant because the grant was not spent in the required time period. Another $29,412 had to be repaid for the same period. "Clearly (Johnson) didn't walk away from this enterprise with clean hands, nor is the Melton administration going to walk away with clean hands," council President Leslie Burl McLemore said.

I vaguely remembered this controversy because it surprised us that a Melton hire was whistle-blowing on him. So I searched our database and found these stories about the problems that Nevel revealed: No Oversight Costing City Nobody Minding the Store

Adam Lynch also reported on Johnson and grants in this story right after he returned to office.

Although all of those stories bring back painful Melton-era …

Who hasn't bothered to file campaign-finance reports for the primaries?

Note: This story has been updated with a total donation figure that Lee's backers gave to federal Republican candidates since 2008. The new paragraph is bolded down below.

In the WAPT-Clarion-Ledger debate, Mayor Harvey Johnson Jr. alluded to the fact that he is a real Democrat when he unloaded on opponent Jonathan Lee in his closing statement. This is clearly a continuation of some Jacksonians' belief that Lee is a "Rankin County Republican," a meme we've heard off and on for months now.

We have factchecked both parts of that allegation to the best of our ability and will address them both below.

First, Rankin County

Lee's campaign materials make him sound like a life-long Jacksonian. His website states:

Jonathan was born, grew up and lives in Jackson. Jonathan was born and raised in Jackson into a family with deep ties throughout the community. The son of two Lanier graduates and part of a family whose roots span three generations in Jackson’s Georgetown community, Jonathan learned early what it meant to be proud of one’s city.

Jonathan called all of Jackson home – from growing up on Meadow Lane to getting picked up by his grandmother (“Big Mama”) after school who lived in Georgetown. After graduating from high school, Jonathan attended Mississippi State University, earning a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and a Master’s in Business Administration.

The part that is left out of that description is that Lee's family moved to Rankin County in 1988 when he was 11. He later graduated from Northwest Rankin High School and did not live in Jackson again until 2009 when records show that Lee and his wife moved into Jackson from Rankin County. When asked, he does not deny that he has lived less than four years in Jackson as an adult.

Lee, who is 35 now, took over as president of his father's company when he was 24, according to his campaign materials. He told the Jackson Free Press that he stepped down from the company, which he never owned, in December 2011, meaning that he ran it for about 10 years.

Candidate Lee ran into a Rankin-related controversy last year after a commenter posted on the Jackson Free Press site that he was still driving a Maroon SUV with a Rankin County plate. In response to an Aug. 10, 2012, query about it, Lee emailed the Jackson Free Press:

This particular rumor has been shopped around various media outlets all week. The vehicle I assume that they are referring to is my company vehicle. My personal vehicle is registered in Hinds County, a fact easily verified.

MPI is owned by an entity chartered and located in Rankin County. It was where our distribution company was originally located. In fact, MPI has only been located in Jackson for 19 years. For those 19 years MPI has paid property taxes, inventory taxes, and school taxes in Jackson, Miss. The parent company is still located in Rankin county …

The Hinds County Board of Supervisors established the procedure for replacing District 2 Supervisor Doug Anderson, who died recently.

To replace Anderson on a temporary basis, board President Robert Graham said the board would accept resumes through County Administrator Carmen Davis' office until the end of May or early June. From there, the county would make sure the applicants live in District 2 and then interview top prospective candidates.

Supervisors scheduled the special election for Tuesday, Nov. 5. Candidates wishing to run must collect signatures from 50 qualified voters; the qualifying deadline is Sept. 6.

Hinds County could also soon have another void to fill. District 2 Supervisor Phil Fisher is a candidate for mayor of Clinton, which, like Jackson, votes tomorrow May 7.

http://jacksonfreepress.com/users/photos/2013/may/06/11783/

Voters do not have to vote in every race on the ballot for their votes to count.