Jackson Free Press

The Mississippi Republican Party endorsed three candidates running for judicial offices in the Mississippi Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals.

Supreme Court Candidates:

• Kenny Griffis, District 1, Place 3
• Dawn Beam, District 2, Place 2

Court of Appeals Candidate:

• Jack Wilson, District 3, Place 1

Judge Kenny Griffis currently serves as the presiding judge over the state Court of Appeals. He is challenging current associate justice James "Jim" W. Kitchens, who has been in the Mississippi Supreme Court since 2009.

Associate justice Dawn Beam was appointed to the Mississippi Supreme Court in February to replace former Justice Randy Pierce, and she is now running for a permanent spot on the high court. She is a former tenth district chancellor running against McComb lawyer Michael T. Shareef.

Judge Jack Wilson was appointed to the Court of Appeals in 2015, by Gov. Phil Bryant, and now he is running to keep his spot. The District 3, Place 1 race is a three-way challenge. Madison County court judge Ed Hannan and Ridgeland lawyer Dow Yoder are also running for the spot.

Gov. Phil Bryant said the judicial races are extremely important, in a press statement endorsing the three candidates.

"We have a strong slate of judicial candidates this year who represent conservative values that will resonate with voters in all corners of our state," he said in a statement. "Their experience and dedication will serve Mississippi well. I am confident that each of these candidates will promote a fair and effective justice system in Mississippi."

Speaker Philip Gunn has appointed Rep. John Read, R-Gautier, as the new Chairman of Appropriations in the House of Representatives.

“John has more experience and knowledge of the appropriations process than anyone in the House of Representatives,” Speaker Philip Gunn said in a press release. “He has 25 years of legislative experience. He has been a member of the Appropriations Committee for more than 20 years and has served as the Vice-Chairman of Appropriations for eight of those years."

“He has also served in various other leadership roles during his legislative career, including Chairman of the Fees and Salaries Committee, Chairman of the Conservation and Water Resources Committee, and Vice-Chairman of the Rules Committee, one of the most powerful committees in the House,” Gunn said in a release. “John has served well in all of these roles and has proven himself to be a competent leader. His resume and his record of service make it clear that he is very qualified to be the Chairman, and I believe he will do an excellent job.”

Rep. Read currently serves on the following committees in the following roles:

• Conservation and Water Resources - Chair
• Rules - Vice-Chair
• Appropriations
• Gaming
• Ports, Harbors and Airports
• Public Property

It's convenient to presume that Mississippi will bleed red on Election Day, but if that's true, then a fair question follows. Why would Donald Trump waste time and resources stopping in Jackson, Miss., this evening for a $1,000 per ticket fundraiser and rally?

Polling done in Mississippi this presidential year might help explain why. An April Mason-Dixon poll only favored Trump to Hillary Clinton by three percentage points, a slim margin for a candidate who won the primary election in Mississippi with an 11-point advantage over Ted Cruz, Politico reports. A second poll, conducted by Magellan Strategies and commissioned by Y'all Politics, revealed a larger gap between the two candidates, with Trump leading by 13 percentage points.

One question in the Magellan poll gave Mississippians three options: Trump, Clinton or Undecided. Fifty-four percent chose Trump; 39 percent chose Clinton; and 7 percent were undecided.

FiveThirtyEight gives Clinton only a 14-percent chance of winning Mississippi's six electoral votes, but that number is a result of the weighted analysis of only two polls: the Mason-Dixon and Magellan polls.

November has the potential to be a competitive election, depending on which poll you believe, and as NewsMax pointed out: "The last time a Democrat presidential candidate won the state was Jimmy Carter in 1976," but it's likely too early to confidently project a solid winner.

The House District 72 special election will head to a run-off between Debra Gibbs and Synarus Green on Sep. 13.

Election results from a Hinds County Election Commission spokeswoman are as follows:

• Synarus Green-642
• Debra Gibbs-641
• Theresa Kennedy-169
• Shae Buchanon-Williams-138

Either Gibbs or Green will replace attorney Kimberly Campbell and finish her three-year term in the Mississippi House of Representatives. To read interviews with Gibbs and Green, visit jacksonfreepress.com/elections2016.

The Mississippi Association of Educators has endorsed Synarus Green in the District 72 House of Representatives special election.

"For generations, the Mississippi Association of Educators has worked to build opportunities for the people and communities they serve," Green said in a press statement. "I'm honored to have the support of MAE's members and leaders, and proud to stand with them as a champion for all our students."

Green is one of four candidates running for the District 72 seat that was vacated when former-Rep. Kimberly Campbell announced she would be leaving the House after the 2016 legislative session to take a position as the state director of AARP.

Read interviews with all the candidates in the District 72 special election race here.

Southern Living magazine has named Saltine in Fondren one of the South's best new restaurants. The write-up begins:

"You might not think Jackson, Mississippi, when you imagine robust oyster culture. And you might not expect to find a sleek eatery in a repurposed schoolhouse. But Jesse Houston has created such a spot, where he is wholeheartedly supporting a resurgence of American oystermen, such as Murder Point Oysters off Dauphin Island, Alabama. Inside a former elementary school that was built in 1927 in the city’s Fondren District, Houston has turned a series of classrooms into a nautical wonderland worthy of Jules Verne—complete with a massive octopus mural."

Congrats to Jesse and the crew! Hard work and creativity pay off.

The Secretary of State reached a $4.7 million settlement with Morgan Stanley, after a years-long investigation into the Ridgeland branch office following complaints from customers who had investment accounts with financial representatives there.

Morgan Stanley did not admit or deny the Secretary of State's allegations but has agreed to pay the over $4.2 million back to investors, the majority of whom hold accounts in Mississippi. Additionally, Morgan Stanley will pay $100,000 in penalty fees to the state as well as $400,000 for the costs of the investigation.

“This is a significant settlement which is a culmination of hard work by the Division on behalf of investors,” Secretary Delbert Hosemann said in a press release. “It exemplifies the important investor protection role the Agency serves to safeguard our citizens through fair regulation and enforcement and hopefully deterrence.”

The fund Morgan Stanley must set up by next month to settle their dues with investors impacts 259 accounts--194 of those accounts are in Mississippi. Hosemann's office is sending letters to those Mississippians affected by the settlement so that they can participate in the fund and get their money back.

Republican presidential nominee Donald J. Trump is scheduled to be in Jackson next Wednesday, August 24, for a fundraising event supporting his campaign, a MS GOP press release states. Tickets for the event are being sold at an affordable $1,000 per ticket.

The event begins at 6:00 PM, but the location is only being disclosed to those who purchase tickets. The event is closed to the press, the MS GOP release states. Last time Donald J. Trump was in Mississippi, he held a rally during the primaries at Madison Central High School in March. The rally cost Madison County taxpayers $11,565.44 in security expenses.

The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals has denied Gov. Phil Bryant and MDHS Executive Director John Davis' motions to stay the injunction that blocked House Bill 1523 from becoming law. Bryant and Davis asked the court to expedite their appeal, and that application was also denied.

The 5th Circuit did allow the two HB 1523 cases to be consolidated, but the court will not issue a stay on U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves' injunction or expedite the a hearing for the governor's appeal of the bill.

The conservative legal organization, Alliance Defending Freedom, is providing co-counsel for the governor's appeal in the 5th Circuit. HB 1523 was based, at least in part, on language from a model policy that ADF sent to the governor's office before same-sex marriage was legalized nationally in 2015.

Rob McDuff, one of the lawyers for plaintiffs, called the order a great victory.

"Two and a half months after we filed this challenge to HB 1523, the federal courts once again have held that the bill should not take effect. This is a great victory for the thousands of Mississippians who have opposed this bill in the name of tolerance and fairness and dignity for all," he said in a statement to the Jackson Free Press. "Although the Governor apparently will continue with his appeal, this is an important milestone in the battle against this completely misguided piece of legislation."

“We are pleased with the Fifth Circuit’s summary denial of the governor’s motion and look forward to final resolution of this matter in our favor,” said Beth Orlansky, advocacy director of the Mississippi Center for Justice said in a statement.

Read the motion here. Read more about HB 1523 here.

This post has been updated with statement from the MS Center for Justice and Rob McDuff.

Attorney General Jim Hood issued a statement in response to the DOJ Olmstead lawsuit, filed today in federal court. That statement is reproduced in full below.

JACKSON— A lawsuit filed today by the U.S. Department of Justice against the state of Mississippi provides the most meaningful opportunity yet for leaders to work together to continue to improve the state’s mental health system, Attorney General Jim Hood said today.

The federal government alleges that the state has violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by housing mentally ill individuals in institutions rather than community settings. The Department of Justice has filed similar lawsuits in about a dozen states alleging violations of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Olmstead decision.

“This lawsuit is a clarion call to all of us in state leadership to consider how we care for the least among us and how we can make it better,” Attorney General Hood said. “I see this litigation as a challenge to our Legislature to find the resources we need to continue to expand mental health services. This is a clear opportunity for our Legislature, mental health professionals, our faith-based community and all of us as Mississippians to come together to determine an effective way to address issues related to our mental health delivery system for years to come. It’s our obligation as Christians and people of faith to take care of those who are unable to take care of themselves. It’s time for each of us to move forward to better fulfill that fundamental responsibility.

“The state has made great progress in expanding community mental health programs, and we will continue to push for expansion. We have come a long way, but further work remains to be done.”

Attorney General Hood said his office has been negotiating with DOJ for several years in an effort to avoid litigation, which is expected to be a considerable cost to the state at a time when tax cuts have caused significant budget problems. However, the Attorney General refused to accept the federal government’s demands for a court-ordered consent decree that would bind the state to perpetual federal oversight.

Attorney General Hood had also hoped that good-faith efforts to address the state’s mental health needs might allay the federal government’s concerns. Thus, the Attorney General has encouraged lawmakers for years to allocate additional resources to the Department of Mental Health. The Legislature did provide some extra funding in previous sessions, but this year actually cut the Department’s budget by $8.3 million. Since 2008, the Department has been forced to eliminate approximately 500 mental health beds, in addition to 34 beds in 2016 because of the Legislature’s budget cuts and its refusal to provide additional money for mental health programs.

“Not only did the Department of Mental Health take a substantial budget hit, the Legislature did not agree to a request for more than $12 million for community mental health programs,” Attorney General Hood said. “That would have helped us continue our expansion of community-based mental health services ...

In July, the JFP held a town hall meeting at Millsaps College with featured guest Kai Smith.

U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves has denied Gov. Phil Bryant and executive director of the Mississippi Department of Human Services John Davis' motion to stay the preliminary injunction Reeves initially issued, which blocked House Bill 1523 from becoming law.

In his 6-page order, Reeves says that the state did not prove irreparable injury in their motion.

"A Mississippian – or a religious entity for that matter – holding any of the beliefs set out for special protection in § 2 [of HB 1523] may invoke existing protections for religious liberty, including Mississippi’s Constitution, Mississippi’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and the First Amendment to the United State Constitution," Reeves wrote. "HB 1523’s absence does not impair the free exercise of religion."

Reeves' order means he has officially passed HB 1523's fate into the hands of the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.

"The motions are denied," Reeves concludes. "The baton is now passed."

Gov. Bryant and Davis have also appealed to the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals separately, asking them to lift Reeves' preliminary injunction. For more stories on HB 1523, visit jacksonfreepress.com/lgbt.

VERBATIM:Attorney General Jim Hood announced today that a Jackson man was arrested Friday for bribery of a public official and conspiracy following a joint investigation by the Attorney General’s Office and the FBI.

Robert Henderson, 44, is accused of offering a former Hinds County assistant district attorney $500 in exchange for dismissal of charges against three criminal defendants. Henderson is charged with one count of bribery of a public official and one count of conspiracy to bribe a public official. Henderson was booked into the Hinds County Jail. Hinds County Justice Court Judge Frank Sutton set Henderson's bond at $5,000 for bribery of a public official and $5,000 for conspiracy for a total of $10,000.

Henderson is alleged to have offered the bribe to then-Hinds County Assistant DA Ivon Johnson on or about June 15 of this year. Henderson is accused of seeking Johnson’s assistance in having cases dismissed involving three criminal defendants.

As with all cases, a charge is merely an accusation, and a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.