Mississippi Today
Secretary of state candidates outline platforms at forum
Incumbent Republican Secretary of State Michael Watson said he’s cut red tape for businesses, worked with lawmakers to make elections more secure and will push for major campaign finance reform if reelected.
Democratic challenger Ty Pinkins said Mississippi’s economy trails most of the rest of the country, and Watson had many years as a state senator before his four as secretary of state to champion campaign finance reform but didn’t.
The two candidates spoke and fielded questions at the Stennis Institute of Government’s Capitol Press Corps Luncheon on Monday. The forum was billed as “non-debate format,” and the candidates took the podium and spoke and answered questions in turns.
“I think Mississippi deserves a better choice on the ballot this November,” said Pinkins, a late entry into the race, replacing the former Democratic nominee who dropped out for health reasons. “… I’m running for secretary of state because I’ve been all over this state and people in Mississippi are ready for someone to lead. The problem is we have the wrong people in some of these offices … Mississippi is still near last economically because of the failed policies implemented by Republicans.”
Watson itemized numerous accomplishments in his first term, including registration of more than 250,000 new voters, working with lawmakers to prevent “ballot harvesting” and making voting machines more secure. He said his office has streamlined business services and cut red tape.
“Despite what you may hear from some of my (media) friends here today, it’s a great time to be a voter in Mississippi,” Watson said.
Both candidates vow to reform Mississippi’s weak, often unenforced campaign finance laws and reporting.
Watson said his office has a request for proposals out on a new computer system, and will work with the Legislature to create a publicly searchable campaign finance data system like most other states have. He has said he would push for his office to take over enforcement of campaign finance violations since no one else appears interested and said he has already been meeting with legislative leaders on other reforms.
Pinkins said he also would work to make campaign finance reports transparent and searchable.
“Our campaign finance reporting system is broken, and it didn’t just break last week, it’s been broken a long, long time,” Pinkins said. He said he also would push for online voter registration, no-excuse early voting and same-day voter registration on election day.
Both candidates are attorneys.
Watson, 45, from Pascagoula, served in the state Senate from 2008 to 2020. He ran his own law firm, focusing on business, construction and probate law.
Pinkins, 49, from Vicksburg, is a decorated U.S. Army veteran who served three combat tours, a former White House communications aide and former lawyer with the Mississippi Center for Justice.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Mississippi Today
On this day in 1955
Oct. 7, 1955
Jazz legends Ella Fitzgerald and Dizzy Gillespie and others were arrested in Houston, Texas, after performing before an integrated audience. The police‘s vice squad claimed they did it because there was gambling in a backstage dressing room.
Saxophonist Jean-Baptiste Illinois Jacquet played that night. โI wanted Houston to see a hell of a concert, and they should see it like they were in Carnegie Hall,โ he told the Houston Press. โI felt if I didn’t do anything about the segregation in my hometown, I would regret it. This was the time to do it. Segregation had to come to an end.โ
The arrests made national headlines, and a year later, the legends played to an integrated audience. This time, there were no arrests.
โI’m proud of what I did because I had no choice,โ Jacquet recalled. โIf you’re not going to do anything about it, then you don’t care about where you came from.โ
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Mississippi Today
Podcast: Bill Waller Jr.: State faces same woes as in 2019 when he ran for governor
Mississippi Today‘s Bobby Harrison talks with former Mississippi Supreme Court Chief Justice Bill Waller Jr. about his life after retiring from the judiciary and running for governor in 2019. He says he still is concerned about issues facing the state and does not completely rule out another campaign for governor.
READ MORE: As lawmakers look to cut taxes, Mississippi mayors and county leaders outline infrastructure needs
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Mississippi Today
For PGA Tour champion Kevin Yu, father knew best and he called it
When Kevin Yu, a 26-year-old Taiwanese golf pro, first entered the gates of the Country Club of Jackson for the Sanderson Farms Championship last week, his dad, Tommy, was driving.
โMy dad pulled into the first empty parking spot he saw,โ Kevin Yu said. โI told him we couldn’t park there because there was a sign that said the spot was reserved for past champions.โ
With no hesitation, Tommy Yu began backing the rental car out and replied to his son, โThat’s OK, then we will park in this spot next year.โ
Now then, here is the rest of that story: Kevin Yu, whose real name is Yu Chun-an, can park anywhere he wants to park at next year’s Sanderson Farms Championship at CCJ. He earned that privilege by shooting a final round 67, then winning a one-hole playoff with Beau Hossler to claim the first prize of $1,368,000 and his first PGA TOUR victory. The victory also means a two-year tour exemption and entry into The Masters, the Players Championship and the PGA Championship.
Yu did it the hard way. He came from two shots behind in the final round and birdied the difficult, 500-yard par-4 18th hole twice โ first to force the tie with Hossler and then to claim the playoff victory. That’s right: He birdied perhaps the most difficult hole on the course twice, back-to-back, with the championship on the line.
โIt is a dream come true for me, something I have dreamed about since I was like five years old,โ Yu said. โThis is the dream of all golfers, to win on the PGA Tour. To do it with my parents (Tommy and Eileen) here is really special.โ
Kevin Yu’s dad is a golf pro in Taiwan and introduced his son to the sport at an early age and began teaching him at age 5. He taught him well. Kevin won his first tournament at age 7, beat his father for the first time at age 9 and began competing internationally at age 13.
He earned a golf scholarship to Arizona State, where he is the second-most accomplished golfer in that school’s rich golf history behind somebody named Jon Rahm. This is Yu’s third year on the PGA Tour and third time to play in Mississippi’s only PGA Tour Tournament. He finished tied for 19th in 2022 and missed the 36-hole cut last year. He said he loves everythingย about the tournament.
โI like the whole environment here,โ Yu said. โI like the course layout. I think it suits me. The greens are so pure and they are fast and I like that, too. The atmosphere is easy-going, the course is great.โ
Yu came here last week, thinking he was about to play in the last-ever Sanderson Farms Championship because of an announcement weeks ago that the Laurel-based poultry company was ending its sponsorship after a 12-year run.
Said Yu, โI was really sad, because I do love this place and this tournament.โ
Then came Friday’s out-of-the-blue news that Sanderson Farms was extending its sponsorship for one more year. โI was so happy to hear that news,โ Yu said. โNow I can come back and defend my title.โ
And with preferred parking, he might have added.
Yu becomes the third Taiwanese player to win on golf’s most lucrative tour, following first T.C. Chen (1987 Los Angeles Open) and C. T. Pan (2019 Heritage Classic).
โI think this means a lot for all Taiwanese,โ Yu said. โI feel like I can be an example. We don’t have a lot of golf courses in Taiwan and the conditions are just OK, not perfect. So I just show them that we can do it by working really hard and dreaming big.โ
Yu shot three rounds of 66 and then Sunday’s 67. He did it all in a easy-going manner, smiling and chatting often with course volunteers with his playing partner Bud Cauley in the next-to-last group.
โI was really calm all week even to the last few holes today,โ Yu said. He indicated his parents might have had something to do with that.
Tommy and Eileen Yu flew to Jackson from Taiwan last week, and Yu is mighty glad they did.
โI really don’t think I could this without my parents,โ he said.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
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