Connect with us

Mississippi Today

Hosemann outraises McDaniel in Lt. Gov. race, continues accusations of law violations

Published

2 years ago

on

Incumbent Republican Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann’s campaign far outraised his main opponent, longtime state Sen. Chris McDaniel in the home stretch before Tuesday’s primary.

Hosemann continued his call for an attorney general’s investigation into McDaniel’s campaign finances, and after news reports, filed a complaint questioning McDaniel’s residency and whether he has voted illegally. The lieutenant governor’s race is the most hotly contested statewide contest for the Aug. 8 party primaries, and the race has seen much mudslinging and negative campaigning in recent weeks.

“My opponent has been referred for criminal prosecution for his repeated illegal campaign finance reports,” Hosemann said in a statement. “Now, it appears doubtful that he lived in his district, which means he voted illegally. Voting is the cornerstone of our Constitution. I call upon the attorney general and the district attorney of Jones County to investigate this alleged illegal activity and determine before Aug. 8 whether the voters of Mississippi have been misled and its election laws violated.”

McDaniel did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

Hosemann reported raising $302,000 for July, and having more than $2 million cash on hand at the end of the month. McDaniel reported raising $168,000 for the period and having $307,000 on hand.

Hosemann starting in March has filed complaints with the attorney general’s office claiming McDaniel and a now-shuttered PAC he created violated campaign finance laws numerous times. One major issue: McDaniel’s PAC received $475,000 from a secretive Virginia dark-money nonprofit corporation. The PAC then funneled $465,000 of it to his campaign.

State law limits such corporate donations to $1,000 a year to a candidate or PAC. So the donation was $474,000 over the legal limit.

READ MORE: Chris McDaniel, Lynn Fitch show that Mississippi might as well not have campaign finance laws

McDaniel’s PAC initially hid some of these transactions with incomplete, inaccurate reporting to the secretary of state’s office. But eventually, after questions from Mississippi Today, he first chalked it up to “clerical errors.”

READ MORE: Secretary of State candidates vow sweeping campaign finance reform, enforcement

Then, eventually, McDaniel said Mississippi’s campaign finance laws are improper but he doesn’t have time to mount a legal challenge, so his campaign returned the money to his PAC. McDaniel said his PAC then returned the money to the dark money group, and he shut down the PAC.

But, by his own reporting, McDaniel’s defunct PAC did not return $15,000 of the over-state-limits money, and has offered no accounting for what happened to it.

This statewide election cycle has seen several claims of campaign finance law or reporting requirement violations in several races. It has also shown what appears to be a reluctance by Attorney General Lynn Fitch – the only statewide officer with clear authority to enforce campaign finance laws – to address or investigate complaints. This has prompted secretary of state candidates, including incumbent Michael Watson, to call for reform.

Mississippi’s campaign finance, lobbying and ethics laws and reporting requirements are weak, and contained in a piecemealed patchwork of confusing – some conflicting – laws passed over many years. The secretary of state’s office and Ethics Commission have for years said they lack enforcement or investigative authority. Most often, campaign finance violations go unchecked, leaving the state political system open to the corrosive influence of special interest money.

Hosemann’s new claims about McDaniel’s residency stem from media reports that began with a column by Greenwood Commonwealth editor Tim Kalich. Kalich reported that a former reporter for the paper now lives in McDaniel’s hometown of Ellisville. The former reporter, through observation and checking city water records, questioned whether McDaniel has in recent years really lived at the house he claims as his residence.

Kalich said McDaniel’s campaign responded that the house is still his family’s residence, but is infested with black mold and having to undergo renovations, forcing the family to sleep elsewhere temporarily. Kalich said the reporter has noticed no work going on at the house, and that water records show nearly no usage for years.

Other questions have recently been raised about a new state PAC that is running ads against Hosemann. Invest in Mississippi PAC was created by Wisconsin-based political consultant Thomas Datwyler, who McDaniel’s campaign has listed as its treasurer. The new PAC appears to have spent at least tens of thousands of dollars on ads in recent weeks. But as of Wednesday, the PAC had not filed a campaign finance report that was due Tuesday, according to Secretary of State Michael Watson’s office.

Datwyler, who didn’t respond to a request for comment, has a history of running afoul of Federal Election Commission campaign finance rules with several congressional candidates.

McDaniel as a state senator was once a vocal champion of stricter campaign finance laws and transparency for the public on sources of political money. But his PAC and campaign finance reports have defied logic and math, and after filing amended, amended-amended and termination-amended reports, it’s still unclear exactly how much money he has raised and from where it came. His PAC and campaign finances mark the largest secret and over the legal limit donation to a state campaign in Mississippi.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Related Topics:

Mississippi Today

On this day in 1967

Published

53 minutes ago

on

February 27, 2025

By

mississippitoday.org – Jerry Mitchell – 2025-02-27 07:00:00

On this day in 1967

by Jerry Mitchell, Mississippi Today
February 27, 2025

Feb. 27, 1967

Natchez police and agents from the FBI inspect the truck that exploded in a bomb blast and killed Wharlest Jackson on 27 February 1967.

Wharlest Jackson Sr., a Korean War veteran and treasurer of the NAACP branch in Natchez, Mississippi, became a Ku Klux Klan target after he was promoted to a whites-only position at his job in Natchez. 

It was a promotion his wife, Exerlena Jackson, wanted him to turn down because of what had happened two years earlier to their friend, George Metcalfe, who received a similar promotion — only to be injured by a bomb when he started his 1955 Chevrolet. The Jackson family helped nurse Metcalfe back to health. 

Wharlest Jackson had just finished his shift at the Armstrong Rubber and Tire Co. and was heading home. Four blocks later, the turn signal tripped the wire to a bomb that Klansmen had planted in his truck. The explosion killed him instantly, hurling the roof of his truck hundreds of feet. 

His 8-year-old son, Wharlest Jr., ran to the scene and returned home with his father’s shoe. 

“He was 36 and in the prime of his life,” recalled his son. “He had the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and they took that away.” 

Despite an FBI investigation, his killers were never prosecuted. 

“A lot of people have tried to push my daddy’s death under the rug,” his son said. “We’re still trying to pull it out into the light.” 

Wharlest Jackson Sr. is among 40 martyrs listed on the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, Alabama.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

The post On this day in 1967 appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Continue Reading

Mississippi Today

House Chairman kills bill aimed at building Jackson casino, says votes weren’t there

Published

14 hours ago

on

February 26, 2025

By

mississippitoday.org – Michael Goldberg – 2025-02-26 18:04:00

House Chairman kills bill aimed at building Jackson casino, says votes weren’t there

by Michael Goldberg, Mississippi Today
February 26, 2025

A House chairman killed a proposal aimed at attracting developers to build a resort and casino in the city of Jackson moments before the full chamber was set to vote on it.

House Ways and Means Chairman Trey Lamar, R-Senatobia, made a successful motion to table House Bill 1879, as its sponsor, Rep. Chris Bell, D-Jackson, was answering questions from lawmakers concerned a casino in Jackson would bring unwanted competition to casinos in their districts.

“We didn’t have the votes,” Lamar said. “We felt like it was worth a conversation. Last year it got brought up in committee and didn’t get brought out of committee. This year it made it out of committee and got brought out to the floor,” Lamar said. “Anytime private investors are willing to invest hundreds of millions in downtown Jackson, we think that’s worthy of a conversation. That’s what happened today.”

Tabling the bill caused it to die with a Wednesday deadline.

A dejected Bell walked away after and declined to speak with reporters. Earlier Wednesday, the Ways and Means Committee quickly approved his bill and sent it to the House floor.

House Bill 1879 would have granted one gaming establishment already licensed in Mississippi the legal authority to build a casino in Jackson, in exchange for a minimum capital investment of $500 million for a resort inside downtown Jackson’s Capitol Complex Improvement District.

“This is an opportunity for the city of Jackson to take advantage of opportunities that have been passed over for several years now,” Bell said. “This act provides economic stimulus to the city of Jackson and developers who want to come inside the city of Jackson.”

The measure was the latest attempt in a yearslong push by some lawmakers to clear the way for casino in the capital city. Such efforts last year fizzled quickly in the Legislature after backlash from those who fear economic disruption of existing casinos, including some lawmakers and the Mississippi Gaming and Hospitality Association.

Under current state law, casinos can only be built along the Mississippi River and Gulf Coast, or on land owned by Native Americans. The House proposal would have changed that, allowing for a casino to be built within 6,000 feet, or about one mile, of the state Capitol building.

Proponents of the legislation said the legal authority to build a casino in Jackson, the most populous city in the state at the crossroad of three interstates, would be the primary draw for developers, not tax credits.

“A casino doesn’t need money to be incentivized to come here,” said Conrad Ebner, an accountant who helped draft the proposal. “The casino will do a market analysis and ascertain that they will make money.”

But opponents, including those in the casino industry, said such a move would give one casino an unfair monopoly over the most populated area of the state.

Speaking to reporters after he killed the bill, Lamar said there were already developers interested in building a casino in Jackson, and he expected the Legislature to try again next year at passing a similar measure if the developers were still interested.

“As far as I know, the developers interested in doing this don’t have any plans to go anywhere,” Lamar said.

Those behind the proposal said the plan was not to build a box casino, but a sprawling resort as well. The resort would include retail stores, restaurants, a spa, an RV Park and a hotel with hundreds of rooms.

In a letter sent to state officials last week and obtained by Mississippi Today, Rickey Thigpen, president of the tourism organization, Visit Jackson, said projections show such a casino resort could attract over four million visitors annually. It would create over 6,722 new jobs and bring in over $70 million per year to Mississippi’s economy, he wrote.

On top of the ability to build what proponents say would be a lucrative project, the bill also would have offered financial benefits to developers.

Beyond the casino, it would have also provided tax incentives for developers to restore blighted properties in Jackson. The incentives included a 25% tax credit for building costs.

The legislation aimed to ease the anxieties of other casinos around the state, who have long feared what increased competition from a Jackson casino could mean for their bottom lines.

Under the proposal, developers reinvesting at least $100 million at existing casinos would be eligible for a 10% tax credit, which could be claimed over three years. But the specter of economic disruption still loomed for some lawmakers who were scrambling to review the proposal on Wednesday.

House Minority Leader Robert Johnson represents Natchez, which is home to several casinos. Johnson said the state’s small casinos went through a laborious process getting off the ground, and that a Jackson casino could upend their businesses.

“I’ll do anything I can to help the city of Jackson, but I’m not going to destroy markets on the river,” Johnson said. “Jackson needs a lot of things. I don’t think a casino solves their problems.”

The legislation included a provision that would have made up for revenue shortfalls at casinos in Vicksburg. It did not do the same for Johnson’s Natchez district.

Bell, a fellow Democrat, said Jackson has been deprived of economic development opportunities enjoyed by other areas of the state.

“It’s interesting he would say that because the state of Mississippi has always swayed projects away from the city of Jackson,” Bell said. “So quite frankly, I don’t give a damn about what other casinos have issues with. I’m going to stand up for the city of Jackson. I don’t give a shit about who cares less about (Jackson).”

In 2024, another House measure to pave the way for a Jackson casino died after it caught the Senate, gaming regulators and the casino industry by surprise. That proposal appeared to give special treatment to an unnamed developer, which some speculated was tied to former Gov. Haley Barbour, who had recently pushed the casino development with state lawmakers.

This year’s bill was crafted to award the legal authority to build a casino in Jackson without favoring one developer, said Ebner, one of the proposal’s authors. Lamar told reporters that there were already unnamed developers interested.

Ebner said the measure would have been a much-needed economic boon to a struggling city.

“Unless they are going to move the capital city, the Legislature is going to have to start funding the Capital City,” Ebner said.

Another bill, sponsored by Lamar and seen at least in part as a shot at the casino lobby Lamar, would have increase taxes on Mississippi casinos from 12% to 16%. It also died with Wednesday’s deadline for passage.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Continue Reading

Mississippi Today

Senate passes redistricting that puts DeSoto Republican, Tunica Democrat in same district, calls for 10 new elections

Published

15 hours ago

on

February 26, 2025

By

mississippitoday.org – Taylor Vance – 2025-02-26 17:17:00

Senate passes redistricting that puts DeSoto Republican, Tunica Democrat in same district, calls for 10 new elections

by Taylor Vance, Mississippi Today
February 26, 2025

Voters from 10 Senate districts will have to re-decide in November special elections who should represent them in Jackson, pending court approval, under a resolution the Senate approved on Wednesday. 

The chamber passed the plan 33-16. Two Democrats joined with the GOP majority to support the plan, while three Republicans joined with the Democratic minority to oppose it. 

Even though voters just elected members of the Legislature in 2023, the 10 races will be held again because a three-judge federal panel determined last year that the Legislature did not create enough Black-majority districts when it redrew its districts.

The panel ordered the state to redraw the districts and create a new majority-Black district in the DeSoto County area in the Forrest County area. 

Senate Rules Committee Chairman Dean Kirby, a Republican from Pearl, told senators that the newly redrawn map complies with federal law and will allow Black voters in the two areas to elect a candidate of their choice. 

“It’s not a partisan ordeal,” Kirby said. “We have a court order, and we’re going to comply.” 

The map creates one new majority-Black district each in DeSoto County and Forrest County, with no incumbent senator in either district. To account for this, the plan also pits two pairs of incumbents against one another in newly redrawn districts. 

The proposal puts Sen. Michael McLendon, a Republican from Hernando, who is white and Sen. Reginald Jackson, a Democrat from Marks, who is Black, in the same district. The redrawn District 1 contains a Black voting-age population of 52.4%. 

McLendon spoke against the proposal, arguing the process for was not transparent and it was not fair to the city of Hernando, his home city. 

“I don’t want to be pushed out of here,” McLendon said. 

The plan also puts Sen. Chris Johnson and Sen. John Polk, two Republicans from the Hattiesburg area, in the District 44 seat.  Polk announced on the Senate floor that he would not run in the special election, making Jonson the only incumbent running in the race. 

  • The full list of the Senate districts that were redrawn are: 
  • Senate District 1: Sen. Michael McLendon, R-Hernando, and Sen. Reginald Jackson, D-Marks
  • Senate District 2: David Parker, R-Olive Branch 
  • Senate District 10: Neil Whaley, R-Potts Camp 
  • Senate District 11: New Senate district with no incumbent 
  • Senate District 19: Sen. Kevin Blackwell, R-Southaven 
  • Senate District 34: Sen. Juan Barnett, D-Heidelburg 
  • Senate District 41: Sen. Joey Fillingane, R-Sumrall 
  • Senate District 42: Sen. Robin Robinson, R-Laurel 
  • Senate District 44:  Sen. John Polk, R-Hattiesburg, Sen. Chris Johnson, R-Hattiesburg 
  • Senate District 45: New district with no incumbent 

McLendon and Sen. Derrick Simmons, a Democrat from Greenville, offered amendments that proposed revised maps, but both alternatives were rejected. 

Simmons, the Senate’s Democratic leader, opposed the plan the Senate passed Thursday because he does not believe any incumbent senators should be paired in the same district.

The House earlier in the session approved a plan that redrew five districts in north Mississippi and made the House district in Chickasaw County a majority-Black district. 

Sen. Kirby told reporters he believes the House and the Senate have a “gentleman’s agreement” to pass the other chambers’ plan, which has historically been the custom. 

Under the legislation, the qualifying period for new elections would run from May 19 to May 30. The primary election will be held on August 5, with a potential primary runoff on September 2 and the general election on November 4.

Republican Gov. Tate Reeves has no direct say in legislative redistricting, so once the Legislature passes a redistricting plan, it will go back before the federal courts for approval. 

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Continue Reading

Trending