Gov. Haley Barbour says some lawmakers are being “foolish and wrongheaded” to tie the fate of an employment agency to a dispute over state advertising. But House Speaker Billy McCoy says the governor should support a plan to bring more public scrutiny to how public dollars are spent.
McCoy, D-Rienzi, said he wonders whether Barbour and Senate leaders are trying to protect friends whose companies make money from advertising contracts.
“A bit dog is hollering the most,” McCoy told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
State agencies routinely come up for review every few years, and the Department of Employment Security was up this year. As the regular legislative session ended in mid-April, a bill to reauthorize the agency failed after House leaders tried to insert regulations about how state agencies spend advertising dollars.
Magnolia Tribune
