Politics shape Mississippi resolutions
Does anyone think the Congress sits around in Washington waiting for advice from the Mississippi Legislature? Or that folks in Eastabuchie or Escatawpa care whether senators or representatives at the state Capitol commend or condemn a particular program or proposal?
Mississippi legislators have sponsored resolutions this year that had a lot to do with making political statements and little to do with solving the substantial problems they were elected to handle.
Democratic Rep. Jim Evans of Jackson, an unabashed liberal, sponsored House Concurrent Resolution 25, to commemorate April 28, 2009, as Workers Memorial Day. Evans has worked as a national staff member for the AFL-CIO, and his resolution clearly was intended to show support for the union’s work. The resolution even mentioned the AFL-CIO in its opening phrase.
Republican Rep. Greg Snowden of Meridian, an outspoken conservative, sponsored House Concurrent Resolution 129 to urge the U.S. attorney general and the federal Bureau of Prisons not to transfer any Guantanamo Bay terrorism detainees to prisons in Mississippi.
AP
6/15/9
Magnolia Tribune
