BRIAN PERRY – Stories from Simpson County
A great and humorous political novel just begs to be released from Simpson County, Mississippi. One day it will be on paper, but currently it resides in the head of former Mississippi Republican Party Chairman Brad White. White, whose upcoming annual family crawfish will attract statewide political officials, spins stories of the famous, infamous and insane from Simpson County. Whether on a porch at the Neshoba County Fair or a table at Jackson’s Hal & Mals, when politicos gather with White one is sure to say, “Brad, tell them the one about….”
White, who formerly served as county Republican chairman, transitioned partisan politics in the rural communities just south of Rankin County from some of the earliest founders of Republicanism in Mississippi into today’s conservative coalition including former old line Democrats. I’ve written about Simpson County over the years as a political microcosm of the transformations going on around the state: a growing Republican primary, elected Democrats switching to the GOP and fighting on the margins to control the majority on county boards. While Republicans and White replicated this model across the state, there is something especially Southern and unique about Simpson County that creates characters worthy of story and politics worthy of wonder.
Perhaps voters truly select people representative of themselves: some statesmen, others scoundrels, and some eccentric. Two of the most honorable men I know in the Mississippi legislature come from Simpson County: state Senator Perry Lee and Representative Andy Gipson. D’Lo Mayor John Henry Berry has never met a stranger and greets everyone as a friend and his campaign for reelection might be worthy of reality television. And for the scoundrels, I won’t name them, but I’ve been amazed at the news coming out of Simpson of late – enough to keep my good friend Pat Brown at the Simpson County News and Magee Courier quite busy.
onlinemadison.com
3/27/13
