The State Election Commission today approved the final version of the 2015 November ballot. The members of the Commission are Gov. Phil Bryant, Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann, and Attorney General Jim Hood.
Of note are the final versions of the proposed constitutional amendments – Initiative 42 and Initiative 42A – and how they will appear on the ballots in the voting booth.
The Commission has allowed the actual language of the amendment and the Legislative Budget Office’s fiscal analysis to be outlined on the ballot, not just the ballot question as pro42ers had hoped.
This is significant in that despite the best efforts of Patsy Brumfield, Nancy Loome, Democrats, education bosses, and millions in out-of-state liberal monies, the Initiative 42 proponents have failed to keep hidden what they are really up to — their handiwork will now be on the ballot for all to see.
Voters will see that the amendment doesn’t mention funding or MAEP as they’ve been saying across the state.
Voters will see that the Legislature – the people’s elected representatives – has been removed as well as “general law.”
Voters will see that 42 adds in the Chancery Court, potentially allowing appropriation through litigation and the Robin Hooding of their local tax dollars.
Voters will see how 42 creates a new era for trial lawyers; they are moving from chasing ambulances to school busses.
It is conceivable that pro42ers could file a new lawsuit challenging this ballot but in all truthfulness it would be tough to justify why they want to keep the actual language and inevitable consequences if it passes hidden from Mississippi voters.
But such a move would not surprise me a bit. It would be par for the course at this point.
For now, however, Mississippi voters and those advocating for taxation with representation and fiscal sanity have a win in terms of this ballot’s inclusion of the actual proposed amendment language and the real fiscal analysis.
Magnolia Tribune
