WDAM – List of candidates failing to file campaign finance disclosure released by MS Secretary of State’s office
• Ron Williams
• Sharon D. Gipson
• Lennell Lucas
• Ray Minor
• James “Jimmy” Edwards, Jr.
• Kenneth Wayne Jones
• Jeffery Harness
• Daryl L. Porter, Jr.
• Gregory Harris
• Rogena Mitchell
• Dan Q. Carr
• Lisa Benderman Wigginton
• Brad Mayo
• Jeff Hale
• Earl S. Lucas
• Tyrone Ellis
• Lisa Wynn
• Reecy Lathan Dickson
• Alex Monsour
• Joe Bonelli
• Machelle Shelby Kyles
• Arquillas Coleman
• James Perry
• Tammy Cotton
• Ron Swindall
• *David W. Myers (currently deployed overseas)
• Tasha Dillon
• Ric McCluskey
• The Committee to Elect Casey Mercier
• Kathryn Rehner, Candidate
• Committee to Elect Kathryn Rehner
• Joshua Hardy
• Brian Pearse
• Hunter Dawkins
WLBT – Smoking ban dies in committee again
WJTV – Sexting bill wouldn’t require minors to register as sex offenders
Jackson, Miss. (WJTV) — Senate Bill 2803 would mean minors don’t have to register as sex offenders if they are convicted for sharing inappropriate images.
Senator David Blount authored the bill and says the legislation is in response to requests from those in the legal system, “It’s increasingly a problem with minors, as well as adults. We have strong laws in place for adults. We’re trying to make sure we have similar protection for minors and that’s what we’re working on throughout the legislative session.”
Sen. Blount has worked with the Attorney General’s office on the bill and will work with House members on a similar bill, House Bill 1467.
DAILY JOURNAL – Transportation proposal would cut income tax for higher fuel taxes
This past week, House Transportation Chair Charles Busby revealed he has a proposal to increase the motor fuel tax to pay for transportation needs while reducing the state’s income tax.
Busby’s proposal could be taken up in the coming days in the House Ways and Means Committee or perhaps his Transportation Committee.
Busby, R-Pascagoula, and other members of the legislative leadership have been grappling for many years with how to find additional revenue for what most agree is a deteriorating transportation system. Legislators have been reluctant thus far to increase taxes to fund the needs.
DAILY JOURNAL – Bell wants workforce development study committee
State Rep. Donnie Bell, R-Fulton, wants to make sure public school districts are providing the right curriculum for vocational education students.
Bell, chairman of the Workforce Development Committee, has passed legislation out of the House to create a committee to study and report back to the Legislature before the 2019 session recommendations regarding the curriculum for vocational-technical education students.
The legislation has passed the House and is pending in the Senate.
CLARION LEDGER – Analysis: Senators argue over state tax diversion to cities
“The amount of pee pee and poo poo varies directly with number of people … and it does not vary based on your sales tax collection,” Bryan said last week.
His made the remark during a Senate Finance Committee meeting as part of a lengthy argument against Senate Bill 2455. The bill would send a slightly larger share of state sales tax revenue to cities and counties to help pay for infrastructure projects such as roads, bridges and water and sewer system improvements.
Republican Sen. David Parker of Olive Branch is the chief sponsor of 2455 and is, himself, no academic slouch — he’s an optometrist. Parker said diverting more money from the state budget into city budgets would help the cities solve the vexing problems of potholes, weak bridges and broken water lines.
DAILY JOURNAL / MS TODAY – McDaniel still coy about Senate run with one month till deadline
Now McDaniel isn’t giving a timeline. Four weeks from the March 2 qualifying deadline for the seat, he isn’t tipping his hand.
“I know that to a lot of people these days it sounds strange, almost unbelievable, almost supernatural, but God can bring peace to a heart,” McDaniel said. “It may hit me tonight, or tomorrow morning, and when I feel it, I’ll make that announcement fast and then we’ll be moving.
“I’m waiting for that light bulb to go off,” he said…
…“It’s very clear that I’m not a Bannon candidate,” McDaniel said. “I was running for office against the establishment when Bannon was starting with Breitbart. We predated Trump in that respect. We predated Bannon in that respect. Because of that, we don’t feel like the association, however loosely configured, can hurt us because people understand that we were doing this well before Bannon came on the scene.”
CLARION LEDGER – Bryant, Trump, McConnell, Reeves, McDaniel and a Mississippi political pickle
Can Reeves be talked into such a move? I don’t know. I would suspect he would at least give such a monumental proposition serious consideration.
Is there someone else for the Mississipppi GOP and McConnell? Besides Hosemann, I can’t think of one. Agriculture Commissioner Cindy Hyde-Smith comes to mind, but she just declined to run for the U.S. House.
As for McDaniel, as the clock ticks on, it becomes more apparent he is not going to challenge U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker. I’d say it’s a pretty sure bet McDaniel waits out Cochran between now and 2020 and runs for that seat. McDaniel is savvy and can do the math: Run now against a tough, well-financed incumbent and have to pull at least 51 percent of the vote in a primary, or wait for a likely special election for Cochran’s seat and only have to pull 30 percent or so to make it to a runoff and force the MSGOP to get behind you.
Could McDaniel make nice with the GOP establishment in Mississippi and D.C. and with Trump and become the heir apparent? I doubt it. He’s thoroughly burned many of those bridges. But he will remain a force to reckon with.
And in the meantime, I suspect there will be pressure on Reeves to change his plans.
Sen. Roger Wicker visits Greenville
Yesterday, I met with Greenville Mayor Errick Simmons and other representatives from Washington County about the great things they are doing to revitalize their downtown, create jobs, and boost the economy. pic.twitter.com/qg8NPf4X5U
— Senator Roger Wicker (@SenatorWicker) February 3, 2018
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