Serving in all three government branches, Pittman changed as Mississippi changed

• Columnist Sid Salter says Edwin Lloyd Pittman was clearly one of the most successful Democratic politicians in the latter half of the 20th century in Mississippi.

Former Mississippi Supreme Court Chief Justice Edwin Lloyd Pittman was an effective, honorable and influential Mississippi public servant whose views and actions changed – particularly on the issue of race – as those of his constituents changed.

The 2000 general election defeat of the late former Mississippi Supreme Court Chief Justice Lenore Prather by political newcomer Chuck Easley paved the way for then-Presiding Justice Pittman to be promoted to the top post on the state’s highest court based on seniority.

Few in state government logged more varied years of experience in public service than Ed Pittman. He served with distinction in the legislative, executive and judicial branches of government. Pittman faced the voters of Mississippi over a period of 40 years running successful campaigns in the 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s.

Pittman was tagged with the nickname “Tadpole” based on his diminutive stature at some point in his political career. He served eight years in the Senate from Forrest County from 1964-72. He served as state treasurer from 1976-80, as secretary of state from 1980-84 and as the state’s attorney general from 1984-88.

He was first elected to the State Supreme Court in 1988 and re-elected in 1996.

Despite the almost unparalleled success Pittman has enjoyed in state government, there were higher ambitions unrealized.

Voters will also remember that Pittman ran fifth-of-seven candidates for governor in 1971 trailing Charles Sullivan, Bill Waller, Jimmy Swan and Roy C. Adams in the Democratic primary. Pittman sought the governor’s office again in 1987 in the Democratic primary running sixth-of-eight trailing Ray Mabus, Mike Sturdivant, Waller, John Arthur Eaves, Sr., and Maurice Dantin.

Following the 1987 gubernatorial defeat, Pittman’s political fortunes were considered slim-to-none. But less than a year later, Pittman would win a contested Democratic Primary and then defeat Republican John Henry Crouch in the general election to begin his “third” career in Mississippi politics as a Supreme Court justice.

Pittman is clearly one of the most successful Democratic politicians in the latter half of the 20th century in this state. He was clearly the beneficiary of Black votes in the 70s, 80s, and 90s. Pittman did not seek re-election to the court in 2004 and retired from the bench.

Pittman was a good man, a good judge, and a good example of the transformation this state has undergone over the last 40 years. For just as there was a different Mississippi in 1963, there was a different Ed Pittman as well.

Sovereignty Commission records obtained in the late 1980s revealed that as a 28-year-old candidate for the Senate, Pittman on August 9, 1963, sent a letter to then-Gov. Ross Barnett offering his assistance in opposing repeal of the poll tax.

Pittman won his first election that year. In 1964, the 24th Amendment was enacted and the poll taxes by intent and practice a state tool to impede the rights of minorities and the poor to vote were repealed.

The Legislature’s decision to seal the Sovereignty Commission files in the late 1970s protected Pittman and legions of other Democratic politicians from their political postures during the Civil Rights era until 1989.

Whether Pittman could have been elected to three different statewide executive branch offices and to the Supreme Court had his youthful stance opposing Black voting rights had been known to the public is the stuff of drawing-room debates.

But the fact of the matter is that Pittman’s political career reflected the changes in the state as a whole. His record in office in all three branches of government is that of a moderate on matters of race. In word, deed and practice, Pittman changed over the last four decades with the state.

In addition to serving in all three branches of state government, Pittman retired from the Miss. National Guard as a Brigadier General with 30 years of service.

Pittman is survived by his wife, two daughters and five grandchildren.