Ronnie Musgrove’s legacy
Maybe Roger Wicker will have to defend the record of the Bush administration as Jere suggests. But lest Jere get to feeling too cheerful about that prospect, here’s a quick wrap-up of Ronnie Musgrove’s term as governor:
Budget surplus of a quarter of a billion dollars turned into a $700 million budget shortfall.
Nearly 30,000 jobs lost statewide.
Taxpayers saddled with $55 million bill for beef plant debacle.
Let’s see Ronnie Musgrove defend that record.
Taggart & Musgrove
Andy, showing good judgment, opts not to defend George Bush, but instead chooses to attack Ronnie Musgrove. Instead of criticizing Musgrove for legitimate faults (of which there are plenty), Andy raises three issues that are not legitimate. First, is the alleged $700 million shortfall. Well, state law requires the Legislature to adopt a balance budget. The $700 million represented one-time money that the Legislature uses every year, including the years Barbour has been governor, to spend on programs. Barbour has balanced the state budget just like Musgrove balanced the state budget. Then Andy claims Mississippi lost more than 30,000 jobs while Musgrove was governor. According to the Miss. Dept. of Employment Security’s website, there were 1,240,000 persons employed in 2000 and 1,232,300 employed in 2004 (a net loss of 7,700). But, lo and behold, in 2007, there were only 1,231,700 employed Mississippians. Guess who was governor during that period? Finally, Andy raises the specter of the beef plant, a pet project, I might add of one Lester Spell, the Republican Commissioner of Agriculture.
Jere’s defense of Musgrove’s record
When my friend Nash defends with “Everybody’s doing it” on Musgrove’s $700 million budget shortfall, follows that with an endless array of statistics on Musgrove’s job losses, then ends up with “Lester Spell was for the beef plant as much as Musgrove was,” it makes me feel better every day about Roger Wicker’s prospects in November’s US Senate race.
Magnolia Tribune
