AP Analysis: Oil spill cash could tempt MS lawmakers
Regional divisions have long shaped Mississippi politics: Delta vs. Piney Woods, Hills vs. Gulf Coast, Everyone vs. Jackson.
So, even as the state’s top officials are saying they want to spend the settlement money on coast, some legislators will argue that a portion of the cash should be spent on projects further inland — maybe even in parts of the state that are closer to Paducah, Kentucky, than to Pascagoula.
Economic struggles in the Delta and rural southwestern Mississippi predate the 2010 oil spill by generations. Lawmakers from those regions, or others, are likely to say that spending some of the BP settlement money on their home turf could boost the entire state.
Clarion Ledger
12/25/16
