Recent editorials from Mississippi newspapers:
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March 17
The Sun Herald of Biloxi says citizens need to stop sharing politicians’ dirt on social media if they want politicians to stop slinging mud:
The ink had barely dried on the qualifying papers late last month when the campaign for U.S. Senate went negative.
From day one, Sen. Roger Wicker and state Sen. Chris McDaniel swiped at one another with Twitter memes, ads and personal appearances all but devoid of discussions of policy and issues. They even argued over whose disparaging words were the most disparaging.
Then McDaniel jumped out of that race and into the race for the seat left open by the impending retirement of Sen. Thad Cochran. And, we quickly learned there is an even lower road on the campaign trail.
McDaniel made a commendable call for unity. But he couched it in terms that sound more like unite - or else.
“By announcing early, we are asking Mississippi Republicans to unite around my candidacy and avoid another contentious contest among GOP members that would only improve the Democrats’ chances of winning the open seat,” he wrote in the statement on his switch.
McDaniel, though, could choose not to be contentious. But he won’t. And there’s a good reason not to. It’s the reason that any candidate goes negative. It’s the reason candidates spend so much time talking about what is wrong with the opponents.
It works.
People respond. They talk about those negative ads and memes. They share them back and forth, usually with the caveat that they are sick of them. It would be a fool’s errand for a newspaper to appeal to politicians to stop.
And now, even Gov. Phil Bryant has taken the bait, giving McDaniel a verbal flogging via the Clarion-Ledger. The leader of the state and its Republican Party should have chosen his words more wisely, more in tune with the dignity of his office.
Here’s why.
McDaniel asks voters to Remember Mississippi, alluding to the 2014 race he says he would have won if not for dirty tricks by the Cochran campaign.
We remember the Mississippi of 2014, too. It would be hard to forget because the state bears the scars of that bruising campaign. No doubt the rest of the country remembers as well. And that’s an image we would prefer they’d forget.
We would prefer Mississippi be remembered for its natural beauty, its artists and writers, its generosity. But reading great literature or appreciating art is difficult. Laughing at the foibles of a bunch of mudslinging politicians is easy.
We foresee the image Mississippi will wear.
Unless we - that includes you, your friends and neighbors who love this state - have had enough.
Every time a politician of either party goes negative, we have to act. We have to talk, not just with our friends and neighbors, but with the mudslingers themselves.
We must call, write, email, search them out on social media and tell them to knock it off. Pick a policy that’s near and dear and ask them where they stand on that issue.
Act. Or brace yourselves for more headlines like: “A Quick Guide to Mississippi’s Insane, Senate Race-Changing Scandal” - Slate.com, May 2014.
You say they’ll never listen? If they don’t, it’s just because they have not heard from enough of us.
Yet.
Get louder. Find more fed up people and invite them to the party.
Online: http://www.sunherald.com
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March 20
The Commercial Dispatch households with firearms and children making sure the two stay separate:
The 17 deaths at Parkland High School in Florida last month re-ignited the gun control debate throughout the country, pitting those who argue for tighter restrictions on guns against those who view any move in that direction as an assault on Second Amendment rights.
But even in the highly-charged debate there is one gun control measure that we should be in universal agreement on: In any household where children are present, it is an absolute imperative that guns must be secured and that children should not have access to them.
We were reminded of this March 17, when a 9-year-old Monroe County boy shot and killed his 13-year-old sister after a dispute over a video game control. The investigation into the shooting is not complete and among the many unanswered questions is how the boy was able to access the handgun in his home.
But there is no ambiguity about the tragedy of this incident, nor is the fact that children are all too often the victim of needless gun violence.
According to the Center for Injury and Prevention, 7,000 children aged 17 and younger are killed or injured by shooting each year, most of them from accidental shootings. Eighty-nine percent of those shooting occur at home.
Of all the shooting deaths, these are the most tragic and most preventable.
When a person buys a firearm, they assume an awesome responsibility, and this is especially true in a home environment where children are present.
The safeguards are not difficult. Keeping firearms and ammunition locked away is no encroachment on anyone’s rights. It’s a common sense measure that can prevent tragedies such as the one we continue to see all too often.
Anyone who is not willing to make that commitment to secure their guns has demonstrated they are not responsible enough to own them.
It really is that simple.
Online: http://www.cdispatch.com
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March 16
The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal of Tupelo says there’s plenty of time for legislators to study education funding:
Rumors that a special legislative session might be called specifically to revive a proposal to rewrite the Mississippi Adequate Education Program appear to have been officially put to rest last week, bringing some final closure to an effort that’s been plagued with issues from the beginning.
Earlier this session, it appeared there might be an agreement to replace the Adequate Education Program with a proposal called the Mississippi Uniform Per Student Funding Formula Act, as reported by the Daily Journal’s Bobby Harrison.
It passed the House earlier this session, but the proposal was killed earlier this month in the Senate when eight Republicans voted with the Senate Democratic minority to send the bill back to committee on a deadline day.
At that point in the process, it appeared the only way the proposal could be revived in the 2018 legislative session would have been through a two-thirds vote of both chambers.
The other, easier option, would be for the governor to call a special session, which he could do at any time, including within the regular session.
MAEP and public education supporters have expressed concern that might occur.
When asked about a possible special session last week, Clay Chandler, a spokesman for Gov. Phil Bryant, said, “There are no current plans for a special session, but Gov. Bryant is always willing to listen to (legislative) leadership.”
And Speaker Philip Gunn, R-Clinton, the author of the proposed rewrite, said, “I think there is a better way of funding education obviously. I don’t think a special session will happen, though, unless we get an agreement.”
Gunn said it has been the custom of Bryant not to call special sessions unless there was an agreement between the House and Senate on the proposed subject of the special session.
However, Mississippi Today reported that Senate Education chairman Sen. Gray Tollison, R-Oxford, said definitively during a Mississippi Economic Council breakfast this week: “There’s not going to be any special session.”
“There are other issues the Legislature is taking care of, one being the BRIDGE Act, the infrastructure issue,” Tollison said. “That (education formula) bill is dead, and to my knowledge there is no intent to bring this up.”
The fact that this particular proposal now officially appears to be dead is a relief and offers an opportunity for state leaders to go back to the drawing board in determining the best way to fund our public schools.
As we’ve said in this space many times since 2016 when efforts to repeal and replace MAEP were first introduced, this process needs to be open and transparent with plenty of opportunities for stakeholder input to be provided.
If state leaders truly believe that fully funding our current education funding model is not doable, go back to square one and work with educators and constituents alike to craft something that will truly benefit Mississippi students.
Our elected representatives have 282 days between the end of the 2018 legislative session on April 1 and the start of the 2019 session on Jan. 8. We hope to see that time be put to good use.
Online: http://www.djournal.com
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