Secrecy in Mississippi – Day 3
Basic computer technology - the kind found in almost every office or classroom in America - is giving people easy access to candidates’ campaign finance information in many states. But not in Mississippi.
A nationwide, yearly study that grades states on how they inform voters about where politicians get their campaign donations gives Mississippi a fat “F” and ranks it 47th out of 50. What’s more, while many other states have improved in recent years, Mississippi had a backslide, dropping from a D to an F.
Republican Mike Chaney said he spent around $1 million to win the Mississippi insurance commissioner’s race in 2007. But it’s not always easy to find out where candidates get their campaign money. Even they have difficulty tracking the funds.
MORE:
- The Sun Herald: The only thing in politics that ought to be kept a secret is how you voted.
- Candidates who run for county offices in Mississippi are required to file campaign finance reports, but it is unclear who enforces fines for late filers.
- Brookhaven Daily Leader: Locally, citizens can take comfort that - for the most part - current administrators of the city, county and schools, and law enforcement officials make good faith efforts to conduct themselves accordingly regarding public records and open meetings. One school board even has, if you will, a “cheat sheet” to make sure they are following the law when opting to close a meeting and go into executive session, most often for student-related matters. Unfortunately, efforts to follow to the law have not always the norm here.
- The Clarion-Ledger: Voters today are bombarded with messages by candidates seeking office. Millions of dollars are spent by Mississippi candidates in campaigns and the price of politics continues to rise. But the critical information voters need is often missing - just where is all of that money coming from and how is it being spent?
- The Natchez Democrat: Common criminals in Mississippi get more help accessing information and defending their legal rights than does the rare citizen who dares to seek public information.
- RELATED: In announcing that he was going to push for campaign finance reforms, Attorney General Jim Hood on Monday suggested that he was the target of “rumor and innuendo” regarding his acceptance of prior campaign contributions from attorneys implicated in the state’s ongoing judicial bribery scandal. Yet at the same time he’s talking a good game about openness in government and transparent campaign finance laws, Hood’s latest foray into the courtroom on behalf of Mississippi taxpayers resulted in a sealed settlement with State Farm Insurance.
- AUDIO ON-DEMAND: Biloxi Sun Herald editor Stan Tiner and attorney Leonard Van Slyke discuss the Secrecy series on MPB Radio’s “Mississippi Edition.”