If you've looked at your local papers recently, candidates are putting their biographies and issue platforms before the voters. One that caught my eye was of Republican Rep. Toby Barker of Hattiesburg. In his statement, Barker listed a goal to "continue Mississippi's transition into evidence-based policy and budgeting; by implementing this approach in both health and education."
Evidence-based policy? Does he mean the time he voted with House Republicans to gut 30 percent of the state budget without a single hearing on the bill or passing the bill in a matter of only a few hours? He must have forgotten about how this lack of evidence-based policy would impact the University of Southern Mississippi and his local school districts. Rather than solve "problems through tangible solutions that can both pass the Legislature and be implemented" as he claims, Barker falls in line with his Republican leadership's bad ideas every time.
Evidence-based policy? Does he mean the time he voted with House Republicans to gut 30 percent of the state budget without a single hearing on the bill or passing the bill in a matter of only a few hours? He must have forgotten about how this lack of evidence-based policy would impact the University of Southern Mississippi and his local school districts. Rather than solve "problems through tangible solutions that can both pass the Legislature and be implemented" as he claims, Barker falls in line with his Republican leadership's bad ideas every time.
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| Toby Barker (left) possibly meeting an upset constituent |
It should also be noted that two months before voting "Yes" on a tax cut that would have taken away billions in revenue from the state, Barker was quoted in the Hattiesburg-American as saying:
ReplyDelete"We have to be very careful not to sign away revenue permanently, just because it is an election year," he said. "We have to keep in mind that the money the government has is money it takes from people."
http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/story/news/politics/2015/01/03/mississippi-legislature-top-issues/21251989/