What's In Stacey Pickering's Garage

Last week, the Joce Pritchett for Auditor campaign launched a new website highlighting the alleged FBI investigation into State Auditor Stacey Pickering’s misuse of his campaign funds. The website, named after the garage that Pickering purchased for himself with $3,800 in campaign donations, asks what Stacey Pickering his hiding. The website also attacks Pickering for his recent audit of the city of Madison and his family's frequent visits to Disneyland in a campaign vehicle. The Pritchett campaign plans to update the website weekly with new information about what they claim Pickering is hiding from Mississippians. There are definitely things worth exploring in Pickering's dirty garage.

More Republican Campaign Emails to State Employees Come Forward

In emails obtained by Cottonmouth, it seems agencies beyond the Rankin County School District have received campaign emails from Republicans without the consent of the recipient. This time, employees of the Mississippi Development Authority have been put on the Republican Party's email list without them signing up for it. As a reminder from previous posts, employees of the Rankin County School District received emails from the Mississippi Republican Party and Governor Phil Bryant dating back to 2012.

Public emails sent in this manner are in likely violation of state law, and the Republicans know it. A major question to consider is whether Republican State Auditor Stacey Pickering will investigate this matter, as this is something his office has standing to review. Pickering has been notified of this situation, but public employees continue to receive emails to which they never subscribed. The public has been denied access to emails between legislative Republican leadership and the Legislative Budget Office regarding language for Initiative 42, while, at the same time, public employees get unsolicited fundraising emails from the Republicans.

Meanwhile, in Federal Court...

While the rest of the state was breathlessly following Chris Epps’ federal indictment, things in Mississippi’s Northern District Federal Court got, well, bizarre.

First, back in early November, Judge Aycock found that the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality had violated the Clean Air Act by improperly issuing permits to the Mississippi Silicon plant in Burnsville.  A December hearing was scheduled to determine if she could halt construction on the plant – for which the state of Mississippi provided over $25 million in incentives to create 200 … make that 150 … jobs.

That’s when Nucor – which has two Mississippi facilities – took particular interest in court documents showing MDEQ permitting paper pusher Bonnie Morgan was actively working to keep their company from objecting to the Mississippi Silicon plant. Perhaps irked that the state was taking extraordinary lengths to single them out, they decided to join the lawsuit against Mississippi Silicon.

Around that time, the original plaintiffs turned their sights on MDEQ.  Based on Judge Aycock’s ruling that the state had violated federal law, the plaintiffs decided to include the state of Mississippi in the lawsuit for good measure. If you’re keeping scoring, that’s one new plaintiff – and one new, seriously irritated defendant.

That’s when things got interesting: Judge Aycock recused herself from the case. No reason was given.

In other news, State Auditor Stacey Pickering decided to rebut the Forbes Magazine article calling Mississippi the most corrupt state in the nation. His comedic timing could not have been more perfect.

State Auditor Stacey Pickering (R) releases report on rural hospitals; future "bleak"

A dozen days ago, State Auditor Stacey Pickering (R) released his office's report on the health of Mississippi's rural hospitals.  If you've been paying attention to this blog for the last 18 months or so, you won't be surprised at the findings in Pickering's report: those rural hospitals are dying on the vine.

You also won't be surprised as to the main reason the rural hospitals are suffering:  reductions in Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements to those hospitals under the Affordable Care Act.  

The Mississippi Business Journal published an article on this today worth reading.  In it, there are some pretty heavy predictions from Mendal Kemp, director of the Mississippi Hospital Association’s Center for Rural Health.  From the article:

Gov. Phil Bryant and legislative leaders refused the expansion knowing the risk of losing the money but have indicated they do not believe the federal government will ultimately remove the money. They cite the Obama administration’s two-year extension of a deadline to begin lowering the Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) payments. 

Kemp and others say the threat of losing DSH payments is real and should be seen as a promise that the ACA requires the government to keep. 

“Year two is going to surprise a lot of folks,” says Kemp, referring to the end of the two-year extension of the close of the federal government’s 2015 fiscal year. 

“Without some help… I see the future looking very bleak.”

The only real question left isn't whether the federal government will follow through with DSH cuts. They will.  The question is will Mississippians re-elect politicians in 2015 who stubbornly refuse to accept repayment of our own tax dollars to protect our hospitals?

Sun Herald sues Pickering, DMR

The Sun Herald filed suit yesterday against Auditor Stacey Pickering and the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources in an effort to view public documents DMR claims Pickering's office took.

The Sun Herald is trying to shed light on the deals Pickering is making on behalf of DMR and Bill Walker to settle debts incurred due to the presumed mismanagement of DMR funds. You know - they want some sunshine and transparency. Apparently, these debts are being settled at a fraction of the $1M+ that is owed, allowing Walker, at this point, to walk free.

But, if you've been following Slabbed or coverage from The Sun Herald, the web is a lot more tangled. Part of what's going on at DMR included an audit by Horne CPA and Nicholson & Company (brought by new DMR director Jamie Miller with backing by Pickering), which, as a bonus included public relations performed by Frontier Gulf Cost - yes - that's the same Frontier group in Jackson that does all the political ads, etc. They were responsible for communicating Horne's work.

According to Slabbed, Joe Cloyd is part owner of Frontier Gulf Coast. Who's Joe Cloyd? The man who hosted a fundraiser for Pickering a few weeks ago. This was after Horne's 60-day audit concluded. Coincidentally, or maybe not, Cloyd lives next door to Bill Walker.

Apparently very little is being communicated by anyone, and The Sun Herald is determined to get to the truth.