Phil Bryant Violating NCAA Rules?

In an email to supporters yesterday, the Mississippi Republican Party highlighted a statistic talking about how well Mississippi is doing in digging up dinosaurs to power our homes and cars. The graphic used by the state party originated in Governor Phil Bryant's office but was later picked up by the Mississippi Republican Party.

The response from the Mississippi Republican Party is pretty characteristic of their "it ain't my fault" mentality.

Mississippi GOP communications director Bobby Morgan said he sent the email and didn't see a problem with it.

"I didn't create that graphic, I took it from the governor's Twitter page," he said. "It didn't create any controversy then, I don't think it should create controversy now.

A problem is that having these football players in Bryant's propaganda is that it implies that these football players and the Bulldogs and Rebels support being used for Phil Bryant's purposes. I imagine Dan Mullen and/or Hugh Freeze would not appreciate being put in a campaign commercial without their permission. Additionally, the NCAA's rules find it inappropriate for this type of thing because it has a policy against advocating for controversial issues.

What's more is that Phil Bryant steals the spotlight from the successes of Mississippi State and Ole Miss to deflect attention from his own failed economic record. If Bryant was making a ranking system of his time in office, he should highlight that Mississippi - under his watch - ranks first in economic insecurity for children, second for the highest unemployment rate in the country, and has the second highest incarceration rate in the country. No wonder Phil Bryant does not want to run on his record.