Republicans Sure Would Hate Cuts They Supported

If you have been tuned into the news this week, you have seen the stories about House Appropriations Chairman Herb Frierson (R-Poplarville) calling together the heads of state agencies to warn them about possible funding cuts if Initiative 42 is approved by voters this November. This is not the first time Frierson has tried this divide and conquer strategy to try and win his position. He used similar talking points when he rejected any attempt to broaden access to Medicaid services in the state. He has killed any attempt to provide hospitals and medical professionals with more paying customers, and he is now trying to scare away and defeat any attempt to provide public schools with the resources they need to educate our students. The message from the Republicans is clear: if you vote to force us fund our own public education formula, then we are going to blame you for firing hundreds of people. This is a false choice set up by Frierson and his fellow House Republicans who refuse to roll back any corporate tax giveways or dip into $622 million of unappropriated revenue to make up the $200 million funding gap in K-12 education.

Herb Frierson

Here is the biggest dose of hypocrisy: Frierson voted for a 30 percent cut to state agency funding earlier this year. If you recall from this year's legislative session, Frierson and the Republicans voted for a politically-motivated cut of around 30 percent to the state's general fund. There were no hearings on the bill. There was no consultation with the state economist. There was no summoning of state agency leaders to alert them of the impacts. How many people would state agencies have had to lay off if the Republicans' tax cut bill had been signed into law? We will never know, because Frierson did not care to ask.

Frierson's crocodile tears underscore what we already know about their stunning hypocrisy: Republicans do not want to fully support Mississippi's education system. They are pulling out all the stops to deflect from their own failures on public education. Frierson and the leadership team of Speaker Philip Gunn (R-Clinton) can try to change the subject all they want, but the fact is well known that you can either be a Republican or support public education - but you cannot do both.

What Did They Think Would Happen?

Mark this under the category of "we told you so."

A recent report from the Mississippi Legislative Budget Office shows that the state budget took a big hit in May, coming in roughly $107 million under budget. For the entire fiscal year, which began in July 2014, the state is barely staying afloat thanks to the oft-maligned federal government. Thanks, Thad. If it were not for federal transfers for such things as infrastructure and health care, the state could be nearly $29 million in the red. So much for fiscal conservatism.

If you recall from earlier this year, without any hearings or any input from the state economist, Republicans rushed a bill which would likely have cut 30 percent of the state's general fund. The model was based off of legislation from Republican-led Kansas, which held the belief that if you build it, it will come. It didn't happen. In fact, just the opposite happened. The state of Kansas is nearly $600 million under budget, their schools are closing, and their roads are falling apart. This same plan is what Mississippi Republicans wanted to implement in our state.

The legislature is not funding public education as it is required by law to do, and the proposal by the Republicans would have further set Mississippi back from that goal were it not for Democratic leadership being responsible against reckless Republican priorities. Think about it like this: take the levels the legislature is funding public education today and reduce it by 30 percent. Scary, huh? Not if you're Republican House Appropriations Chairman Herb Frierson, who is "hopeful" it all works out.

Additional examples of Republicans not being into public education can be found HERE and HERE and HERE. As the saying still goes, "You can be a Republican in Mississippi, or you can support education, but you can't do both."

The Way of the Gunn: the post-Barbour era is officially underway

If Republican Speaker nominee Rep. Philip Gunn (R-Clinton) assumes the speakership in January, he’ll have the thinnest legislative record of any person to have ever reached such heights.  Gunn hasn't taken the podium many times during his legislative tenure, and the few times he has, he’s been careful to avoid potentially hostile questions and offered performances that capitol observers deemed “not ready for prime time.” He hasn’t chaired a committee, nor has he vice-chaired a committee.  Heck, there’s not even a portion of the Mississippi Code that has been passed into law that bore Gunn’s name on the top of the bill.  So what makes him the choice of the handful of Republican legislators who voted for him over Rep. Jeff Smith (R-Columbus) and Rep. Herb Frierson (R-Poplarville)?

It's likely that Gunn's ability to take orders was the characteristic that made him the pick of party insiders.  While his leadership style and ability remain unknown, Gunn has proven to be an unwavering foot soldier. Every time Governor Babour called on select House members to stake out an unpopular position, Gunn was there. Notable examples include voting to keep poisonous Chinese toys in Mississippi, voting with the Governor on eminent domain, and voting with the Governor to block funds to the state Wind Pool.

While Rep. Smith and Rep. Frierson are both long on legislative experience and are widely considered to be shrewd operators in the House chamber, those qualities matter less when you’re not asking the Speaker to make big decisions. With Gunn, party leaders and friendly special interests assume the Speaker’s seat by proxy. That formula, more than anything, explains why newly minted representatives and doting special interests tipped the scales in Gunn’s favor over Frierson and his coalition of seasoned legislators. With Republicans in control of the executive branch and the Senate, insiders needed an obedient peacetime consigliere, not a candidate determined to make the House relevant.

Under this new dynamic, the next four years will be intriguing.  Haley Barbour succeeded in developing and implementing a top-down style of leadership that worked as long as he was the man in charge. With Barbour gone, it will be interesting to see if this model is sustainable. It’s not likely that Bryant will be a neat fit for this role as he has, to this point, demonstrated chronic uncertainty on major policy initiatives and on more than one occasion lost control of his own caucus in the Senate (see Redistricting 2011). It’s too early to tell if Tate Reeves will be able to assume the reigns, but even if this is eventually the case it will take time. This leadership vacuum leaves a gaping hole that party leaders and groups like the Mississippi Manufacturing Association will likely exploit for the foreseeable future. Again, under these terms, selecting a party guy to oversee day-to-day operations in the House makes sense.

It is telling, though, that Philip Gunn has ascended despite the bubbling controversy at Morrison Heights. Why, in these early stages of newfound Republican control, do you trust a virtually unknown quantity with a potential legal problem? After all, Gunn isn’t the only member of that body who has demonstrated steadfast obedience to his party.

Perhaps this is the first real sign that Barbour's legacy on the Mississippi Republican Party was personal and not institutional.  Changing course early in the game isn’t easy, but Barbour excelled at acting decisively to prevent potential political pitfalls-even when those pitfalls were two or three moves down the line. He also wasn’t given to blind allegiance to individuals who hadn’t proven themselves, particularly when his party had skin in the game. With Barbour on his way out, there simply isn't anyone left with the chops or stomach to pull off a switch. The folks who made Gunn the Republican candidate are calling the shots, and the Republicans who voted for Frierson know that that one vote of separation at their caucus in November is as good as thirty today. Gunn may not be ready for prime time, but the folks holding the strings are guessing he won’t have to be.

So here we are: the adult has left the room and the Tea Party/Republicans are running the show. Let the fun begin.