The Latest From Hewes and Reeves
Billy Hewes recently released a campaign spot that plays on Tate Reeves calling himself a watchdog and goes after Reeves on PERS and MPACT. The first truly direct negative ad of the election season. Here is the interesting part: Hewes has yet to send out a press release with the ad, and it is not on their website either.
So the Reeves campaign, in responding to the ad, included a link to it in their press release- which is a rather odd thing to do. The link goes to a YouTube page covered with Hewes’ logo in the background. The user’s account is “Career Politician” with a picture of Hewes and the video is described as, “Billy Hewes’ false negative campaign ad.”
Here is a statement from Reeves on the ad: “Hewes is the first statewide campaign to launch a negative ad in this campaign. While Tate Reeves has campaigned openly on his record as Treasurer and has aired commercials discussing his record and what he wants to do as Lt. Governor, Hewes has actively avoided discussing his voting record, what that record has meant to taxpayers and what his priorities would be as Lt. Governor. Hewes hasn’t discussed his record or goals on television and doesn’t even mention them on his campaign website. Hewes’ negative campaign has begun even before Hewes has introduced himself on television to voters outside the Jackson and Hattiesburg-Laurel media markets.”
Reeves press release:
Hewes’ claim: “Tate Reeves claims to be Mississippi’s watchdog.”
THE FACTS
“The taxpayers of Mississippi should be thankful that Reeves is doing what he’s supposed to do, and that’s be a watchdog for tax money.” – Delta Democrat Times, May 3, 2004
“Reeves continues watchdog role from treasurer’s post” – The Meridian Star, July 25, 2005
“Tate Reeves, Mississippi’s treasurer, took it upon himself to figure a way to save taxpayers millions of dollars in unnecessary interest costs.” – Greenwood Commonwealth, September 24, 2006
“Tate played a major role in Mississippi retaining its favorable bond rating in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, and I appreciate his many contributions to ensuring that Mississippi remains fiscally strong.” – Governor Haley Barbour; Magnolia Report, March 15, 2006
Read more about Tate Reeves’ record as Treasurer.
Hewes’ claim: “Reeves mismanaged our college savings fund so badly that now lawmakers worry it may go under.”
THE FACTS
“One of Mississippi’s college savings plans is among the top five programs in the nation, according to a recent ranking. Consumer Reports awarded the Mississippi Affordable College Savings plan an ‘A’ on its performance during last year’s stock-market plunge, citing its investment flexibility, low expenses and fees.” – The Clarion-Ledger, article by Elizabeth Crisp, March 9, 2009.
Since the article cited in Hewes’ ad was written (December 2010), MPACT investments have grown 13% last year and over 20% year-to-date in 2011.
Hewes’ claim: “And as chairman of the pension board he oversaw the loss of $3.8 billion that state employees were counting on for retirement.”
THE FACTS
“PERS is … making changes to counteract effects from benefit increases made in the late 1990s when our funded status fluctuated comfortably above 80 percent. These retroactive benefit enhancements combined with the effect of the dot-com bust and more recently the Great Recession have necessitated increases in member and employer contributions …” – Pat Robertson, Executive Director of PERS, June 14, 2011
“But over the last decade, decisions by the Mississippi Legislature to raise state employee retirement benefits without providing a funding mechanism while simultaneously failing to set aside funds to meet future retiree health care benefits have cast financial shadows over the state’s once-pristine system.” – Sid Salter, The Clarion-Ledger, February 27, 2010
“Pat Robertson, executive director of the 373,000-member Public Employees Retirement System, told The Clarion-Ledger editorial board recently that much of the benefit increases provided by the Legislature came in the form of unfunded cost-of-living increases to retirees. Robertson said retirement formulas were also amended for current employees, effectively providing a retroactive benefit increase that was also unfunded.” – Sid Salter, The Clarion-Ledger, February 27, 2010
“But Gov. Haley Barbour called the Legislature’s increase in state retirement benefits without a corresponding funding mechanism ‘wrongheaded.’” – Sid Salter, The Clarion-Ledger, February 27, 2010
THE BOTTOM LINE
1999 – Sen. Billy Hewes voted for an unprecedented, retroactive expansion of state employee retirement benefits that is widely credited with causing the current funding shortfalls. (HB 472 – 2/4/99 – Hewes votes Y. 3/3/99 – Conference Committee Report – Hewes votes Y. SB 2381 1/8/99 – Hewes votes Y.)
2000 and 2002 – Sen. Billy Hewes voted to spend more taxpayer dollars on special benefits for legislators through SLRP. (HB 1281 – 4/5/00 – Hewes votes Y. 5/2/00 – Hewes votes Y. 5/3/00 – Hewes votes Y. HB 1148 – 3/13/02 – Hewes votes Y. 4/4/02 – Hewes votes Y.)
“Critics also pointed to the fact that the PERS retirement benefit increase passed by the Legislature benefitted lawmakers personally twice through PERS and through the Supplemental Legislative Retirement Plan, or SLRP.” – Sid Salter, The Clarion-Ledger, February 27, 2010
It’s like Reeves wants us to see the ad. Hmm…interesting
…. And Hewes doesn’t.
OH THE IRONY!!!!
Hewes is toast and he knows it. Going negative proves his polling is the same as all the rest…he’s way behind. Even more troublesome is that he’s dark in tupelo, GTR, Meridian and Memphis with no funds (or chance) to improve his name ID.
Hewes is just fine. He’s keeping Tate honest, and that’s not negative, it’s his obligation. I have a feeling there are many things Tate doesn’t want to discuss openly and “factually”, and his record is only one of them. This race will be fun to watch to the finish line – mark my words on that!
I think the ad is effective to a point, but the real problem to many of us Hewes supporters and donors is that it is not reflective of the Billy Hewes we know (a dedicated conservative with a proven record of achievement and accomplishment yet to be put before our GOP primary voters–c’mon, the first ad was cute enough, but the college one was just stupid when someone has Billy’s record to run on!).
And I think therein lies the problem that Sen. Hewes will have with this and surely more-to-come-like-it ads.
That being said, the ad is very much reflective of the style of Josh Gregory. (And if I’m wrong that Josh and Q are also handling Billy’s campaign while handling Phil’s, please don’t shoot me!)
Josh is a very talented guy who’s never (at least to this admitted Expatriot and “interested by-stander”) exhibited a reluctance to “go negative”.
In this case, I hope Josh’s (and Billy’s) decisions to “go negative” without having frst established Billy’s credentials isn’t held against either of them.
Is pointing out the truth that negative?
Telling the truth is not negative. Tate Reeves response proves he is scared of his record. Tate went negative insinuating Haley Barbour and the legislature were big spenders for approving the purchase of vehicles for the bureaucrats. Like he wasn’t involved in the same practice. The Treasurers office has many new vehicles and each one comes with a unlimited fuel man card. However, it is the truth just not the whole truth.
Bill Hewes ad was a reminder, about a part of Tate Reeves record that he does not want exposed.
By the way Tate. When you bet on hedge funds you either win big or loose big.
Response from Hewes:
REEVES CAN’T RUN FROM HIS RECORD
June 24, 2011—Tate Reeves’ response to serious questions about his record is nothing more than another attempt to mislead Mississippians. When confronted by the obvious contradictions in a recent ad all Reeves can do is refer to a ready made laundry list of quotes from newspaper articles that are 6 and 7 years old.
However, the record Tate is running from is clear:
1) As State Treasurer, Tate Reeves is charged with managing Mississippi‚s Affordable College Savings Plan. In 2008, Morningstar, the premier fund-rating firm, ranked both of Mississippi‚s College Savings Plans among the five worst college plans in the nation. Specifically, they cited the exorbitant management fees that Tate Reeves paid to investment firm TIAA-CREF for managing the fund‚s investments. Reeves paid the firm much higher commissions than what most firms charge for similar investments, leading Morningstar to rate the funds performance as poor and urging Mississippi families to “seriously consider other alternatives.”
Here is a link to the Morningstar article:
http://news.morningstar.com/articlenet/article.aspx?id=234422
2) Due to Tate Reeves misleading accounting tricks, the college fund’s $84 million unfunded liability has led lawmakers to ponder the possibility of a future bailout at taxpayers’ expense. Reeves defends his management of the plan with projections that show the fund in good shape for the next several years. But Reeves projections are based on a 2% annual tuition increase, much lower than the rate that tuitions have actually increased over the last several years. Reeves admitted as much in an interview with the Laurel Leader-Call on June 16th saying, “Tuition is rising 7 percent a year, and the price doubles every ten years.”
Here is a link to that article:
http://tatereeves.com/news/laurel-leader-call-reeves-voters-want-true-conservative
3) Tate Reeves has spent $2.3 million dollars from the College Savings Fund to put himself in expensive commercials that star…Tate Reeves. That money, contributed by parents and grandparents to fund their kids’ education, would have paid for 920 semesters of tuition. Instead, Reeves used the money to craftily promote himself.
4) As Treasurer, Tate Reeves is the only elected official to serve on the board of the Public Employees‚ Retirement System (PERS). In 2009, with Reeves as its Chairman, the fund saw losses of $3.8 BILLION. Although Reeves has defended the pension funds performance since then, an $11 billion unfunded liability leaves a huge question mark as to whether the fund can meet its future obligations.
Here is a link to a recent article detailing the problems:
http://desototimes.com/articles/2011/03/02/opinion/editorials/doc4d6ea2934dfe4194915373.txt
“Our campaign pointed out the difference in the words and deeds of our opponent,” said Hewes Spokesman Keith Plunkett. “We pointed out that there is indeed a record to look to that indicates the difference in leadership between these two candidates. Senator Hewes is a straight talker and has 20 years of legislative experience. He wants to start talking about solid issues that matter to Mississippians, not the lofty rhetoric we are hearing from his opponent. Telling the truth is not a negative attack. The only negative attack that has occurred here is the one that Reeves continues to pull on the Mississippi voters.”
So the Hewes campaign is linking to articles written by Bill Minor now? Come on! I would call that the last act of a desperate Republican.
Below is John Galt’s responce:
” If Mr. Minor’s wife is a PERS retiree, then no doubt she received the PERS publication this month called “Forward”. I just read a family member’s and I will quote the Executive Director, Ms. Pat Robertson:
“In response to the host of local and national media reports, blogs, articles, essays, studies, academic papers, etc. prophesying the fiduciary doomsday of Mississippi’s public pension system, I want to assure our members and the taxpayers of Mississippi that, contrary to the assertions made in these reports, the Public Employees Retirement System of Mississippi (PERS) is finacially secure. In fact, based on the June 30, 2010, valuation report prepared by consulting actuary Cavanaugh Macdonald Consulting, LLC (CMC), PERS is projected to have sufficient assets to pay all current and future promised benefits. We are not projected to, nor will we, run out of money.”
My money is on Ms. Robertson for accuracy — not some biased reporter.
Mr. Minor mentions the reason for focusing on Tate Reeves as “now that he seeks the higher office of Lieutenant. Governor is that he boasts of a record as being the taxpayers ‘watchdog’.”
I would submit that his real reason for focusing on Tate Reeves is that he is a REPUBLICAN candidate for Lt. Gov. “
So the new ad is called “Family”, huh? All I can do is say that was a poor choice. This last month is going to be nuts.
What’s wrong with an ad that is about family? Isn’t this Tate’s 2nd ad to feature his family? Doesn’t Billy have two ads with his family also?
Take my word for it or don’t. No harm either way. Everything about this race is going to be, um, entertaining. Heck who knows? May even be some interesting news today. That’d be fun.