RNC Chairman Priebus & Co-Chairman Day Congratulate Newly Elected Chairman of the MSGOP

WASHINGTON – Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Reince Priebus and Co-Chairman Sharon Day released the following statement congratulating Joe Nosef, the newly-elected Chairman of Mississippi Republican Party: “On behalf of the Republican National Committee, I would like to congratulate Joe Nosef on being elected Chairman of the Mississippi Republican Party,” said RNC Chairman Reince Priebus. “Joe’s devotion and enthusiasm to the Party is evident through his work in Governor Haley Barbour’s administration and on former Lieutenant Governor Bryant’s Commission on Effectiveness and Efficiency in Government. We look forward to working with Joe and the Mississippi Republican Party this year as we elect a Republican president.” “We are thrilled to have an experienced leader like Joe as Chairman of the Mississippi Republican Party,” said RNC Co-Chairman Sharon Day. “His dedication and passion will be essential to achieving success for our party this fall.”

Billy McCoy’s closest allies were probably the most upset. They have gone from being the most powerful in the chamber to the least. Some who like to talk, such as Steve Holland, were quoted in various articles. After not being placed on Medicaid or Public Health he said he was disappointed, and would even say, “The one walking encyclopedia on health care has been barred from input except on the floor.” Holland has been named Vice Chair of Local and Private.

That’s better than some other Yellow Dogs, who were closest to McCoy and made the backbone of the old Democratic majority. The following longtime Democrats received neither a chair or vice chair: Cecil Brown, Bennett Malone, Bobby Moak, Tommy Reynolds, and Johnny Stringer. Holland also didn’t seem happy that he and former Appropriations Chair Johnny Stringer were moved from that committee to Ways and Means, one of the two money slots that were guaranteed because of seniority.

As a group, the Black Caucus did much better than the old RWDs with eight chairs and 15 vice chairs. The following received chairmanships: Earle Banks- Enrolled Bills, Ed Blackmon- Municipalities, Angela Cockerham- Energy, Chuck Espy- Investigative, George Flaggs- Corrections, Joe Gardner- Ethics, John Hines- Youth and Family Affairs, and Robert Johnson- Transportation. Hines was very pleased with his assignment. “I am humbled to be given such a large responsibility at a time when issues of youth and family are at an all-time high in importance,” he told the Clarion-Ledger.

The main Black Caucus member who has publicly expressed his displeasure was Tyrone Ellis. Ellis served as Majority Leader under McCoy, and feels that may have had something to do with his new assignments. “The former majority leader of the House…You have to punish him,” he said.

Flaggs is also on Banking and Finance, a committee he previously chaired, along with the Budget committee. He is one of two Democrats to get a slot there. The other is Preston Sullivan, who did well by being named chairman of Agriculture. The Okolona legislator is a cattleman. Joe Warren was the only other white Democrat to get a chair- he will head Local and Private.

Jason White probably did the best among freshman Democrats, getting the Vice Chair of Constitution. He is also on Elections and the redistricting committees.

Mitt Romney today announced the support of Lieutenant Governor Tate Reeves and other elected officials and leaders in Mississippi.

“It’s great to see this distinguished group of leaders join my campaign,” said Romney. “They are fighting for those that have been hit hard by the failed policies of the Obama presidency. I look forward to working with them to bring my conservative message to voters across Mississippi.”

Announcing his support, Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi Tate Reeves said, “I am proud to support Mitt Romney because he has the experience to recharge our economy, put Americans back to work, and cultivate our nation’s entrepreneurial spirit. He is the conservative leader we need and his pro-growth message is resonating with voters across America.”

Elected Official and Leaders Endorsing Mitt Romney:
Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves
State Treasurer Lynn Fitch
State Auditor Stacey Pickering
State Agriculture Commissioner Cindy Hyde Smith
State Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney
Southern District Public Service Commissioner Leonard Bentz
Central District Public Service Commissioner Lynn Posey
Southern District MDOT Commissioner Tom King
Central District MDOT Commissioner Dick Hall
Northern District MDOT Commissioner Mike Tagert
Senate President Pro Tempore Terry Brown
Senator Merle Flowers
Senator Briggs Hopson
Senator Buck Clarke
Senator Joey Fillingane
Senator John Polk
Speaker Pro Tempore Greg Snowden
State Representative Herb Frierson
State Representative Wanda Jennings
State Representative Casey Eure

And back in October, Sen. Thad Cochran announced his support for the former Massachusetts governor.

Agriculture- Preston Sullivan (D)
Appropriations- Herb Frierson (R)
Banking- Hank Zuber (R)
Corrections- George Flaggs (D)
Education- John Moore (R)
Elections- Bill Denny (R)
Energy- Angela Cockerham (D)
Forestry- Becky Currie (R)
Gaming- Richard Bennett (R)
Insurance- Gary Chism (R)
Jud A- Mark Baker (R)
Jud B- Andy Gipson (R)
Reapportionment- No chairman designated, but believe the GOP has a 7-3 advantage on committee
Medicaid- Bobby Howell (R)
Public Health- Sam Mims (R)
Transportation- Robert Johnson (D)
Universities & Colleges- Nolan Mettetal (R)
Ways & Means- Jeff Smith (R)
Wildlife- Scott Bounds (R)

As I said this isn’t the entire list. All in all, I would say Democrats fared slightly better in the Senate under Tate Reeves than they did here. And it also looks like Black Caucus members did better than white Democrats. A total of 8 Black Caucus members will chair a committee in the House compared to just two white Democrats. Old Yellow Dogs like Steve Holland, Johnny Stringer, Bobby Moak, Tommy Reynolds, and Bennett Malone didn’t get anything significant. But we will have to see the entire committees rosters to get the full story, though from what I could gather in trying to listen to the assignments the GOP should have the majority on all major committees.

One thing is for sure- it’s a different day. Longtime Republicans who have been sidelined for a decade or more will get what they have been working for, and get their chance to lead. I suppose Democrats won’t be happy, but what are they going to say? If Speaker Gunn did things like Billy McCoy, they wouldn’t have received what they did get, so it is a difficult argument.

As for other Republicans who wanted to be Speaker- they got some nice assignments as you can see from the list. Jeff Smith will handle Ways & Means while Herb Frierson is in charge of Appropriations.

Update: Here is a complete list of the committee roster, courtesy of Yall Politics. As we mentioned, no chair listed for Congressional or legislative redistricting. Mark Baker was listed first because that list was in alphabetical order, but we will have to wait and see what else we hear about those committees. But the GOP does have a 7-3 advantage on both of them.

Also, if my math is correct, Republicans have a 19-14 advantage on both Appropriations and Ways & Means, including the chair and vice-chair for both.

The final tallies of chairs and vice-chairs looks like this: 30 Republican chairs and 16 Republican vice-chairs compared to 10 Democratic chairs and 22 Democratic vice chairs.

Last week, I qualified to run for reelection, and I am asking for your help and support again to continue to put our country back on the right track. I ran to serve the First District of Mississippi to ensure a change in the course of federal spending and rein-in a federal government that is hurting our economy. While changing the direction of this country has been a slow process, a process that President Obama and the liberal leadership of the Senate have tried to stop at every corner, we have made some progress. In my first year in Washington, the House of Representatives has successfully changed the conversation from “how much do we spend” to “how much can we cut.”

Over the past year, I have voted for over $10 trillion in spending cuts just to have the liberal leadership in the Senate kill all of these conservative, fiscally sound measures. In spite of the hurdles placed by President Obama and Harry Reid, for the first time since World War II, we cut discretionary spending for two fiscal years in a row. The House has also changed the culture of Washington, DC by banning earmarks and cutting our own budgets.

This year, the House advanced our budget resolution sponsored by Rep. Paul Ryan (WI-01), which sought to cut $6.2 trillion over the next ten years, and keep taxes low by calling for a simpler, less burdensome tax code for families and small businesses. The Ryan Budget would have ended the one-size-fits-all approach to Medicaid and strengthens Social Security, ensuring the solvency of this critical program. I voted for this budget plan because I believed it was the best way to turn our country around, but as you know Harry Reid and President Obama made sure this budget was killed in the Senate.

Read the rest of his email here.

** As for Nunnelee’s two opponents in the GOP primary, Henry Ross, who lost to Nunnelee two years ago, kicked off his campaign with stops in Tupelo, Hernando, Columbus and his hometown of Eupora. The Daily Journal covered the event from Tupelo with this report.

Robert Estes of Southaven is also hoping to unseat Nunnelee in the primary. The proprietor of the website ‘Where’s America’s Jobs” has launched his campaign site which can be viewed here.

As I said, Democrats are trying to get everything out of this and that is understandable. Why else would a Public Service Commissioner, tasked with regulating utilities and telemarketers, be devoting so much time and energy to the subject? When the issue first came up, I didn’t instantly go to Lynn Posey for his opinion, but Brandon Presley has taken it upon himself to be seen and heard. But unfortunately for Democrats, Phil Bryant- who was dealt with this hand on his first day in office- has handled the issue smoothly and legislation will pass some time during this session limiting the governor’s ability to pardon, and my guess says it has 174 yes votes with it.

As Sid Salter talked about in his column today, this isn’t a new issue. This practice of awarding hiring outside counsel who then make substantial donations to your campaign is nothing new, and it certainly didn’t start with Jim Hood. Some could say that former Attorney General Mike Moore was the architect behind such a practice, and it certainly began to take off throughout the country in the 1990s.

And what is going on with legislation in Mississippi isn’t anything much different than legislation being proposed in various state capitol’s. What has been introduced in Mississippi is based roughly on what is known as the Private Attorney Retention Sunshine Act. Here is a review of legislation that has been introduced and passed throughout the nation, courtesy of the American Legislative Exchange Council, a business group Mississippi Democrats target in their release. And they wonder what they get such low grades from organizations like BIPEC.

Sen. Joey Fillingane is again the author of the legislation (details on the bill here), as he has been for years. A bill known as SB 2188 cleared the Senate in 2008 by a 29-18 margin. Sen. David Blount is the remaining Democrat in the chamber who backed the legislation at that time. Former Sen. Tommy Dickerson also supported it, as did former Sens. Cindy Hyde-Smith and Nolan Mettetal who were elected in 2007 as a Democrats. Mettetal may have switched parties by this time; we known Hyde-Smith wouldn’t switch until last year.

Democrats who have a conservative image such as Sens. Haskins Montgomery, Nickey Browning and J.P. Wilemon opposed it, as did then-Democrat Gray Tollison. While his vote won’t derail this bill by any means, will be interesting to see what he has to say now that he is a Republican.

But the difference with the legislation this year, and why Democrats and their outside groups are making such a big deal about it, is obviously because of the House- and who is now controlling things. As Rep. Bob Evans reflects in the party’s release, “We were able to kill these efforts in the House during the last term.” Not anymore.

One of the big stories, at least from my prospective, was the relative free pass that Rep. Steven Palazzo has received. For some time we have read about rather embarrassing stories from his office but at the end of the day Gene Taylor stayed out and so did prominent Republicans who were rumored- such as state Sen. Michael Watson or attorney Brian Sanderson. Instead, Palazzo will face Ron Vincent and Cindy Burleson in the primary and either Jason Vitosky or Michael Herrington in the general. Another Democrat, Joshua LaRose, qualified but apparently he lives in Florida and the party has said he won’t be certified. And it looks like Ron Williams, the former Republican gubernatorial candidate who would go on to endorse Democrat Johnny DuPree, will be running as a Libertarian.

Palazzo should also get a nice boost in February as House Majority Leader Eric Cantor will be in Gulfport helping raise money for the incumbent.

In MS-01, former state Rep. Mark DuVall dropped out after Brad Morris, former chief of staff to Travis Childers, got in the race, and he will be the lone Democrat hoping to unseat Rep. Alan Nunnelee. Nunnelee first has to hold off two Republicans in the primary, including Henry Ross, who also ran in 2010, and Robert Estes. Ross formally entered the race this week after his campaign got off with a bit of a glitch when they were forced to remove Howie Morgan as campaign manager. John Collin Thompson is now working for the Ross campaign who put out their first ad today; going directly after Nunnelee.

And as some of the readers have noted, you will also see Danny Bedwell, who is running on the Libertarian Party label, in the general.

As expected, Heather McTeer will run against Rep. Bennie Thompson in the Democratic primary in MS-02 with the winner of that facing 2010 Republican candidate Bill Marcy in the general. And in MS-03, Rep. Gregg Harper will meet Robert Allen in the primary with Crystal Biggs running as a Democrat.

And in the Senate we will have another big field, but again without many big names. Running against Sen. Roger Wicker in the GOP primary will be Allen Hathcock and Robert Maloney. Competing for the Democratic nomination will be Albert Gore, Jr. and Roger Weiner. Shortly after the 2010 elections, there was talk of how some were hoping to get a strong Tea Party challenge to Wicker. I imagine the Republicans in this race, and all the races featuring incumbent Republicans, will run to the right but to quote Smokey and the Bandit, they have a long way to go and a short time to get there.

Generally speaking, much like the House seats, the districts that lost the most population and need a great deal of work done to them are held by Democrats while the growth occurred in the most Republican areas of the state. Of the 21 Democrats in the Senate, only three represent districts that have actually added residents over the past 10 years ago: Nickey Browning (SD 3), Steve Hale (SD 10), and David Blount (SD 29).

Here are the current deviations of the districts as they stand following the 2010 Census

And Blount is the only member to represent a majority-black district that gained population. As it stands right now, there are 14 majority-black districts in the state including two that moved in that direction over the past 10 years. One of those is held by Buck Clarke, the lone Republican in the Senate to occupy such a seat. Clarke’s district changed a good bit under the Burton map, stretching all the way to the Gluckstadt area of Madison county, but the demographics were pretty much the same under both plans. But his district is down more than 8,000 residents, or 14 percent, so something needs to be done.

A couple other Republican districts to pay attention to include SD 18 and SD 37. Giles Ward fended off a difficult challenge from Democrat Steven Kilgore in November and I wouldn’t be surprised to see his district slightly altered for the incumbent. Under the Burton map, his district would only take in the eastern half of Leake (rather than the entire county) and move north into Attala. And in SD 37, Melanie Sojourner knocked off longtime incumbent Bob Dearing in a district few were following when the maps were drawn. Wouldn’t be shocked to see the freshman get some help also.

For the Pine Belt, as I’ve said, that is the question. In creating a 15th majority-black district, the Burton map made Joey Fillingane’s district more favorable to the GOP but it’s not really an issue. Originally designed to elect a white Democrat, Fillingane won a special election mid-decade and isn’t in any danger of losing. We pay attention to demographics a lot for good reason, but that doesn’t always tell the whole story. In this case, a district that has a BVAP around 40 percent isn’t a concern for Republicans. If we were in another part of the state, it could be a different issue.

This year, we had an open seat with Tom King opting to run for Transportation Commission. It will be a different story if the GOP now eliminates one of their own, since I don’t see any open seats here.

Another major change was the addition of a Senate seat in Desoto county, something that was certainly well deserved and we will see in any map. The original plan did this by merging SD 8 and SD 14. At the time, most figured Jack Gordon would not run for re-election because of his illness. He has since passed away. SD 14 is held by Republican Lydia Chassanoil, and this new district was more favorable to Republicans but looked a lot different then her current district. Right now, her district runs from Tallahatchie county down to Attala. Under the Burton map, it would stretch east-to-west from Leflore to Lee. SD 8 is now held by Democrat Sen. Russell Jolly, who easily won a first term in November.

Madison and Rankin counties are close to getting a new district, but not there yet. By my count, SD 20, 25, and 30 added about 37,000 new residents. Under the Burton map, SD 20 would no longer reach into Madison and would now run from the Madison county line to the Simpson county line in east Rankin. SD 30 would be more compact extending just to Brandon now.

But that is just one way of doing things. As I’ve said, we will see what Flowers and his committee produces.

The qualifying deadline is tomorrow, and while Nunnelee isn’t getting a free pass, he is certainly the favorite to win a second term. As of September 30, the incumbent had around $340,000 in the bank. Q4 numbers, traditionally down because of the holidays, should be out for everyone next week.

** Henry Ross, one of the Republicans hoping to defeat Nunnelee in the primary, postponed his planned campaign kickoff that was to take place in four cities today. It has been rescheduled for next week, though exact time and location has not been announced yet.

** As Heather McTeer begins her campaign to unseat Rep. Bennie Thompson in the Democratic primary, she had a fundraising reception in Jackson last night. She’s going to need it. Thompson has more money then any Congressman in the state. He ended September with more than $1.7 million in the bank. Thompson raises a lot, and spends a lot. His distributions traditionally aren’t much less than what the three Republicans combine to spend.

McTeer has begun her fundraising as well; she has raised about $63,000 which includes a $40,000 candidate loan.

Joe Nosef Elected Chairman of the Mississippi Republican Party

(Jackson, Miss.)—The Mississippi Republican Party has elected Joe Nosef of Jackson as its new Chairman.

At a meeting today in Jackson held by the Mississippi Republican Party’s Executive Committee, Nosef was elected by a unanimous vote shortly after the resignation of former Chairman Arnie Hederman.

“As we begin a new year with solid Republican leadership in the Governor’s office, the Mississippi Legislature and our Congressional delegation, I am honored and excited about the opportunity to help the Mississippi Republican Party grow even stronger in 2012 and beyond,” said Nosef. “My commitment as Chairman is to focus on building active organizations in every county, recruiting good, qualified candidates, and providing an effective voice for communicating our conservative principles and ideas for the future.”

“I am very appreciative of Arnie Hederman’s leadership as Republican Party Chairman,” Nosef stated. “He leaves a very successful framework for building the party.”

Governor Phil Bryant expressed his support for Nosef’s election as Chairman today by saying, “I have worked with Joe for years, and I am confident that he is the best person to lead our Party forward. He has proven his ability to work with Republicans all over the state and will be able to get our message out with strong communication skills.”

Nosef grew up in Clarksdale & attended Ole Miss earning both undergraduate and master’s degrees in accounting. He graduated from Ole Miss Law School and also obtained an LL.M. degree in taxation from the University of Florida at Gainesville. Nosef has practiced law in the Jackson area for more than fifteen years. During this time, he has served on boards of various charitable organizations in the metro area.

Upon his inauguration in January of 2004, Governor Haley Barbour appointed Nosef to serve as Chief Counsel where he served until November 2006, when Governor Barbour named him Campaign Manager for his re-election campaign in 2007. After Governor Barbour’s successful reelection, Nosef served as Chief of Staff for then Lt. Governor Phil Bryant during 2008. He served as Chairman of the Phil Bryant Campaign for Governor and Executive Director of the Phil Bryant Gubernatorial Transition. Nosef currently practices law at Watkins & Eager PLLC in Jackson. Nosef is married to the former Amy Wallace of Laurel. They are the parents of two children, both of whom attend Jackson Academy. The Nosefs attend St. Richard Catholic Church in Jackson.

I know a seniority list is going around the capitol, but without that benefit I have a rough look at that list, based on Congressional districts using all members elected in 2007 or before. Again, this isn’t exact and you have many members whose districts cross Congressional districts. For this, I tried to use the member’s hometown as the basis for the district that they were put in.

As has been talked about, the old rules would favor Democrats simply because many of them have been around for a very long time with the combination of safe, majority black districts along with ancestral Democrats still around.

Here is my seniority list based on Congressional districts

And, if we go down to six members from each district, twelve total for the two committees, here is the party breakdown based solely on seniority, using my list which may or may not be exact:

CD 1: 7 R/ 5 D
CD 2: 11 D/ 1 R
CD 3: 8 D/ 4 R
CD 4: 7 R/ 5 D

By mount count, that is 19 Republicans and 29 Democrats among those 48 members. The Speaker would be able to work with these numbers to even them out as best as he can for the GOP, and most of the at large appointments would likely to have to be Republicans at this point so they can maintain their majority.

The new rules would keep each committee at 33 members, and prohibit someone from serving on both. But the Speaker would have a little more discretion with at large members. He would now be able to appoint nine members of his choosing, with six each from the four current Congressional districts. Those appointments would again be based on seniority.

Here is a full reading of the new rule

And here is a definition of seniority: “For the purposes of this rule, “seniority” shall mean length of service, continuous or interrupted, in either the House of Representatives or the Senate. However, seniority among members having the same length of service shall be determined as follows: first, continuous, uninterrupted service in the House; second, continuous, uninterrupted service in the House and Senate; third, interrupted service in the House; and fourth, interrupted service in the House and Senate.”

We will try to get a rough order of seniority here later today. Besides the rule change, defeat and retirement among some long-serving Democrats already helps out the GOP. Here was our story on the youthful Republican majority from December. It wasn’t that long ago most parts of the state wouldn’t elect Republican legislators, and many Democrats have survived even with the new GOP majority. Translation: Democrats would still stand to do very well on committee assignments under the old rules.

I suppose this will be the first big floor vote for the new majority, although I don’t see or know of a lot of opposition to changing this rule. Most people probably agree with giving the majority party the majority in their committee assignments. According to Elizabeth Crisp, look for this to hit the floor today.