Saturday, August 18, 2007

Deja Vu All Over Again - August 28

As Yogi Berra infamously once said: "It's deja vu all over again!" We've just gotten the results of the August 7 election (see them here), and we've got to do it again in the runoffs on August 28. But the choices are fewer this time.

Undoubtedly, the most important race is for Circuit Clerk. Inconceivably, 2837 residents of this county voted for a crook - Binky Vines. Amazing! Even worse, he got the most votes. Would one of those people please explain to the rest of us why in the world you did this?

Fortunately, we have a very good alternative in Eddie Walker. He has worked as an investigator in the District Attorney's office for almost 30 years. In that capacity, he has worked with 5 Circuit Clerks and gained invaluable experience and knowledge about the job. Wouldn't it be nice to have an experienced person in that position? My favorite of Eddie's many qualifications is that he's married to a CPA - no worries about "I'm just a bad bookkeeper" with Eddie. As you can see, Eddie is the favorite of my unscientific online poll. (By the way, there's a typo in Eddie's name in the poll (Eddiw), since I put it there late on Election Night when I was bleary eyed. I wanted to correct it, but I couldn't without removing the results.) As Eddie's website says: "Bring honesty, integrity, & accountability back to the office of Circuit Clerk."

There's an interesting note on the election results in that race. By my calculations, there were 1232 absentee/affidavit votes cast in that election. Binky got 38% of those. He went from a 5 vote margin over Eddie to almost 200. As I told you, Binky was flagranting violating the rules governing absentee ballots, and you see the results. Hopefully, he won't try it again. I know several complaints were filed with the Secretary of State's office, but obviously Binky has no qualms about violating the law.

There are several other local races that will be decided in the runoff. In the other county wide race, Tax Collector, it's Peter Burns versus Rose Daniel Johnson. For District Court Judge, Southern District, it's Danny Barber versus Charlie Vess. There are also runoffs in two of the Supervisor's races. For District 1, it's Mike Lazarus vs Mike Smith, and in District 3, it's Boo Campbell vs Britt Gibson. Although I have my favorites in each race, there are no bad choices here.

Vote on Tuesday, August 28 like your life depended on it - because it does.

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

For District 1 supervisor--I say vote for whomever has the best chance of beating Sammy Cauthen. It's time to get him out! He's taken too many vacations at the taxpayer's expense and is in the old school-good-ole-boy-league--of do me a favor and I'll do you one.

Anonymous said...

That would be Mike Smith.

Anyone who knows Lazarus knows he's a hothead, with a very shaky business background.

Anonymous said...

Care to explain shaky business background.

Anonymous said...

How about "BANKRUPTCY".
Check it out yourself if your're considering Lazarus.

Anonymous said...

I received a letter in the mail several weeks ago from a local attorney endorsing Sammy.

Thats all I needed, to vote "REPUBLICAN".

Anonymous said...

I got a letter also, and being undecided how I would vote instantly went Democrat.

Just what we need another overpaid lawyer on the county payroll.

Anonymous said...

According to Binky, he is god's chosen candidate. When questioned about everything from his stealing, the election, or the birth of a goat, Binky says he puts his trust in god. If we are to follow Binky's reasoning, god prefers thieves and liars for public office. The great and holy commandment: Thou shalt vote for Binky. People like Binky and the people that support him are the ultimate proof that there is no god.

Anonymous said...

At least Lazarus has paid his property taxes on time this year. Unlike a good many of our elected officals

Anonymous said...

Mississippi is the armpit of the nation and the political success of people like Binky Vines is a clear indicator that this state's status will not soon change.

Anonymous said...

Hey if you don't like Mississippi then why are you here??? I'm sure there are no other states with corruption and bad candidates being voted into office. No excuses, but we're certainly not the armpit. I can think of many other states that rank far lower than Mississippi....

Anonymous said...

Corrupt candidates are the least of Mississippi's problems. You can think of many other states that rank below Mississippi? In what category? Let's look at some of the things where we rank last: Per capita income, children's health, education, industry...etc. In other words, we rank last in the important things. Back to political candidates. We continue to re-elect the two most ineffective senators to represent us in Washington, Thad Cocheran and Trent Lott (Who can't tie his damn shoes and embarrasses the entire state everytime he makes a public statement.). Let's not forget Governor Haley Barbour, who doesn't have the sense god gave a cockroach. As long as we continue to chose such people to be our leaders, Mississippi will always be last.

What exactly do we lead in? Most rednecks per square mile? Maybe we lead the nation with the most people who believe the Earth is flat? Or maybe we are the grits capitol of America? I know! A recent study showed that Mississippi leads the nation in obesity!

The last time there was positive political and social change in Mississippi was during the Civil Rights era of the 1960s, and the Federal Government had to enforce that.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous 3:14, You're an idiot!

Anonymous said...

Anonymous 3:14, You're an idiot!

I second that!

Anonymous said...

I think 3:14 is right. Our entire country has stagnated and regressed with the present administration. We have a president who does not believe in global warming and I'm not even going to start with the stupid war, it's just too damn easy and it's off the subject. The country and Mississippi need a political shake up. I'm waiting for Mike Moore to run for governor. As far as Natchez--please get some of those candidates who have been in office too long and are too comfortable spending tax payers hard earned money, OUT! It's time for a change. Our votes do count here! I think--but after this last vote counting fiasco, who knows.

Anonymous said...

Haley Barbour might be a lot of things. However, one of those things is not "dumb".

Anonymous 3:14, You're an idiot!

I 3rd that!

Anonymous said...

Anyone who extols the "intellect" of Haley Barbour is in no position to call anyone an idiot!

Anonymous said...

Come to thinkk of it, Haley barbour does look like he has Down syndrome. Maybe he could be held up as an example to show the mentally handicapped how far they can go in life?

Anonymous said...

To Peter Renaldi, Uh I mean, anonymous 11:40am…Look past your hate-filled message and instead at the candidate you attempt to berate. Sammy is an invaluable member of this board. I get so damn sick and tired of hearing people bash incumbents just for fact that they are incumbent. He has been re-elected as many times as he has simply because he gets the job done. I live in District 1, and have put in calls to him on two different occasions over the past year and he returned my calls within the day both times. And, believe me… I am no Big Shot around town—just a local yocal. PLUS, he took care of the problem I called about in a very reasonable period of time. There are certainly incumbents who may need to go, but Sammy sure as Hell ain't one of 'em!

P.S. Lazarus is a hot-headed fool. I wouldn’t trust him with my child’s piggy bank, much less anything else. Check further into his financial background. It shouldn’t be too hard to dig up the facts. He may be full of grand ideas, but then again… So is Kramer from Seinfeld.

Anonymous said...

Give me a break, Anons 9:05 and 9:12!!!

I am a die-hard Democrat. A Yellow Dog Democrat, in fact. You will rarely, if ever, find me voting for a Republican. But, I do have to take a stance about ole Barbour. We don't agree on politics, but he is actually smart (street and book) as Hell. Read a little about what he has accomplished prior to becoming Governor of our state. You might be surprised.

Anonymous said...

I dont vote in Dist 1, but I do know both Smith and Lazarus, There are two diffrent types of people here,

SMITH- Level Headed, calm and collected


Lazarus- Hot headed, shaky and distorted,

Smith is the clear choice.......

Anonymous said...

Whomever the anonymous Smith/Lazarus poster is here should lay off it and quit trying to instigate something that doesn't exist. As Casey pointed out, there is no bad candidate in this race. This is not a heated race and these candidates will run clean races so why try to start something here under an anonymous cover. There are too many trouble makers out there.

Anonymous said...

With respect to Anonymous at 2:30pm, isn't the whole purpose of this forum to air our opinions? Hopefully, posters will think before they write, but this is a way to get things off our chest and 'have our say', so to speak.

I've been following the District 1 race with interest. It may not appear heated to you, but if you asked one of the three candidates still in the race, I would imagine they might describe it differently.

Perhaps you don't live in District 1. In that case, it may not matter that much to you. I wish you would have posted your message during the 70+ onslaught of UGLY and HATEFUL posts that went on during the sheriff's race. Now, THERE are your troublemakers!

As far as all three candidates running a clean race, I have 100% certainty that Sammy and Mike S. will run with the integrity they always show in public. I have a different opinion on Lazarus due to some of the things he's already said while doing his door-to-door campaigning.

But, hey...It's just my opinion.