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When a government can solve a problem, the best entity to solve it is almost always the elected legislature. This is because they are the officials voted in to enact laws and policies that result in better governing. For in their accountability to the people, these legislators are generally the most in touch with the will of the people.

The problem with many public policy solutions on the state and federal levels is that they adhere to a model that treats policy like a big empty box.  When a problem arises, and a policy solution is warranted, some legislatures will fill that box only to a certain point with only general rules and regulatory schemes about how money should be spent.  The rest of the box is given to agencies and public officials to be filled at their discretion.  While this may work for a time, giving officials and agencies this kind of unchecked legislative power plays with fire and eventually breeds corruption.  Mississippi only confirms this theory.

This is especially true when government utilizes taxpayer funds. This money is highly vulnerable if it goes without legislative stewardship.  Legislators need to take back their own responsibility to govern. There should be a commitment to producing public policies that rely on constructive deliberation in the legislative chambers rather than the whims of unchecked government agencies and bureaucrats.

Yet somehow, many government leaders take the old saying, “money makes the world go round,” to heart when considering political solutions to problems.  While it is true in a certain economic context, this idea is taken to a fault when taxpayer funds are thrown into places with little direction or trajectory for where they are supposed to go.  Good policy dictates where these funds will go and what they will be used for. Leaders shouldn’t simply be throwing money at a problem by raising salaries and funding bureaucratic appropriation.

Mississippi, unfortunately, has taken this philosophy in a variety of contexts, which is notably seen through MCPP’s Fat Cat Report, in which it is found that some education superintendents and other public officials have among the highest salaries in the country. This is all despite the fact that Mississippi is one of the poorest states in the country.  A recent examination of Mississippi’s welfare system discovered similar findings.

The question for those living in Mississippi is the same question that President Reagan built his campaign upon: are you better off now than you were a couple of years before?  It is an important question to consider.  As the government continues to grow and tells us that the same growth is necessary to keep the country functioning well, it would be best to remember that government works for the people.  Ironically, despite the government claiming that it must get bigger, there never seems to be a point at which it is big enough.  People in power will always take the opportunity to get more bloated if the people do not remain vigilant.

When Americans see images of the fall of Saigon which marked the end of the Vietnam War, several descriptions immediately come to mind: failure, quagmire and (fairly or not) defeat. Vietnam veterans fought bravely and do not deserve to be remembered in this way, but that is the reality of the legacy created by the indecisiveness and failures of the civilian political leaders who oversaw the war.

Our Afghanistan veterans deserve a more honorable and dignified ending to their war. They too fought bravely. They put their lives on the line for their country. They sacrificed their friends, their bodies, and their spirits for our country and the people of Afghanistan. We should have been able to learn from Vietnam and ensure that we leave a better legacy for them.

Our veterans do not deserve to be remembered this way. Fairly or not, the images coming out of Afghanistan will go into the history books and will shape the way we remember this war. We have seen scenes of desperate Afghan citizens pleading with the American military to help them leave the country; of fear and uncertainty gripping stranded American citizens, our allies, and our friends; and of violence, unrest, and chaos.

It is a stain on America and the Afghanistan War. Our veterans, our stranded American citizens, our friends and allies, and the Afghan people deserve better. We owe that to them at a bare minimum.

We knew this was coming. We had plenty of time to prepare for an orderly and safe withdrawal. That we would leave Afghanistan on this note is shocking and inexcusable.

Many veterans already struggle with thoughts of hopelessness and despair. The events of this week have caused many more to struggle with anger and grief. When friends of yours don’t come home, you want that to mean something. Veterans can’t help but attempt the impossible task of weighing the sacrifices made against the wartime accomplishments. Some decide the sacrifice was too great. Others hope that the accomplishments were enough to justify the sacrifice. But all must carry that burden and face their own uncertainties.

As we watch the events in Afghanistan with heavy hearts and deep concern for what lies ahead, we should also make sure our veterans know that they will not be remembered for these disgraceful scenes. We are proud of them. They fought bravely and served their country honorably. They made the world a better place and gave hope and resolve to the Afghan people to strive for a better way of life.

They kept America safe by fighting the enemy overseas and stopping the fight from coming here. They prevented terrorist attacks on the American homeland by destroying and degrading terrorist networks. They brought to justice those responsible for the horrific attacks of Sept. 11. For all of that, Americans are grateful.

We should also remember that the war in Afghanistan was a just war. In fact, the invasion of Afghanistan was the most clearly justified act of war that America has taken since our entrance into World War II following the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

Civilians were attacked and killed on American soil on Sept. 11. The Taliban was harboring and sponsoring the terrorists responsible for that attack. We even gave the Taliban the opportunity to turn over those terrorists and avoid war. But they refused and America defended itself. We were right to do so.

That doesn’t mean we all have to support staying in Afghanistan for the past 20 years, or nation building, or so-called “forever wars.” But we should remember the reasons we sent our young men and women to fight in Afghanistan in the first place and we should honor them for answering the call. The best way to do that right now is to ensure a safe and orderly evacuation of Americans, our friends and our allies.

This opinion piece by Aaron Rice, Director of the Mississippi Justice Institute, originally appeared in the Clarion Ledger.

The City of Jackson took over a year to provide public records to WLBT, a local news outlet that requested the records under Mississippi’s public records laws. Those laws require public records to be provided within seven business days. The city’s egregious delay will cost it and its residents in a big way. Last week, the state’s Ethics Commission ordered Jackson to pay more than $170,000 in legal fees to WLBT – the largest fee award ever levied against a government entity by the commission.

WLBT filed an ethics complaint against the city in October 2019, after the city failed to respond or responded exceedingly late to seven requests for public records to the Jackson Police Department for crime statistics, emails, memos, and related documents.

The city failed to respond to five of the seven requests. For the other requests, the city took excessively long to provide the requested records. For example, the city took nearly 600 days to produce a portion of the phone and text logs WLBT requested from JPD Chief James Davis.

Even after the ethics complaint was filed, the city still did not produce any additional records for 10 months.

The ethics complaint resulted in a hearing before the Mississippi Ethics Commission in November 2020. Nine witnesses appeared before the commission, mostly current and former city employees. On August 6, 2021, the Ethics Commission voted unanimously to approve a final order against the city of Jackson. The order requires the city to pay $170,397.50 to reimburse WLBT’s legal expenses and also fined the city an additional $900 for nine separate violations of state law.

The order also mandates that Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba take several measures to ensure the city does not violate the Public Records Act in the future, such as designating public records officers for the city and each of its 10 departments. Those officers must also undergo at least two hours of training on the Public Records Act each year from a curriculum approved by the commission’s executive director, Tom Hood.

Additionally, the city will be required to post weekly reports on Jackson’s website showing all pending requests for public records to promote transparency.

“The commission and its hearing officers have given the city more than enough warnings and guidance, more than enough chances to comply. Yet the city and its elected officials and, therefore, its employees, have continued to ignore the law and persistently failed to meet legal obligations with no reasonable explanation,” Hood wrote.

The Public Records Act provides a fine of up to $100 per violation, and also allows the Ethics Commission to impose reasonable expenses against government entities who have Complaints filed against them.

A frustration often expressed by advocates of government transparency is that the Ethics Commission rarely imposes significant costs against violators, and the $100 fine, by itself, amounts to a meaningless slap on the wrist.

For that reason, while it’s unfortunate that Jackson’s taxpayers will have to foot the bill for the city administration’s deliberate indifference to state law, last week’s historic fee award is welcome news for those who believe that government must be honest, transparent, and accountable to its citizens, and should face real consequences when it fails to do so.

The Centers for Disease Control recently announced a moratorium on evictions across most of the United States, in light of Covid. This order places restrictions on evictions in areas with high or moderate levels of Covid infections.

This move has been applauded by some as a way to stabilize housing and help those who are struggling financially due to Covid. But the evidence speaks directly to the contrary. The government imposing its control over rental properties is highly problematic, with repercussions for both tenants and property owners.

A policy that forces property owners to provide temporary housing without recourse during Covid is not too dissimilar from the government handing out checks that are encouraging people not to work. According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the median rent in the United States is $909 a month, slightly lower than the median mortgage of $975. Consider the following statistics:

While some might view these facts as good news for tenants, it ultimately leads to bad outcomes. Indeed, without having the recourse of eviction in the event of non-payment, many landlords are raising their approval criteria. On this factor alone, it will likely be harder for the tenants who didn’t pay rent during the moratorium to get approved by future landlords if they chose to go to a different rental home post-pandemic. 

Thus, a ban on evictions for the failure to pay rent is ultimately just another piece of the puzzle that encourages Americans not to work and causes collateral effects as well. The only difference is that instead of the federal government using taxpayer dollars to write checks, property owners are forced to foot the bill until the moratorium is over and they can get their rent payments back.

This places many property owners at great financial risk if rental properties are not bringing in income. Approximately half of all rental units are owned by small investors, referred to by HUD as “mom and pop landlords.” The average rental property owner receives 31 percent of their annual income from their rental properties. With so many small business owners already struggling, such a dip in income has led to even more financial hardship, leading to increased debt and even rental property foreclosure.

Government interference in the economy has a consistent track record of generally causing more problems than it solves. The government’s recent move hurts tenants and property owners in untold ways. Only time will tell what the major repercussions will be from such government overreach.

(Jackson, MS): Mississippi has some of the highest paid public officials in America, despite being the poorest state, according to a new report out today. 

Published by the Mississippi Center for Public Policy, the Fat Cat Report offers a summary of the top 50 highest paid public officials in the state along with further data analysis.

The report reveals:

The Fat Cat report compares what top public officials make to the salaries of average nurses, State Troopers, and workers across the Magnolia state.  

“Mississippi taxpayers have a right to know how much their top public officials earn,” explained Douglas Carswell, CEO of the Mississippi Center for Public Policy. Clearly some officials produce value for the money they are paid. But many don’t.”

“How much should public officials be paid, and who should decide? The key is public accountability.”

“Our report suggests that officials appointed by boards tend to have the most inflated taxpayer-funded salaries. Officials that are either elected, or in close proximity to taxpayers, generally have lower salaries.”

“This suggests to me that direct accountability to the taxpayers is the best way of ensuring that public officials give taxpayers value for money, and our report makes some suggestions on what we could do to ensure that Mississippi taxpayers don’t get taken for a ride.”

Read the report in full HERE.

For more information or to request an interview with Mississippi Center for Public Policy CEO Douglas Carswell, please reach out to Hunter Estes, [email protected].

Mississippi Center for Public Policy CEO Douglas Carswell appeared on Fox News’ The Next Revolution with Steve Hilton to discuss our major new investigative report.

You can watch the full interview and discussion of the report here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMGbAo318Xo&t=3s

The report has a range of interesting findings, including:

You can read the full report here: https://mspolicy.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Fat-Cat-Report-2021-Final.pdf

There is little debate that America’s infrastructure plays a critical role in the economy. Roads, bridges, shipping facilities, airports, the energy grid, and other vital industrial elements all play a crucial part in the ability of the nation to produce and deliver goods and services in the most efficient way possible. 

Despite this importance, some in Washington have asserted that Americans must also pay for unrelated energy policy proposals if they want better infrastructure. 

Amid negotiations for a massive infrastructure improvement package, political leadership on the Left has insisted that the infrastructure bill include provisions to implement President Biden’s energy policy agenda. One such proposal in this agenda is a call to expand federal energy regulations through the reduction of carbon-based fuels.  

A key stated goal is to reduce carbon and other greenhouse emissions to approximately half by 2030. An additional proposed mandate is that the nation’s electrical grid completely transitions away from carbon-based fuels such as coal, natural gas, and oil by 2035. In light of the high cost of transitioning from carbon fuels, such federal mandates would be detrimental to the state of Mississippi. The state’s economy and citizens are highly dependent on affordable energy.

From the economic angle, it is important to note that Mississippi has the 2nd highest level of energy expenditures per dollar of GDP. This means that Mississippi’s economy needs more energy than most other states to produce its economic outputs. Mississippi also has the 8th highest amount of carbon output per dollar of GDP. This carbon output makes sense. Many of Mississippi’s top industries, such as agriculture and manufacturing, have very high energy consumption and utilize affordable carbon fuels such as natural gas and coal. 

These economic factors would cause Mississippi’s economy to be disproportionally affected if the federal government mandates a reduction in the use of carbon-based energy fuels. Meanwhile, other states with less energy-intensive sectors (such as finance and administration) would be less affected. Thus, Mississippi would be in a competitively disadvantaged position at the hands of a federal carbon-reduction policy.

On top of the macroeconomic effects of more expensive energy, raising the cost of energy by requiring more costly fuels with a lower carbon output could be devasting for some Mississippians on an individual level. According to the Energy Information Administration, the state of Mississippi ranks among the highest in the nation for its consumption of energy per person.  

As a predominately rural state with many in poverty, Mississippi’s energy consumption per person is an important factor to note. A study found that the rural poor spend a high percentage of their income on heating and cooling their homes since many rural homes are not as well-insulated as their suburban and urban counterparts. An additional study found that when energy costs go up, many of the poor reduce their heating and cooling to save money, with resulting health issues and the accompanying medical expenses. 

Mississippi and its citizens should be able to utilize the most affordable and efficient energy sources without the heavy hand of federal overreach. Instead of using infrastructure negotiations as an opportunity to impose unprecedented restrictions on carbon-sourced energy, leaders in Washington should focus on the nation's infrastructure needs.   

Debates about environmental stewardship and conservation have been a key fixture of public debate for decades.

With calls to preserve the natural environment, many have advocated for the expansion of government-owned property as the primary way to protect the environment and increase its quality. However, it is worth considering potential conservation alternatives that do not require putting more property in the hands of the state. 

The traditional approach for many conservation initiatives has been for the government to purchase property from the private sector and then allocate that land for conservation purposes. This approach has been reasonably effective in many cases. However, it is important to consider the strong potential for conservation on privately held lands.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, approximately 93 percent of Mississippi land is under private jurisdiction. This places Mississippi among the highest in the country for the amount of land that is privately managed. As a state with so many natural resources and natural beauty, the opportunities for conservation and stewardship abound. 

With so many private landowners, there is considerable potential behind the concept of incentivizing private land conservation using the state funds that are already allocated for conservation anyway. Such a model not only respects private property, but it also gives money back to taxpayers by supporting conservation efforts on their privately held lands. 

There are several opportunities for the state to spend its appropriated conservation funds as effectively as possible. Mississippi could see the realization of private land conservation efforts in different contexts. Drawing largely from the state’s primary land uses found in cropland and forestry, there are a plethora of ways that private landowners can utilize their property in Mississippi for conservation efforts.

In agriculture, the opportunity for farmers to utilize specific sectors of their property for conservation carries enormous potential. For instance, while a lowland sector of a farm could be risky for crops due to flooding concerns, such land could carry great potential for waterfowl conservation. 

With the allocation of the state’s conservation funds, farmers could establish a waterfowl habitat. The same goes for good cropland as well. In the advent of new technologies, it has even become possible for farmers to determine which sectors of their cropland have the greatest potential for conservation. 

In forestry, conservation efforts on private land have obvious potential to create habitats for wildlife within timberland. In Mississippi, 77 percent of all timberland is privately owned, equating to approximately 15.1 million acres. 

Given that many timberlands cover vast areas and are ecosystems in their own right, policies that directed conservation funds to these private lands would greatly expand the potential for conservation funds to be used as effectively as possible. 

Mississippi is a beautiful state, and its natural beauty should be preserved for future generations. By allocating conservation funds to private landowners, the state could continue to protect Mississippi’s natural habitats. Ninety-three percent of Mississippi’s land is in the hands of private citizens. The state should ensure that the funds it appropriates for conservation can be directed back to taxpayers’ property worth conserving and not just government property.

In the wake of Covid-19, the economy reeled from the devastating effects of lockdowns, logistical shortages, layoffs, and business closures. However, as the dust is starting to clear and the economy is getting stronger, it is important to consider how Mississippi can increase its recovery rate for jobs, employment, and economic growth. 

Mississippi led the way as one of the first states to begin lifting the economic restrictions brought about by the pandemic. Mississippi was also one of the first states to proactively encourage people to get back to work by rejectingadditional federal unemployment benefits. Despite growth, Mississippi jobs are still recovering. State leaders should implement recovery-minded policies that support economic growth and help the state come back even stronger than before. 

The policies that would give Mississippi an economic boost have numerous implications and reach across almost every sector in the state. Yet, these relatively unsophisticated policies could really lead to lasting growth for the state. 

On the fundamental level, policymakers should take actions that will stop the state government from taking money right out of the citizens’ wallets through an income tax. The state income tax should be abolished. As so many rebuild what they lost during the economic devastation of Covid, Mississippians need every dollar they can get. While the federal government in Washington is printing more money and inflating the dollar to fund direct payments, state leaders in Mississippi have the opportunity to make a meaningful difference by just leaving Mississippian’s incomes alone.

Further, policymakers in Mississippi can help the citizens of the state by removing burdensome regulations on businesses. This can be done through widespread regulatory rollbacks, as well as through innovative programs like regulatory sandboxes. In 2020, Mississippi had the nation’s highest increase in new business applications as thousands of new entrepreneurs worked to support themselves and their families during Covid. By lowering excessive regulations and pursuing economic freedom, Mississippi will create an environment that helps these entrepreneurs stay in business for the long term as they navigate the challenges that face new businesses. 

There is little debate that policies to expand economic growth are more important than ever in the wake of Covid. But Mississippi needs action to get this economic growth moving. By cutting back taxes, lowering regulations, and putting faith in the success of free-market principles, Mississippi just might have a chance to coming back from the pandemic stronger than ever before. 

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