THREAD: Randy Boyd & Dana Criswell urged MS's Congressional delegation to overturn the 2020 election because they allege the result lacks transparency.
Boyd & Criswell chair the MS House's transparency committee, so let's check THEIR OWN transparency record, shall we? 1/
Because @PhilipGunnMS appointed Boyd & Criswell to lead the MS House's Accountability-Efficiency-Transparency Committee, new transparency legislation won't pass without their support. 2/
As is immediately apparent, Boyd & Criswell's committee passed some deregulatory bills but killed all transparency legislation introduced in the MS House this year.
For example: 3/
The committee killed Rep. Zuber's HB 229, which would have extended the MS Accountability and Transparency Act to counties of at least 20,000 residents and cities of at least 10,000, requiring them to put records on a public website. billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/2020/pdf/histo… 4/
The committee killed @JansenOwen's HB 1562, which would have required public bodies that have websites to make their public meeting minutes available to the public on their websites. billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/2020/pdf/histo… 6/
Boyd & Criswell's committee killed all transparency legislation introduced in the House this year by March 3, meaning that none of these bills died because of the pandemic. 7/
Boyd & Criswell (as well as MS House AET committee members Stacey Hobgood-Wilkes and Steve Hopkins) now call on MS's Congressional delegation to overturn the 2020 election, arguing that overturning the election would be a win for government transparency. 8/
For real:
"We, the undersigned, urge you on January 6th to vocally support the rule of law AND TRANSPARENT GOVERNMENT by ... objecting to the contested electors in those states where Republicans have offered opposing slates of electors." 9/
To be clear, Boyd & Criswell's letter is about the 2020 election, but this thread is NOT about the 2020 election.
This thread is about Boyd & Criswell's standard for transparency. 10/
To that end, it remains a mystery why Boyd & Criswell cannot find any transparency reforms they support to improve access to public records and open meetings and to prevent the corruption scandals that are now Mississippi's bad recurring nightmare. 11/
If Boyd & Criswell have nothing to say about transparency except how other people should provide it, then I propose that @PhilipGunnMS simply give their leadership positions to @JansenOwen and @KentMcCarty instead. 12/
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THREAD: The 5th Circuit allowed @splcenter's claim that MS may not send black students to inferior schools to go forward temporarily, but SPLC's victory is proving that DOJ can win this suit even though SPLC will lose it.
The federal law that SPLC wants to enforce is the MS Readmission Act (below), which is the act passed by Congress to readmit MS as a state after the Civil War—and which protects "the school rights and privileges" of MS children. 2/
MS moved to dismiss SPLC's lawsuit for several reasons, and Judge Barbour (the trial judge) dismissed the suit finding that MS is immune from suit. splcenter.org/sites/default/…
Since that was enough to dismiss the suit, Barbour did not consider MS's alternative motions to dismiss. 3/
The MS Supreme Court refuses to grant a new trial for another "shaken-baby syndrome" case by a 6-3 vote: courts.ms.gov/Images/Opinion…
This is also another Steven Hayne case. All the #ShakenBabyMS convictions and all the Hayne convictions should be treated with great skepticism.
I note that Judge Johnson—the trial judge who refused to grant a new trial and who the MS Supreme Court's majority affirms—is one of Mississippi's white-opportunity circuit judges.
The MS Supreme Court refuses to hear the speedy-trial claim of a criminal defendant who was not tried for nearly 4 years after he was arrested allegedly due to an "overcrowded docket," leading me to wonder...
@bricewigginsMS has the 11th Circuit asked you for a new judge.? 1/
The MS Court of Appeals' decision forgiving the presumptively prejudicial three-year delay is here: courts.ms.gov/Images/Opinion…
THREAD: MHA president Tim Moore tried to talk to Paul Gallo. It did not go well.
Without using the phrase "Medicaid expansion," Moore explained that pandemic or not, Mississippi's hospitals are struggling because Mississippi refused to expand Medicaid. 1/4
Gallo asks why MS hospitals aren't doing as well as retail superstores even though hospitals receive the CARES Act money.
Unable to say "Medicaid expansion," Moore notes that MS accepted federal aid for COVID-19 but not for "all these costs over here," motioning to the side. 2/4
Moore then emphasizes that healthcare workers like nurses and respiratory therapists are fleeing Mississippi for better-paying jobs in other states. 3/4
The five-justice majority questions its own jurisdiction to hear this case. The majority says that it will consider any/all future lawsuits of this type filed by legislators against gubernatorial vetoes to be beyond its jurisdiction. 2/
The MS Supreme Court has decided this type of case in the past, which the current majority considers to be beyond its own authority. 3/
QUICKTHREAD: Consider the opportunity cost to @CommAndyGipson of pandering to the fringe. 1/6
If @CommAndyGipson used his platform to bolster @TCBPubHealth@msdh's public health messaging, he could throw in brags about how @MSDeptofAg provided the fairgrounds as an early testing site.
Instead, Gipson argues against a second MS lockdown that no one is proposing. 2/6
And imagine if @CommAndyGipson used the time he spent pandering to the "Stop the Steal" crowd to, instead, work on economic development in the fairgrounds area of @CityofJacksonMS. I continue to believe that... 3/6