MS Gov. @tatereeves responded to the Capitol siege today by saying that "in this country, we settle our political disputes by debating on the floor of [the US and Mississippi House and Senate]."
Tate's explanation is kinda weird because... 1/4
...when the MS Senate considered HB 1521, the bill that set out MS's voting procedures for the 2020 election, elections chair Jenifer Branning returned from private conference with a wholly rewritten bill and refused to allow debate before the vote. 2/4
Branning explained that she did not believe other senators respected the vote she cast the previous day against taking down Mississippi's now-retired Confederate state flag and that, as a result, she would not allow debate on the entirely separate elections bill. 3/4
But in any event, @tatereeves' standard is that Mississippi should settle political disputes through debate on the MS Senate floor—and by that standard, Mississippi failed to provide a fair and effective political system this year because of Jenifer Branning. 4/4
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Palazzo is the original sponsor of a resolution to condemn and censure President Obama, which Palazzo introduced in the US House in 2016 congress.gov/bill/114th-con…
QUICKTHREAD: The defense of Initiative 65 that @LynnFitchAG offered on behalf of @MichaelWatsonMS is not a good one because it would give the #MSleg full rein to decide whether voters have the right to put state constitutional amendments on the ballot. 1/
By Fitch/Watson's reading, that right—the right of voters to propose state constitutional amendments—exists only because MS statutes still say we have five Congressional districts, and the right would automatically disappear when MS redistricts in the next year or two. 2/
To illustrate the absurdity of Fitch/Watson's reading...imagine MS regains a fifth Congressional seat after the 2030 census. The #MSleg could simply refuse to redistrict (as it did after the 2000 and 2010 censuses) to prevent the right from reviving. 3/
THREAD: MS's election code shifts power away from median voters and bolsters hyperpartisans instead by setting early qualifying deadlines for independent candidates.
A simple change to the MS election code would and should fix this. 1/
I'll use this year's election for MS's fourth Congressional District as an example.
Steven Palazzo won only 2/3 of GOP primary votes, suggesting that a substantial minority of Palazzo's GOP constituents are dissatisfied. (As are Palazzo's Democratic constituents!) 2/
But after the GOP primary, no one contested Palazzo in the general. Why?
Well, Democrats did not run because Palazzo's seat is gerrymandered to be safe for Republicans. So how about an independent challenger (like someone who voted to change the flag)? 3/
Cindy Hyde-Smith is waiting for political consultants to tell her what she thinks about the rioters who ejected Cindy from her workplace and took possession of the Senate chamber.
Below is how Cindy USED to talk about peaceful protests, yet she has nothing to say about today's riots.
WAPT told @cindyhydesmith in late October that the @BlmSip protest in Jackson this summer was peaceful, and then @erinpickensWAPT asked Cindy what she thought about that.
Cindy answered that she wants to increase the military.