Thread by @ashtonpittman

THREAD: Mississippi House Speaker Pro Tempore Jason White does not want a straight fix to Mississippi's ballot initiative law without making other changes to it.

One reason? He thinks @staceyabrams is plotting to put Medicaid expansion on the ballot. 1/ mississippifreepress.org/12472/they-don…

White: “You look at (Medicaid expansion), follow that money trail & see where it goes. When I get to clickin’—& I’m not a good computer tech generation like I should be...but even I, after clicking about 3 times, Stacey Abrams’ face keeps popping up." 2/ mississippifreepress.org/12472/they-don…

“You mean with the Hospital Association? Stacey Abrams of Georgia?” radio host Paul Gallo replied, astonished.

“Yes sir, yes sir,” White said. “So I hate it with the people of the Hospital Association, but it’s just a fact. 3/ mississippifreepress.org/12472/they-don…

Speaker Pro Tem White: "There’s an agenda there...What I’m not about is somebody co-opting a ballot-initiative process to push something thru that has nothing to do with getting Mississippians health care.” 4/ mississippifreepress.org/12472/they-don…

White didn't explain how Stacey Abrams and a Medicaid expansion initiative figured into changing Mississippi's ballot initiative law.

But this reporter found no evidence that Stacey Abrams was tied to the Medicaid expansion campaign at all. 5/ mississippifreepress.org/12472/they-don…

Financial disclosures show that Yes On 76 (Medicaid expansion) accepted contributions from the SPLC, the MS Hospital Association and The Fairness Project.

The Fairness Project, launched in 2015, is not the same entity as Abrams' Fair Fight Action. 6/ mississippifreepress.org/12472/they-don…

The MS Hospital Association responds to Rep. White:

@MHA: "Let’s be clear, the only agenda for the MHA in supporting a ballot measure for Medicaid expansion was to promote healthcare coverage for working Mississippians—period." 7/
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@MHA: "We've supported Rep. White for many years & he knows the hard work MHA has done in recent years to advance this issue thru the legislative process. If he has a plan for addressing this critical healthcare & economic issue...we'd love to see it.” 8/
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Republican Sen. Chris McDaniel on White's remarks:

“I think people understand that I’m very much against Medicaid expansion. But our job as conservatives is not to circumvent the will of the people because we think it might not turn out well for us." 9/ mississippifreepress.org/12472/they-don…

Mississippi @senatormcdaniel: "Our job (as conservatives) is to convince the majority of the people that our argument is sound. If we can’t ... that’s our fault, that’s our responsibility.” 10/
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GOP leaders didn't complain about the ballot initiative system in the past, GOP @senatormcdaniel mused:

“It’s funny, when we passed voter ID, they thought the procedure was fine. And when we passed eminent domain they thought the procedure was fine." 11/ mississippifreepress.org/12472/they-don…

Sen. McDaniel: "There’s obviously an element within the Legislature that doesn’t like the ballot-initiative process, and you’re starting to hear these rumblings right now—they’re saying it’s too easy." 12/
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Sen. McDaniel: "But what they’re really saying is they don’t trust the people. And when politicians don’t trust the people, that’s a problem. So they’re going to do everything in their power to deflect and circumvent the legislation.” 13/
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Sen. McDaniel: "It’s this type of individual who tries to float above the will of the people. And it’s a kind of elitism. I only have one boss. It’s the people. ... Our job is not to make self-government more difficult.” 14/
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Sen. Chris McDaniel said he knows there is “a lot of fear of direct democracy referendums,” but in Mississippi, he said, “it’s only utilized when the Legislature has kicked the can down the road unnecessarily for decades.” 15/
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McDaniel pointed out that it's “already incredibly difficult” to get initiatives on the ballot in MS.

Petitioners must collect more than 100,000 signatures statewide, & even then, local officials often strike or ignore thousands of signatures. 16/ mississippifreepress.org/12472/they-don…

To get medical marijuana on the 2020 ballot, that team needed to gather 86,000 signatures statewide between 2018-2019.

They wound up having to collect 228,000 due to extremely high rates of local clerks striking or barring signature certification. 17/ mississippifreepress.org/12472/they-don…

McDaniel: "You can use volunteers, and they can work themselves to death trying to get the signatures. ... You have to respect what the Initiative 65 people did. And why politicians wouldn’t respect that effort is mind-boggling.” 18/
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