JACKSON -- Mississippi is holding its first non-partisan election for the state Supreme Court in November. However, political partisanship seems to be creeping through the back door in several races for court seats.
The imprint of the Fordice forces, more particularly, the state Republican Party machinery, is coming to light in behalf of their anointed "pro-business" candidates. Many folks would say they are the "big" business candidates.
The Republicans' secret weapon in putting campaign money behind their hand-picked "business" candidates is an outfit called BIPEC (Business and Industry Political Education Committee) and its political action arm, IMPAC.
Significantly, BIPEC operates as a tax-deductible entity, making it a haven for GOP campaign soft money. Obviously the desire to put "our kind of guys" on the state Supreme Court has turned into a juicy new target.
Last year when 10 judges were elected to the newly-created state Court of Appeals (those were also supposed to be non-partisan elections), BIPEC put money behind at least four of the judges elected.
One of those elected, Leslie Southwick, who got BIPEC goodies last year, is now trying to move up to the Supreme Court in the Central District seat being vacated by Justice Dan Lee. Southwick is again the fair-haired boy of BIPEC, and is also getting heavy backing from Fordice political operatives, chiefly Andy Taggart, the former Fordice Chief of Staff.
Southwick, a former Texan who landed in Jackson as a law clerk for former U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Charles Clark in the late 1970s, had caught on with the Republicans by handling George Bush's 1988 Mississippi campaign. He was rewarded by the Bush Administration with a nice spot as Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division of the Justice Department.
Southwick has been trading on his Bush/GOP connections by distributing flyers in the current Supreme Court campaign with a cover photograph of him with Bush. Obviously, that violates the non-partisan intent of the new Supreme Court election law and may well be a violation of the canons of the state Judicial Ethics Commission.
At least one other candidate in the same Supreme Court race, Warren County Judge Gerald Hoseman of Vicksburg, has called Southwick's hand on distributing the flyers. However, Southwick brushes it off as merely a representative part of his background.
BIPEC has also endorsed Mike Mills, the former state legislator appointed a year ago to the Supreme Court by Fordice in the Northern District post. Mills, who became a GOP convert shortly before his appointment to the court, is also getting help from loyal Fordicians in that area.
But Mills appears to face a very tough race with Circuit Judge Tommy Gardner of Tupelo, who has served 16 years on the bench and is senior judge of the seven-county First Circuit District.
Gardner, 58, first elected in 1980, is highly regarded in judicial circles and is well known around the state as a leader in the Mississippi Horse Council and as an avid hunter. Although BIPEC endorsed Mills, some other business groups are taking a neutral position in that race.
BIPEC is even opposing incumbent Justice Fred Banks, the only African-American now on the high court in his re-election bid. It has endorsed Ryan Hood, Banks' white opponent in the Central District race. Hood, a one-time Democrat and assistant Attorney General, has made several unsuccessful races for state offices as a Republican.
Hood's endorsement of BIPEC over Banks gives further credence to the belief that the organization is hueing to a straight GOP party line, since Hood is considered a Republican and Banks a Democrat. Some other business groups, aware of the importance of having a representative black on the Supreme Court, and finding no serious fault with Banks' overall treatment of business, are reportedly parting company with BIPEC's opposition to Banks' re-election.
One other Supreme Court incumbent up for re-election, Justice Ed Pittman in the Southern District, has lately been put on BIPEC's hit list. The business industry group, after earlier taking no stand, a week ago decided to endorse Jerry O. Terry of Biloxi, now a circuit judge, over Pittman.
According to its own literature, BIPEC is planning to circulate 600,000 mailing pieces statewide about the Supreme Court races at a cost of $80,000.
On top of that, IMPAC will follow up with 200,000 printed pieces pushing their anointed candidates (and smearing their opponents if IMPAC lives up to past performance) costing over $150,000.
That's more than $230,000 being poured from the coffers of corporate interests in Mississippi into electing "non-partisan" judges to the state Supreme Court. That, of course, does not include the contributions individual business leaders are encouraged to make directly to the candidates, who are on BIPEC's "Best For Business" list.