Haley’s Treasure

Last updated on: May 9, 2013 at 6:09 am by Faithful Democrats

Haley’s Treasure 2013-05-09T06:09:26-06:00 Faithful Democrats

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Think of the Jack Abramoff scandal — bribes, kickbacks, pay-to-play, et cetera, ad nauseum.

OK, now imagine if Abramoff had actually been a high-ranking elected official instead of a mere lobbyist.

That image is, in essence, what Mississippi voters are stuck with right now. Haley Barbour, the state’s governor, is in a world of hurt as disclosure after disclosure emerges about his corrupt ties to a lobbying firm in D.C.

The Jackson Free Press recently compiled and summarized the myriad components of the scandal, but the short version is this. After Barbour finished his term as head of the Republican National Committee in 1996, he helped start one of the largest lobbying firms in D.C. — Barbour, Griffin & Rogers (BGR). No problem there. But once Barbour was elected governor in Mississippi, he announced that he had “severed all ties” with BGR and was receiving no money from it whatsoever. And revelations soon arose that Barbour was, indeed, still on the BGR payroll.

So Barbour backtracked a bit, claiming that he was receiving only “retirement” from the firm. And, since the payments were supposedly fixed at a set rate — that is, not dependent on BGR’s performance — he had no incentive to use his public position to help the clients of his former business partners.

One problem: a spokesman for BGR simultaneously claimed the firm wasn’t paying Barbour anything — no retirement, no nothing. Whoops.

Well, it turns out they’ve both been lying. Bloomberg News obtained a copy of Barbour’s income sources (he’d refused to divulge them publicly despite rulings by the state Attorney General that he was legally obligated to do so), and it turns out he owned over $786,666 in the parent company of BGR and was part of its profit sharing plan. That means he did have a financial incentive to help the firm.

Barbour also receives “retirement,” as he (eventually) said, but BGR has no retirement plan for any of its other employees or partners. All told, Barbour’s income from the lobbying firm has amounted to $300,000+ a year while he’s been governor. That’s more than twice what the people of Mississippi pay him to represent their interests as governor.

So fine, Barbour’s been lying. But can he pull a Shoeless Joe Jackson and claim the money hasn’t influenced him? Sadly, no.

One of BGR’s biggest clients is Big Tobacco, and as governor, Barbour has vetoed two very popular anti-tobacco bills that would have raised Mississippi’s tobacco tax (the second lowest in the nation). He also recently dismantled a nationally acclaimed state program that was using tobacco settlement dollars to reduce teen smoking.

Moreover, Barbour has now admitted that his office intervened to expedite the liquor license and rebuilding permits for casinos that had hired BGR to lobby for them. And, after Hurricane Katrina, a number of companies that sought his gubernatorial assistance in awarding them construction contracts just so happened to be paying tens of thousands of dollars to his lobbying firm.

So it looks like Jesus’ line, “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also,” is pretty apropos here.

Anyway, the list goes on and on, and you can read more here, here, and here.

Most of the coverage so far as been local, but one hopes that national media and the Internet community will start shining some light on this subject soon. I mean, it seems pretty significant when a governor is literally on the payroll of special interests — and not just in campaign contributions, but in direct deposits to his bank account.

As it happens, Barbour’s running for re-election this year. Corruption aside, his representation of the casinos has alienated a lot of Southern Baptists in Mississippi. His Democratic opponent, John Arthur Eaves, is a born-again evangelical who has been making strong inroads among Christian voters, touting a socially conservative, economically populist message. Eaves is also pretty popular with African-Americans, a community that’s proportionately larger in Mississippi than in any other state in the nation.

Pundits had been predicting a Barbour victory, but the scandals and Eaves’s appeal are throwing all that into air. This will be an interesting race to watch.

Update: The New Republic has done an excellent investigation of this story.

Jesse welcomes comments at jesse [at] faithfuldemocrats [dot] com.

Featured Writers

Previous Post

September 14, 2007

On the same side

Next Post

September 17, 2007 All I want in health care

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category About Us About Us Action Center Advertise Ask a Theologian Ask a Theologian Blogs Books Campaign Blog Candidate Spotlights Commentary Donate Facebook Featured Writers Fellows Fellows From the Pulpit General Information Hillary Clinton Interfaith Blog Latest Media Center Media Center Media Center MyBlog MyBlog News Newsflash Newsflashes Our Team Reader Blogs RSS Sermon of the Week Shop Social Networking Static Items Support Talking Points Test blogs The Basics Theology Uncategorized YouTube

Select a Month November 2020 October 2020 February 2020 August 2019 July 2018 July 2017 March 2017 February 2017 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 June 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 January 2006 August 2004

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

In which Psalm do we find "Your word is a lamp to my feet..."?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Psalm 90 Psalm 27 Psalm 119 Psalm 23