This past Monday, when former Governor Ronnie Musgrove traveled to Gulfport, Miss., to announce his campaign for the U.S. Senate seat recently vacated by Senator Trent Lott, he stood on the property across from the harbor . . . and totally missed the boat.
Not once did his speech utter the phrase Katrina recovery. Not once did his speech mention insurance reform. Not once did his speech tell Mississippi’s Katrina survivors that he intends to work shoulder-to-shoulder with Congressman Gene Taylor, our much beloved local hero, to pass Taylor’s ground-breaking insurance reform legislation, which is now awaiting action in the US Senate. Not . . . one. . . word. Nope. None. Nada. Zero. Zilch.
Talk about a slap in the face. Come to our home area and not deliberately tell us in your SPEECH that our primary problems with insurance and other Katrina-related recovery issues are your priorities?! What an insult to every man, woman, and child whose lives Katrina impacted.
That Musgrove did this while standing on a slab that had been the foundation for the 1st Presbyterian Church of Gulfport is more than merely stepping a toe over the line. Using the ruins of our devastation—a place of worship, no less—as the backdrop, a prop for his declaration that he is the self-appointed savior of our state’s vacant senator position clearly demonstrates the galling depth and breadth of this man's hubris.
For those of us living inside the Katrina-ravaged region, Musgrove's silence in his campaign speech is a bit akin to heresy. The most pressing issues for the state’s three coastal counties are recovery from Katrina’s destruction and thwarting the financial stranglehold that the insurance industry has on South Mississippi’s families and business owners. Apparently, the obvious has evaded this obtuse former one-term governor. Guess he is writing off seeking votes from South Mississippi voters, voters who reside in the state's second most populous area.
Well, like Arte Johnson's German soldier character on Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In used to say, “Verrrrry Interesting. But Schtupit!”
On Monday, January 7th, a friend told me he had just seen on TV an undecided New Hampshire resident pose a question on skyrocketing property insurance rates to Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. While homeowners way up the eastern coastline share our insurance concerns, here deep inside the Katrina-ravaged region, Musgrove's formal remarks remained silent about the severely negative impact that outrageous insurance practices and rates are having on families, businesses, community organizations and non-profits just like the very church on whose slab the candidate used as a campaign prop.
Speaking of the church site as a prop, here's a question the Musgrove campaign ought to answer. Did Musgrove get permission to use the property or did he just show up like a squatter? If the church still owns the property and gave permission to use its slab for a political event, that would be a violation of its 501c3 status and would put in jeopardy its nonprofit status—as well it should, were that the case. However, I cannot imagine that the church would have done such a thing. So, just how did the Musgrove campaign come to use that property as its prop?
Anyway, displaying tremendous hubris with which he intends to run his campaign, Musgrove's prepared remarks clearly ignored completely what will drive South Mississippians to vote for a U.S. Senate candidate. If he ignores the issue that cuts across party, religion, economics, race, and gender as he is attempting to court us to vote for him at the ballot box, we can imagine how he would treat us were he to become our next elected senator. Heck, every woman knows that regardless of how a man treats us during courtship, his behavior won't get any better with marriage. 😉 When it comes to Musgrove's attempt to woo us here on the coast, we should heed this wisdom of women's experience.
Slabs Symbolize Big Insurance's Big Betrayal
The area’s plentiful slabs remind us continuously of Big Insurance’s Big Betrayal. That Musgrove used the church’s slab as a prop to pretend that he would champion our plight insults every South Mississippi home- and business owner.
We are looking for candidates to champion reasonable, affordable insurance, to reign in the industry’s devastating and unnecessary blows to our financial security and economy. We are looking for candidates who will provide the federal leadership we need to rebuild homes in which to live and rebuild businesses in which to work as well as provides the good and services that create an abundant quality of life.
We are looking for the candidate in this race who will be the U.S. Senate counterpart to Congressman Gene Taylor: an unflinching, fierce, courageous, effective public servant who gets the job done for his constituents. We are looking for the candidate who will demand insurance reform . . . because we are demanding insurance reform.
Coastians Continue to Demand Insurance Reform
In Sunday's editorial in the Sun Herald titled “Barbour should reconvene commission to assess our recovery,” the paper wrote
In other words, the geography where the insurance industry has betrayed coastal families and business owners through wrongly denying wind damage claims. The same geography where he insurance industry has pulled back on the types of damage it will cover then skyrocketed its policies—where it will provide coverage at all. Big Insurance has priced coverage out of an easily affordable range for most home and business owners here in South Mississippi.
Two comments to the Herald’s editorial yesterday poignantly articulated this demand for insurance reform.
Blind as a Bat without Radar
Why did the former governor not make our recovery and insurance reform a part of his speech which he delivered in four different parts of the state? Goodness knows that interim Senator Roger Wicker most certainly included them in his speech at the coast airport when he quickly flew in and flew out of here on New Year's Eve. If a Republican's campaign kick off speech included the phrases “Congressman Gene Taylor” “multiple peril insurance” and “Katrina recovery”, why didn't candidate Ronnie Musgrove?
Oh boy, yeah, that is the priority that Mississippians in general and Katrina-fatigued families specifically want senate candidates to exhibit. Apparently, Musgrove is flying through hurricane country blind as a bat without radar.
© 2008 Ana Maria Rosato. All rights reserved. Originally published on January 8, 2008, at A.M. in the Morning!
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Ana Maria authors A.M. in the Morning!, dispatches from Katrina's ground zero . . . a distinctly progressive political perspective.
In March of 2007, this native daughter drove from her home in Silicon Valley, Calif., to surprise her mother with a visit to their family home in Bay St. Louis–ground zero for Katrina's devastation. The surprise was on Ana Maria.
She launched her blog in May 2007 to express her dismay and provide detailed, poignant, on-the-ground accounts of what the people of the Gulf Coast are still experiencing nearly two years after Katrina's devastation.
Not for the faint of heart, A.M. in the Morning! provides first-hand accounts of post-Katrina life written in a scathing style redolent of the region's famous cuisine–hot, strong and spicy. Nobody escapes Ana Maria's wrath whether they are the callous insurance industry, the bumbling leadership of FEMA, do-nothing politicians, or incompetent government contractors.
A progressive political blog with a decidedly activist bent, A.M. in the Morning! includes her Center for Political Hell Raising, which provides activist tools of ready-made email letters, addresses, phone scripts and phone numbers to whomever is lucky enough to be caught in her cross hairs.
From the Gulf Coast of Miss. to the heartland of Nashville, Tennessee, from the nation’s capitol to Silicon Valley, California, Ana Maria has been politically active as a professional and a volunteer on the local, state, and national levels.
Ana Maria is committed to using her blog and podcast to reinvigorate the discussion and generate a renewed national sense of purpose to efficiently and effectively rebuild the area.
It is clear from his record that Ronnie Musgrove cares deeply about the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
Musgrove helped protect the Coast as Governor and always spent time with Coast residents to better represent our needs (I’m from Ocean Springs).
Additionally, Musgrove supports the multi-perils insurance bill to help protect citizens and has been an attorney representing people who were denied insurance coverage.
After Hurricane Katrina he worked to bring new tax incentives to the area and helped educate local businesspeople on how to use them.
Interim Senator Roger Wicker on the other hand has taken over $80,000 from insurance companies, including money from insurance agents after Hurricane Katrina.
I was there.
It was on WLOX when he talked to Jeff Lawson.
He had the press conference on a concrete slab.
It was a big part of the event, even if it wasn’t in his statewide stump speech prepared remarks.
– John Leek
Cotton Mouth
I am a Coast resident and I care deeply about the recovery of my home, but these one-sided attacks ignore history and the context of this election.
1. Ronnie Musgrove has sued insurance companies for unlawfully denying claims.
2. Roger Wicker, the Republican candidate, had taken over $80,000 from insurance interests as of January of this year. Even after Hurricane Katrina Roger Wicker took $3,000 from the Council of Insurance Agents and Brokers PAC, $500 from the Independent Insurance Agents, and $500 from the Professional Insurance Agents.
3. Both Wicker and Musgrove have pledged to support Representative Gene Taylor’s All Perils Insurance Bill.
The question then is who will be able to be most effective in partnering with Representative Gene Taylor to pass the legislation. Republicans WILL be in the minority. Democrats WILL continue to be in an increasing majority. We need a Democratic senator to get important legislation through. If Senator Lott couldn’t get it passed, then why would a less distinguished freshman senator in the minority party have any more success?
I care about the Mississippi Gulf Coast. It is my home and where I have helped friends rebuild their lives. I want what is best for the Coast and that is not a Republican freshman senator in the minority.
While He Was Governor:
1. Governor Ronnie Musgrove helped clean up our beaches. During his time as Governor, Musgrove continued the annual beach cleanup day and stressed the importance of keeping the coasts in good shape for our future generations.
2. Governor Ronnie Musgrove signed a bill to protect deer island. Ronnie Musgrove signed a bill that helped turn 499-acre Deer Island into a nature preserve. The bill authorized the purchase of the land for $16.8 million including $10 million in general obligation bonds, $2 million from the public land disputes on the Gulf Coast, $1 million in land acquisition funds and $3.8 million in a federal grant engineered by U.S. Senator Thad Cochran.
3. Governor Ronnie Musgrove often visited the Coast to gain insight from local business leaders and to build public support for his plans for progress. Ronnie Musgrove set up meetings on the Coast early in his term open to anyone and asked for questions on any topic.
4. Governor Ronnie Musgrove worked to improve quality of life on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. He helped to pass and signed major pay increases for teachers and worked with the legislature to further encourage business development including helping industry in Jackson County secure loans for major expansion.
After Hurricane Katrina:
1. Ronnie Musgrove came down from his home in north Mississippi dozens of times to assist in the relief and rebuilding efforts. Because he came as a private citizen and worked through existing organizations he did not seek out press or get any. He was on the Mississippi Gulf Coast working to help get us back on our feet after that horrific storm.
2. Ronnie Musgrove helped lead discussion among local business leaders on tax assistance from the federal government. In January 2006, Musgrove, along with other attorneys, held a breakfast discussion to educate about 100 business leaders, local elected officials, and tax specialists about the Gulf Opportunity Zone Act. The Gulf Opportunity Zone Act, which had been recently passed by Congress, was designed to help businesses recover after Katrina. Musgrove stated “The incentives for business are specific and on point. It is rich in encouraging Central and South Mississippi businesses to rehire, reinvest and redevelop.”
3. On the first day of active campaigning he announced his support for Representative Gene Taylor’s Multiple Peril Insurance Bill saying “I think it’s necessary to have stability to have insurance and in so many instances the insurance companies aren’t writing and for us to have the kind of multi-periled policy that the federal government can do is what the coast needs. And so, I would certainly be a big supporter of that.” He specifically addressed the issue in his speech to Mississippi Gulf Coast residents.
4. When asked in an interview why he chose a concrete slab he told them that “(he) thought that this site showed the contrast of the devastation of Katrina and yet with the steeple the hope of good things to come. And it’s because of the dedication and the hard work and the painful contributions of people all along the coast and some help from Jackson and Washington that we are moving forward. But I think it’s important to have a United State Senator who understands the problems of the coast but also knows the hopes of what can happen and what needs to happen with the help from Washington, and to me it would be a priority to help Gene Taylor and others to make sure we get the insurance, that we get the legislation, that’s needed from Congress to help the coast rebuild.”