Haley Barbour

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Haley Barbour

63^rd Governor of Mississippi
Incumbent
Assumed office January, 2004
Lieutenant(s)	Amy Tuck
Preceded by	Ronnie Musgrove
Succeeded by	Incumbent

Born	October 22, 1947 Yazoo City, Mississippi
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Marsha Barbour
Profession	Lawyer
Religion	Presbyterian

Haley Reeves Barbour (born October 22, 1947) is the current governor of Mississippi, and a Republican. He gained a national spotlight in August 2005 after Mississippi was hit by Hurricane Katrina. Since then he has been mentioned as a possible 2008 presidential candidate, although more likely would be a U.S. Senate candidate, if either Mississippi seat became open. ^[1]

1 Early years
2 Lobbying career
3 RNC Chairman
4 2003 campaign controversy
5 Governorship
- 5.1 Tobacco industry influences
- 5.2 Hurricane Katrina response
6 Related links
7 References

[edit] Early years

Barbour was born and grew up in Yazoo City, Mississippi as the youngest of three sons. His father, a lawyer, died when Barbour was 2 years old. He attended the University of Mississippi but skipped the first semester of his senior year to work on Richard Nixon's 1968 election campaign. He never earned a bachelor's degree. At age 22, he ran the 1970 census for the state of Mississippi. He enrolled at the University of Mississippi Law School, receiving a Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree in 1972. Subsequently he joined his father's law firm in Yazoo City. ^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Lobbying career

In 1991, Barbour helped found Barbour, Griffith & Rogers ^[2], a Washington, D.C.-based lobbying firm, with Lanny Griffith and Ed Rogers, two lawyers who formerly worked in the George H. W. Bush administration. In 1998, Fortune Magazine named Barbour Griffith & Rogers the second-most-powerful lobbying firm in America. ^[3] In 2001, after the inauguration of George W. Bush, Fortune named it the most powerful. ^[4] The firm has made millions of dollars lobbying on behalf of the tobacco industry.^[5]

[edit] RNC Chairman

In 1993, Barbour became chairman of the Republican National Committee. In 1994, during his tenure as RNC chair, Republicans captured both houses of Congress, taking the House of Representatives for the first time in forty years.

[edit] 2003 campaign controversy

After two decades in Washington, D.C., Barbour announced in 2003 his intention to run for governor of Mississippi. On August 5, 2003, he won the Republican gubernatorial primary over Canton attorney Mitch Tyner.

During the campaign a controversy arose when Barbour chose to speak at the Blackhawk Rally, a fundraiser for the Blackhawk "council school" in Blackhawk, Mississippi. Such "council schools," also referred to in Mississippi lexicon as "academies," were established by the White Citizens' Council movement in reaction to the demands for racial integration by the American Civil Rights movement. The Blackhawk rally was hosted by the Council of Conservative Citizens (abbreviated CCC or CofCC). The lynchpin of Citizens' Councils has traditionally been opposition to racial integration in public schools.

A photograph of Barbour with CCC members appeared on the CCC webpage, and some commentators and pundits demanded that Barbour ask for his picture to be removed from the site, but Barbour refused. ^[6] Barbour was soon elected governor of Mississippi.

[edit] Governorship

Haley Barbour with Condoleezza Rice and other Governors

Barbour defeated incumbent Democrat Ronnie Musgrove in the general election on November 4, 2003, with 53% of the vote to Musgrove's 46%. Barbour became just the second Republican governor elected in Mississippi since Reconstruction. ^{[citation needed]} He took office in January 2004.

During his campaign, Barbour signed the Americans for Tax Reform "Taxpayer Protection Pledge" and vowed not to institute any new taxes or raise any existing ones. [1]

[edit] Tobacco industry influences

Barbour's taxation policies have not been without contention. In March of 2006 Barbour vetoed a bill that would lower grocery taxes, while simultaneously raising tobacco taxes.^[7] Mississippians pay some of the highest grocery taxes in the nation.^[8] The "Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids" insinuated that Barbour's lobbying-era affinity with the tobacco industry may also explain his 2006 proposal to dismantle Mississippi's youth-tobacco-prevention program. ^[9] Gov. Barbour won a court battle that prevented tobacco settlement moneys from funding youth anti-smoking programs, maintaining that this distribution required that legislation be passed for the financial distribution to be legal. When the Mississippi legislature passed such a law, Gov. Barbour vetoed it, thus removing all funding from many of the state's youth smoking prevention programs.

[edit] Hurricane Katrina response

See also: Criticism of government response to Hurricane Katrina

On Monday August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina slammed into Mississippi's coast, killing 231 people, [2] devastating the state's $2.7 billion-a-year casino industry and leaving tens of thousands of its residents temporarily homeless. ^[10] (see Effect of Hurricane Katrina on Mississippi). Barbour's response was characterized by a concerted effort at evacuation, tough-minded talk on looters and an unwillingness to blame the federal government. ^[11] His response was compared, favorably, to that of Rudy Giuliani in the wake of the September 11 attacks. ^[12] ^[13]

However, Barbour was also criticized for not treating the hurricane seriously enough before it made landfall. MSNBC commentator Joe Scarborough wrote, "Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour continues to claim that Katrina caught him by surprise, telling one reporter that it was after all a cat[egory] one storm after crossing Florida. That useless fact doesn't erase the fact that the entire Gulf Coast was put on alert as early as Friday that this storm would be historic." ^[14] Several critics of his handling point out that the Gulf Coast was put on alert as early as the Friday beforehand. Many cite that Mississippi's two United States senators, Thad Cochran, chairman of the Appropriations Committee and Trent Lott, chairman of the Rules Committee and former Senate majority leader, may have given his state an advantage over Louisiana in obtaining billions in federal aid for disaster relief and reconstruction.

The evacuation order was issued by local officials more than 24 hours before the hurricane hit, and Mississippi activated 750 National Guard troops as of August 29, the day of the hurricane. ^[15]^[16]^[17]

According to a September 8 SurveyUSA poll, on the rating scale of 1 to 10, where 10 is interpreted as "the best anybody in this position can do", Governor Barbour rated a 6.1, in comparison to 5.7 for New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, 5.1 for Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco, and 4.7 for president George W. Bush. The highest score, 6.8, went to U.S. Army General Russell Honore. ^[18]

According to a September 20 SurveyUSA poll, Governor Barbour's approval jumped 15%, from 43% to 58%. However, since then his approval rating has since fallen to just 48%, with 46% disapproving. ^[19]

[edit] Related links

[edit] References

Preceded by Richard Bond	Republican National Committee Chairman 1993–1997	Succeeded by Jim Nicholson
Preceded by Ronnie Musgrove	Governor of Mississippi 2004 – present	Incumbent