J. Kane Ditto

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J. Kane Ditto is a former mayor of Jackson, Mississippi.

Ditto served as Mayor of the City of Jackson from July 1989 until July 1997. Ditto was previously elected to the Mississippi House of Representatives from District 66, where he served from 1987 to 1989. Before entering the political arena, Ditto practiced law for 18 years with Watkins Ludlam Winter & Stennis in Jackson. For five years he was managing partner of the firm. As a practicing attorney, his practice developed a heavy emphasis in municipal finance.

Ditto is a graduate of Duke University and has a law degree from Vanderbilt University. He and his son John manage the StateStreet Group [1], a local real estate investment and development firm in Jackson.

Ditto is credited with the creation of many initiatives during his 8-year tenure including revitalization of Farish Street, revitalization of the train station, and active support of private business improvement districts. He has been a strong supporter of downtown Jackson and critical of businesses leaving the area for the suburbs.

After leaving office Ditto has remained active in the community through his a number of public and private initiatives. The activity that is perhaps most telling of Ditto's interests is his participation in the creation of a master plan for Clinton, Mississippi and Mississippi College. The city and the college had previously not coordinated their planning effort.

Ditto was succeeded as mayor in 1997 by Harvey Johnson, Jr., in what some considered a racially charged campaign by Johnson. Johnson is reported to have prepared and delivered two essentially different speeches to crowds depending on the racial makeup of the audience. In one speech, Johnson told a carefully crafted fable in which a village whose population consisted of a majority of rabbits and a minority of hounds. In the story, the hounds have unfairly ruled the village until the rabbits realize that their majority allows them to control the village and take power from the hounds. His critics argue that this thinly veiled political analogy was the overarching political strategy of Johnson's campaign against Ditto.

Preceded by Dale Danks

Mayor of Jackson, MS 1989–1997

Succeeded by Harvey Johnson, Jr.