Voters in Starkville and the rest of the 3rd Congressional District will have the opportunity to choose between Democrat Joel Gill and Republican Gregg Harper for a seat in the House of Representatives Tuesday.
Gill said he should be elected because of his 38 years of business experience.
“I know what it is to make a payroll,” he said. “I bring the experience of being a twice-elected public official, and believe me, you get used to solving people’s individual problems when you’re sitting there on that Board of Aldermen.”
He also said because the National Democratic Party has not contributed to his campaign, he would not be expected to toe the party line and would only be beholden to Mississippi’s 3rd District.
Harper’s campaign’s general staffer Jordan Downs said Harper should be elected because of his family values.
“Gregg is pro-life, he believes in the Second Amendment, the right to bear arms, he has been a Sunday School teacher and deacon at his church,” he said. “We just believe that Gregg’s stance on those issues puts him in line with the ideals of the people of the 3rd district.”
He said Harper has been in contact with some administrative officials at Mississippi State University and plans on being a big supporter of the school.
Gill runs the family business, Mississippi Order Buyers, a cattle buying and selling group. He served as an alderman in Pickens from 1989 to 1993 and was re-elected in 2005.
“I’m on the board of directors of the Chamber of Commerce, the Arts Council and also the Cattleman’s Association,” he said. “At the state level, I’m the president of the Mississippi Livestock Markets Association. I also serve on the Mississippi Beef Council.”
He said he serves as the National Beef Checkoff Task Force chairman and the national membership co-chair of R-CALF USA, a national cattleman’s group.
Downs said Harper is the prosecuting attorney for the cities of Ridgeland and Brandon.
“Gregg [Harper] previously served seven and a half years as the chairman of the Rankin County Republican Executive Committee,” he said. “In that capacity he was in charge of organizing county efforts to electing not only countywide Republicans but also statewide officials.”
He said Harper was Rankin County’s Get Out the Vote chairman in 2007.
“He also served eight years on the Mississippi State Republican Executive Committee,” Downs said.
Gill said he plans to fix social security by removing the income caps.
“Right now if you earn over $102,000, you don’t pay anything in social security taxes,” he said. “If everybody, including the ball players who earn $20 million a year, the CEOs that earn $55 million a year and bankrupt their company and have to go to the U.S. taxpayer to be bailed out, if they were to be paying the same social security rate on their entire salaries, there would be plenty of money in the system.”
He said if everyone paid the same rate, then reducing the rate on everyone could be discussed and the minimum wage could possibly even be increased at no additional cost to citizens.
Downs said Harper believes America has a failed energy policy.
“One of the ways that Gregg [Harper] proposes that we [reduce foreign oil dependence] is by drilling offshore and in Alaska in ANWAR in an environmentally safe manner,” he said. “He also believes that solar power and clean coal technology will be very important in helping to reduce our dependence on foreign oil.”
Downs also said Harper is a fiscal conservative who believes in reducing taxes.
Student Association President Braxton Coombs said the SA and the Stennis-Montgomery Association was able to hold several successful registration drives.
“We were able to register over 1,600 students to vote in Oktibbeha County,” he said. “This has been an excellent turnout in voter registration whereas it shows how more and more students are beginning to become involved with our election process.”
Coombs said he thinks many students have a basic knowledge of politics.
“However, it is important for us to make sure that we are aware and knowledgeable of the different issues that pertain to local, state and national elections,” he said.
Original publication date: 10/31/08.