Scandals during a campaign can overshadow the issues the candidates support, which is the case in the race for the lieutenant governor.
State Sen. Barbara Blackmon (D-Canton), the Democratic nominee, caused a furor when she challenged Republican nominee Amy Tuck, the incumbent lieutenant governor, to sign an affidavit saying that she had never had an abortion.
Controversy surrounded Tuck earlier in the summer, when two loans to her previous campaign for lieutenant governor came under scrutiny. Pascagoula lawyer Richard “Dickie” Scruggs said that he had given Tuck a $510,000 loan during her 1999 campaign and that the loan had not been paid back.
She did not disclose the loan on her campaign finance report. Tuck has since paid back the loan.
Tuck also received a $20,000 loan from a company owned by convicted felon Thurston Little, brother of Tuck ally state Sen. Travis Little (R-Corinth).
According to The Clarion-Ledger, Tuck said the money was a “personal loan.”
Thurston Little pled guilty in 1989 to federal charges brought about by a 1984 scheme to rig bids on a $39 million U.S. Defense Department contract.
Tuck paid back the loan this summer to U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Aberdeen because Little’s company had declared bankruptcy.
Tuck did not respond to repeated requests for an interview over the course of three days from The Reflector.
Discussing solely the issues one candidate explained her stance on various topics, including civil justice reform in the state.
Blackmon said she would address civil justice reform by giving the laws passed in the 83 special day legislation an opportunity to work, and if necessary she would amend those laws.
In addition, she would also like to “fund the insurance pool” in order for it to “provide medical malpractice insurance” for state physicians.
In the issue of Mississippi’s budget crisis Blackmon said some of the steps she would take to combat the budget problems would be to require a “top to bottom audit of the state government” as well as initiate a performance-based budget process in which state agencies must justify their requests for funding.
Up until last year, the budget for higher education had been cut for three years.
One particular issue involves how the lieutenant governor plans to deal with this matter.
“I am a product of higher education,” Blackmon said referring to her plan to work to increase higher education’s budget. “And I know what it means to our students, economy and growth.”
Blackmon said college students should be attracted to her campaign because she can relate to the needs of college students. In addition to her four college degrees, she is also proposing a plan that says any college student with school loans who remains in the state after graduation would have a portion of the interest forgiven by the state.
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