Let me tell you how much the SRHS retirees mean to me. If I’m elected, my first order of business will be a 10% cut to my salary to be added into the general fund of the retiree’s pension. If the County won’t do it, then I pledge to donate it myself.
It’s bothersome to me that administrators and officials in this county haven’t stepped up to the plate. We need to do everything in our power to keep the promise.
You have my word that I will keep my promise. This is the resolve of one person to finally step up and do what’s right.I will contribute 10% of my salary every year I serve as Chancery Clerk until the pension is funded in full.
You earned it.
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Slabbed New Media is interested in hearing from candidates for elected office in the three coastal counties on issues of interest in their localities. Those interested in having a short statement published to Slabbed should send their submissions to Slabbed New Media via email.
Maybe the rest of the Jackson county elected officials might want to join in and do the same????
I do not know Mr.Fulghum. He appears to be qualified for the position he is running for. What I do know is that his opponent for the Jackson County Chancery Clerk job is Mr. Josh Eldridge, who is currently the Comptroller for Jackson County. He also has served as a senior auditor for the Ms. Office of State Auditor. He trained under Stacey Pickering for 6 years. He is also a CPA and has an MBA. In recent years Mr. Eldridge has signed letters as a representative of the Jackson County Board of Supervisors that committed the county to having an audit of the SRHS completed. These letters were to the independent auditor for Jackson County who said year after year that the county owned components like SRHS must be audited for the county to be in compliance. Year after year the county, thru it’s Comptroller, committed to get these audits completed, but never did. Did the Comptroller, Mr. Josh Eldridge, ever look thru the SRHS financials at all? He is a CPA with an MBA. Or did he learn how not to audit when he worked for Stacey Pickering, using the Ms.DMR as an example? The JCBOS can deny all responsibility for the SRHS financial disaster by claiming ignorance as Senior Supervisor McKay did in his interview on WLOX. The Jackson County Comptroller is going to have a harder time convincing people he can not and did not read the SRHS financials which included the facts that no money was being contributed to the pension fund by the hospital. With all of that being said and without further ado, I am announcing right here on Slabbed, that I will be casting my vote for Mr. Chuck Fulghum. All Jackson County voters should dig deep and look into the history of each person running for office before making an informed decision.This could be the most important election Jackson County has ever had.
Mr. Murphy,
I do not live in Jackson County, so I do not have a vote. I have kept a close eye on the Singing River Debacle. Based on the timeline, Mr Eldridge would have only seen two audit reports prior to exposure of the hospital issues. (Not to mention those two reports were grossly misstated). During that time the county credit rating was upgraded, a sheriff was indicted, and the Health System that has operated in secrecy for many, many years was exposed. So, to blame him may be a little premature. Not sure an attorney with less than 3 years experience is the answer. Maybe the 3rd candidate is worth looking into.
How many years of experience as an attorney do the other two candidates have?
Mr Eldridge may have only seen two audits, both would have shown a required contribution to the pension plan and that the hospital contributed 0% of that. He signed letters committing to include the component units of the county would be included in the audits reviewed by the state auditor, he never made sure it was done. Not blaming him for what happened as hospital administration, past and present, share 100% of that blame. But to let those that failed to question and let the public know is not responsible either. You can say they just did not know which means they didn’t bother to look. The last two audits both show the extent of the debt to the plan SRHS kept carrying over year after year. Mr. Fulguhm has a degree in Finance, experience running a small business. He may not have experience working for the government but perhaps that is a good thing.
do the other two have more than 3 years experience as a lawyer?
Mr. Gulf hum has a finance degree and is experienced running small business. He is less experienced at drawing a government check, having to earn his own budget for his office and working with the Chancery Clerks office frequently as all lawyers who practice chancery work do. He also worked as an abstractor in the land records office, also an office in the Chancery Clerks area of responsibility. I think he stacks up rather nicely experience wise.
Sorry for the two posts, I did not think the first one went through
Well, I live in Jackson and will not be voting for Eldridge. All I need to know is he is an underling of that incompetent, pea brain Pickering. I know full well what to expect with this crew, same thing we got with Joel Smith, Jamie Miller, Joe Spraggins and the rest of the Christian R crew. Ten percent will not likely make a hill of a difference, but Fulghum is stepping out where none of these other “entitled” candidates are. Until I hear he paved someone’s driveway with public funds, went on a DMR fishing trip or is friends with John McKay, Fulghum has my vote.
Dustin Thomas I think you may have misunderstood my point. However, to your points on component units not included. I do not believe that there are any component units the size of Singing River included in the financials of the county in any county in the State. So, to not have them included is the norm although it not in compliance with GAAP. The reason is normally it is more cost effective to have to separate audits done rather than to combine them into one set of financials. Also, county governments usually lack the staff and accounting software to make this happen. (Normally, a governmental entity will hire another police officer or fireman or fix a road rather than hire another accountant) Also, I find it ironic that say maybe “know or bother to look”, when yesterday a AG opinion provided that hospital salaries are public, but due to the new legislation it may no longer be. Maybe you did not “know or bother to look” to inform your clients who was lobbying for the bill of that language. So, as to the point I just made, that is only a piece of the story and is probably unfair to you. So, when you only pick a piece of the story, I believe you are also being unfair.
The chancery clerk position is an important one. The wrong person who does not take all responsibilities seriously need no apply.Harrison County we found out to the tune of hundreds of thousands in legal fees how an attorney appointed by the Harrison County Chancery Clerk,John McAdams, as guardian or conservator stole over a million dollars of the peoples money he was hired to oversee.This should have been discovered much earlier but those in the chancery clerks office who were supposed to make sure all was well did not make sure. While I do not have a vote in the Jackson County race to offer up,I do encourage all to make sure the best person for the position is elected. From all I read the taxpayers can not afford another hospital mess to dig out from under.
Slabman
If you had “bothered to look” you would have seen that the AG OPINION “POSTED” yesterday is from two thousand nine (2009)! I could care less what other counties do regarding their component units. I just happen to think when a man signs his name and commits to doing things differently they should stand by their word. You obviously do not feel that way. We will have to agree to disagree on how important honesty and telling the truth are. Simple concepts but we are apparently worlds apart on them, I think they should be followed ALL the time. I do not believe the old children’s excuse of “but they get to do it.”
PS: AG opinions are just that, they carry zero weight other than if you follow an AG opinion and it was wrong, it can be a defense.
Mr Thomas I agree with slabman here. Hiring “Gulf hum” Fulgham, as you call him, largely supporting him because he is a fledgling attorney who did books for his wife’s mom and pop is assinine. Under that logic let’s get him to run the sheriffs office and the jail and the hospital too (with his ten percent gift which is one millionth of their budget) since you think lawyers are the best. I also agree with slabman I couldn’t find any significant political subdivision of similar size that was incorporated into the county as a component unit, you could have too if you had bothered to look. People who care most about the county would rather have a few more police officers than pay someone to read what mr gulf hum already could have read – in fact I bet Fulgham would come to the same conclusion. But I think it would be wise to look at other candidates than Mr Gulf Hum, attorney at law based on reckless statements a supporter like you have made. Speaking of attorneys mr Thomas there is another statement of fact you make that is egregiously wrong, but I will tantalize the readers to stay tuned – but you should have done more research before you make a reckless incorrect post. Hope you do a better job for your poor clients than you did on this. Do you charge them double for double posts I wonder. Good lawyers are hard to find.
Hot Lips
If you were as informed as you purport to be then you would know that most of the auditing and treasurer duties of the chancery clerk were given to the finance department after ol’ Lynn Presley got in trouble. The main services the chancery clerk actually performs is land recorsd and chancery court. fulgham has worked in land records for a long time accrding to his qualifications. he’s also worked in chancery court for a few years. not sure what that has to do with the sheriff or jail. seems he may be a fledgling, but has more experience in the actual offices being run by the clerk. besides i think its time for some people who haven’t actually worked in govt to take over, given the state of things these days.
Ballshark, I have to agree with you actually. But I still think Dustin’s comments were off., on two counts. May the best person win.