Day: August 3, 2015

Election Open: What others are saying

Here is some of the best Mississippi election coverage I could find:

How I will vote on Tuesday ~ Wayne Weidie

Campaign Finance and Other Political Comments ~ Wayne Weidie

The kind remarks in the second link about Slabbed is a nice Monday treat.

Campaign money and how it’s spent? ‘Nunya’ ~ Geoff Pender

And a three pack from Dark Horse Mississippi:

If State Frauditor Stacey Pickering Is Corrupt, So Is A Sizable Chunk of Mississippi’s Legislature: Exhibit A: Is State Senator Joey Fillingane Clothed in Corruption?

State Senator Dean Kirby: Driven By Corruption on the American Expressway? (EXHIBIT B of the Case Against Corruption, Racketeering, and Tax Evading in Mississippi’s State Legislature)

State Representative John Moore: He’s the Education Chairman, but the Dog Ate His Campaign Finance Report (EXHIBIT C of the Case Against Corruption, Racketeering, and Tax Evading in Mississippi’s State Legislature)

Heads should roll at Mississippi PERS

I bet there is a back story here with knowing as there is no excuse for this:

Glitch delays benefits for state retirees ~ Jimmie Gates

Paula Ainsworth of Tupelo put in her state retirement this month and was expecting to begin receiving her benefits soon, but a glitch in new software at the Public Employees Retirement System has caused a large backlog in processing applications.

Ainsworth says the latest information is that it could be January before she starts receiving benefits. Ainsworth, who retired this month as a special education teacher, said she is too young to qualify for Social Security benefits and was depending on the state check.

“My budget was depending on my retirement check,” Ainsworth said. “I figure I won’t get anything until after Jan. 1.

What follows in Gate’s story is a display of the most pathetic excuse making by PERS Executive Director Pat Robertson I’ve seen since Slabbed covered Jackson County Supervisor John McKay telling everyone what a swell guy Bill Walker was after the DMR scandal broke. Robertson’s nonsense does not compute folks.

At this point I think the best next question is identity of the software vender so we can begin to figure out whether the change was motivated by Mississippi style political payola or what not because back office disasters like this do not just happen, especially out of a glorified payroll system. This reeks worse than a dead skunk.

I am in agreement with the reader comments to Gate’s story about withholding payroll from Mississippi PERS in total until the problem is fixed so the perpetrators take the same financial medicine they prescribe for their victims.