Greenwood, Miss. (Greenwood Commonwealth) – It is the only position in state government that is constitutionally allowed to be part of two branches of government – the executive and the legislation. The lieutenant governor runs the Senate, deciding committee chairmanships, assigning bills and, if so inclined, determining what proposals get considered and which ones get thrown in the trash can..

Before the lieutenant governor was limited to the same two terms as the governor, without question the lieutenant governor was the most powerful person in state government.

Mississippi voters are fortunate this year in that whoever wins the lieutenant governor’s election on Tuesday is almost certain to be good at the job.

Delbert Hosemann, the Republican nominee and current Secretary of State, has demonstrated the ability to get big things accomplished, such as implementing voter ID without getting the state sued. He is open and transparent. Although he doesn’t go out of his way to start a fight, he does not shy away from one when something important is at stake, such as making sure that those who lease public school trust lands are paying a fair amount for the privilege.

His 12 years of capable, scandal-free leadership of the Secretary of State’s Office have earned him a promotion.

Jay Hughes, the Democrat challenging Hosemann, is more of a firebrand, but he also has run an impressive, issues-oriented campaign. During his one term in the Legislature, he has soaked in a lot about where Mississippi has been falling short in education, healthcare, and in transportation.

The policy differences between Hosemann and Hughes are rather modest. They agree on significantly raising teacher pay, on doing more skills training in the high schools for students who are not college-bound, on doing more to repair the state’s roads and bridges, on expanding healthcare coverage through some form of Medicaid expansion, on requiring greater transparency from the Legislature.

Both are pragmatic and willing to seek compromise, traits that have been sorely missing during the tunnel-vision tenure of Tate Reeves as lieutenant governor. Either will be a refreshing change at the Capitol.

But in having to pick one, our pick goes to Hosemann.

He has been a faithful public servant for longer than Hughes be able to get more done with a Senate that is certain to have a Republican majority. He is better connected with the business community. And regardless of whether it’s Reeves or Jim Hood as the next governor, Hosemann is better suited in temperament to work with either.

We recommend that voters on Tuesday cast their ballot for him.

Corinth, Miss. (Daily Corinthian) – Mississippi Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann made his way to the Crossroads area this week to speak to the people about an educated workforce and structure in schools.

The Republican lieutenant governor candidate arrived at Pizza Grocery in Corinth for a joint Rotary and Civitan Club meeting on Wednesday. He met with many locals and discussed his plans as lieutenant governor, if elected.

Hosemann informed the crowd about an educated workforce, education and workforce training. The Republican stressed about how important it is to have structure in Mississippi schools.

“Structure provides leadership. If public schools don’t work out for the students, then we lose 92 percent of our workforce. That’s why it’s important,” said the candidate.

Hosemann also talked about what’s taking place in Mississippi schools. He said his main purpose for the visit was to inform the people in Northeast Mississippi about business and economic development.

“Northeast Mississippi is growing and becoming more prosperous, which is great for our state. We give the economic tools to our people so they can make good economic decisions,” said Hosemann. “We are the only state in the nation to have this.”

The candidate made it clear that Mississippi — not the Capitol — is running the counties.

“Most decisions in our state are made around the kitchen table and not in the Capitol,” he said.

The Civitan Club hosted the event at Pizza Grocery. Those who attended not only enjoyed listening to Hosemann speak about his plans, but they got to enjoy a meal and ask questions as well.

Corinth Mayor Tommy Irwin was present. He said he is very familiar with all the great things Secretary Hosemann has done for the state over the years.

“He is definitely one of the all time greats who has served as secretary of state. I’m sure he will continue to do that as lieutentant governor. I’m so glad he came here to speak to the people in Corinth,” said the mayor.

Senator Rita Parks also attended the event. She believed the visit was very successful.

“The mission was to visit city groups, development groups and various places in the community. I wanted Secretary Hosemann to experience Alcorn County and I’m so glad he was able to visit my district,” said Parks.

After leaving Corinth, Hosemann stopped by the Burnsville Chamber of Commerce and met with local officials and candidates. Rep. Bubba Carpenter was present.

He said Hosemann spoke about education, infrastructure and his workforce development plan.

“I find it to be quite fantastic how he wants to incorporate dual credit in the last year of high school,” said Carpenter. “When the kids graduate, they will already have one year of community college under their belt.”

Carpenter was also excited to hear how Hosemann’s plans to increase teacher’s pay in the state of Mississippi. He was also glad the lieuntenant governor candidate came to speak to the people of Tishomingo County.

“I truly believe he will do great things in office and I’m so glad he took the time to meet with the people here,” said Carpenter, a Burnsville native.

Once Hosemann left Burnsville, he went to a meet and greet in Booneville at the Health and Nutrition Center at the Northeast Mississippi Community College campus, where he met with local officials, community leaders, candidates and GOP members.

Rep. Tracey Arnold attended the meet and greet. He said Secretary Hosemann has been to Booneville several times.

“The fact he cares about the students and their education is very important. It’s always great to have an elected official who is knowledgeable about the colleges and schools,” said Arnold.

“It’s good to tie them into the community, the colleges and agencies in the area because you may need their assistance in the future.”

The Secretary of State left the Crossroads area and went to Baldwyn then later to Fulton. Prior to coming to Corinth, he made a few stops in Ripley.

Hosemann said he was glad to be able to meet with the great people in the Crossroads area.

“I am a huge supporter of Northeast Mississippi producing an educated workforce and I’ve always been a supporter of the Corinth School System,” said the candidate.

Hosemann faces Democrat Jay Hughes in the Nov. 5 general election.

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Biloxi, Miss. (WLOX) – Despite being one of the poorest states in the nation, Mississippi residents always rank among the most charitable in America. So it’s important to make sure the organizations we give to are on the up and up.

This week (October 21-25) is the second annual International Charity Fraud Awareness Week (ICFAW). It’s a coordinated international campaign to help charities and consumers avoid charity fraud and promote wise giving.

“Our citizens are the most giving in the nation and we want to ensure the money they are donating is going to those who need it the most—and not a fraudulent entity,” Mississippi Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann said. “Check the charity on our website or call us before making a donation if you have a question about charity registration and regulation in Mississippi.”

General tips for consumers considering donating to a charity include:

• Ask for the charity’s name, website, and physical location;
• Ask how much of any donation will go to the charitable program you want to support;
• Check the Secretary of State’s website to see whether the charity is registered in Mississippi;
• Search the charity’s name online with the word “scam” or “complaint.” See what other people say about it;
• Check out the charity’s report and ratings at the BBB Wise Giving Alliance, Charity Navigator, Charity Watch, and Guidestar;
• Use the IRS’s Tax Exempt Organization Search to see if your donation is tax-deductible;
• Never pay with cash, a gift card, or by wiring money; and
• Consider paying by credit card, but never over the phone, and only after receipt of written information you can verify.

ICFAW is also emphasizing the importance of non-profit and charitable organizations adopting good cybersecurity practices to protect donor and client information. The Federal Trade Commission has created a guide for small businesses and non-profits about the basics of cybersecurity, and has a blog post with more information specifically for non-profits. General cybersecurity tips for non-profits include:

• Update your software – set it to update automatically. Breaches often happen when vulnerabilities exist because companies did not install the latest update or patch;
• Secure your files – make a back-up offline so if there’s a ransomware attack, your company can stay up and running;
• Require passwords for all devices;
• Use multi-factor authentication (like a PIN or key); and
• Encrypt devices for another layer of protection of sensitive information.

Throughout International Charity Fraud Awareness Week, the Mississippi Secretary of State’s Office’s Facebook and Twitter pages will feature wise giving tips for consumers. Follow the action at #CharityFraudOut2019 and #CharityFraudOut.

For more information about registered charities in Mississippi, visit www.sos.ms.gov/charities or call (601) 359-1599.

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Biloxi, Miss. (WLOX) – This week we take a closer look at the race for lt. governor, sitting down with the Republican candidate in the race, Delbert Hosemann.

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Bay St. Louis, Miss. (WLOX) – Thursday was election day for some students in Bay St. Louis. North Bay Elementary School held a mock election as part of Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann’s “Promote the Vote” campaign.

Even though the ballots are for pretend, heading to the polls taught the students a very real lesson on making their voices heard. This year’s theme was my voice, my vote.

“Voting is where you get to say something that you believe in, and I think that’s pretty cool,” said fourth-grader Hayden Pate.

“We get to pick our own people, and not we get forced to pick one,” said student Liberty Bell.

The school’s front lobby turned into a voting precinct as more than 400 third, fourth and fifth graders marked their choice for Mississippi’s next governor.

For Marcus Dampier, he didn’t take the decision lightly. The fourth-grader looked at the issues beforehand.

“I want teachers to have good pay and pay their bills off,” Dampier said.

It’s a good exercise in civic responsibility.

“They aren’t old enough to vote, but one day they will be old enough to vote and how when they say comes they need to become educated on the facts and not just go on hearsay and what they hear people talking. That they need to go and research it and look into things,” said North Bay principal Crystal Anderson.

This mock election was made to feel as real as possible. Students even had their own voter ID cards.

State representative candidates Brent Anderson and Wendy McDonald, along with Waveland Mayor Mike Smith and Bay Saint Louis Mayor Mike Favre, served as the poll workers.

“When as they get old and all and realize this is some of the most important choices you can make some of them, and it comes down to everybody, and hopefully they’ll continue this throughout time,” Favre said.

The students’ votes may not count in November, but the importance of the day’s experience is not lost.

“I hope they go home and this carries into their families and their communities, and their people go and vote on election day,” Anderson said.

Jim Hood won the mock election with 42% of the vote. The students found out the results during an assembly Thursday afternoon. Secretary of State Hosemann was there to congratulate the students on a successful election and on being an ‘A’ rated school.

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Tupelo, Miss. (Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal) – With the state’s general election less than three weeks away, Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann is campaigning to be the next lieutenant governor by advocating for the need to revamp the structure of state agencies and repair the state’s deteriorating infrastructure.

Hosemann, the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor, met with the Daily Journal’s editorial board on Monday, where he said he wants to lead reforms to the way the state government treats its gasoline tax by handing a local gasoline tax option over to county government.

In Monday’s interview, Hosemann said he is still developing some of the details of the plan, but said if a local board of supervisors wanted to enact the local gasoline tax within their county, it could vote to put the tax on a ballot initiative for the county residents to vote on. If the voters approve the initiative, the county could receive 100% of those taxes.

Currently, the state has enacted a gasoline tax of 18.4 cents per gallon, where the state government keeps a portion of the tax and a certain portion goes to city and county governments.

“There’s no reason for me to tax the residents of Lee County 12 cents a gallon when you’ve got your roads and bridges fine. It would be where roads and bridges aren’t OK,” Hosemann said. “I don’t see why I have to have a general tax running through the city of Jackson and send you back 23 cents on the dollar when I can give you 100 cents on the dollar. And, if you don’t need it, don’t tax yourself.”

If elected, Hosemann also plans to reform the structure of some state agencies and ask most state agencies to reduce their overall budgets by 1% in order to give many public employees a salary increase, including public school teachers and prison workers. The departments which would not be required to reduce their budget would be education, mental health, child protective services, corrections and the state’s court system.

Hosemann also said he plans to lead and govern the Mississippi State Senate in a bipartisan fashion that is dedicated to solving issues and saying he would work with anyone, regardless of a political party.

He told the Daily Journal, if elected, he intends to interview all of the state’s 52 senators prior to taking office to get a feel for which committee state senators are interested in serving on, and Hosemann said he intends to place both Republicans and Democrats as leaders of committees.

“To me, you get elected under a party designation, but (voters) have asked me ‘Are you going to work across the aisle?’ I don’t see an aisle,” Hosemann said. “After we’ve gotten elected and everybody’s gone through that process, you’ve got to govern.”

Hosemann’s campaign also comes in the middle of a contentious race for governor. The winner of the governor’s race could influence what legislation is voted on in the legislature and impact the relationship between the lieutenant governor and the governor. Previously, news outlet WJTV asked Hosemann who he planned to support in the governor’s race, and he declined to endorse a candidate.

“I think our party will best be served by everybody settling a bit before we do any endorsements and any other things with it,” Hosemann told WJTV last month.

In Monday’s editorial board meeting, Hosemann was slightly hesitant to give an answer on which candidate for governor he wants to work with, but he did say he “wants a Republican governor.”

“Whoever the voters send me, I’m going to work with,” Hosemann said. “I have my preferences, but whoever the voters send me, I’m going to make Mississippi better.”

Hosemann is running against state Rep. Jay Hughes, a Democrat from Oxford, who has run a campaign centered on education policy and working class economic interests. Mississippians will have a chance to vote for lieutenant governor in the general election on Nov. 5.

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