I’d loved to have been a fly on the wall of Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves’ home when he read that some key members of the state Republican Party hierarchy aren’t backing his bid for governor.
Normally, this fact might be worrisome to a candidate like Reeves, who has served in two statewide offices — treasurer and lieutenant governor — and probably believed he’d have clear sailing to the governor’s office as a reward.
It was definitely an interesting opinion piece written for The Clarion-Ledger on April 28 by state GOP bluebloods Clarke Reed, Billy Powell, Jim Herring and Mike Retzer, telling of their support for Reeves’ GOP primary opponent, Bill Waller Jr. They said Waller was the “right person” to be the state’s new governor next year.
You know, I truly doubt Tate Reeves cares more than one flyspeck what the quartet thinks of his candidacy — or Waller’s.
Reeves is so heavily invested in Donald Trump’s presidency that he is confident the president’s overwhelming popularity in the state will be strong enough to help him win the Republican primary — if not the big enchilada in November.
“I absolutely support President Trump and his conservative agenda,” Reeves said in a statement. “We’ve been proud to have the support of so much of his 2016 Mississippi team and key allies like Gov. (Phil) Bryant.”
Surely you remember the writing foursome. Reed is a Greenville resident involved in myriad business enterprises in the Mississippi Delta, including a nuisance birds-elimination operation. He played a key role in Richard Nixon’s winning of the Republican nomination in 1968 and has participated in numerous GOP successes, failures and squabbles over a 50-years-plus period on the state and national levels. Reed was chair of the Mississippi Republican Party from 1966-1976.
Reed was among those who courted Retzer, also of Greenville, to become active in the state party years ago after Retzer moved to Mississippi in the 1960s. Retzer made his fortune in McDonald’s hamburgers with numerous outlets across the state and region. The Maryland native is a former U.S. diplomat. President George W. Bush nominated him as Ambassador to Tanzania and he served two years from 2005-07. It is not widely believed the Tanzanian connection will have any effect on a Mississippi political race.
Powell, a Pearl resident and former GOP state chair, is a retired oilman who has long been active in GOP politics and in maneuvering many of them toward elected office. Powell’s support in many past primaries has been tantamount to winning a nomination. He helped a little-known contractor named Kirk Fordice win the primary and general election for governor in 1991.
Herring is a Canton lawyer who has served in numerous public-service positions in Mississippi, including state GOP chairman and state appeals court judge. He has sought the office of governor himself, finishing third in the Democratic primary (yes, Democratic) to future governor William Winter in 1979. He was head of Gov. Phil Bryant’s transition team in 2012.
In their recent column, the foursome wrote it was “imperative that Republicans nominate a strong conservative … to win the general election in November. That candidate is Bill Waller, Jr.”
They did not mention Reeves in the piece. They noted that while state Republicans have had several quality candidates for attorney general in years past, “none have defeated Jim Hood,” the Democrat who will oppose the Reeves-Waller-Robert Foster primary survivor.
It is unlikely the GOP leaders’ success rate in past elections will help carry more than a few precincts in the party primary, despite their claim Waller is the best candidate to beat Hood. This is a new age in Republican politics. It would be remarkable indeed for Waller — the state’s former Supreme Court chief justice, retired Army Reserve brigadier general and son of the late highly-respected Democratic governor Bill Waller Sr. — to overcome the connection so coveted by Reeves.
That would be the connection with Donald J. Trump in the state that loves the President more than any other.
Mac Gordon is a native and part-time resident of McComb. He is a retired newspaperman. He can be reached at macmarygordon @gmail.com.
