Party rules

By Staff
Dec. 4, 2002
When then-congressional staffer Trent Lott decided to run for his retiring boss' seat in 1972, he opted to run as a Republican because, he used to joke with friends, the line was shorter. Lott was elected to replace his mentor, the late William M. Colmer, a Democrat and longtime chairman of the House Rules Committee. All joking aside, even then Trent Lott was a conservative who saw the Democratic Party leaning left and, today, he gets substantial support from Democrats and Republicans.
For Lott, who had no record of having been elected to office as a member of one party and then switching to another, the decision 30 years ago was fairly simple. For people like state Sen. Videt Carmichael, who also switched parties recently, and Lt. Gov. Amy Tuck, who announced Monday she would run for reelection as a Republican, the decision may not have been as simple, but it is just as logical.
Tuck's conservative credentials most recently were manifested in solid support for reasonable reforms in Mississippi's civil justice system. She led the Senate on that score, much to the chagrin of the powerful trial lawyers lobby.
Frankly, Tuck was elected lieutenant governor in 1999 despite the political banner under which she ran. Voters connected with her, not her party. Most of the Democratic Party she knew then backed her primary opponent, a state senator from Oxford named Grey Ferris. He lost; she won.
Tuck today apparently feels no loyalty to the Democrats, nor should she. She should associate herself with the political party that best represents her own core principles and beliefs. She said she feels most comfortable with the Republican Party.
And this is not to say that the Republican lineup for lieutenant governor in 2003 will be a short list. Already, Dr. Randy Russell, a Jackson ophthalmologist and leader in movements for term limits and tort reform, is running. State Sen. Tim Johnson, R-Madison, an Elvis impersonator and long running Senate joke, is also reportedly toying with the idea.
There are those who will say that Amy Tuck deserted her party. We don't buy that theory. Amy Tuck's political party deserted her.